You bring up quite good points there. I don't know if the daily driver would see the effect of it, but I have been told in the past that racers put the alternator on the driveshaft so that there isn't so much drag on the front of the engine where the engine isn't at an advantage.

Also, about the voltage drop, from small engines, I know that is devastating on your top end. I assume it would be the same with a car.


Regards,

Thomas

Alright, the next thing that I will bring up is the ignition system, I have had good luck with Bosch +4's, but many people haven't. If you don't want to chance it, go AC Delco, they will always work. But if you want to try something new, you can see if Bosch's will work for you too. Again, many here hate them. Don't use Bosch +4's on the 4-cyl Cavalier. EVER.

I also have been looking at a capacitor discharge ignition module, and I was wondering if anyone here has used them or had any luck with them. What a capacitor discharge ignition does is it goes between the coil and the distributor and boosts the spark. MSD makes one that I have seen many people use on sports cars. So, I was wondering, if it works there... could it work on our 4.3's. And if you have a 350 w/o CDI then shame on you. SHAME!!!! (just kidding).

Regards,

Thomas

well heres my knowledge and what ive done to my 96. i have a CAI with a K&N filter and it helps alot, i removed the little screen thing from the MAF (less restriction IMO) ive got bosch +4s and i dont have any issue with em, AC DELCO wires (obvious reason), every light on the inside has been changed to LEDs, havent changed the cat but i do have straight pipes, not true duals just Y'd off from the cat. from what ive done so far ive noticed a difference in hp and gas milage from when i got it stock till now. i do have a few questions though, would a set of SS headers and a throttle both spacer make a difference? i imagine the headers will a little but what about the spacer, ive heard several different things...

You don't have to worry about fouling the MAF on the 95's and prior =)

-sprays oil everywhere-

Do not use a TB spacer on the 4.3 MFI, the 4.3 is already severely asthmatic in the top end.

I am using Bosch 4+'s on my Blazer, but the guy at Napa said if you put them on the 2.2SFI it will melt the tops of the pistons -- I didn't want to find out so I got AC Delcos for the Cavalier. As far as headers, all I know is you'd need shortys. I have heard back and fourth on if they actually help this engine, it sounds pretty healthy as stock so I don't know if there is a lot more to be done with it.

I don't really know that the actual performance of headers would outweigh the cost of the headers. CAI in conjunction with an aftermarket muffler creates a slight increase in power and mpg. And throttle body spacers I'm not sure about, thought about gettin one till I read this thread but now it seems all I'd be doing is throwing good money after bad.
Just my :icon_twocents:

now with a set of shortys, they should bolt right up with no cuttuin or anything right?

I'm pretty sure I've read that they will just bolt up, but I wouldn't count on it -- it is pretty cramped in there. I also read that you need special spark plug boots but I have no idea why. I am interested in if anyone here has done that to see if they work for this engine.

Some of my friends used shorty headers with no issues that i'm aware of. Another friend of mine went with a high performance balancer plus an under drive pulley, switched out the stock fan for elec. He's also running mallory ign plus the holley tb.

On my last blazer I ran msd ign, with msd coil, air raid tbi spacer, ran great but didn't notice a difference when I removed the msd 6a ign box. I have had many tech tell me that if your ign system is working good then the second strike ign isn't really needed.

So now on this blazer, I'm staying with the stock fan and shroud, will be switching to bosch 4's, currently running a hd balancer. I am planning to upgrade to a msd ign coil, only the coil not the ign box, cherry bomb vortex muffler, shift kit for the tranny, and switch to a synthetic oil just not sure which one yet.

I wouldn't do that shift kit...