Today at the junkyard I saw a completely straight but slightly rusty 83 GSL with 104,000 on the clock. She'd been sitting under a tree for 10 years, judging by the inspection sticker. It had a motor with a beehve cooler, no trace of air oil cooler. Did they come with the beehive? How does one determine year of engine by looking from the outside?

 

The beehive was standard on all 83-85 12a's.

 

Thanks. I thought they were an 84/85 thing.

 

I wish I had the front mount oil cooler from my SA


What did you get off the car?

 

I'm curious as well as to what you pulled. List of things I'd take off of a complete GSL:
Power lock actuators
Power window regulators
Power window motors
Power window switches (center console)
Complete rear axle
Seats (if in nice condition)
Always look for a dome light cover (those things are worth their weight in unobtanium)
As well as anything else you need for your car

I'm looking for a steering wheel surround (the plastic part between the wheel and the dash, in case it's burgundy and in one piece

Anyways, nice find! I've seen 7 different 7's in various junkyards and pulled many different parts worth a bit of money from them.

 

All I had was a pocket knife and a needle nose plier. I went tp get a couple Ford coil connectors. Several of us (pickers) were lamenting the fact that there were too many "new" cars and too few old ones. I wasn't looking for an RX7, and had never seen one there before. I'm going back and getting the rear axle, drive shaft, and probably the 12A. The seats were shot, to put it mildly. Under the hood looked pretty good for a car that sat 10 years. Exterior-wise all was in pretty nice shape.

 

Yeah the 83 is an oddball year. Still has the older style interior but the engine is basically the same as the 84/85 12a.