Wankeled

I'm in a bit of a dilemma and I'm not sure what to do.

There's an 85 GSL-SE, in immaculate condition, being sold for $3500cdn but I can't afford it but I'm willing to take out a loan for it and pay it off when I do have the funds.

The other thing is that a friend has a S5-TurboII car and is willing to do the engine swap into either the GSL or GSL-SE. I can buy the necessary parts for the swap for $1500 and whatever labor is gonna be.

Now the thing that I've been suggested is to buy the GSL-SE, do the TII swap and I'll be better off because the GSL-SE has many benefits over the GSL, etc (ie. better torque, fuel injection vs. carb, etc) and of course I'll have the Series 5's motor to back up all the other power.

What should I do?

1) keep my GSL and do the TII swap? or...
2) buy the GSL-SE and try the TII swap when I have more money (6mos+ down the road)?

Please let me know what you think!

Felgar

Hello fellow Calgarian, wouldn't the S5-TII also come with FI? So that advantage is pretty much negatted...

On their own the SE's are pretty decent to drive. Mine is ported with new exhaust and it moves decent. But the TII will take it for sure.

Were it against a stock GSL I'd say take the SE. I have both a GSL and that ported SE, so I speak from experience. I prefer a FI car - less hesitation for one, and just an overall better feel to it. The SE has better brakes but the GSL is probably adequate.

What I think it would come down to for me, is what condition asthetically both cars are in. The SE right now will drive better than the GSL for sure, but not as good as the GSL with the TII - not even close really. But if the SE has some issues with rust, interior, etc. (which it doesn't look like it does) then you can compare with your GSL which I'm assuming you've kept up.

Bottom line is I don't think the etxra 3500 for the SE body is worth it if you're just gonna change out the engine anyways. Unless your own GSL's bagged that is.

Hades12

Sounds like the GSL is your only driver, So I would keep it to drive. Save my money and buy a house. or use it for investments, Just cant bring myself to lay out hugh amounts of money that a turbo system would take.

teencraft

That doesn't make sense if you're doing the swap...or are you just turboing the GSL-SE motor?

bERNIECMYK

an immaculate gsl-se. if you dont buy it send me the contact info. where in canada is it located?

Felgar

I paid 3000K for my ported SE, spent 1K on rocker guard & polish, and another 1K to fix all the little things and to attack the rust. But now for 5K i have a car that I would prefer to drive over pretty much anything under 12K or so, with a nearly rebuilt new engine as well. I'd take a late-80's vette (except I wanted a year-round driver not just a summer car so the vette's out) and after that probably like a 94 BMW which is starting to creep out of the 12K range. Under that there are just no cars that are better for me to drive; that's the way I see it.

And a turbo would push that 12K mark up also, so that in the end I could totally justify spending 5K or so on a nice turboed RX. So I guess I disagree with you Hades...

Felgar

LOL... My poor geographically-challenged American friend. Calgary is about 8 hours drive North of the Montana border.

Wankeled

Hey Felgar, we're having great weather so far hey?... I'm pretty impressed we're holding up this far.

Actually my GSL is in pretty decent shape... the carb needs to be replaced...nothing serious...and maybe the shocks...otherwise I'm looking at an engine with about 220km's on it and still working great? So, no, it's not really bagged.

As for the point you made about the GSL-SE body for $3500...if that's what it all comes down to (that it's just a shell for the new engine) then I'll probably keep my GSL, and do the TII swap there? Do you agree?

Of course the fuel injection part of it doesn't make sense anymore with the swap (I actually thought that it would be easier because the wiring harness, etc, would remain the same for the TII motor).

I guess once we do the swap...everything goes...right? Doesn't matter if you have a GSL or a GSL-SE?


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So far, I'm thinking that I'll keep my GSL and purchase the TurboII parts (or the whole car) and then eventually get it all put into my GSL once all my resources are sorted out ($$ for the install, etc). So far, I've read nothing too negative about the TurboII swaps aside from it being alot of work.... I think power-wise and actually everything else (T2 alternator, T2 ecu, fuselines, etc.) the TII is better than going just Turbo on the SE.

Am I about right?

purple82

NEVER go into debt for a car, whatever you do.

Felgar

Yeah it's holdin' in there so far. We're getting into the territory where every day is a crap shoot now though. Erk.

Yeah I agree with that. The SE's have a little bigger tranny, rear end, and brakes - but I think the GSL would hang in there on those. Now a GS with drum brakes and no LSD is a whole different story. Hmmm... Actually I'm not sure if the 13B will mate to the GSL tranny. Experts please chime in. You may need to grab the tranny along with the engine from your TII donor...

For reliability alone I'd be inclined to go the TII route. And it's probably not much more labour that doing an aftermarket turbo on the SE engine. Of course you probably have a little less power just bolting the stock setup in compared to doing your own turbo, but still...

You should give RX-7 Specialties a call or even a visit. Talk to Adam. He'll be able to tell you right away what it would cost to get a TII up and running in a GSL... Even if you're gonna do it yourself you can get an idea of the amount of work involved.

John64

$3500 CDN, is that like $15000.00 US? My 85 GSL-SE is in increadable shape and I bought it for $1500. I would only pay $3500 if the car has no rust and needs no work with great paint.

My 2 cents

John

Felgar

Nowadays that's about 2500 usd.