After of 3 years and 120.000km of fun and joy,recently broken water pump and a transmission that is about to give in.I decided to swap the motor/transmission and make the sedan a fun toy.

My question is what motor should I swap it for(year) and what transmission since they are different when it comes to ECM.
It's a 2004 sedan,not the 2004.5 so I believe I don't have the "standalone" ECM (don't have full control of gear when in tiptronic mode)

Upgrades/replacement
I will look for a motor with under 100km.
What things do you guys suggest changing on the motor before swapping it in?

For the transmission:should I rebuild the current one with stage 10 kit or get another transmission and put a shift kit it in an call it a day?

Time/budget: 3000-4000$ with a month of time that I can live without the G.

All advice will be appriciated.
Thanks you

 

Are you doing the work yourself? What's your skill level?

Are you looking for a VQ35HR or VQ37HR type of swap, or something a bit more exotic like an M45 engine or an LSx/6-spd swap?

 

Sorry for not replying,crazy busy at work
Swap and taking the tranny out will be done by me.
Skill level?I would say 7
I can upgrade my VB by my self,probably

VQ35HR and 37,they are good motors but that involves a lot of rewiring which i costly.

6spd?Yes i would love to do that swap,but i need to get the engine part figured out first.6spd swap is 2-3k which cuts in to my budget a lot.
LSX,yes i been looking in to that,welding is not a big deal,but since i live in canada the prices are thru the roof for those motors out here.Shopping from US is not cheap either.

So i am stuck with rebuiling my motor with 11/1 pistons or parking the car for longer so i can do a more expensive swap.