New FB owner, project, teardown, and questions. Pictures too.

[GySgtFrank]

My experience is from putting in a NA 87 13B and transmission.

The 13B will sit a little farther forward than the 12A (13B is longer) if you use the stock transmission mount location. Which means either modifying your existing mount or buying a mount from Racing Beat.

The FB drivehaft should work with the FC trans in the stock location (mine did), FC won't as it's too short. I'm unsure why your driveshaft does not bolt up to the diff flange. I thought the bolt pattern was the same on the FBs, but evidently not. I'll have to go check my swap diff now.

You'll want to use the GSL-SE 13B oil pan and pickup so it will clear the steering arms. The stock trans mount will push the FC trans quite high in the tunnel so check your driveline angles. I had to do a lot of trimming and modifying to get the trans to sit where I wanted.

Unless you plan to have the car down for a LOONG time the independent rear swap is not worth it. The GSL-SE diff is supposed to be good to around 350-400 hp. The early (79-83) open diffs are a lot weaker though and as mentioned above the 84-85 axles have the better large bearings. You can get the 5 lug conversion axles through Moser for the big bearing rears.

The FC front subframe can be adapted to the FB with some work, others have done this quite a few times. Not legal for racing classes though. If you go that route the FC mounts, oil pan, and front cover should work, the trans mount location may work, depending on where you place the front subframe. If you change the trans mount location you will need to use a custom length driveshaft.

Using the FC radiator will also take a little work to get it to fit right. I do not know if the 12A radiator will be sufficient. I didn't want to chance it, so swapped everything over. Perhaps someone else has had experience with this.

Just sharing my experience with this swap.

[diabolical1]

Originally Posted by GySgtFrank

I do not know if the 12A radiator will be sufficient.

it will. i ran both style 12A radiators with my 13Bs with no issues cooling issue due to the radiator itself.

as far as using the Gen II radiator, it can be done fairly easily. that's the route my brother took on his '83.

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by diabolical1

it will. i ran both style 12A radiators with my 13Bs with no issues cooling issue due to the radiator itself.

as far as using the Gen II radiator, it can be done fairly easily. that's the route my brother took on his '83.

Unless you're an OCD douchebag like me.

Good to know about the flange patterns, thanks.