On the road again...
 

A quick back story on my car is that I had an '85 GSL that I swapped a good engine into, it had low 81K miles and a straight body, but the paint was fading. On top of that.. although it ran fairly well w/ a holley carb, etc - It was still a carb, and I come from the FC/FE world of EFI rotary, so I was presented with a trade offer for an '85 GSL SE w/ 123K miles on it. It had its fair share of issues, but I thought it would be a better platform for me and has a little bit more "rare" appeal than a GSL.

SO - the car had a running engine, but sat for a while, had some hodge-podge things done to it that needed attention, needs some body work and paint.

The car has lived at my parents home making it impossible to really get any work done and since this is to be my DGRR car for this year (my GF is driving my 8) I am on a crunch for time.

The biggest issue was electrical gremlins. The previous guy obviously had a sound system in it as it was missing its radio and had a larger "new" power cable and ground cable... problem was the ground from the battery was connected directly to the A/C bracket on the engine... UM HMMM...

NEEDLESS TO SAY - you cant ground that way. I installed an FC ground strap that daisy chained from the battery, to the strut tower than to the trans/starter/engine. I also installed additional FC grounding cables.

This made a big big difference and after 3 months of me owning it, and sitting off the road for more than two years - she made the 100+ mile trip today to come home with me for more extensive work. I also managed to get new Falken rubber installed for the trip and for DGRR..

Next up is the body work, injector removal/cleaning, new intake gaskets, remove the 5th & 6th ports for cleaning (they are stuck right now) and a general overhaul of engine gaskets/hoses.

Here's some pics from today! I'm so happy - I'm just glad its another FB BACK ON THE ROAD!

I also spent Friday night helping one320fc get his DGRR FB finished up.. its running now, but needs some carb tuning, etc. It was an FB weekend for sure! And finally, never before for me - I have my 8, my FC and my FB all at the same dwelling sleeping snuggly!

Here's one more shot at my GF's parents house where I made a "pit-stop" just to check everything out before making the rest of the trip. Also showed her old man how a rotary works since I had an extra housing and rotor in the back of my jeep (my GF followed me back up in case I needed a tow)...

Its amazing how good a car can look in pics, but how much work it really needs when you see it in person. Oh, and the front drivers wheel is the one I refinished, now I've got to do the other 3...

Nice SE :) I absolutely love GSL-SEs. I should be at DGRR with mine this year. Its a white 85 w/TII swap :D

Looks good!! If I can get mine running we will be doing great!

I started bodywork tonight - no need to waste any time, lol...

I want a GSL-SE myself. I like my 12A's too much to give them up, though.

GSL-SEs are cool, but I like my S2 interiors. :)

I'm jealous of your wheel bolt pattern, though. :(

Well had some down time w/ the car as I had a potential sale on it. The deal didnt work out so I'm back to working on it.

I installed the missing lock washer missing on the suspension to get rid of the rattle, but no luck.

Went to investigate the oil leak coming from cooler (wasnt sure if it was a line or a fitting) and the entire cooler was loose! It appears that the mounts were either cut or broke clean - but either way, I think thats the "suspension noise" I'm hearing, every time you go over a bump its not the strut being loose, its the cooler bouncing around...

It only took an hour to figure all this out and I dunno why the previous owner didn't pick up on it!

Either way, I should have a lot of the body work done by Thursday and the car should be in the paint booth by April 1st.

I'm going to order the gaskets for the manifolds and start yanking the engine crap apart to replace the hoses/gaskets and clean the 5th and 6th ports in between body work. Hopefully by around the 24th/25th I'll have it all back together, running like a top!

She should make DGRR after all!