I hate to say it, but either the person who sold it to you was lying or the powertrain had been severly abused. I could see a car randomly spinning a bearing, or having a trans pop in that mileage from bad luck- but both at about the same time?

 

I hope you're wrong but the car is mine now! It has been running really good and I have no complaints. It took me to Philly and back. Regardless, I still have my doubt about the SC. I'm leaning towards turbo, but because it's an expensive add on I've been taking my time making a decision. In the mean time, I've been making upgrades to the car so when the time comes it's all good to go.

 

Oh, one thing to keep in mind about the transmission from the donor car....
Assuming that the car is an 04+ (the donor) and yours is an '02, the transmissions won't necessarily be compatible.
They made some changes to the valvebody and some other stuff around '03, and there is a cutoff point as to which cars can use which transmission.
Tripleedgeperformance.com had the information listed, i'd peek around and see what info is there and if you have any further questions email that guy. He's probably the only person I would trust as far as transmissions go.

-Riggs.

 

If I do a top swap I won't be using the donor car's trans. Only if I replace the whole thing. I'm still debating what I would like to do since I might just install a turbo and call it the day.

 

A turbo is a better idea IMO. The sky's the limit with those things. Take your time though, and do your homework.

 

You're totally right about taking my time. That's an expensive, labor intensive (for me anyway) proposition. I've been looking for about 6 months and I'll probably take longer since winter is coming. Probably go with the Z3 kit and then go from there. I've already did a few mods to the exhaust and intake, and the T-stat so the car should do fine with the kit once the kit and the new, tuned PCM are installed. But I agree with you that turbo is the way to go, just not anything bigger than the Z3.