Page 1 of 41

Beretta 2017 Autocross Spec D-prepared

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:59 pm
by Amateur
Image
Alright, here's my 1995 Chevy Beretta Base 2.2L 5spd. Its a southern california car and 100% rust free. I bought it a few months before i got out of the Marines. It's my second beretta, the first one was my high school car and suffered mechanical problems beyond what i could afford back then, and so i cut my losses and junked it. Now I have a daily driver (2007 Kia Rio 5spd), but the Beretta is my "fun" car. fun in that its more enjoyable to drive than my kia. The kia suffers from massive understeer and the way it sits, its a tall car compared to the lower slung beretta, and what doesn't help is that its shifter feels like rubber when going through the gears. Now the engine on the beretta is an archaic 2.2L SOHC, which by no means is "fast," but the gearing ratio in the 5spd saves it in my opinion. It works well, and I enjoy driving it. The engine wins points with me because its very easy to work on it. Its simplistic, and small size compared to the length of the front end, gives you plenty of space to do repairs. Its reliable too, the odometer has 167K and it still runs like a champ.
Image
I'm saving up money right now to drop in a remanufactured 2.2L replacement crate engine and should have it installed by February 2011 if everything works out fine. I eventually want to autocross with this car, but I'm taking this one step at a time. First step is getting my car going again, ha ha. It snapped the shifter cable and well, lets get that fixed first-

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:13 pm
by KFLO 93 GT
Glad to see you are back into a Beretta again, sure feels good don't it? :)

One thing worth noting, GM never produced a 2.2 sohc, ours cars got the 2.2 ohv, LN2 engine. GM did make a 2.0 sohc that was found in Pontiac Sunbirds, but it is a much different engine and far harder to work on.

Getting back to your post, I too am a fan of the 2.2 for their ease of repair and reliability and with a 5 speed they are pretty peppy and fun to drive. Adding a cold air intake, header and exhaust would open it up pretty good. For autocrossing, these cars do pretty well when you don't go crazy on mods and end up in high-end class. There are a lot of things you can do though, and a lot of stuff that is available from other GM cars which keeps the cost cheap. :) Definitely post up any questions you have along the way, this is a good board with a very knowledgeable membership base.

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:34 pm
by Kris GTwhat?
i have a set of shifter cables from a 2.2 you can have cheap. they are hard to find new and expensive as hell

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:43 am
by scd88ga
Kris GTwhat? wrote:i have a set of shifter cables from a 2.2 you can have cheap. they are hard to find new and expensive as hell
I got him covered! :wink:

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:58 am
by Amateur
for sure KFLO 93 GT, I'll be sure to ask any questions i have, after all, Beretta related questions on a Beretta Forum, win win deal if you ask me :D ! I'll probably take you up on those mods you brought up, It keeps it lightly modified without going overboard, and it doesn't require serious $$$, which is always a plus in my book. First though, is bringing the car back to decent state of driveability. The shocks looks like it hasn't been changed in a long time, it rides like its on marshmallows right now, and the tires are nearly bald, plus the brakes are pretty worn out. Then again, I knew what i was getting myself into when i bought it-

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:46 am
by weba
I can use all the 2.2 shift cables you guys can find...

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:58 pm
by Chad91GTZ
Lol weba. What for?

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:19 pm
by Money pit Beretta
Great avatar. I also like the color of your car. Wheels are a bit strange.

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:55 pm
by Amateur
Thanks! yeah the wheels are just $14 hubcaps from pepboys. Its just a quick fix (bought the car hubcapless) to spruce it up a little and to hold it over until i can actually get a decent set of rims.

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:33 pm
by Money pit Beretta
Aftermarket or stock on the new ones?

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:58 am
by NMBeretta
I would just run with the steelies...lol

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:23 pm
by Amateur
Finally got around to upgrading a few things on the Car, pretty impressed on how it turned out. I got the GTU style side mirrors, a GTU spoiler, and a roof mounted antenna (for a more modern look to it). I have a set of energy suspension polyurethane front bushings that still have to go on, but I'm getting around to it. Overall my goal is to keep the car looking subtle and very clean. What I still need to do is get a set of 16" rims, and tune the handling for autocross (my ultimate goal for this car). It'll involve eibach springs, kyb gr-2 struts, kyb gas-a-shocks, and a rear sway bar finished off with a rear strut bar, matched with better rotors and brakes to round off the package. I'd go for handling and steering feel over speed any day. The engine won't get much attention.

Image
Image
Image

...And a quick shot of the antenna

Image

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:17 pm
by felixGTU
The upgrades turned out great. Very nice. I was planning on adding GTU mirrors to mine but not so sure about the look.

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:54 pm
by Amateur
Hey thanks, I know what you mean about the mirrors. They seem to work on a base beretta, but i think they look a little out of place on a z26. Then again, it all comes down to personal preference-

Re: My Beretta

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:45 pm
by Wanako
that's the GTU spoiler I sold you. nice!! glad to see you already have it on. Since you're going for handling, I suggest you upgrade the brake system as well while you're doing your suspension.

If you're going for autocross I suggest doing an N-body front brake swap. Here's the how-to:
N/F body Front Brake swap

You can either do a combination of N-body and F-body hardware and it'll give you the best stopping performance, but you'll need 17" wheels minimum, or keep it all N-body for upgraded performance and you'll fit the 16" wheels you want. Be careful though, this setup will need a dual-bolt pattern wheel. The new pattern for the front will be 5x115 but I've been told many a time by a few members that 5x114.3 will fit, which is considerably easier to find.


There is also the option of converting the rear drums into rear disks:
Neon rear disk upgrade
This will keep the same stock bolt pattern of 5x100. It also looks tits.

I think you car may have an internal rear sway bar, which I hear is ok but what you want is to also install a solid external rear sway-bar. You can either get one from an '88 Beretta GT or get an aftermarket Addco one. I hear the Addco one is thicker and stiffer but will cost significantly more.

Good luck!

:friends: