I have a 1.8 Cruze motor- Now I need a car!

I have a wrecked 2011 Cruze right now. Runs and drives, but is a parts car. Only 50,000 miles on it. I can pick up Aveos with blown motors for pretty cheap, and there are a lot to choose from. My question is, which model would be the best (easiest!) to swap the motor into? Hatchback, sedan? First gen? 2nd gen? I'm looking to buy an automatic car, will the Aveo torque converter bolt onto the Cruze flex plate? I tried searching, but couldn't find any concrete information on the swap. Do I use the cruze or the aveo wiring/computer? Do the aveo accessories bolt onto the cruze motor? Aveo exhaust manifold or cruze? Thanks a lot for any help!

Your best bet is to look at the 09 and later Aveos, they use the ECOTEC setup. You will want to swap everything over, possibly even the ECM and a custom harness to splice it all up.

Based on your questions, I think you have an idea of what is involved to perform the swap. I never bothered to research the automatic part of it, i hate automatics.

The way I would go about this, as I have looked into quite a bit. From the cruze you will want to use at least the long block, maf and injectors. You will probably be able to stick the turnkey engine in there and just hook it up though. Most of my research was done using Korean Cruze wiring diagrams. My sister-in-law has an american built cruze and there are subtle changes I can see that would result in possible changes in the wiring (pin out the connectors). Mostly for the added emissions model year requirements.

If you bought a 09+ ecotec aveo, and wanted to add an auto cruze swap. I would say you would be crazy not to include the 6 speed auto to the swap. Run the whole harness to the BCM plug, Install the shifter, and pin out the body fuse block.

The easiest/working swap would still be to use the long block, injectors, and maf. (you might not even need the maf honestly but I have seen other swaps the "don't" need it work better with the maf matched to the engine). This works because there is no wiring involved, and from research the maps used in the ECM are the same to run both engines.

The Flex plate should always match the transmission, that doesn't mean they won't be the same though. You will have the one from the aveo to put on the 1.8 As the crank should be the same. You may also need to swap the block plate, if we have one? as it matches the bell housing too, usually.

I think the hardest part of this swap is going to be finding an 09+ Aveo that needs an engine. They don't have the timing belt intervals (60k) that get neglected like the earlier car. And only 09 had the plastic thermostat housing so not too many overheating.

You think the cruze auto would bolt in? Surely I would need custom CV shafts at least...