Beretta.net

That's a lot of work for some very slim power gains on the ln2. Then again I'm not one to talk. I'm ball parking my blueprinted engine at $3k for a naturally aspirated figure of 140ish hp which I'm hoping to complete by the end of 2015.

*Blows dust off thread* Okay, not a lot of action recently as winter sucked but now everything is turning warm again.


I did sell my cavalier to my stepdad and bought myself a 2003 sunfire instead last month as my new DD.


Now the Beretta has been seeing some love lately. I put in new pads and brakes on the front. I put in a new drivers headlamp. I also have been prepping the car for autocross. Now there are decibel sound limits at autoX and since my beretta's muffler imploded on itself from rust alongside the back half of my exhaust piping, my car sounded like a formula one car from the movie Rush (in case you haven't seen the movie, really really loud). I took the car to my trusty exhaust shop and got some new piping, hangars, and a muffler put on. I upgraded the muffler with a dual tip outlet as I'm in the process of putting a Z26 kit on it.




I'm installing the kit piece by piece and currently the car is 5 different colors in all lol. The reason I haven't installed the side skirts is because I need to get a driver's side door and there needs to be some rocker panel repair done on the passenger side. I want to take car of that before that tiny rust hole gets bigger. From there the side skirts can get fitted on and then the next step is a full on paint job to get the car looking good as new.




Mechanically, the car is still as strong as ever except I'm waiting for my new OEM ACDelco positive terminal battery cable to come in the mail as the one on it has seen better days. I also popped open the valve cover to make sure my Comp Cams rockers are in good order. Checked the rods and rechecked the rocker nut torque specs now that I've put a few thousand miles to make sure it's all good in the hood in there.

didn't you spend $2000 in a top with recent water pump work? That step parent must be a good person!

didn't you spend $2000 in a top with recent water pump work? That step parent must be a good person!

He's awesome for sure, it's just his Chevy Blazer has been going downhill quick these past few months that it isn't even worth putting in the money to fix all the issues. I just sold him my J-body at a discount so he wouldn't be car-less, and got myself a different j-body.

What's in that Sunfire?

03+ got the 2200 beast engine.

In this case an Eco could have been a step up. Not often that you would hear that from me.

In this case an Eco could have been a step up. Not often that you would hear that from me.

2003-05 Jbody's all have the Ecotec as their only standalone engine. I like the powerband on it and the fact that it has an all aluminum block/head, but I'm definitely keeping an eye out for timing chain noise. These engines are notorious for failing timing chains that end up ruining everything as they are interference engines.

Dang I thought it had an Eco and should have known that. Yes, when you hit 150k chain replacement is called for by GM. Or when you start getting noise, just know that some do have chatter on start up(mine has a little at 50k).
If you want to do any bolt on stuff feel free to ask. Got a few myself and have read about a few others(there is not as much as you would think). A DC Sports strut tower bar is the only good one you can get(Vibrant is just for show). I couldn't get a stock bar to fit my 04.
By the way you are going to hate the oil filter.

Why hate the oil filter? I've had two and love the design. It's easy and relatively clean. All you need is that low profile 32mm socket which is now readily available.

Hard to find one that doesn't smash and the fact that the cap is ABS(could strip out easy or leak). It's not easy to presoak that filter and fill the cavity, so you must run dry for a short time.

Well, I've decided to prep for a new motor on my old warhorse. She still drives fine, possibly in need of a new motor mount. The 2.2 normally sounds like farm equipment but it's sounding a little more chatty than usual lately (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PKnFxLPqw) and I figure it's about time to give her a new lease on life. My first Cayenne Red Beretta lasted my until 130k before it killed itself and had me running on just 3 cylinders with horrific knocking. This one has done good touching 180K.


Now I did some serious thinking what I want to do but now I just don't even know anymore man. Initially I was dead set on a stroker kit from 88mm to 91.2 mm. The dealbreaker here is the obvious price but more importantly, it's going to slow my revs down which I'm not to keen on. The 2.2 isn't a revver by any means, but the head will get beefier springs to avoid my current valve float situation at anything greater than 6k rpm.

I also though about slipping in the vortec 2200 pistons in the 2.2 which would bump my compression to at least 10.8-11.8 (I'd have to verify this to get a better idea) but that's a recipe for disaster as I'd have to beef up the block to take it plus all the jazz to make sure the engine doesn't knock and the ecu retards my timing to negate everything.

I also thought about retrofitting a vortec 2200 in there. I know this can be done with minor tweaks to the wiring harness. Two things off the top of my head is modifying the harness for the crank position sensor and the fuel injectors. the 2200 has a different camshaft for more midrange torque, the crankshaft is notched differently to advance the timing by .450", and the exhaust ports are smaller and it has a revised intake runner. The head is also a heart shaped chamber and the piston has a shallower dish with a longer skirt. The rockers also don't have guides and if I'm correct, should have a roller tip setup from the factory. All this equals to a 115hp/ 135lb ft vs. my 2.2 @ 120hp/ 130lb ft.

Last but not least is sticking a new 2.2 remanufactured engine in there. This engine is not perceived as a performance mill by any means but it is well engineered IMO. This generation II 2.2s have a roller cam, sequential port FI, narrower rods compared to gen I, and a light piston design with a slipper skirt coming in at less than 312 grams. It has a 9:1 comp ratio, which I would probably bump up to at least 9.5:1 through either a thinner gasket, milling the head a little or just a shallower piston dish. I really like the engine and could easily increase the performance of it through the FDR gearing.

ahhhh, first world problems.

Reman with mods. Maybe boost...

Reman with mods. Maybe boost...

Boost would require me to run a standalone to tune it properly, probably a megasquirt setup.

http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/pts/4942312754.html

This guy is selling parts from a 2200 which wouldn't do me any good at this point until I figure out what my plan of attack is. Trust me, I'm constantly reminded by my car's face staring me down everytime I come back from work lol.