How do I beat a Cavalier?

[luvscivics]

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.

[90civicrider]

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

[plkelley]

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.

[Marc-OS]

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

[slammed89civic]

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

[nemo_wolf]

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.

[MKS]

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

[slammed89civic]

nope, where talking about chevy cavaleir's

[lambo1]

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

[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.

[MKS]

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

[91civicDXdude]

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.

[civicHBsi91]

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

[mellowboy]

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

[mellowboy]

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.