Hi,

Recently I've purchased a 2003 Monte Carlo LS. After a hundred issues with it, it finally blew a head gasket and I don't have the money to repair it.

So the question is, if I were to buy a 2001 Monte Carlo SS, could I put my 2003 LS transmission into the 2001 SS?

I'd be doing this because the 2001 SS needs a transmission and I have a 2003 LS transmission on hand.

Please respond as quickly as possible or give your input and credentials please. I don't want to make a bad purchase here.

Thank You!
~Alex

 

It wouldn't be plug and play, no. GM made electrical changes in 03 that would require some tweaking in the PCM to be backwards compatible.

Why don't you replace the head gasket? It would have to be cheaper than buying a new car.

 

Sounds very plausible... Does anyone else have any input or know of any easier way?

And the reason that I can't just replace the head gasket is because the head gasket blew due to over heating obviously. To repair the head gasket even myself would be $400 minimum. With repairing that, I'd still need to discover and fix the overheating problem. While discovering the overheating problem, it is pretty possible that I could end up blowing the head gasket again, or not find the problem at all. I might end up spending more money trying to fix the 03 LS with no success. (Money is very limited here) Also, I got an offer to buy the 01 SS for about $600 due to the transmission problem, so that could very well be the better option depending on what the process is to make that transmission transfer.

 

Easier way is get a replacement LS transmission, but you also need to do the head gaskets? You could do a 3800/4t65e swap.

Or get the other car, put a tranny in it, and hope it runs well.

 

My thoughts would be to price a transaxle for the '01 from a wrecking yard. Buy the '01, sell the '03 whole or part it out to recoup the cost of the transaxle and hopefully put a couple of bucks back in your pocket.

 

Well my LS transmission is fine, so I wouldn't need one. It's the 01 SS transmission that needs a replacement. And the 03 LS is the one with the head gasket issue. So your suggesting that I buy the 01 SS and put the engine in my 03 LS? Then would keeping the LS transmission work?

 

Sorry, I've just gotten into cars and all this handy work this year so I'm not sure bout everything. I looked it up and some people say a transaxle is the same thing as a transmission, other people so it's different. Could you explain it please? Sorry for the inconvenience...

But your saying, buying the 01 SS and getting a new transaxle for it, would fix the transmission problem?

I probably sound like an idiot, but we all gotta learn one day. Haha.

 

Your overheating issue came from a blown head gasket or warped head. Either way ditch the 3.4 IMO. Either go to the junk yard and buy a 3800 with a trans and install into your LS Monte or buy the ss Monte and buy a trans for it. Part your LS Monte out or try and sale whole to recoupe some cost.

If it were me I would ditch the LS completely and buy the ss and put a trans in it. Not the LS trans a good junk yard trans that is the correct trans for the car.

 

Thank you, those are some pretty good ideas. Question though, if I were to put the 3800 in my LS, the only parts that I would need to buy are the Engine obviously, and the transmission? Or are there some other expenses I'd need to look at?

 

Engine, trans, computer, and wiring harness for sure. I think you will need motor mounts, exhaust, coils but not sure. There maybe more also I don't know for sure I never did the swap.

What it comes down to is what car has better paint, rust free, interior and then fix the one that is in best shape is what I recommend doing.