I've decided to work with my 83 GSL instead of my original plans for restoration of an 84 GSL (both are sitting in my driveway). The 84 will require more work and I'm eager to get a rotary back on the road ASAP.

The only real problem with the 83 GSL is the red leather interior, which is not in good shape. Especially the dash, which has a crappy looking cover on it. And I hear finding a decent replacement dash for the 83 cars is virtually unobtanium.

But I do have the entire red leather interior for an 84/85 GSL in excellent condition, already removed from the car and ready for a restoration.

So I'm thinking about swapping the 84/85 GSL interior into the 83 GSL and parting out the hard-to-find 83 GSL parts that are in good shape.

So my question is:

Has anybody ever swapped out an 83 GSL interior for an 84/85 GSL interior?

Specifically, are the dashes and consoles interchangeable, as long as you do a complete swap? I imagine the heating, cooling and duct work is specific to the model and will need to be replaced with the 84/85 parts.

Will the 84/85 door panels work with the 83 doors? Power windows? Headliner?

I suspect there are a lot of wiring differences, so I'll probably need to install the wiring harnesses from the 84/85 GSL as well.

Any major problems encountered or hints to make it work?

Thanks!

 

you're correct, most of the interior is either the same, or just swaps over, all the rear, seats, carpets, door panels etc. the JDM cars are basically the 84-85 interior, with the 83 dash...

the late dash will go into an early car, i've seen it before. the wiring did change between 83 and 84 but im not sure how much you actually need to change, especially if you keep the non GSL/GSL-SE climate controls.

so it can be done, the trick is just under the dash, and the wiring, but if you have complete assemblies, its just a big job, lol.

http://www.jdmlegends.com/wp-content...6/IMG_5044.jpg

 

Ray, you will need to use the ENTIRE S3 front harness. It will mate to the rear harness in the driver's side storage bin. Its a straightforward swap. The S3 harness is a drop in affair.

 

That hybrid JDM look isn't bad j9, that's what I'd do if the S2 dash were halfway decent.



But the dash is the worst part in the 83, if I'm going to keep this car it has to be replaced and I'll never find a red S2 dash in decent shape.

Also I like the looks and layout of the S3 design a little better, especially the climate controls. So while I'm usually a bit of a purist on these things, if nobody minds me having an 83 LE with an S3 dash, that's what it's going to be. The interchangeable parts can be pieced together with the best stuff from both interiors.

On the doors, I think this 83 has manual mirrors, I couldn't find a toggle for remote adjustment anywhere. And of course the console switching is different for the power windows on the S3, so I guess all that wiring and switching will have to be updated to S3.

Dave thanks for the tip on the wiring harness, I'll just plan on swapping in the S3 harness. Turns out the harness in the 83 isn't perfect, with a few melty spots under the hood, although I didn't notice anything not working. But my S3 harnesses are in much better condition and should support the full S3 controls and electronics, so that's now on the list of things to do.

The 83 has a red glossy headliner, probably plastic but maybe leather. Anyway it has a few flaws and I like the cloth velor headliners from the S3 better, so I'm hoping that's a direct pop-in replacement too.

And all the plastic trim around the windows and doors, pillars and such, are the same for S2 and S3? That would be nice.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

there are a couple different fabrics, but otherwise, yeah its all the same back there.

if you're swapping front harnesses, you might need to swap the rear one too, i think the connector changed (seems like i ran into this with peepers), the rear harness is really easy to change

 

I actually have two pairs of seats, one in red velour like in your photo J9 and a second pair of really nice red leather ones, both with door panels to match, so that part will be fun.

And I have the complete front, back and under the hood wiring harnesses from the S3 shells, so I'll just do a complete swap on the wiring.

It's sounding like the dash swap from the S2 to an S3 dash is straightforward, just a lot of work.

I do have one final concern though. I've been told that the fixed air ducts in the S2 shell are different in the S3 shell, which could cause some problems with hooking up the duct work.

I can't see what the S2 arrangement looks like on the 83 with the dash in place, but here's what they look like in my 84 S3 shell.

Driver's side:



Passenger's side:



Is there any chance that someone has a photo of an S2 shell showing the fixed ducting?

 

I did the swap. Didn't worry about the fresh air vents. The dash wiring I made a 6 inch adapter. Plug in play for the dash. The speedometer is a bit different it wires in on the other harness. Made an adapter for that too everything plug in play. The air boxes are the same with the exception of the AC evaporator frost wire harnesses. I just swap that little harness. It's been over a year since I did it. The metal part across the top by the windshield is different, too minor trimming. It forces dash against the windshield

 

You need to talk to Bad83 (Sam), he did this swap for his 83 a long time ago. He can fill you in
on the details I bet.

 

Those are the ducts I was mentioning to you Ray. Those are not there on the 83 chassis.

 

Thanks for the help with this folks, it would be nice to know what I'm getting myself into before I tear into that '83 dash and then realize it wasn't such a good idea.

Thanks especially to Dave and Donnie for pointing out the S2's don't have the air vents, which could make a simple swap not so simple, at least if you want fresh air in the car.

So now the question is, how different is the S2 shell from the S3?

And can fresh air vents be fabricated for an S3 dash installation into an S2 shell?

Are there other issues, like how the dash itself lines up and is tied down, that could make this job more difficult than it seems? Or worse, make it look like crap?

A picture of an S2 shell showing the sheet metal work around the dash sure would be helpful right about now!

Anyway, I'm hoping for a 'how to" thread out of this, not an "its been done before" thread.

With so many S2 dashes on the way out these days, it would be nice to have the S3 transplant as an option. With instructions.

So I'll keep poking away at this, maybe pull the exterior vent panel and see what things look like from the outside. I'll post some pictures if I learn anything.

 

Have you tried searching? I posted a crapload of pictures when I did my dash swap. It's extremely easy swap I think. Even the wiring was simple. But I have been working on cars professionally for over 25 years. And I love wiring. So....

I called mine project gold turd.

 

I did poke around with some searches but "dash swap" is a pretty fuzzy topic, I think most of the relevant stuff is buried in posts about other things.

Is this the "gold post" you mention? Nice work!





I'm guessing that 3-4" round hole in the upper right hand corner of the firewall is the one you had to cut in for the S3 (or turbo?) wiring harness. I had noticed that my 83 S3 doesn't have a hole there like the S3 shells do, needed for the right side wiring harness I'll be installing.

What's that sound deadening material you have on the passenger side floor? I need to get some of that!

What about the fresh air ducts? Looks like the 83 doesn't have them, did they do it differently for the S2's or is this something they added for the S3 models?

Maybe I need to take a look at the 83 and 84 FSMs to get an idea of how these are different and if there are any other mounting issues.

Thanks for the help folks!

 

depending on how much you wanted to get into it you could always drill out the spot welds on the firewalls for the 2 different cars and them reweld them. Then it would look truly "factory" instead a "you know"...
Other idea I had for you is if you can have a head on interior pic of the 2 different firewalls and "overlay" them to see what the differences are.
Just take a pic from the cargo area (same place on each car) and maybe there is someone who can ghost one image over the other for you. I can't do it but someone here probably could.
Then you can see the differences really easily!
I also recall the possibility that the 3 10mm mounting screws next to the windshield were in different locations on these cars. But I could be wrong - its been awhile since I looked into it.

 

Will do Dave, I'm heading over to Alabama for the weekend to build a 12A, so I won't have anything soon, but I'll take the pics as soon as I get back on Sunday, during halftime for the Mercer - Tennessee game (I teach at Mercer, we Rock!)

 

Yelp that's it. The hole on the right side of the firewall is for ECU wiring harness. This was a full 13b sub frame swap too.

The hole is 2 1/16 I think from memory. The sound deadener heat shield is dynamat. Great stuff but that piece you see there is about $17.

I didn't cut holes for fresh air vents. I had a s3 once never really cared for it anyway.

 

Thanks Mike. It turns out I'm going to restore both the 83 and 84 so I'll keep the original dashes in each for now, maybe revisit this down the road if I can find another red S3 dash in decent shape.

But now I know what's involved and that's a start, I appreciate the help.