Ol' Sooley loved himself a scattered stop light drag race back in the day with his 1997 Grand Am powered by the twin cam 2.4L I4 motor. He left the lights at Sobeys Square one night heading west on Topsail Road and got 3/4's of the way through the intersection when he heard a bang!

The motor called it quits and sent a connecting rod clean through the side of the block. I showed up and we got the car towed back to his house.

Earlier that summer Dad, Maffer and I swapped motor's in Mom's 2000 Z24 Cavalier which had the same engine as Sooley's Grand Am. The Cavalier motor had a tick and Dad figured it would get worse. Dad gave that motor to Sooley, as a tick is better then an engine with a big hole in the side, and we got to work.

Swapping the newer motor into the grand am was pretty straight forward. We had to re-drill and tap a knock sensor on the block as it was a slightly different size, but everything else was straightforward plug and play.

We had the motor installed and running in a weekend. That ticking motor lasted for years, and was still running fine when Sooley sold the car a few years later!