No matter what I do, it's still a Cavalier.

[HooWybrow]

Broke oil pan #3 since May last night. So I said fuck it. Car is not coming back out unless it can genuinely handle being this low all the time.

Here's the plan of attack.

-Rotate the engine, bringing the back of the engine/diff/oil pan up hopefully 1-2"
-Pick up my previously cracked pan from the bead blaster, and modify the ever-living hell out of it.
-Make a new skidplate as a (hopefully unrequired) last line of defense.

This might wait til the car is away for the winter, but build a new subframe, raising the inboard side of the control arms approx 1-2". At this time I'm not totally certain this is going to be possible, but I'm certainly willing to look into it.

Got the subframe out tonight, pulled the exhaust and downpipe, I/C pipes and the intake. Everything that needs to be moved or modified when the engine is rotated is now out of the way.

Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday the engine will be mounted in its new orientation, and I can get the fab work started to redo the necessary piping attached to certain engine parts.

I seem to have lost my camera for now, so no pics just yet, sorry fellers.

[HooWybrow]

Btw, forgot to mention.

Ordered new wheels today.

17x10 +25 all around. No big.

[244Brick]

NO Biggie!!!! WAY BIGGIE

[HooWybrow]

Haha, I guess. I'm really really excited to have wheels that you can see the brakes through, and that are mighty concave.

[244Brick]

now you know it's not true unless u post pictures

[milano_red]

yea I wanna see! but the vette wheels look so sick!

[HooWybrow]

The wheels won't be here for a few weeks, but once they do there will be lots of pics. I have yet to decide on tire size, so that's all to come.

I like the vette wheels too, but I wanted something more aggressive. Something a little harder to fit.

Ps, I also have camber plates on the way. So much to share since the forum died for a few days!

[MikeScott]

[HooWybrow]

Got some work done tonight, been humming and hawing the last few days about how to go about this, and I finally have decided/taken the leap. Started off by carefully cutting out the rear transmission mount on the body. Then started mocking in the engine. Bolted in the front trans mount and the main engine mount. Quickly found out when i brought the diff up with the jack, the engine does not sit square to the body, which i expected.

Front transmission mount will have to be cut off and moved back - not the end of the world. Next matter at hand, with the engine lightly rotated, there is a nub on the trans that hits the frame rail. I'm quite certain that moving the trans back will resolve this issue, but if not, I'll have to do a small notch in the frame, again, not the end of the world.

I'm really hoping to have the engine back in tomorrow. Mounts welded up for good and all. That might be a bit of a pipe dream, but we'll see.

This little prick was an absolute asshole to get out:





Said angle:



The frame rail area in question.



Anyways, well on my way. Might even run again this weekend. We'll see.

[ScrappinBeretta]

all you need to do is ditch the side moldings and do Malibu door handle swap, and itll loks way cleaner.

its deff lookin good man.

[98z24ragtop]

^^ Nice pink mud flaps...

Can't wait to see more progress on this one!

[BigRuss]

May be a Cavalier but its a bad ass Cavalier

Seriously who farted

[HooWybrow]

all you need to do is ditch the side moldings and do Malibu door handle swap, and itll loks way cleaner.

its deff lookin good man.

Thanks dude, but personally I like the mouldings, and the door handle thing doesnt really flow with the car, it's round and bubbly now, and so are the door handles.

^^ Nice pink mud flaps...

Can't wait to see more progress on this one!

Thanks dude

May be a Cavalier but its a bad ass Cavalier

Seriously who farted

Thanks - and it was me


Worked for hours on end Thursday night, and got seemingly nothing done. God, I **** these kinda nights.

Started out by pulling the engine again, and removed the front trans mount. I then reinstalled the engine, finding the next step was to notch the rear pinch weld on the frame rail, so the trans mount can come up.

After dinking around with all that I finally got the engine to sit how I want.

After sitting and staring for a few minutes, I decided to close the hood and check some shit out. To my surprise there is a tonne of room between the valve cover and hood. Opportunity.

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, that, if they pan out, I'll be raising the engine straight up at least an inch and still be able to close the hood.

Okay, pics.











I've just now realized that pictures of the engine make it look absolutely no different from stock location. I assure you, it is. Just eye-balling but I would say the diff has come up about 2".

Fucking car........

I will hopefully go out and get the engine raised up today, notching various parts of the frame rail and others as I go. Hopefully get a start on the mounts and be able to take the jack stands out, etc.

[ScrappinBeretta]

i guess , but i ***** them, i did them on my other cav and made it look much nicer.

[HooWybrow]

Had a real good afternoon/evening at the shop, finally felt like I got something accomplished. Modified the rear trans mount and got it welded back on the car. Rotated it 90* around the trans mount and then notched it to hug the frame rail, welded, painted and all the good shit.

The engine will be raised a total of 1.5" and has also been rotated approx 30 degrees. The differential has come up, I would guess, about 3 inches. I had to notch the drivers frame rail to accomodate part of the transmission.

The passenger engine mount bracket is currently cut down 1.25", it is ghetto rigged right now for mock up. I will be fabricating a completely new bracket that will be shortened a total of 1.5"

I'm real happy with how it is starting to shape up







The notch, will be forming a boxed notch to weld in here to restrengthen the frame rail.





The current ghetto setup engine mount:



Some general engine position pictures:












On an unrelated note, blackhoused my headlamps since I've ordered black wheels, I figured I needed to tie them into something





And picked up some new seats, Civic SiR seats



Will hopefully have the front trans mount done tomorrow, and then I can start putting things back together.... I hope.