One of my buddy suggested me to get a beat up 85 GSL-SE and swap in a S5 N/A 13B into it, would that be a difficult job? What would i need other than the engine, tranny, ECU and harness? plug and play?

I've found a suitable 85 GSL-SE near by for 3,000$ but im gonna ask you guys on your opinion of this swap first. Im only 16 by the way, I wouldn't mind the work, I have the tools and im willing to learn

 

3k is alot for an 85 SE. Especially if it is beat up. Even clean it is a bit pricy.

 

I had this setup before, a S5 N/A stock fuel injection setup in 85 GS. and you know what I eventually said **** it and went to a carb.

If I could have done it all over again I would have gone carb in the first place. Makes MUCH more power than the stock fuel injection

 

Bingo! Get that S5 engine, rip off the FI, and throw on a nice, fat carb. Less time, less hassle, more HP. Get a nice exhaust, get the car tuned up, and save up for suspension mods or a nice streetport.

Good luck with the project, man, but please don't pay $3K for a first gen., especially if you don't plan on keeping the motor in it. Find one with a straight body and minimal rust, if it doesn't have a motor, awesome; less work for you and cheaper. If it does have a motor, you'll get more of a learning experience from yanking that sucker out.

 

S5 EFI is nice and makes a very broad torque curve(140lbft@4000rpm) along with 160 stock HP @7000rpm.Its a fun engine and the S5 EFI is smoother than the SE or S4.
But install in a 1st gen can be tricky because of the electronic oil metering pump.It wont bolt to an SE or 12A front cover,but the S5 ECU requires that it be functional, so you can not run a mechanical OMP in its place.
When I did my S5 TII swap I had an SE front cover machined and tapped to accept the S5 OMP.Didnt cost too much,but several shops were unwilling to attempt it.Finally found someone willing to weld on so called,"Japanese pot metal garbage".

The only alternative if you want to keep the S5 ECU,which I would because it works so well...and Im not a big fan of carbs.......is to plug in the S5 OMP and strap it off to the side.Then run a mechanical SE or S4 OMP or run premix oil in the tank.The S5 ECU will detect the S5 OMP as being "functional" and the S4 OMP or premix will feed the engine its oil.I did this for a month or so while my cover was being worked on.It ran fine during that time with no check engine codes or problems.

 

Steve - So basicly trick the ECU for the time being, but did you get the S5 OMP to work after?

clean85 - how would I turn the EFI into a carb running 13B?