ok so i wrecked my car a couple of weeks ago and think i finally found anout 1st gen i want to buy and fix up for my self, but the car im looking at has a blown motor, its a 79 i was wondering how difficult it would be to just swap in my motor from my 81 which is still in good condition....untouched...how different are the sa's and fb's, other than looks, are they similair enuff for this to be a straight swap no worries, or am i going to have to do wierd **** to get the 81 engine to run nicely in the 79 chasis? thanks for any help or links to good info you can provide....ive searched and havent found to much dont know if im searching under for the wrong stuff or what...anyway thanks

 

Strip them both down to bare blocks and put all of the 81 parts on the SA block, done.

 

im going to be putting the 81 block and all accesories into the sa chasis the block in the sa is crap, and my 81 block runs, i was just wondering about hooking everythin up, and just how many differences there will be, if im going to run into anything tricky or not???

 

Off the top of my head:

Course verses Fine threads on the Slave cylinder line.
Internally regulated alternator verses external.
Shifter location.
You will get electronic distributor with the later. You will need to wire it.



-billy

 

bumpy bumpy

 

Do not swap the transmissions. The SA transmission is shorter than the fb transmission and will not line up with the shifter location on the fb body.

 

I would say swap the trans and make room for the shifter. The SA boxes are weak in the shift forks.


-billy

 

ok just to clarify its an 81 engine going into sa, but im sure the whole shifter not lining up will still be a problem, how hard will it be to "make room" just some chasis cutting?

 

Slot/trim the SA shifter tunnel and use the 81+ shifter console along with the radio plate.

 

ok cool that doesnt seem as tho it should be any sort of problem, now what esle am i looking at needing to do like bwaits mentioned the slave cylinder, can i just swap the 79 slave cylinder out for the 81 so i dont have thread problems or should i just try to find some sort of adapter for the threads? if such a thing exists, also all the other stuff....ie the external vs. internal regulator should just swap over since im just swapping over the long block and will the same hold true for electronic ignotion? as long as i swap over a the coils and everything as well? what is wired from the engine into the chasis thru the firewall?anything important? thanks for the help so far, about to pick up the sa this weekend and hopefully start tackling the project as soon as possible, need a running car again, and god knows i want it to ba a first gen.......

 

oh and back to the tranny, am i going to have to do anything crazy to the actual mounts them selves? and on the same not will the 81 driveshaft fit????

 

ttt

 

ok thought of another question, other then a cherry picker am i going to need any crazy tools to get this done???

 

ok ttt again, i hate to keep bumping but there have to be some people who have personally done this??? or maybe the same ppl who have been helping so far, anyone that can help please dooo

 

Other than the metric tools, nope.