97 2.2 cavalier

I just recently purchesed a 97 cavalier with a 2.2 manuale shift trans. in it. I wanna completely mod it from top to bottom and was wandering, where would be the best place to start ?  

I guess I'll give it a shot, since nobody around here wants to give decent advice to anybody unless he's talking about neon, body kits, or "jdm, yo".

First off, which 2.2 do you have? GM put gutless 2.2L pushrod four cylinders (I have one in my Beretta), a 2.2 SOHC engine, and I believe a 2.2 and 2.3 version of the venerable Quad4 engine. The pushrod and SOHC engines are pretty much worthless, IMO, and I wouldn't even try modding it besides your basic K&N filter, ect. But the Quad4 engine is actually a good motor, and there are REAL performance parts out there for it, your just going to have to look out there a little harder than the Honduh, er, Honda boys do, and your parts are going to be a bit more pricey. I'd check the GM Peformance Parts Catalog, they have a section devoted to the Quad4 (if you have it), and from what I understand, GM has released a Sport Compact specific performance parts catalog. Run by your Chevrolet dealership's part center to pick these up.

If you are one of the many unfortunate few to have the gutless other engines, you don't have many options, and the best way for you to go is probably a small shot of nitrous.

Hope this helps any.    

well my take, and i've had 5 or 6 gm's in the past you you know i'm not a typical dumbestic hat3r lol, is that in all honesty you don't have a car that's really worth going all out with.  you'll find some performance parts for it definitely, but besides engine talk, its a car that really has littl potential to be a stand-out.  

that said, if i was you i would first come to that realization, nad then i would spend at least a little time/effort/money modifying the car - just so you get the idea of how a car works and generally what's what.  then save the extra money for something better.  

If he has the Quad4, he's not going to see any significant gains like you would in a turbo application, but that goes for any NA car. I wouldn't say that it has any less potential than your average DOHC Honda engine, or Nissan Sentra. So, IMO, I don't think he's "wasting his time", although there are alot better cars out there with a better aftermarket.  

well like i said before, engine aside the car really doesn't have any good points that make the effort worth it.  the chassis is terribly weak and flexes like hans n franz, and the entire car in general is cheap and poorly designed.  the good point about the car is that it's a simple machine and makes a good bed for learning some shadetree mechanic skills.  thats where it ends though.
 

Well it's just the 2.2 push valve, I didn't think there would be alot i could do to the engine, but i am not planning on raceing it or anything like that i was just wanting to fix it up for local car shows and stuff like that.I also thought it would be a good car to learn more about what components to use and exactly how they work . Basicaly i am useing it as a learner car.

But thanks for the feed back and i hope to hear more in the future.