Well this is probably my 3rd attempt at creating a build thread on this car. Life continues to get in my way, but I will finally document the build of my 85 auto....as most people on here know this car was my wife's for a period of time, but then we had another child and that was the end of her attendance at car shows. It always suffered from a dowel pin oil leak, and the tranny refused to go into overdrive.



I obtained an 88 gxl car that was also an automatic and hatched a plan



The plan changed a few times, but ultimately I decided the car needed a 5speed. so I rummaged through my stuff and came up with all the bits to do it

 

The most irritating part of the swap is the pedals. most people elect to swap out the entire pedal box. I usually just switch the long bolt and spacer. It still sucked but here is the end result.



As most people know in the 84-85 cars the mounting point between the auto and manual cars is different so it was dealt with by adding an extension plate to the original crossmember




After these items were conquered it was time to turn my attention to the engine. I had to swap out the front cover and install a 12a one as well as get rid of the flexplate and rear counter weight and install a flywheel.



I also had to decide on an intake since the nikki wasn't an option anymore. Initially I was going to use the s4 injection, but soon realized its many shortcomings and decided to stay carbed. I had to plug the injection holes as well as the egr and I picked up an edelbrock 650 performer car and holley manifold.



It was time to start putting it all together

off the stand



mated up to a tranny and in the car!





never thought I would see the day I would run a 13b...

 

Next up was exhaust. I had a racing beat street port dual exhaust in my 79 and I loved the way it sounded, so that's what I put in this car as well.






for fuel supply I went with a holley red pump and a Mallory regulator. The regulator leaked at the return port no matter what I did so I swapped it for a holley. I hate buying parts twice but oh well.

 

3 core aluminum radiator was next. I chose the big one because I knew I was gonna be running a beehive cooler on this car. I have an fc cooler to swap in at a later date



really starting to come together now...



I ended up replacing every single hose in the car, installed the fc alternator with dual belt pulley and deleted the air conditioning. Its almost ready

 

I had to figure out a way to make the throttle cable work, thankfully there are enough universal kits out there that I was able to pull it off. It was time to start it up!!!

 

One more...in this video you can see the holley regulator I had to swap in. They mount differently than the Mallory so I relocated it.

 

Now that the car was running I will be able to focus on some of the asthetics. I started by replacing my mis matched wheels with a set of blinged out "plus" wheels



and here they are on the car



I would also like to get my door handles back to black as well as a part of my moldings. Wouldn't mind a 3 piece imsa rear wing either!!!

 

Very nice! I love build threads that actually come to completion. Awesome car. I see in the shot of the piece you fabbed up for the clutch pedal you're in a large workshop. Always wondered if you did all the work in your conveniently sloped driveway.

 

Sometimes I bring little projects to work with me. The shop has to be huge because...



this is what we fix there lol!

 

to help gain perspective...



My sloped driveway really annoys me but its what I've got.

 

Daayyyyum! That's some large schtuff! I'm sure the work is never ending also. I like the mechanical advantage the sloped driveway gives you with a pair of ramps.

 

I do too actually. Your car is coming along nice! Finally in primer I see. You did a good job.

 

This is a nice project and I'm glad you were able to keep it. I like the manual swap as well.

Those RB intake manifolds always look good. The only problem is the carbs available that fit them (Holley and Edelbrock) tend to have glitches due to being mounted 90 degrees from how they were designed to run. However the Edelbrock is a very nice driving carb, even when cold. Has some good power too. Just be aware of slowing down and turning left.

 

I have spent some time yesterday "learning" how to drive the car. Turning is definitely an issue especially if I don't keep the revs up. My holley regulator won't go lower than 5psi and that's probably my biggest problem. 4lbs I think would be perfect. Otherwise the carb rocks! Holds idle as soon as I start it up and cruises smooth. Power is pretty good. The fact that I have the 6port wide open all the time really hurts the power band. When it just starts to pull real hard the rev buzzer sounds. I think there is a write up on making the secondary weights lighter so they open earlier under vacuum. It's a whole new car now for sure.

 

Yeah, pretty typical behavior of that type of carb. At least you know it's working correctly.

Search for the term "donkey door" for how to do the weight reduction. I'm curious to know how it turns out because I never had a chance to do the mod on my Edelbrock.

 

I ground down the counter weight on my eddy. It transitions smoother with the weight in the right spot. Its difficult to explain how to grind it down, but if you look at it and understand its operation the modification is pretty strait forward.

 

Do you have more pictures of the trans cross member adapter? I have one made out of 3/8 plate but I have an issue with the drive shaft hitting the heat shield right where the shaft enters the trans. I think I need some pacers. I noticed in your pic that you have some spacers above the plate. What size did you make the spacers? I guessing that the spacers are threaded inside.

I'm using the auto trans cross member. Are you using the auto or manual cross member?

 

No spacers. I just used big washers on the underside to help spread the load out. Unfortunately I don't have any other pics, but I can take some this week and post them up