Mods
-225/70r15 General Grabber AT2 Up front
-235/75r15 Provider Entrada out back
-Toyota steel rims
-5x100 to 5x4.5 Conversion wheel spacers
-3/4" Cutting board strut spacer lift (2 3/8" cutting boards)
-3" PVC snorkel
-Bed frame roof rack
-10 18 watt Roof mounted LED pods:
- 2 Front Spots
- 2 Front floods
- 2 left floods
- 2 right floods
- 2 rear floods
-Poor man's ratchet shifter
-Code 3 mastercom siren
-Whelen Vertex Hideaway strobes in the reverse lights
-Whelen Wig wag module running through the front pods
-Cobra 75 WX ST CB
-Little Wil Mag mount CB antenna
-Aukey DRO1 Dash cam
-$24 lawn mower battery
-15 watt solar battery tender
-DIY Poly Motor and torque arm mounts
-Oil catch can
-Extended transmission breather
-Exploder Transmission cooler
-interior drain plugs
-rear seat cushion delete
-cut fenders
-Sunfire door
-235/75r15 Provider Entrada out back
-Toyota steel rims
-5x100 to 5x4.5 Conversion wheel spacers
-3/4" Cutting board strut spacer lift (2 3/8" cutting boards)
-3" PVC snorkel
-Bed frame roof rack
-10 18 watt Roof mounted LED pods:
- 2 Front Spots
- 2 Front floods
- 2 left floods
- 2 right floods
- 2 rear floods
-Poor man's ratchet shifter
-Code 3 mastercom siren
-Whelen Vertex Hideaway strobes in the reverse lights
-Whelen Wig wag module running through the front pods
-Cobra 75 WX ST CB
-Little Wil Mag mount CB antenna
-Aukey DRO1 Dash cam
-$24 lawn mower battery
-15 watt solar battery tender
-DIY Poly Motor and torque arm mounts
-Oil catch can
-Extended transmission breather
-Exploder Transmission cooler
-interior drain plugs
-rear seat cushion delete
-cut fenders
-Sunfire door
Build story
This is a lifted, offroad Chevy Cavalier built for the Gambler 500, a 500 Mile off road rally for $500 cars.
It used to be my neighbor's daughter's car and he was looking to dump it. A cavalier wasn't my first choice but I wasn't going to say no to a $200 running and driving car. It had bad wheel bearings, a massive oil leak and a hole in the rim (still don't know how it held air). The dash pad wasn't really attached and the dash is so brittle it breaks apart, as is the case with most J bodies. It came with a stereo from 2000. Surprisingly the HVAC worked. It was used and abused and smelled like it would give me cancer so it got a full interior cleaning. Mold was found in the footwell. I helped him put the sunfire door on about a year or two before I got it. She had backed it into a pole while the door was open, destroying the door and bending the door post in the process. The new door was/is junk but was sorta straight.It sat too far forward so washers were stacked under the striker so it would latch. It never closed properly and leaked due to the bent hinge (I fixed it when I got it).
The jute padding was ditched as it holds water and rubber floor plugs installed before the interior was put back in. The airbags were removed as the low mounted module was susceptible to water damage and I know a team who had theirs go off, they pose more of a hazard than anything in a car like this.
The front has 27" General grabber ATs which are the biggest size that will fit this car without hitting the strut springs. The rear has 29" provider Entradas. I had them because I wanted to try to run 29s all the way around (29s are cheaper) but they wouldn't fit in the front without hitting literally everything. They work fine in the rear because they only go up and down. They are all mounted on standard 15" rims I found on Toyotas at the junkyard. Cavaliers use an oddball 5x100 bolt pattern so it has conversion spacers to allow the use of any 5x4.5 rim which is one of the most common bolt patterns. None of the tires were ever balanced but it only has a minor vibration at an indicated 75. Nobody knows for sure how fast it's going at that speed as the speedometer was never recalibrated. Despite a 3" increase in diameter the 2.2 Ecotec and 4t40e have no problem getting things moving.
The Snorkel is made of 3" PVC I got from a dumpster. It's painted black because it looks cooler. It runs through the stock airbox because I'm not a fan of oiled filters. On the roof is a rack made from bed frame angle iron. It's secured at 8 points and weight is transferred directly to the substructure.Mounted to it are 10 18 watt LED pod lights. The two forward centers are spots, the rest floods. Each direction has it's own switch, and all forward facing lights can be set to come on with the high beams. I always wanted to have 360* leds and a roof rack on a vehicle so I figured I might as well put it on this car. The front crash bar was spaced forward about an inch. This was mostly to make way for the 100 watt siren speaker. A mount was made to bolt to the bottom of the rad cradle and more bed frame angle iron welded on to provide some protection for the rad. This was a last minute addition since the bumper I wanted didn't pan out. The motor mount was collapsed and the engine was sitting an inch or two lower than it should so I filled it with 3m window weld for DIY poly mounts. The shift knob was missing when I got it and the stock knobs suck so I installed an ATV handle and brake lever. I call it the Poor man's ratchet shifter. It actually works very well. Front and center on the dash is a code 3 mastercom Siren. The center AC vents used to be there but the siren was more important. a pair of whelen vertex Hide away strobes are mounted in the reverse lights and a whelen wig wag module runs through the front LEDs. Basically anything I thought would be cool or fun I wired into this car. As far as gambler builds go it's pretty mild but it was built to be reliable. I drive it to and from every event. I drove it 9 hours to Tennesee and back, it'll sit at 77 all day long without breaking a sweat. Top speed is unknown, but the needle has hit 85 in it's current configuration. Loading a mini bike, tools, wood, camping gear, and a sunshade on the roof does reduce it's comfortable cruising speed.It's not done, it needs better skid plates, guards, rear fender work, and maybe a trailer hitch before the next event. If everything works out it will hopefully make it to the Mexico gambler.
It used to be my neighbor's daughter's car and he was looking to dump it. A cavalier wasn't my first choice but I wasn't going to say no to a $200 running and driving car. It had bad wheel bearings, a massive oil leak and a hole in the rim (still don't know how it held air). The dash pad wasn't really attached and the dash is so brittle it breaks apart, as is the case with most J bodies. It came with a stereo from 2000. Surprisingly the HVAC worked. It was used and abused and smelled like it would give me cancer so it got a full interior cleaning. Mold was found in the footwell. I helped him put the sunfire door on about a year or two before I got it. She had backed it into a pole while the door was open, destroying the door and bending the door post in the process. The new door was/is junk but was sorta straight.It sat too far forward so washers were stacked under the striker so it would latch. It never closed properly and leaked due to the bent hinge (I fixed it when I got it).
The jute padding was ditched as it holds water and rubber floor plugs installed before the interior was put back in. The airbags were removed as the low mounted module was susceptible to water damage and I know a team who had theirs go off, they pose more of a hazard than anything in a car like this.
The front has 27" General grabber ATs which are the biggest size that will fit this car without hitting the strut springs. The rear has 29" provider Entradas. I had them because I wanted to try to run 29s all the way around (29s are cheaper) but they wouldn't fit in the front without hitting literally everything. They work fine in the rear because they only go up and down. They are all mounted on standard 15" rims I found on Toyotas at the junkyard. Cavaliers use an oddball 5x100 bolt pattern so it has conversion spacers to allow the use of any 5x4.5 rim which is one of the most common bolt patterns. None of the tires were ever balanced but it only has a minor vibration at an indicated 75. Nobody knows for sure how fast it's going at that speed as the speedometer was never recalibrated. Despite a 3" increase in diameter the 2.2 Ecotec and 4t40e have no problem getting things moving.
The Snorkel is made of 3" PVC I got from a dumpster. It's painted black because it looks cooler. It runs through the stock airbox because I'm not a fan of oiled filters. On the roof is a rack made from bed frame angle iron. It's secured at 8 points and weight is transferred directly to the substructure.Mounted to it are 10 18 watt LED pod lights. The two forward centers are spots, the rest floods. Each direction has it's own switch, and all forward facing lights can be set to come on with the high beams. I always wanted to have 360* leds and a roof rack on a vehicle so I figured I might as well put it on this car. The front crash bar was spaced forward about an inch. This was mostly to make way for the 100 watt siren speaker. A mount was made to bolt to the bottom of the rad cradle and more bed frame angle iron welded on to provide some protection for the rad. This was a last minute addition since the bumper I wanted didn't pan out. The motor mount was collapsed and the engine was sitting an inch or two lower than it should so I filled it with 3m window weld for DIY poly mounts. The shift knob was missing when I got it and the stock knobs suck so I installed an ATV handle and brake lever. I call it the Poor man's ratchet shifter. It actually works very well. Front and center on the dash is a code 3 mastercom Siren. The center AC vents used to be there but the siren was more important. a pair of whelen vertex Hide away strobes are mounted in the reverse lights and a whelen wig wag module runs through the front LEDs. Basically anything I thought would be cool or fun I wired into this car. As far as gambler builds go it's pretty mild but it was built to be reliable. I drive it to and from every event. I drove it 9 hours to Tennesee and back, it'll sit at 77 all day long without breaking a sweat. Top speed is unknown, but the needle has hit 85 in it's current configuration. Loading a mini bike, tools, wood, camping gear, and a sunshade on the roof does reduce it's comfortable cruising speed.It's not done, it needs better skid plates, guards, rear fender work, and maybe a trailer hitch before the next event. If everything works out it will hopefully make it to the Mexico gambler.