I have a 98 cavalier z24 with a manual transmission and has about 140,000 miles on it and I’m wondering how much abuse they can handle because I plan on racing it a little and I’ve been told they aren’t too strong of a motor and can’t handle that kid of abuse

 

i have a 98 Z24 to with over 170,000 miles and it still runs great

 

the motor is strong, as long as its been taken care of. Its the tranny you have to worry about. The Isuzu gearbox is a well known POS

 

If you have 140k on the engine and tran already you may want to consider a swap before doing any internals. If you count on just beating the car to hell as it is, I'd have a 2nd form of transportation lined up. As it is stock, the cavalier can take some tough treatment, just dont take it too far. I've done some racing and stuff in my 01 with 70k miles but i keep it very well maintained too.