Will an 85gsl eng. fit into an 80?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 319
Likes: 0
From: Wisconsin
Will an 85gsl eng. fit into an 80?
I would like to know if it will fit, because if it does, I am going to go ahead and buy this motor off af a forum member. If it does, I will probably send out a money order or whatever on the 14th. Thanks to anyone who can help me.
Old [Sch|F]ool
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 12,865
Likes: 571
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
It's what I did for "White Trash".
Throw away the oil cooler setup on the '85 engine and use the stock oil cooler from the '80. The lines will bolt right up to the '85 block. When you do this, you have to use the '80 engine's oil filter tower - no problem at all.
I used the '80 distributor for time reasons... I didn't want to re-wire for the late dizzy. Plus, I had my MSD already installed which would have made rewiring even more of a pain.
There's no way you'll get the '80 emissions gear to work on the '85, and you'll have to spend a lot of time buried in shop manuals to swap the '85 emissions gear in. So scrap it all and get a header. When I had the newer engine apart I plugged the exhaust port air holes with 5/16" dowel rod - this may not be an option for you, so you'll need to get an ACV blockoff plate instead, to prevent a rather large exhaust leak. The '80 intake manifold will not work on the '85 engine unless you find a way to block off the air port in the middle housing.
You *may* have problems with the engine continuing to run after you shut the ignition off if you leave all of the emissions connectors dangling. Something about power leaking through somewhere, never bothered to figure it out, I solved it by putting the '80 carb back on and re-connecting all of the connectors on the carb. (I used the complete '80 harness so I could retain the alternator and temp and other wiring... it's just bundled up on top of the engine) Before that I just ran a kill switch to the leading ignition
Everything else is a direct swap... either alternator will work, the trans will work, etc. (You do have to use the '85 flywheel and clutch with the '85 engine, but it'll work with the '80 trans)
Throw away the oil cooler setup on the '85 engine and use the stock oil cooler from the '80. The lines will bolt right up to the '85 block. When you do this, you have to use the '80 engine's oil filter tower - no problem at all.
I used the '80 distributor for time reasons... I didn't want to re-wire for the late dizzy. Plus, I had my MSD already installed which would have made rewiring even more of a pain.
There's no way you'll get the '80 emissions gear to work on the '85, and you'll have to spend a lot of time buried in shop manuals to swap the '85 emissions gear in. So scrap it all and get a header. When I had the newer engine apart I plugged the exhaust port air holes with 5/16" dowel rod - this may not be an option for you, so you'll need to get an ACV blockoff plate instead, to prevent a rather large exhaust leak. The '80 intake manifold will not work on the '85 engine unless you find a way to block off the air port in the middle housing.
You *may* have problems with the engine continuing to run after you shut the ignition off if you leave all of the emissions connectors dangling. Something about power leaking through somewhere, never bothered to figure it out, I solved it by putting the '80 carb back on and re-connecting all of the connectors on the carb. (I used the complete '80 harness so I could retain the alternator and temp and other wiring... it's just bundled up on top of the engine) Before that I just ran a kill switch to the leading ignition
Everything else is a direct swap... either alternator will work, the trans will work, etc. (You do have to use the '85 flywheel and clutch with the '85 engine, but it'll work with the '80 trans)
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
BLK 93
3rd Generation Specific (1993-2002)
11
Sep 9, 2015 10:56 AM
kkev.7788
2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992)
7
Sep 2, 2015 01:32 PM
