My 85 GSL Restomod. The Begining.
 

In December of '13 I picked up this 85 GSL from a buddy. You may have seen it in the for sale section. Its not perfect but in good shape for a 30 year old PA car. Its getting nicer out here in NY and the more and more I drive it, the more I want to fix all the little things thats wrong with it. The body, for the most part is in good shape, minus a dent behind the drivers door, and a little rust here and there.

Interior is mostly there and in good shape, again minus a few things. Headlights work, power mirrors work, cruise control works. Dome light does not work, tachometer doesnt work either (PO had a sunpro tach installed.) When I bought the car, none of the gauges lit up so that was the first thing I replaced. Changed gluster and it lights up but tach still doesnt work. The seats are in great shape! Barely any wear on them at all from what I can tell.

The engine bay has a Street port 12a in it with about 33K on the rebuild. There little bits of rust here and there, mostly near the front where the bra is. some surface rust under the battery.

Im missing a lot of things but Ill update this post with new problem, questions and opinions when I get to working on it.

Id like to start finishing up the interior and getting the radio working (it just sitting in place). Then when it gets warmer out, clean up the engine bay.

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Would this be oil pan gasketleak?
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Nice car man! Others will chime in here, but that oil leak could be coming from the oil pan, but it could also be coming from something above and/or in the front of the engine, like the front cover, or the oil metering pump, etc. There has been discussion on the forum here about oil leaking and blowing back along the bottom of the engine giving the impression that the oil pan was leaking. It kinda looks like there's a fresh-ish trail of oil beneath the oil metering pump. Maybe the lines connected to it are leaking? Get some gunk degreaser, wipe it down good and see if you can tell any better after running it where the leak might be coming from.

Again, I'm sure others with more experience than I have may have more details and know better what to look for, but start by trying to isolate it as best you can and rule things out. Good luck with the restomod. I'll be watching to see how it goes!

Looks like a solid base to work from there. That oil leak could be the pan, or the omp (or a bunch of other areas like Woodmv said. Best way to go about finding it would be to clean the engine off really well with degreaser then run it for a while, you might be able to spot where it's seeping out from.

I'm curious about that gauge cluster in the hatch, it's a S3 (84/85) but has the tach from an S2 (81-83) in there. Very strange.

The tach in these cars is driven off the trailing coil (the one toward the front of the if i'm not mistaken, someone correct me, been a while since I messed with the stock FB ignition) Double check the wiring there, it's the most likely spot it'd be damaged unless the prior owner has hacked up the dash harness or something.

Good luck with it!

Thanks guys! I havent tried to do any wiring yet, way too cold in NY still. Anybody have a good wiring diagram for the tach? specifically what wire runs the tach. Maybe I can rewire it, if its been hacked up.

Got some Konig Rewinds for it with 205/60/r15's. Just waiting for my lug bolts to come in. My MK3 jetta in the back :)

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Those are awesome! Gonna look great - I personally like the look of that wheel in 15" on the RX-7. You'll love it, and so will lot's of other ppl.

Foxed.ca will be your best friend for the service manual, wiring etc etc.

The wheels look great, I had a set on mine for a while. That tire size isn't really correct though, should be 205/50-15. Hopefully you won't have rubbing issues with the taller rubber.

I'll probably have to roll the front fenders. The car is on stock suspension so I hope its not an issue. Bookmarking that link :nod:

Dont know why my previous post came out like that...

Is that one of those "make your own" gasket sheets and ultra red RTV sealing the header? Creative!

It looks like its leaking oil out of every gasket! If it was mine, Id pull the engine and do a deep scrub of the engine and engine bay. Replace all the hoses and vacuum lines too. Id replace the front and rear main seal, front cover gasket, oil pan gasket, OMP gasket, intake manifold gasket (and O rings), and exhaust manifold gasket.

I wouldnt go as far as pulling the engine just yet. I am going to try to locate where the leak is coming from though. It doesnt lose that much oil (considering it also burns it). I do want to replace the ghetto exhaust gasket the PO did, though it doesnt leak lol

Anybody have the paint code for this? Id like to fix the nose piece and maybe touch up little areas before the first show im bringing it to (may 4th). The title says gray but it looks kinda brown :scratch:

Got my wheels mounted yesterday. Used Gorilla lug bolts. Theres about 2 finders of room on the front tires, and 3 in the rear. No rubbing :D Also installed the radio and new pioneer front speakers(new wires of course). Who ever installed the radio and speakers before did a hack job! I had to run the power straight from the battery.

I'll get a better shot later on.
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205/60-15 is actually a recommended size. That's what I have. Fits perfect. No rubbing.

So, im seriously considering boosting it. Im going to install a Mishimoto oil cooler first, but dont know what size AN fittings to order. Also looking into why my trailing plugs arent firing.

Your speedometer will read less than actual speed with these. Your essentially gearing down. Recommended size is 205-50-15. Thats closer to the 185-70-13 stockers.

My speedo would have to work correctly in the first place Haha :lol:

Paint Code
 

It's hard to tell from these photos on my monitor. If you would describe your car as dark metallic charcol grey then the paint code should be K8 aka Tornado Silver

pretty sweet car, what shift knob is that?

Its an Ebay shift knob. Its weighted and feels pretty good! Im not sure which one it is exactly, I didnt buy it.