Ok i just bought a 97 sunfire with the 2.2 for my daily/winter driver. I want mods to add a bit more power and improve my mpg. i was gonna probably make my own cold air intake and i was wondering will a header help or hurt my gas mileage? Also what kinda power does a header yield on these cars? I drive a camaro and i know they wont yield anything close to the 40hp like on an f-body. Are there any fairly cheap ignition upgrades i can do for like multiple spark up to like 3500rpms or anything? Thanx for any advice.
Intake an exhaust upgrades are minimal but effective. As far as just adding a header, I wouldn't suggest doing that if you're expecting a good amount of power. Remember, you're opening up the "cap" of your exhaust system with a bigger (diameter) header and your exhaust flow will be slowed down by the rest of your smaller (diameter) stock exhaust system. If you're going to just do part of your exhaust system, put a cat-back on first, you'll notice better gains.
I believe you can buy Ignition wires for your OHV for a fairly decent price and you can also buy spark plugs as well. Go to
www.gravanatuning.com for the wires and you can buy plugs pretty much anywhere depending which company/kind of plug you decide to get.
If you have anymore questions just ask.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
Oh ya if i did the header id just throw the stock cat back on with a high flow muffler of some type with a straight through design sorry i didnt mention that.
your exhaust is only as strong as the narrowest point. meaning if your exhaust is 3 inches but it's crushed down to 2 in one point, that's as strong as it's gonna get.
stock cat is still restrictive. so a high flow muffler would do nothing more than make sound and slightly improve performance but if you do a catback do it all the way you would be much happier with it. The Wider piping would do the car better
go all the way. high flow cat. good piping to a diameter of your choice, and a good high flow muffler.
you can get all of this done for less than 300 if you look for a shop
don't forget a high flow cat too
Inari (JimmyZ's Forgotten Son) wrote:your exhaust is only as strong as the narrowest point. meaning if your exhaust is 3 inches but it's crushed down to 2 in one point, that's as strong as it's gonna get.
stock cat is still restrictive. so a high flow muffler would do nothing more than make sound and slightly improve performance but if you do a catback do it all the way you would be much happier with it. The Wider piping would do the car better
go all the way. high flow cat. good piping to a diameter of your choice, and a good high flow muffler.
you can get all of this done for less than 300 if you look for a shop
Basically he said everything I was just about to say...
If you put a header on and a muffler, you'll still have the middle of your exhaust system as a major restrictive point, so in theory, you're gaining little power or atleast not as much as you would if you matched the piping size all the way through.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
"Dynomite!"
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
i have a 97 2.2 with the 3t40 tranny. let me tell you that i've hardly felt any performance gains with my mods. i do however get better gas milage than i originally did. so if you happen to have the 3 speed auto in there, you'll get better mpg with intake and exhaust mods (provided you're not stomping on the gas just to hear it), but the performance gains will feel minimal. i've got a WAI, 59mm throttle body, pacesetter header, high flow cat and a cat back exhaust and my car feels slower than my girlfriends auto 01 sunfire and its stock. i'm not sure if anything i've said is helpful or not, but thats just my 2 cents.
alias1429 wrote:i have a 97 2.2 with the 3t40 tranny. let me tell you that i've hardly felt any performance gains with my mods. i do however get better gas milage than i originally did. so if you happen to have the 3 speed auto in there, you'll get better mpg with intake and exhaust mods (provided you're not stomping on the gas just to hear it), but the performance gains will feel minimal. i've got a WAI, 59mm throttle body, pacesetter header, high flow cat and a cat back exhaust and my car feels slower than my girlfriends auto 01 sunfire and its stock. i'm not sure if anything i've said is helpful or not, but thats just my 2 cents.
oh god yea. i even think my car has gotten SLOWER.
I was a retard, and now I'm permanently banned.
If you want the multiple spark, you can invest in an MSD DIS-II ignition control system and interface modules. It's a PITA to get to the coils on the 95-97s, but you'll be able to count the money you save on gas, and you get some basic ignition control features
fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.
I have a WAI, pacesetter 4-1 header, full 2.25" exhaust to a straight thru magnaflow, comp cam 1.6:1 roller rockers, Underdrive Pulley (with no a/c), poly upper and lower mounts, and poly control arm bushings.
I've noticed every mod that I've done, thought it wasn't that great of a gain, it did feel a tiny bit quicker. The OHV's are not that responsive to n/a mods.
We also carry a wire selection of products for that engine. We also have most all the above parts in stock.
-Aaron
www.TurboTechRacing.com
Performance Parts For Cavalier, Sunfire, Cobalts and More!!!
I noticed improved MPG with just an injen intake and a flowmaster exhuast w/ 2.25 inch pipe....i can get in the 40's if im easy on it all highway
didn't gain any hp tho, still ran the same 1/4 mile times...its a 97 2.2 5spd
97cavy22 wrote:I noticed improved MPG with just an injen intake and a flowmaster exhuast w/ 2.25 inch pipe....i can get in the 40's if im easy on it all highway
40s? holy crap. it's been a while, but I think my cav was 25-ish (mixed city/highway, but still...)
fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.
OHV notec wrote:If you want the multiple spark, you can invest in an MSD DIS-II ignition control system and interface modules. It's a PITA to get to the coils on the 95-97s, but you'll be able to count the money you save on gas, and you get some basic ignition control features
They aren't bad on the manual cars. I've installed them in under 10 minutes on a 5spd car. But that's on a lift lol. It took pulling the motor out to get them in my car, which is a 3spd auto.
I was a retard, and now I'm permanently banned.
Spotabee Racing wrote:OHV notec wrote:If you want the multiple spark, you can invest in an MSD DIS-II ignition control system and interface modules. It's a PITA to get to the coils on the 95-97s, but you'll be able to count the money you save on gas, and you get some basic ignition control features
They aren't bad on the manual cars. I've installed them in under 10 minutes on a 5spd car. But that's on a lift lol. It took pulling the motor out to get them in my car, which is a 3spd auto.
Yeah, I've got a 3spd too. I went with pulling the intake manifold out (which was probably more difficult than dropping the motor
) I ended up relocating them the second time I did it (first was trying to get a tach signal, second was for MSD coils)
fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.
OHV notec wrote:Spotabee Racing wrote:OHV notec wrote:If you want the multiple spark, you can invest in an MSD DIS-II ignition control system and interface modules. It's a PITA to get to the coils on the 95-97s, but you'll be able to count the money you save on gas, and you get some basic ignition control features
They aren't bad on the manual cars. I've installed them in under 10 minutes on a 5spd car. But that's on a lift lol. It took pulling the motor out to get them in my car, which is a 3spd auto.
Yeah, I've got a 3spd too. I went with pulling the intake manifold out (which was probably more difficult than dropping the motor ) I ended up relocating them the second time I did it (first was trying to get a tach signal, second was for MSD coils)
I screwed with it for about an hour and a half before i decided, f*ck it, I pulled the axles and just dropped the motor down. Ended up taking me about 5 hours and 50 minutes longer than it would have if i would have just have gotten a 5spd car.
I was a retard, and now I'm permanently banned.
alias1429 wrote:i have a 97 2.2 with the 3t40 tranny. let me tell you that i've hardly felt any performance gains with my mods. i do however get better gas milage than i originally did. so if you happen to have the 3 speed auto in there, you'll get better mpg with intake and exhaust mods (provided you're not stomping on the gas just to hear it), but the performance gains will feel minimal. i've got a WAI, 59mm throttle body, pacesetter header, high flow cat and a cat back exhaust and my car feels slower than my girlfriends auto 01 sunfire and its stock. i'm not sure if anything i've said is helpful or not, but thats just my 2 cents.
The 59mm TB is too big for a N/A 2.2, theoretically the stock 52mm TB will flow more air than the engine can use. 56mm is about as large as you would want to go on a N/A 2.2 (mine was bored out to 55mm), before you lose too much air velocity and lose the low end torque. Try putting the stock TB/plenum back on, I bet it will get better.
As far as the intake, I started with a 3" set up. I switched out to a 2 3/4"set-up of identical design and my idle got smoother(gained about 1" of vacuum), throttle response got much quicker and I now have better low end torque. There was a negligible loss of power on the top end, but the gain on the bottom more than makes up for it.
Matt, unless you want to do some major reworking of the transmission, go with the mods that tend to be better with the low to mid range torque. These mods would be like a 2 1/2" to 2 3/4" intake(short ram/WAI), a 4-2-1 header and full 2.25" exhaust(including a high flow cat) and a 1.6:1 roller rocker conversion. Even with just these mods, a shift kit and stock replacement torque converter with a higher stall rating would be a big help.
'Scuse me Jack, but what do you mean by short-ram? Would that be in relation to the intake manifold? And what about 2 1/2 to 2 3/4"? I take it you mean air intake on that, do you not? If not, still I would like to know of one place that does supply aftermarket LN2 intake manifolds. And those 4-2-1( Also known as Tri-Y in old-school and Mopar ) header measurement numbers while we're at it. Would you please?
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
OBX? Tell me more, please! Like, where can I get one?
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
Nickelin Dimer wrote:OBX? Tell me more, please! Like, where can I get one?
Ummm...ebay.
I have a Pacesetter myself, it sucks.
fortune cookie say: better a delay than a disaster
) for my set-up. That and a 2.5" head pipe back to the 2.25" high-flow cat (step-up to a 2.5" spun shell cat possibly?), should add to the effective collector length, for better low to mid range response.