Hi all, it’s been a while since I posted in this section since I been pre-occupied with
my FCs.

I just bought an 84 GSL-SE, will be brining it home this weekend, however I am having a difficult time deciding what to do with the car.

Mainly not sure what I should do about the engine.
So I want to see what you guys think.

Here are the options I am looking at:
1. Drive the car until the engine can take no more. And spend summer working on my 83 GSL (12a rebuild with ceramic coated housings)
2. Do a rebuild. I have a striped s4 n/a engine with all parts in excellent condition. With all my FCs being S5, don’t have much use for them otherwise.
3. Do an s4 turbo swap. Have a JDM s4 turbo engine/tranny/ecu sitting around doing nothing. Engine in working condition.

What would you do with an 84 GSL-SE, in its original form: Restore, Mod, or Drive?

I`m looking forward to your opinions.

P.S. I am open to other options.

 

What kind of shape is it in? any pics?

If it's in nice shape, I'd restore it.

 

Ahh, it were me: I'd clean the car up as much as you can looks wise. Then, do a TII swap if your budget/time allows, and drive it whenever possible!

If not, I'll take that JDM off your hands and put it in my GSL-SE!

 

Sorry no photos yet. Haven`t brought the car home yet.

Driving it home this weekend, or getting it towed if it breaks in the middle LOL.

The body is not perfect. I will have to spend 1-2 days on welding. But all the rust is underbody. It still has original paint and the paint is still in good condition. So no repainting required. The interior is all original red leather, in good condition except for stearing wheel.

From what i have seen so far, except for a new gas tank, no one has messed around with the car yet. I will be the first YAY

Once i get it home, I plan to restore the body and have it pass inspection. What i`m not sure is if i should do the engine work right away, or wait for it to die first. And if i should go for a restore or a turbo swap.

Since I already have engine and trany, and GSL-SE base, the turbo swap might be the less expensive road to take, with a benefit of 25-30hp. The bigest expense here would be having the adaptors made, and a new exhaust system. Not sure what that would run me yet.

Although I have s4 housings i could use for restore, i would still need to get my hands on the seals, which should run me around 500-800$ Have not checked the prices in a while
Doing a restore should take less time then a swap.

In the end I can`t decide.

 

Drive it as is - in the mean time - re-build the TII motor so its fresh with new seals, take your time and do it right, then do the swap!

Sounds like you would be running the stock turbo with no mods?

 

I am comfortable with rebuilds and porting, but don`t have experiance with moding turbos. So yeah, stock s4 turbo.

 

i just fix it, and keep it stock and enjoy it. hot rod something else

 

^Agreed, keep it stock, or mostly stock at least and just enjoy it. You might be surprised how much fun you can have with 135hp....