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Picked up a 1985 GSL-SE back in January for $1700. I'm, I believe, the third owner. The car has 272,000 miles on it and I finally had the opportunity to get it up on a lift over the weekend. It's not too bad underneath but most of the bushings have cracked and worn rubber, along with the rubber brake lines. I wanted to get the advice of a knowledgeable community on what the best options to buy and where.
Go on rock auto you can get all the new bushing for the front for around $150. Which will consist of new inner and outer tie rods, tie rod end adjusters, poly tension rod bushing, poly sway bar bushings, sway bar links, pit arm (which just recently came back in stock) and idler arm. I would suggest to get as much Moog brand items as you can get. The most expensive pieces are going to be the lowering control arms. You will need to get these brand new oem usually run around $180 each. I had a shop try to press in new ball joints and it cause the housing to crack. When I went to Mazdatrix Dave Lemon let me know that the oem lowering control arm is not designed to have the ball joints replaced new units need to be purchased.
While I am not familiar with the specifics of the -SE (have an SA), you WILL want to replace as MUCH rubber componentry as you can.
Thinking:
-front oil cooler mounts. These will be all-but-failing
-coolant hoses, including heater hoses. Any failures here (esp heater hoses, which tend to get ignored even when main hoses are regularly replaced!) will kill a motor quick!
-exhaust hangars!
-tranny rubber mounts
-yes as you said, brake (and clutch!) hoses. Some really nice Stainless Braided sets are available. Mazdatrix is a great place to start.
08-01-18, 02:36 PM
