Here is my 85 GSL-SE, still under construction. I'll give alittle backround as to where it stands right now.
I swapped a JDM S4 T2 engine and trans into the car, then came to find out the turbo was shot and the engine had bad oil seals, thanks mazdaracing.com for the great engine!!
So I bought an S5 turbo and manifold to swap in there, and I go to the shop to tow it home so I could finish the work myself since I could not afford it anymore. Anyway I start the car with a booster pack since it hasn't been started in years, and it starts up but when I pull the booster pack off the car dies and I later come to find out that I fried my haltech ECU in doing so. Normally, that would have been enough to just put everything on ebay and give up, but I really like the car and couldn't stand giving up..The car has 100k on it with zero rust anywhere under the car, although it has a spot about the size of a nickel on the front fender..This is my list of to-do's to the car now that I have it at my dad's garage.

1. Fabricate 2.5 inch intercooler piping and fit front mount intercooler
2. Install electric fan
3. Send haltech E6K back to Au. for repair
4. Fabricate custom stainless 3 inch turbo back exhaust with silencer and muffler
5. Install Hella H4 conversion headlights
6. Finish removal of pinstripe
7. Compound, polish, and wax entire car.
8.Take tail lights apart to clean out and seal up.
9. try to forget how ugly the maroon interior is.

After I finish all of theese I should be ready to rebuild or replace the shortblock, not sure what to do yet.Either way, I'll keep you guys updated with pics as I finish up some of the work..Lemme know what you guys think..

 

Sorry to hear about the complications but looks like you are pressing on. Car looks great and good luck. Stick with it, a turbo 13b first gen is very very very very fun. You can also add relocate the battery to the list cause you will probably need the space for the intercooler pipe.

 

never give up your so damn close to it bein finished

looks like a great 7 and project

 

c'mon dood dont give up! rebuild everything and bada bing bada backfire you have a turbo fb OMFGYAY!

 

oil seal only rebuild kit and HOW TO video from Atkins Rotary $800
mail back Haltek $50
intercooler piping $100-150 (which if your in a pinch, just use what you have for a bit)
exhuast $300

FAST *** FB....F*CKING PRICELESS!

 

Lookin very good my man, dont give up. It will be worth it in the end. Just take it step by step.

 

Forgot to add relocate battery to trunk..It was definitely on my list though..Luckily there is a place that sells all the mandrel bends, pipe, and couplers, hangers, ect. everything I need locally for great prices..

 

Got the pinstripe off today, the paint is actually pretty nice for being all original..

 

Any tips on getting the pinstripes off? Are they painted on or is it sticker?

thanks

 

its a sticker.. IT is a real PITA, although I did not try using the heat gun..I just used goo-gone and elbow grease..But now that I am looking at my thumb, I realize I have 2 blisters..I never want to do that ever again..

 

haha thanks. I'm gonna do mine. Many years ago I did it on my toyota and used a hairdryer.

 

Man that is a sweet swap I wish some day I could have my GSL-SE look that pimp with a turbo, but that will be a long ways away. One thing I have to say though you went through all the trouble to make extra horsepower and really spice up your seven but you didnt go with an E-fan any reason why? It would save you some room and you probably could fit your IC in there better.

 

My opinion on efans is: When they go out the fan stops. When a clutch fan goes out, it is always engaged and on.

 

Funny looking pic
Very nice car nonetheless.

That must suck.

 

You most certainly can't give up. Turbo FB's are amazing. You have to continue. Press on! Press on, I beg of you!

 

Don't give up... your almost there...

 

I have an Efan waiting to be installed, thats another on the listr that I forgot..I am pretty sure I can control the fan VIA the Haltech, but not really sure. I need to figure this out so I can get a thermo-switch if I need one..Anyone know if an E6K can have an output for fan control, and if it would work better that way??

 

Also, the intercooler I am going to be running is very large, and I am going to have to mount it far in front of the air dam at about a 45-60 degree angle to get it to fit properly. I am wondering if I am going to run into cooling problems with this and if I should plan on installing another (pusher) fan in front of the rad/oil cooler to help with this or if the puller in the engine bay will suffice..The puller I will be using flows 2000cfm if I am not mistaken and I will be using dedicated power with relay for it..Thanks for any input!!

 

I don't know the measurements of your intercooler but it looks like it would fit. You may need to relocate the oil cooler though to make it fit.

 

Today I finished the removal of the pinstripe (looks much better now) and took apart one of my taillights to clean out since it was cloudy and dirty, need to do the other one as well. I also removed the stock POS TII intercooler to test fit the FMIC that I had made and figure out what kind of bends and piping I am going to require, as well as mounting brackets.. I think this FMIC may work after all, it BARELY fits, but I want to be able to be efficient with my I/C system when I upgrade the turbo. I am going to need to do some minor trimming/bending to squeeze it in there. Here's a few more pics..
Taillight before



Taillight After



A few pics of the test fitting of air cooler.

 

Looks good, hang in there....Trust me it is worth all of the hard work.


Just a piece of advice, spend some money on a brake upgrade. I am glad I did.

 

Thanks perfect7, I'm not giving up..Today I cut the inner body seams and trimmes the rad. supports to make room for the FMIC as well as removed the stock fan in order to install the electric fan I have.. The Intercooler now fits in there nicely and I have it marked and measured in order to weld the supports on it to hold it in there so I can just bolt it up..I am having a friend come over shortly with a welder so I can fab up the 3 inch exhaust and intercooler piping. I have a bad *** magnaflow 3" inlet with dual 3" outlets I am going to use and I am going to polish two stainless 3 inch tips onto it, should look really nice flow enought for 500HP..
I plan to build up the rest of the car so it's driveable, then rebuild the engine and probably do a bridge port on it as well as replacing all seals..I have wanted one of theese cars (turbo) for probablly 10 years now and it's finally coming together..I am trying to make something that I can drive to the track, slap on some slicks, run a 10 second pass, and drive home.. I won't be putting that many miles on it, that is why I want to go bridge, plus I love the sound and powerband..I will need a larger turbo but that's the easy stuff, plus I have access to a dyno for tuning..
I am planning on installing the TII brake kit on this car in the future, so it will eventually be done, but I have bigger fish to fry right now, like getting it moving on it's own power..I'm actually moving along pretty well with this thing now that I have somewhere to work on it..Next week I am ordering all silicone couplers, clamps, bends, gaskets, and flanges for this bad boy..Can't wait to get them all put together!!

 

Looking good bro. Sorry about the luck... Same thing happened to a friend of mine during is turbo FB project. Growing pains I guess. You can setup the Haltech to run the fan. It is an auxilary function. Just hop on the Haltech section, I'm sure it's there.

Good luck

 

Nice ride. I'm just finishing up my S4 TII Swap in my white '85 GSL-SE in Tennessee. It's good to see that others appreciate first gens and don't just think they deserve to be junked or painted flat black with a loud exhaust.

 

hey, it looks like that is a metrinch tool set. i have one and absolutely love it. i have not striped a nut or bolt since i started using it. i haven't cracked a socket either and i use them with my pneumatic impact wrench all the time. car is looking good.