89 Grand Am SE tech4(2.5l) engine swap possiblities?
So I have an 89 SE that has the 3 speed auto I rebuilt the engin once and swapped it once and unfortunately the Iron Duke/Tech 4 2.5L TBI is a piece of crap. I want to restore the car and make her pretty again (crappy paint and hasn't been on the road for years). I want to put an engine in it that isn't a total pile of crap. I have looked into several option from holy grail of one of the Super Iron Duke the stuffed in the Trans Am pace car to a Quad 4 (2.3l), LS4, 3.1/2.8 (60 degree v6), and the newer 2.4 ecotech. I'm not looking to win at the track but I want this thing to run and be quick and handle well and make it fun to drive. In my sickest thoughts I came up with the idea of stuffing a 2.5 from a Subaru (to keep the same displacement) with the all wheel drive under it after seeing someone put a 396 big block in a 1988 Grand Am. Obviously the Subaru option isn't logically going to happen as I'm not made of money and don't have a machine shop. However that got me looking into other GM cars and I came across an all wheel drive Pontiac Astro Van and some sedan (don't remember the years or the other car it came in). But this brings me to my question, how insane of an undertaking would it be to swap in the whole drive train from one of these all wheel drive cars? And if its not really possible then what engine/transmission combos would you recommend that wouldn't be an exercise frustration leading to me needing an I love me coat. Its going to be a crazy swap I would rather do something that either uses the existing wiring and ECU or that I can run an after market ECU as the 89 wasn't exactly a powerhouse of computing power and I would like to keep it that way simple but fast. Sorry for the rambling but I have been trying to figure out the best option for this swap for literally years and haven't made any progress in getting start as I don't know where to start because I still looking for its power plant. Since no one really does anything with these cars to make them a performance car there isn't much info, the closest I can get is looking in Fierro information and some information on the Beretta other than that there isn't much information out there. Thanks
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