How do I beat a Cavalier?

Well... it's not the regular cavalier, It's a Z24. A buddy of mine has a 1990 Z24 with a 3.1 multiport engine. He beats me by at least a carlength every time. Both cars are 5speed. Unfortunately when it's stock against stock... he just roasts me. I thought I'd have a chance against a newer Z24 cuz they're 4cyls, but I got beat even harder when I raced against a 99. I'm runnning a 90 CRX with 160K miles. I haven't done any mods yet, but what can I do? I dont have a lot of $$$ to spend. Any quick suggestions as to what I could do to keep up? He doesn't have any mods on his car, but I'd love to beat him. Thanks guys.

I havent ever had a problem beating a cavalier. aka. CRAPALIER :flash:
Then again the driver coulda sucked. or it was a auto...

I'm not bashing cavaliers, infact there is a 91 Z24 sitting in my garage. just diddent want to get a war going on :)

I know cavy's arent very popular around here but im telling you, their quicker than you would think...I had a 98 base model 5 speed, around 120 horse and I could roll with some damn fast cars. The 99 Z24 is like 150 horse, and their geared really nice. Throw on an intake, exhaust, headers, and any other boltons you can get your hands on and it will definetly help.

Easy first mods to do are intake, header, and exhaust. Probably intake would be cheapest and easiest of the three. The other thing you could do is strip the interior, that could make you just a hair quicker. Or you could get a tune up and all fluids changed, that could free up a couple extra HP

dunno, i have beat 3 newer z24's but not by much

i concur with mar-os here ... take care of your intake first ... if your not entirely willing to keep that maybe a friend can lend you theirs for the race ... depending on where you live i would hold onto your stock airbox for smog checks ... Intakes are yer best bet for starting out.

then move on to some other things like exhaust.

when u say cavalier do u mean a vauxhall cavalier ???

nope, where talking about chevy cavaleir'shttp://www.creditunionautofinder.com/22350/22350g.jpg http://www.creditunionautofinder.com/22350/22350n.jpg

beat it with a bat...louisville slugger may work

I'm not talking about the base cavalier.... I'm talking about the Z24. For those of you who have beaten them (slammed, 90civicrider), there's no way that you did it with stock equipment. No stock civic is going to beat a Z24. Trust me.... I know because I saw how badly I got beat. I have a 90CRX si... pretty much the fastest stock civic in the 88-91 era and I cant beat them. It's not my driving either cuz I know how to drive very well and race of course too. So what do you 2 guys have that makes your civics fast? I'm not promoting Z's or anything.... it's just that they're pretty damn fast. I still love the sweet growl of my CRX. Unfortunately a stock one doesn't growl enough to beat a Z24.

hehe what about the stock civics we get here in the uk :)


hay i quite like that chevy looks quite sweet ... sadly we dont get them in the uk lol

i know for a fact that cavalier Z24's are fast. they also have one thing that hondas dont........TORQUE. I have two buddies, one with a del sol VTEC, one with a new Z24, both with I/H/E minor other mods. the Z24 beats the b16 del sol off the line and its neck and neck and the del sol finally pulls on the z24 @ about 110mph. If you have a d15, i would say there is no way in hell you could beat a z24 cavalier with any mods at all unless the cavi driver was a total moron.

what size rims are you running? instead of i/h/e you can spend probably the same and get a zex nitrous kit that will give you more hp for your buck than i/h/e if you want to beat one in the near future, even tho you think you can drive well you might not be able to, everyone can always get better, my friend with a 97 cx hatch beat a newer auto one and i dunno if he beat the older one, it was a very close race tho

I've beaten 2 cavs last year with my crx si with only an intake!! They're nothing special. both z24. Now since i'm running with a b16....i go for big v8s hehehe:p

Originally posted by luvscivics
I'm not talking about the base cavalier.... I'm talking about the Z24. For those of you who have beaten them (slammed, 90civicrider), there's no way that you did it with stock equipment. No stock civic is going to beat a Z24. Trust me.... I know because I saw how badly I got beat. I have a 90CRX si... pretty much the fastest stock civic in the 88-91 era and I cant beat them. It's not my driving either cuz I know how to drive very well and race of course too. So what do you 2 guys have that makes your civics fast? I'm not promoting Z's or anything.... it's just that they're pretty damn fast. I still love the sweet growl of my CRX. Unfortunately a stock one doesn't growl enough to beat a Z24.

It really depends on how u drive.

like mellowboy said it all goes on how u drive :)...


I know with my little d14 i can take most 1.6l cars with no probs at all . i can even keep up with a lot of 2.0l cars but i am pushing the engine a lot .... well not too much considering its a honda it revs very high.. i mean if it was another car and i reved it this high the thing would probly blow to little bits ... my engine red lines at 7k and goes upto 8 i imagine that the b16s go a little higher im not sure... anyway just to say my mates 944 redlines at 5k and i aint too much slower than him ... sure he beats me and quite well but then again he is running 2.5l engine hehe ..... i tell u wot when i race bigger cars and i stick with em ... they never elive me afterwards when i tell them im only running a 1.4 ... they tell me to go f**k myself and that im running at least a 1.6... after they do that i just ignore them :)

The older cavs with the I6 are actually slower than the newer ones with the 4cyl. The new Cavaliers have 155 lbs-ft of torque :eek: and something like 150 HP.. At the track by my place I've seen totally stock ones run 15.6.. Wich is a lot better than any stock 4th gen here in North America.


To the guy above: How many liters your motor displaces and how high it revs serve little to no relevance of how fast your car is.. Same with how many cylinders you have.. Doesn't matter.

Power to weight ratio and gearing are whats really important and why our Hondas stand any chance against any cars out there. :)

well i agree sure it has basically no relevence to the top speed of the car but i have found that my civic can match if not beat most cars in acceleration even cars that have around the same weight as me (i.e Vauxghall nova SRI 1.4 injection actually lighter than a civic but red lines at 5k).... ok i can guess i can but it down to the build quality of the engine but the main thing that stands out is the amount of revs it redlines at ..... i may be totally wrong i dont know... but when i am racing i know i use my revs to the full advantage ..... and i usually win :)

i also agree with the gear ratio...... but surly that is better if the engine can rev higher .... also i find cos the hondas r 16v and most other cars of the same year and of the same size engine r usually 8v makes a very big difference... so from my experience it is the high reving 16v engines that rule :)

i have never seen no 8v's is that a overseas thing? the smallest ive seen was a 12 valve

dun o the old 8valve engine is quite common over here in the UK ... there r not that many 12valvee engines ... only in newer cars




8 Valve ---- 2 valves per cylinder
12 Valve --- 3 Valves per cylinder
16 Valve --- 4 Valves per cylinder

(think thats right)

from what i have seem of the 12v engines they r shite lol

id beat it with a hammer...thats my $.02 anyway...


gunnmen01

Dude, you need to break out the kleenex box and just wipe up the tears. Facts are facts. No STOCK civic of any year is going to beat a Z24, unless the Z24 is running like crap or the driver is inexperienced. I know because I own a Z24 (2 of them in fact). One with the 2.8 V6 and the other with the 2.4 twin cam (yes... the 2.4 is faster). Just look at the numbers. Horse and torque are higher on the Z. The 2.4 twin cam goes 0-60 in 7.7 sec. I'm not sure about the quartermile, but when we're strictly speaking in terms of STOCK, you aren't going to beat a Z24. I'm not going to argue with the guys in this forum cuz, they compare nameplates based on modified vehicles. Makes no friggin sense if you ask me. It's kinda like cheating on a test in order to win..... know what I mean? When making judgements about which type of car is faster, all of the reputable sources (Motortrend, Car&Driver, Consumer Report) compare STOCK vehicles. You may have a better chance against a base cav. These other guys can piss and moan all they want and bitch about how they beat Z's, but they need to sink $$ into their civic to do it. In terms of comaparing the Civic/CRX nameplate to the Z24 nameplate, the Z24 is a faster car. There's no if's ands or buts about it. I know this from my own personal experience as both a Z24 owner and a previous CRX owner and the fact that the numbers don't lie. For those of you preparing to roast me...save your breath. Get a reputable magazine, look up the statistics and friggin get over it.:flipa:

First off, no one here said anything about a stock civic being faster than a Z24. Yes, some said they have beaten them but everyone knows that doesnt mean a whole lot considering driving skill is a very important factor. Second, any joe blow with a wad of cash can go buy a fast car and smoke a bunch of lesser cars. It takes an enthusiest to take that lesser car and beat the shit out of the faster car. Its not cheating on the test, its being prepared to ace it.

First off, no one here said anything about a stock civic being faster than a Z24. Yes, some said they have beaten them but everyone knows that doesnt mean a whole lot considering driving skill is a very important factor. Second, any joe blow with a wad of cash can go buy a fast car and smoke a bunch of lesser cars. It takes an enthusiest to take that lesser car and beat the shit out of the faster car. Its not cheating on the test, its being prepared to ace it.

well said!! :finger: