I have a 4dr 2001 cavalier with a 5-speed transmission and a 2.2 liter
engine. I want to know what I can fairly easily do or add to it to get
better performance out of it. Specifically better torque, horsepower
etc. I don't want anything that's extremely obvious without popping
the hood.

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Request for Question Clarification by wengland-ga on 27 Sep 2004 14:05 PDT

What is your budget and skill with tools?  How much performance
increase do you want?

To increase horsepower and torque, you will need to move more fuel and
air in the front, and more exhaust out the back.

No specific suggestions, but from cheap to "ouch":

high-flow air filter
high-flow exhaust
Nitrous Oxide
Turbocharger
Intercooler with the turbocharger
Supercharger
increase engine size
High compression pistons
replace existing motor with V6 or V8

and so on.  From $20 to $20,000.  Once we know your skills and budget,
we can make more specific suggestions.

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Clarification of Question by rafikki-ga on 28 Sep 2004 05:56 PDT

Thanks for the interest.

For my budget, let me say this, I'm a college student. I'm planning on
working on it along, as I have time or money, so things like dropping
a new engine in, or reboring it, or even two to three thousand on a
super- or turbocharger, is out of my budget, not to mention skill
level. I have had some experience with working on an engine, and
haven't had any major problems, and am willing to learn more. I have
access to a fair range of tools, though nothing too specialized. I'm
not sure how to be more specific than that about the tools. I guess I
would say specifically for the budget, no more than 200 dollars at a
time. Thanks again, and feel free to respond for further
clarifications as necessary.

here's a good place to start looking:

http://cavalierconnection.com/online_catalog.htm

Cheap to no-cost options are things like advancing your ignition
timing, fabricating a cold air intake, replacing stock muffler with a
streight-through one.

as for turbos get a secondhand one from a wrecker or ebay for less then $200. 
intercooler should only cost you $10 or so.

getting all the pipework made up should only cost you arond $300 or so
if you get an exhaust guy to make it out of mild steel.