Engine transmission swap questions.

[spasticone]

I have a 98 sc 1 with 53K mi. that I purchased wrecked a long time ago. It has been rebuilt over the years to where it needs paint, windshield, and a couple of little tidbits. I find myself in a stupid situation. Now with a family of four, the coupe is not worth finishing. I am looking at a 96 sl2 with 136k mi in nice condition with a bad starter and potentially bad engine (obviously the guys knows his cars). My car is an auto sohc and the 96 is a dohc manual. I was looking for a sohc auto with a bad engine or tanny when this came up.
I'm very able to do the swap (either just the engine or engine and trans.) but would like to know more about my options. what fits... How much of the harness will it take to put the auto in the stick car.... ANY info would be great. I only see doom and dispair posts about automatics being horrible swaps when I search. can't be that bad...

[sierrap615]

you should log on to saturnfans.com for all the info you need, but in short....

first the transmission and the PCM should stay together. gear ratios changed several times over the years and different trans and PCM combo will not work, better to keep them together now then to fix a problem later. also a DOHC engine must mate to a DOHC trans and a SOHC engine must mate to a SOHC trans for the same reason. they will not cross mate because the fuel maps are different. as for the wiring, i'm not sure of all years but i know for a fact the 97s are this way and 96-early 99 PCM wiring are almost the same. the PCM will have 3 connectiors for a manual trans and 4 for a auto trans. the extra connectior should be everything needed for the PCM to the trans, something like in the link below.

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/sho...hp/photo/16888

as it goes for the fuse block and under hood wiring i don't know. and 96-98 and a few early 99 DOHC engines should interchange but you will most likey need to reuse your old manifolds. thats all i can remember for now...