Matt said:
Hi and welcome from me.
What car do you have at present?
LOL I have 5 today ... but the one that would be of the most interest to you guys is a 2005 Chevy Cavalier (not to be confused with the vauxhall cavalier). It is a front wheel drive economy car. Starting in 2003 they all came with the l61 engine which is essentually the same as the Z22SE from what I know, except we don't have EGR stuff to worry about. The car also comes with a f23 getrag.
I know th engines quite well. I've built a few race motors, a few turbo set ups (including 3-4 of my own), I have also designed and sell a few various parts for them, and just generally love the engine, which is why I'm so obsessed with the Speedster. It has my favorite engine, mid mount, RWD in an incredibly light frame. The only other option I can think of would be the Arial Atom ... and thats not very practical 🙂
On that vien of thought, I'm still reading through all the stuff about timing chains. Over here we don't have to worry about them at all, it's actually part of the sales lititure. They claim the chain never needs servicing. I know the earlier models would occasionally snap chains due to the oil squirting getting plugged. The solution for us is to just replace the squirter with a later model one. I think the last time I bought one it was about $50 (so about 25£).