Hi Everyone, I'm A New Member Of The Forums, But I Have Been Reading Them For A Long Time.

I'm A Vw Tech, But I've Been A Chevy Guy All My Life.

I Have A 2005 Cav Sedan 2.2 Eco That I Recently Spun A Bearing In, After Some Consideration I Decided To Drop An Le5 In. I Purchased A Cobalt Ss Non-sc
Motor With 4834 Miles With Harness And Computer For $1000. I'm Waiting Till Next Week To Put It In During My Vacation Time. The Question I Have Is, Does Anyone Have Any Tips That Might Save Me Some Time, And Does Anyone Know What The Limits Are On The 4t40e Trans. The Ss Was An Auto But It Was Already Sold. I Do Plan To Turbo Later And At 2864 Lbs It Should Be A Rocket.

Thanks

 

I would check www.Ecotecforum.com for some more advise for this project. Good luck though

 

Damn, you got a ******* DEAL on that engine!

 

x2...good luck on the project....sound like it could be could....especially if you turbo it :P

 

You sir are in for trouble. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can not simply drop an LE5 into a car made for a L61. They have completely different engine wiring harnesses, and different ECM computers. You can't just throw the correct ECM in with the engine either, because it is incompatible with the rest of the car.

I hate to say it, but it will cheaper for you to sell you LE5, and just get a new L61.

 

bad news always sucks. I was pretty interested in this thread until HalfCent went and ruined it for everyone, lol. Thanks alot HalfCent! j/k man, at least you saved him the trouble and gave him fair warning!! yikes!

 

The 2.4's ECO is integrated with the TCU to the point that you need to swap ot EVERYTHING! You best go back and pull everything out of that 2.4 cause your gonna need it.

 

I DID ALOT OF RESEARCH BEFORE HAND. MY 05 CAV USES THE 4T40E (MN4) WERE AS THE 06 BALT USES THE 4T45E (MN5). BOTH TRANS USE THE SAME WIRING VALVE BODIES AND TCMS. THE ONLY DIFFANCE IS THE PROGRAMMING. THE DEALERSHIP I WORK WITH IS ALSO A BOTIE DEALER.ONCE THE MOTOR IS READY IM GONNA REFLASH ME TCM WITH THE BALTS BASE PROGRAM, SO I SHOULD BE OKAY

 

No, they don't.

The Cavalier used a combined PCM module to run both the engine and the trans. The Cobalts use separate ECM and TCM modules.

It's not the TCM that's going to be your problem, because your don't even have a TCM. It's the PCM. You have the P11 PCM computer in your 2005 L61 Cavalier. That computer simply doens't have the ability to run the LE5 engine. It just won't work.

And as I said, your can't swap the E67 ECM into the car, because the rest of the car's electronics won't be able to communicate with it. And you would no longer have a transmission controller.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, or sound arrogant. But I'm right. You will not be able to make this work. Trust me.

 

Didn't Mean Any Disrespect Halfcent, I Apreciate The Input. I Double Checked My Sources And Found That The Toppinc Was About An Older Modle. My Car Is A Base Model With No Abs,cruise, Or Power Windows, Ect. The Only Thing I Think Will Conflict Are The Airbag System And The Cluster(is It Its Own Control Module).the Airbag System Should Still Function But Will Set A Light For No Comunication. Sence Its Only Got Front Air Bags, Does Anyone Know If The Solstice Airbag Module Is Conpatible. Also I Called The Junkyard. The Have The Tcm And Harness But No Trans, So I'll Pick Them Up And Keep Searching For A Tranny.

 

Why do you need a trans? The 4t40 will fit the LE5 engine. You don't need a 4t45e.

There is one possibility for making this work that I thought of last night. You need to keep your stock computer (and transmission), and use a piggyback to control just the engine. AEM just came out with a brand new engine controller with VVT abilities. It has been tested on Cobalts, and they make harnesses for specific applications, but they wouldn't have one for the Cavalier. It doens't matter really, you would just have to splice the wires yourself.

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/tuning-131/aem-fuel-ignition-controller-59843/

 

The only alternative he sees is a complete swap, including the transmission, engine, and all the control system and harness. NJ requires inspections every 2 years, that might be something he is worried about. If this is what he is thinking, I don't know if this is possible, but the 4t40 and 4t45 seem very similiar, is there anyway he can get the controller from a cobalt 2.4 to work with this transmission?
I think there maybe another second option in addition to Halfcents (although his way appears better). There are after market transmission controllers available for the 4t40. If he uses a engine harness from a manual transmission 2.4L engine and combines it with a after market transmission controller, would this work?

None the less, there are many ways he could go about this, he actually does have options although most of them wont be smooth sailing and he will have to figure out things along the way.
If I was him, I would try to save as much money as possible and that means keeping as many stock components as possible, hence why I asked if its possible to use the Cobalts SS 2.4 4t45 transmission controller with a 4t40.

 

talked to one of the chevy techs at work today, he suggested using thecobalt ecm, tcm, cluster, and airbag modules from the balt and repinning the connecters. do you know of any problems i might run in to? also, i've been searching fo a phoe # or e-mail address for aem with no success, do you know any way to contact them?

thanks guys

 

I say bolt a LSJ head and supercharger to that bad boy and let er rip but im kinda bias.

 

Well that sounds familer.

What do you need AEM for?

 

Okay, lets step back a moment folks. You are now trying to make this engine work on this car without regard for the expense. Let's ask again. Are you just trying to get the car working again, or do you specifically want an LE5 engine in a Cavalier? Because honestly, with everything you would have to do to make this work, it will be MUCH cheaper to just get the correct engine. And you wouldn't be getting that much more power by putting an LE5 in there anyway.

You are forcing it. I realize you already have the engine and want to make it work. But start thinking about dollars. It will be cheaper for you to just sell the LE5 engine and get an L61.

 

id have to say i agree with 1/2 PENNY if your just trying to put a motor in there just to be able to drive the car then why not just put a L61 back in there.

 

He's trying something different and if he can aford to do it I say more power to him! But if he starts it I hope he doesn't quite when it gets hard cause it will.

He'll be the first one to do it which IMO is cool!

 

My question is, if you're planning for a turbo down the line anyway, why not just stick with another Cavalier L61 and turbo that??????? It's simple, straightforward, and everything is guaranteed to work with the car - no swapping this computer for that, trying to get everything to agree with each other. Besides, I thought the 2.2 Cavaliers were able to be tuned using HP tuners. You're really only getting 30 more hp and way more in headaches cramming the LE5 in there.

If GM can mod it up to 1400hp I don't see any need to go with something else. If you wanna be unique, go for it! But if you're just looking for a cheap/easy way to get the car up and running and eventually turbo it, I think Halfcent is right and the L61 is the way to go.

 

In Part I Do Want The Le5 For Something Diffenet, But I Also Want The Added Stregnth From The Gen2 Block And The Forged Internals. Gm Doesn't Recommebd Using The L61 Rods Over 250 Crank Hp, I Realy Dont Need The Car Emediately, Once I Pull The L61, I'll Replace The Crank And Rods In My Spare Time, And Eather Put It Back In If Things Get To Hairy Or Use It For A Nother Project.

Also Every Turbo Kit For The L61 I've Found Was For Manuel Only, And Every One Ive Spoken To Can't Tell Me Why Or What I Need To Do To Convert To An Auto Even Hahns Cav Kit Is Stick Only

 

Okay, so you are interested in turbo. Then you should know that the Garrett / Hahn turbo kit will NOT fit your Cavalier, manual or auto. You would have to go completely custom with that.

HP Tuners does in fact support your P11 ECM in your Cavalier, and you would be able to tune the shift patterns of the trans. The Hahn Cavalier turbo kit doesn't bolt right up to the automatic for two reason. First, the plumbing, second, the tuning. So what you could do is buy the kit, run some custom plumbing (which you would have to do anyway with an automatic), and then tune it yourself. But all of this is done with an L61 engine.

Nobody made turbo kits for the automatic Cavaliers because the mindset at the time was that a tuner market meant having a manual trans, so they didn't even consider the auto. That has since changed.

 

Well, As Thick Headed As I Am, You Finaly Crached Me. I Called The Yard I Got The Motor From And There Going To Credit Me Back For The Motor Sences Its Still In The 30 DAY Warrenty. Instead There Going To Give Me An L61 From An 05 Balt And $400 Back. I Talked To One Of The Sales Guys At Work And Gm Is Gaonna Run There 0% APR Deal Starting July 4th, And I Can Get The 07 G5 Gt On The Lot For Just Over $17k, So I'll Get My Le5 And Skip The Communication Problems.

Thanks Everybody For Keeping From The Nightmare I Was Getting My Self Into

 

Sounds like a straight up pain in the ass to the point where its not really worth it and I should just buy a brand new car project.

 

I have (well am in the process of puting it in ive been delayed thanks to the military) a LE5 short block in my REDLINE (I have a more specific mod list on my sig.) and let me tell ya ive already run into more then my fair share of little **** ya off kind of issues. its nothing that I cant fix or get fixed but it does suck when things dont go as planed. thats the part of custom swaps of any kind though.

 

argh.

ryan.