Found a 84 GSL-SE and want to grab the suspension for my 85 S. I've searched and archived until I'm blue and can't find exact answers to my questions.

O.K.: Grab the entire rear axle assembly plus cables. No sweat.

Grab rotors, calipers, brackets, backing plates and brake lines on the front. O.K.

Questions:

Do I have to get the spindles, too? I've heard the bearings are the same. Reason is I spent far too much time/money on a G-Force toe-in mod on my struts and I'll be DAMNED if I have to go through THAT again!

How about the master cylinder/ prop. valve? Again I just spent good money getting these brakes right and don't really want to rely on old, corroded (you should see the car!) m/cylinders or my ability to rebuild same. Aware of m/cylinder and caliper mis-match; just wonder if anybody has swapped this way successfully.

Have a driveshaft with replaceable u-joints from an '83 which worked fine on both stock and disk rears: no problem with SE?

Sorry about the last minute appeal but I'm very time constrained tomorrow and as you can see I'm trying to do this conversion with minimal fuss (money!) and would be greatful for any help the RotorFamily can give.

Thanks, RotorHeads!

Sanspistons for longer, stronger, cleaner Rotors

 

If you have a later 83 then you do not need the spindles. Grab them just in case.

You can run the drum MC/PV, but it would be better to use the SE MC/PV. I just like my parts to match what I put in

And again. it depends on your date of 83. If it is late enough, you will not need the driveshaft, but I would grab it just in case.

 

Jeezus my ride is (or at least it originally was) an 85 FB "S" with GSL rear axle and too many damn aftermarket suspension mods to list. Not to mention the radical street port with Edelbrock carb...

I'm already running the drum mc/prop valve with this axle: actually I replaced the mc recently and can't remember if I ordered a GSl disk mc at the time. Anyway it works great.

Thanks

 

Ah, I am le tired. I thought I read it as an 83.

Everything will swap

 

Make sure to get the parking brake cables too, from the frame rail out. They're a different length, but there's a splice, so to speak, near the frame rail. You'll see it.

GET THE SPARE. Your 4 on 110 spare will be worthless after the swap.

Driveshaft and spindles are the same, so you can just grab the backing plates and brake hardware at the front.

I've never worried about the proportioning valve, but it might be worth just fatiguing the lines on the car with some channel locks and taking the proportioning valve body with you.

 

+1, on everything will swap. If you already have a GSL rear axle, you don't even need the ebrake cable and the F/R rubber brake lines, the ebrake cable are the same and the brake line thread right in when I did the swap. I think you should get the proportioning valve from the GSL-SE tho.

 

I think you're mistaken regarding the parking brake cables. The caliper brackets are moved farther rearward on the SE, so the cables are longer on the SE.

 

I used the GSL one, and it seems to have no problem

 

This thread saved my day, woot!

 

and for additional info, eeh GSL and the GSL-SE parking brake cables do not interchange..they have completely different part numbers

 

The cables on my GSL/GSLSE swaps were different also. I did notice that the E brake cable end brackets were different. If the brackets from the rear ends were swapped the E brake cables from the original car would fit. I have pictures here somewhere.

 

Grab everything you can. It's better to have more parts than you need than to call the guy this weekend saying "i need x" and he says "****, it's already been crushed".