87 cavalier wagon questions

[__CHI__]

Alright,so I’ve changed my mind about 50 times with this car so far. I was gonna put a 5.3 from an impala in it then changed my mind,was gonna rat it out with a 427 and changed my mind..now I’m just gonna derby it lol
Does anyone know anything at all about the first gen J bodies? Or the 2.0 that came in them? Trying to beef up the suspension and engine,so far all I know is the rear ends love to go down lol

 

[Erik the Awful]

Back when I was a beginning mechanic, many of my friends had Cavaliers. After repairing way too many of them, the mantra was "Friends don't let friends drive Cavaliers."

The only nice Cavalier I've ever seen was owned by one of the guys I went through Nissan school with. He'd owned it since new and it had over 250k miles on it. He maintained it religiously, and only used AC Delco parts on it.

I think the only decent reason to not scrap it would be if you were trying to win a trophy at Radwood or Concours de Lemons.

 

[__CHI__]

Alright so the idea changed again..I have a 91 s10 that’s rotting away body wise,so I’m gonna rip the doghouse,cab and bed off,put the cavalier on the s10 frame,body it,channel it,bag it,most likely throw the 427 in it and rake the top with a big canvas sunroof. Gonna pretty much make a “modern” rat rod. My goal is to have it laying body and frame while aired out,also gonna bring the wheels outside of the fenders. It’s gonna take forever but I think I can safely say,I’m the only person dumb enough to waste the time and money to build a cavalier wagon lmao

 

[90 Silverado]

You must be registered for see images attach

I'm a JBody owner, JBody .org member and a JBody International Facebook member.

I own a 92 Sunbird with the bulletproof 2.0 OHC which is not like the Cavaliers.

Timing chain guide breakage (which bends the valves) overheating and warping the head( due to plastic radiator breakage) are the main problems with the Cavalier 2.0.

Yes mounting the Cavalier on a S10 has been done, mainly on 2 door short bed and 2 door Blazer 1st gen bodies . The wheelbase is basically the same.Never seen a wagon or 4door done, only 2doors.

Doug in P.R.

 

[thegawd]

my Grandma had one of those early 90's 2 door Cavaliers, she drove it like she stole it! I loved that little car, she scrapped it! dammit. someone convinced her it was to rotten and I never got the chance to get my hands on it.

I never knew they had a wagon, following along!

Al

 

[__CHI__]

You must be registered for see images attach

I'm a JBody owner, JBody .org member and a JBody International Facebook member.

I own a 92 Sunbird with the bulletproof 2.0 OHC which is not like the Cavaliers.

Timing chain guide breakage (which bends the valves) overheating and warping the head( due to plastic radiator breakage) are the main problems with the Cavalier 2.0.

Yes mounting the Cavalier on a S10 has been done, mainly on 2 door short bed and 2 door Blazer 1st gen bodies . The wheelbase is basically the same.Never seen a wagon or 4door done, only 2doors.

Doug in P.R.

I’m about positive my 2.0 has a warped head and bent valves. I got it from a friend that bought it for 100 bucks,the PO said he drove it hot a few times. So we changed the head gasket and timing belt and everything,forgot to put it in TDC then turned it over :/
I really like that sunbird though,they were awesome little cars. We got a late 70s-early 80s rwd one in the driveway,pretty sure it also has the 2.0
I was on jbody for about 2 days before I got removed for asking about derby advice for the wagon lol

 

[__CHI__]

my Grandma had one of those early 90's 2 door Cavaliers, she drove it like she stole it! I loved that little car, she scrapped it! dammit. someone convinced her it was to rotten and I never got the chance to get my hands on it.

I never knew they had a wagon, following along!

Al

If I remember later,I’ll get a couple pictures of it. The wagons looked pretty cool IMO

 

[__CHI__]

You must be registered for see images attach

I'm a JBody owner, JBody .org member and a JBody International Facebook member.

I own a 92 Sunbird with the bulletproof 2.0 OHC which is not like the Cavaliers.

Timing chain guide breakage (which bends the valves) overheating and warping the head( due to plastic radiator breakage) are the main problems with the Cavalier 2.0.

Yes mounting the Cavalier on a S10 has been done, mainly on 2 door short bed and 2 door Blazer 1st gen bodies . The wheelbase is basically the same.Never seen a wagon or 4door done, only 2doors.

Doug in P.R.

I also planned on shortening or lengthening the wagon to fit the frame of the truck. If my s10 frame won’t work I also have a full-size rcsb frame I could try to make it work on

 

[90 Silverado]

They make kits for that....

https://www.code504.com/s-10-frame-wheelbase-reduction-kit-for-s-10-s-15-frames/


Yeah the 1.8 - 2.0 OHC 's had their own problems with head casting problems ( porus) and electric fan cooling, but figure they started life as 70's Opel powerplants and they are still around today as Ecotecs that power most GM stuff......

Doug in P.R.

 

[__CHI__]

Alright so,I had a new idea. Gonna keep the short s10 frame and just get rid of the back doors on the wagon. Gonna try to make a decent looking back window that isn’t too long or too tall. Went and checked to see if the 427 in the old log truck was froze up and it turned over(hell yeah!)
Now I just gotta find the time to do it all in between building two compact cars for the derby,building a bobber,rebuilding the engine for my truck and work lol

on a side note, I’ve kinda been debating on just tossing the 427 in my 91 1500..not too sure yet..