trans swap questions.

[xxcooljay23xxg5]

Having the auto, only having 4 gears, Why didnt i get a stick? Right now im kicking myself in the A$$ but its all good i had my reasons at the time. Now im interested in a few trans things and had a few questions before i start into my research on small nitrous shots and well, this.

I've seen a couple things about Gm coming out with a new 6 speed Auto Trans for some different cars in the coming year. IE. Saturn Aura, G6 I forget if its on the base or the GXP, i know the GXP comes in a 6speed manual? Anyhow, to the question, Would it be possible to make a trans swap from the 4 speed to the 6 speed auto. And what would be the difficulty. this is something im not expecting to be easy, but a bigger project im interested in lookin into.

[dduffy2005]

Well..... It would be in the thousands! First you'd have to find out if the tranny would fit the engine and the engine craddle then there is a good possibility that you'll be costumizing a lot of parts, not just welding stuff together but spending a fair amount of time at a machine shop. Now lets say you get it in and you want to start it.... Now you're going to have to find a a way to control it (ECU). There are a lot of factors to this whole thing. You will definitly need a car to drive while you're working on this because it won't be a weekend project and if it is then you sir should be working at NASA.

[xxcooljay23xxg5]

yea def clears taht up a bit. Just something im looking into, but def not having my hopes set on. Still just bugging cuz of the whole 4 gear thing. really seems im at capital race way in maryland every so offen, Soon i get through part of 3rd and especially 4th its a huge drag.

[dduffy2005]

Just make sure you do your research. Also have the right tools and time for the job. good luck on your search

[06Pursuit]

i think it could be done. People said that the 3800series into the J-Body's was impossible but it happend, now its a common swap. Just do lots of research and take your time.

[gibsonj4]

Buy a new G5? Idk man newer cars are hard to do major upgrades with because not many people at all have done them.

A tranny upgrade just isn't worth it. You can run times just fine with the 4-speed unit... just start making more power... buy a shift kit and a tranny cooler. More gears does not always mean faster. More gears in an auto means more time spent shifting... and more weight... which are not your friends.

The 4-speed unit in the G5/Cobalt is a fine tranny... it will handle plenty of power... just sock it in there.

SilverStreak added 6 Minutes and 0 Seconds later...

Also... typically with a 6-speed unit (and some 5-speeds) the last 2 gears are overdrives... which aren't good for racing anyways. So going to a 6-speed would leave you with 4 positive ratio ( > 1:1) gears... which is only a gain of one gear from what you have now (4-speed with 3 > 1:1 & 1 OD).

Heck... if you get technical... 4th in the SS/SC is 0.89:1... so it's overdrive for us... so we really only have 3 gears that are > 1:1 anyways.

Just saying... more ain't always better. A 6-speed would increase your highway mileage... but it wouldn't really make you much faster.

[gibsonj4]

x2 really the only thing you need to worry about is keeping your transmission temperatures down and like silverstreak said, a trans cooler will do that for u.

[Red07SSNA]

No one has mentioned the TCM/ECM fun you'll have trying to swap out an auto for a manual. There are a number of sensors in the tranny and you'd end up with CELs unless you can figure out a way to fool the TCM/ECM!

[gibsonj4]

That goes back to our wonderful OBD-II computers and how many damn sensors we have in our cars.