I'm thinking that my engine is needing rebuilt in my SE. The car has 197k on it so I'm not thinking that there is going to be anything reusable. To top it off my trans has got a nice growl in neutral so I'm thinking that I've got a bearing out. My question is how hard it would be to swap a s4 engine and trans into my 85' GSL-SE? I know for the engine I'll need to use the SE front cover, oil pan (probably oil pickup too), and my manifolds (the intake and exhaust should bolt right up, right?) but what about the tranny? is it different? thanks guys

 

Swap the tailshaft housing on the rans, and it will be a direct swap as well. Only external difference between the FB and FC trans is the shifter location and mount setup. Both are solved by swapping the tailshaft housing. The gearing is a little different, most notably 5th is much higher in the FC trans.

 

that sounds great! am I right about the engine though?

 

i'd wait until disassembly before thinking the worst about your original engine. mileage is not necessarily an engine killer, abuse (lack of maintenance to match hard use) or freak mishaps are what kill them.

that said, are you planning to swap the S4 electronics as well? if not, then you'll have to use your injectors since the S4 injector setup is different. aside from that, you sound like you have a handle on what you need to do.

 

As far as I know, swapping the intake and exhaust manifolds, along with the SE front cover and oil pan/pickup tube should be all that is required to drop an S4 motor into an SE.
The intake and exhaust manifolds may have some shared characteristics, but using the full SE stuff should make it a painless swap.
Even the SE clutch will fit right onto the S4 flywheel, as all 83-88 N/A use the same 225mm clutch. You may need the S4 slave cyl, as it might bolt onto the trans differently, but I don't think there is any difference.

 

If your gonna run a full S4 engine with ECU and everything,its basically the same work as doing a S4 TII swap.The only obvious exception is the intake/exhaust configuration, and the trans if you retain the 1st gen unit,or use an N/A 2nd gen unit(which are about the same tranny in most respects)

If you need info on wiring and EFI for the S4 swap,search for info on TII swaps.Except for a couple TII specific wires,its the same job.