00 SSEI to 05 SE engine and transmission swap

[Freejack]

My 00 SSEI was recently involved in a highway pileup (hooray for morons) and is pretty much totaled. I also have a 05 SE that had a tranny go out a while back... so I'm looking for swap advice. The good engine and tranny only have about 25k on them, and I'd like to avoid going car shopping again for an ssei in need of a motor/transmission (I just did that in the fall). Since both cars are pretty much the same, are there any likely problems I'll run into? Here's a list I'm pondering...

1. What's the best method to pull the engine and transmissions out of each car? Keep them bolted together? Can they be pulled out as one piece?
2. Any common 'gotcha' issues I should be looking for?
3. Best performance mods to do while the engine and tranny are out? I'm planning on headers, and I have a shift kit ready to go in (trans-go). Anything else that's considerably more worthwhile with easy access? Looking to settle in at around 300 hp.
4. The ssei has leather and the se has cloth. I'd really like to swap out the interiors, as the leather is in pretty darn good shape. Because the SE's front passenger seat is manual, and the ssei's will be powered, will it be a huge pain in the neck? Is it even possible to swap the mounts/frames on them? I think the rest of the door panels and rear seat will come out easily enough.

That's all I can think of for now - any answers and advice would be very much appreciated. I've been lurking for a while here and have used all your resources to great effect! Thanks.

[crash93ssei]

I suggest swapping everything out right down to the body harness and basically turning your SE into an SSEi. I did it with my '02 SE, swapped everything over from an '04 SLE all documented here -http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/your-ride-pics-and-videos/topic42640.html

[Freejack]

That's pretty much the plan right now. Looked over your link - how long would you estimate it took you for everything?

[crash93ssei]

Mine took a long time as I just worked on it here and there. If you got right on it I would say it could be done in a week.