ok, my 86 GXL is blown. I don't want to get rid of the car because the body is in beautiful shape, and so is everything else. So I think i am gonna put about 10,000$ into it. Put a turbo motor in it, drivetrain, have the interior completely redone, get a nice body kit and paint job, redo the suspension, and make it into a really nice car. Any suggestions on where to get a good T2 motor and drivetrain? Also, I know there are threads on this but i dont have time to search.....what exactly am i getting myself into, and what do I have to buy to do this swap?

 

Go talk to an insurance agent and find a totalled TII, then you can get the drivetrain hood, better suspension, motor and what not, plus it would be really cheap.

 

If you've got the time and space, try to find a donor T2 car (rear/side wrecked, etc) and use that. You can still get that motor rebuilt while you work on swapping the rest of the stuff (ECU/harness, tranny, differential, half-shafts, rewire fuel pump, etc). So far it's not that bad a task (I am in the middle of a conversion on my 86 right now). Later when you've got the time, you can go through the many threads on here about doing a conversion. Quick tip: Stay within the Series for the Turbo II conversion (in your case, an S4 87-88 T2, same as mine). The S4 to S5 conversion IS possible, but at the cost of A LOT more work. There are several people in this forum that will have a lot of what you need in case you end up not going with a donor car and buying the parts individually. Good luck and keep us posted.