First, I've got to say that it's way easier than I thought especially if you have an entire donor car at your disposal.
Pulling the Bonneville's drivetrain consisted of the ENTIRE subframe, struts, spindles, battery cables rack and pinion....etc. Look at the picture and you can see how I removed it. I started yanking it out Friday around 3pm.
I also removed the LeSabre T's engine in the same manner. I had this out Friday night also. I also installed the L67 drivetrain back into the LeSabre Friday night and had about 70% of the mechanical work completed. I finally got home around 2:30am. Saturday morning I focused on getting it wired up and started. I also completed some more mechanical work like mating the Bonneville's down pipe to the existing LeSabre's exhaust system. I have yet to get the center torque axis mount bolted down to the fender. This will require some drilling and welding in some nuts in the body to secure the mount.
Here it is home again {Sunday evening) but not completely finished. I still have to get the cruise and the A/C wired up.
VIDEO--->
Short YouTube Video.
When I done this swap, I also swapped out the entire A/C system (minus the wiring) from the Bonneville to the LeSabre. The evaporator core was swapped from the 99 SSEi to the LeSabre. I also swapped the A/C condenser. The Bonneville had a high efficient condenser so it will make the A/C cool better. Doing these two things also created two problems. The battery tray gets in the way of the A/C lines at the condenser. I'll have to remove the tray and install the tray like the Bonneville's to make the A/C lines fit again. Also, the SSEi's evaporator core was "slightly" different than the LeSabre's so I had to mod the evap case to make it fit. It wasn't too bad to do. I'll have to show pics later in the thread of what I done.
Basically, here are the trouble/incompatibilities areas I had starting with the worst mod that I consider having to do.
1. Wiring it all up. By far the most time consuming part of the entire swap. Luckily, the good people on LeSabre T dot com have already done this swap and have provided a wealth of info about what "wire goes to where". THANK YOU!
2. The front engine mount (near the water pump aka torque axis mount) has to have nuts welded in the LeSabres fender/body frame to get it bolted down.
3. The LeSabre's fuel lines will have to be cut and hosed clamped in place OR have custom fuel lines made to make them fit. I'm going to make custom adaptors to make the LeSabres' lines fit the SSEi's fuel rail.
4. Swapping the A/C lines from the Bonnneville will require the battery tray to be removed and re-installed in a different direction.
5. Swapping the A/C evaporator from the Bonneville will require a minor case mod to make it fit.
6. The coolant and the windshield washer bottles will fit in the LeSabre like a glove BUT the hood hinges hit them and the hood wont close.
7. The ground on the LeSabre's battery cable (the one that unplugs) will have to be reinstalled IF you use the Bonneville's battery cables..(like I did. I told you I swapped nearly everything :D )
8. Swapping the transmission cooler lines from the Bonneville will require small brass adaptors to make them fit into the LeSabre's radiator. My LeSabre had a new and a thicker radiator than the Bonneville so I kept it.
9. The soft noise/dust boot that covers the steering shaft universal joint will not fit the SSEi's rack-n-pinion BUT will still work fine. The SSEi's boot may work fine if swapped over to the LeSabre.
Here are some positives about the swap...
1. It's a fairly quick swap if you're swapping everything. Good!
2. The steering joint bolts up works fine.
3. The LeSabre's transmission cable and bracket will bolt up to the Bonnevilles 4T65E-HD trans. YOU MUST USE THE LeSABRE's SHIFT ARM...it's shorter than the Bonnevilles.
4. The LeSabre's original neutral safety switch will bolt right up to the 4T65E-HD transmission. You can still use all of the LeSabre's original starting circuits/connections to start the car.
5. The Bonnevilles transmission cooler line mounting brackets will bolt right up to the LeSabre as the LeSabre already has existing screw holes for the bolts.
6. The Bonnevilles throttle cable will fit perfectly into the LeSabre.
7. The LeSabres metal brake lines screw into the Bonnevilles brake hoses just fine. The passenger side metal line had to be rebent slightly to make it fit while the drivers side fit without mo
Brings back some good memories. I didn't take the whole subframe for mine, just motor & trans and axles and the knuckles and brakes. I had just replaced the shocks, ball joints, tie rod ends and rack&pinion not too long before.
