79 SA front end and rear end into 85 gsl se
 

I recently bought a gsl se and the rear end is going out plus the guy did a really bad job lowering it. This may sound stupid.. But i was just wondering it the 79 sa front end and rear end would swap into a 85 gsl se.

What are you talking about? It sounds like you mean the bumpers. When you say rear end, we think of the Diff/axles

As for the front and rear, you can swap them but the 79 has wedge style brakes, and smaller rear axles and driveshaft.

As far as bumpers, I hear you can get the SA on the front but the rear is harder requiring bodywork. Correct me where I am wrong...

I think a good straightforward answer would be no. ANYTHING can be done, but from what I know, it would be a pain.

IMHO just get another rear end for the se and call it the day.Let me put it this way your trying to go from modern to prehistoric :)

The SE rear end is actually "worse" than the GSL rear end, for lack of better words.

I just don't understant why go with a 79 rear end ?I just did the swap from my 79to, se complete swap and all I can say is that I love it.This car stops so much better and you get the all mighty se bolt pattern. Not sure the GSL is any better than the se, all I know is that is in demand for auto cross because you still get lsd plus disc brakes = awsome.

True. Everything you said is a plus. But put more power through it and the GSL end will hold up better because it has thicker teeth than the SE rear.

EDIT: From what I hear. I have yet to put my GSL rear in. I am still running the one-wheel-peel setup.

So you ask why? I have a 79 parts car and the parts are free. As a college student im pretty broke. Not the bumpers. i meant the diff/axles.

If you do the swap you are going from disk to drum brakes in the rearand loose you limited slip diff, but the other problem in the rear is that the brake line thread pitch is different. and you may need new parking brake cables. in the front you have the same thread pitch problem with the brake lines. the wheel bearings are larger on the SE than on an SA also you will need to swap out the wheels because of the different bolt pattern. you should just try to repair the rear diff in the SE.

Well, in that case if you have wheels and brake lines from the donor car and don't see a problem.You also may have to swap the brake master cylinder,remember I did the se swap to my sa and I had to do all this because as mention above the lines will not fit. Good luck :)

Oh, forgot to say that you also need the drive shaft from 79 :icon_tup:

use the springs from the '79 and put them on your GSL-SE = really bad lowering job fixed.
What do you mean when you say the rear is going out? Start now looking for a replacement. even if it costs you a couple hundred to keep it stock, it would be worth it.

I would recommend against the swap because you are going to get crappy SA strut tops that cost 3X as much as the FB ones to replace and make your steering harder. Crappy brakes and no LSD. I just finished doing a complete GSL swap into my '79 and wouldn't go back even if I was given brand new SA parts to use.
You can do it but I promise you wont be happy with it, IMO.
Plus it will take you a week to do the swap.

like I said before and waysrx7 is telling you i would try to keep it the way it is,what is the rear end doing right now... maybe it just needs wheelbearings or something minimal let us know.

hold why the hell would you want put SA front and rear suspension on a gsl-se...when he/she or like myself swap the gsl-se front and rear into the SA chassis...makes no sense my friend...keep the way it is and fix the problems it has

Okay... so it doesnt matter cause i think i blew it up anyways so.. thanks anyways for the help guys..

you blew the 13b?

good luck.

AGREED, WHY WOULD YOU WANA DOWN GRADE THE CAR FOR THE SAKE OF A BIT OF MONEY, I WOULD REMOVE REAR END AND FIND OUT WHAT WENT WRONG WITH IT, HECK YOU CAN GET A CENTER SECTION FOR NOT TOO MUCH MONEY, AND i BET YOU CAN SELL SOME PARTS FROM THE 1979 TO PAY FOR IT.

TO SWAP THAT IN, YOU WILL NEED NEW BRAKE LINES, CHANGE THE MASTER CYL AND PROP VALVE (TO DEAL WITH DRUMS) AND CHANGE FRONT END. YOU WILL NEED TO SWAP ALL BRAKE LINES FROM 1979 TO MATCH UP WITH 1979 THREADS OR GET SOME ADAPTERS.

PLUS LIKE SAID BEFORE YOU ARE SERIOUSLY DOWN GRADING THE PARTS A LOT.......