Ok, so i'm coming home from a out of town meeting and i spot a red '87 turbo2 with the foresale sign yada yada talk to the owner, drive the car, runs good, boost seems fine, 80k original miles.

Your all thinking great, go ahead and buy it i'm sure. Heres the thing though, it looks like it has been sitting outside all its life cause the paint is all faded back and the red interior is faded and nasty orangish looking in spots.

I have an 88' GXL which i am pretty happy with the interior is much nicer and i repainted it about 7 years ago with good base/clear. I prefer the way it looks over the turbo2 actually, not a fan of hoodscoops and wings. The hardest thing ive ever done so far on my car is a ckutch job. How hard is it for a noobie/journeyman in automechanics to do the swap? Am I going to break my daily driver if i try this?

 

www.rotaryresurrection.com has an N/A to Turbo write-up. And you'll need some form of hood scoop if you use the turbo because the intercooler needs dedicated air flow.

 

if you've got both cars it won't be too bad... but you'd have to get a fmic if you dont want the scoop. You would also be changing out the rest of the drivetrain i suppose? If not i'd recommend it because the TII has an LSD and much beefier tranny.

 

His GXL has an LSD. But t-too's right about the beefier tranny and drivetrain. You'd basically be dumping almost all the major parts from the '87 into the '88 chassis.

 

That sounds like the way to go, since the tranny and rear-end have a lot less miles on them than mine. I was planning on a fmic i knew the topmount wouldnt fit. I'm a little nervous about it but i think i can work slowly though it. If i have questions or run into trouble i can always ask questions here i guess. Waiting for him to call me back and i'll go pick it up after work hopefully.

 

Well, just a comment: It seems like you might need another daily driver while you work on this project since you'll want to do it carefully, but you'll probably like the outcome. Check out this thread about a v-mount that might allow you a lower-profile setup.

Good luck,
Goofy