96 cavalier 2.2l how to get more horsepower

hi i would like to get more horsepower out of my 1996 chevy cavalier 2.2l
its kind of not fast my friend has a 96 saturn and wants to race me but i think he will win my car is a automaic 4 speed and does 0-60 in 11.3 sec.
is that bad or good for my car?and i need help decideing what to buy for it "engine parts" like ex.cold air intake hedders dual exzaust whats the cheapest part that will add the most horsepower?

its really not worth it to upgrade that car. Even more so cause its an auto so it puts only like 90 HP to the wheels. Just save your money for a faster factory car.

its really not worth it to upgrade that car. Even more so cause its an auto so it puts only like 90 HP to the wheels. Just save your money for a faster factory car.
well thanks for letting me no,do u know if the apc single tip muffelars add any horsepower cause i put 1 on my car

what i would do is buy a cool air intake stage 2 so all the air comin into the motor is fresh and than i would get bigger headers and an exhaust system to start out with itll add hp but i dont know how much it just depends on what brand and size u get!! i have an 87 cavi and ive dont hardly anything to it and its 0-60 in 7.8 its a 5spd pretty quick but what i did to start out with is cut out the cadalac converter and straight piped it to a muffler.... added about 20 hp to the motor just doin that so it just depends on what u do to it to get the more power!!

what i would do is buy a cool air intake stage 2 so all the air comin into the motor is fresh and than i would get bigger headers and an exhaust system to start out with itll add hp but i dont know how much it just depends on what brand and size u get!! i have an 87 cavi and ive dont hardly anything to it and its 0-60 in 7.8 its a 5spd pretty quick but what i did to start out with is cut out the cadalac converter and straight piped it to a muffler.... added about 20 hp to the motor just doin that so it just depends on what u do to it to get the more power!!

you did not get 20HP to the motor by just adding straight pipes to the muffler and removing the cat. And an 87 cavy is not a 7.8 second 0-60mph car. Its more like 8.5 seconds.

Dont spend any money on your 2.2L to make it faster, its so much easier to just buy a faster factory car and you will see better results. You could prolly spend 2,000 dollars on that car, and it still wouldnt be fast. Instead take that 2G and put it into a down payment on a newer car with a better engine. You will be much happier.

But if you really want to add HP to that car and dont want to buy another car, go buy yourself a wet nitrous kit. Will run you about 500 bucks, but you can easily add 35-50HP to it on stock internals.

u want to get sum juice from ur 2.2? if ur serioius, do exhaust like magnaflow or borla , cold air intake, pacescetter header, underdrive pulleys and cam work. from 115hp exhaust-120hp-inake-125hp-header-135hp-pulleys-140to145hp-and a cam will jump u up almost 30hp to 170or 175hp, now thats sum power. non of them are farfetched and will surley speed up ur car.

I have to agree... i have most of that done to my car and more... and shaved more than 3 secs. off my 1/4 mile time.

that hillarious if you want to dump money in your car just take out the 2.2 and build it. low compression pistons, strengthened bottom end, and a longer duration cam. then strap a turbo on, run 15-20 lbs of boost and you wont be beat but other tuner...ppl. well you could beat em stock i have. with my 98 cavi. lol. the best win i had was against a 98 s-10 with the 4.3

dont run nitrous your bottom end wont last.

dont run nitrous your bottom end wont last.
Take the advise, the 2.2 is NOt worth it, i had a 97 r.s 2.2 and it suck power wise, so i sold it made $500 got a supra turbo wrecked it, lol and now i have a 00 ls1 t/a and am getting ready to buy a 91 r.s camaro. Just look for something with more stock hp.

LOL you already wrecked that supra? :rofl:

u want to get sum juice from ur 2.2? if ur serioius, do exhaust like magnaflow or borla , cold air intake, pacescetter header, underdrive pulleys and cam work. from 115hp exhaust-120hp-inake-125hp-header-135hp-pulleys-140to145hp-and a cam will jump u up almost 30hp to 170or 175hp, now thats sum power. non of them are farfetched and will surley speed up ur car.

LOL 170 hp out of a naturally aspirated 2.2, i sure hope no one believed that

you could get 170whp out of it NA, but not like that....you'd have to do some internal work and even then i think you'd have some trouble hittin that number! Power doesn't just jump at you that readily....

Oh shoot. I was already to buy my 2.2L damnit. WTF You guys have to mess everything up for me.... HAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHA

Oh shoot. I was already to buy my 2.2L damnit. WTF You guys have to mess everything up for me.... HAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHA
ya one week after i got my supra, i put a bigger intercooler, bov, waster gate, boost controler, turbo timer i was at like 300+hp and i just got done instaling every thing i drove it cam back home, my friend wanted to drive it so i let him, dumb me, and it came back on a tow truck!!

Re: 96 cavalier 2.2l how to get more horsepower

Okay... you have a '96 2.2L automatic? ...everyone is obsessed with 4-cyl engines and trying to get them to make alot of power.

Honestly... anything automatic is really not worth putting money into. I put money into an automatic, but then again it has 275hp so it aint relly going to affect aything. From what I know automatic transmissions in small engined-cars steal alot of horsepower.

If you must put money into it, your 2.2L has, what, 140hp? 170 is reachable on a dyno, but I think you'd be spending way too much money trying to get 170rwhp. Sorry :(

But since your probably going to put money into anyway, go for a cold air intake. a good one, not a $30 one off of ebay. get a performance chip. (Your gas mileage will suck). Headers and a performance exhaust will do alot of good. If you cant afford a new exhaust, at least replace ur converter with a straight pipe or "cheater" pipe, and if you cant find one, hollow out the converter. Not the best, but if you have no cash at all it will help your power (a little) and sound better. Racing sparks plugs and wires would help. IDK too much about chevy 4-cyl engines, but this stuff pretty much applys to all cars..

Man there is a lot of misinformation in here...

You want answers, look in the "performance" section in the stickied thread called "HOW TO: Make you car go faster" (duh)

Man there is a lot of misinformation in here...

You want answers, look in the "performance" section in the stickied thread called "HOW TO: Make you car go faster" (duh)
True, especially how its not worth it putting money into an auto. My bro built a TA from the ground up, 600hp and decided to get semi-auto because it handles the power much better. People go by preference, im an auto man and yes ive driven plenty of standard.