Howdy, I found an 84 gsl-se in the junkyard the other day and i grabbed the front suspension/hubs/brakes plus the rear end/brakes.

Now, I'm swapping it into an 82 gsl and with all the searching i've done i'm unclear on a few things. Do I need the mastercylinder/proportioning valve/brake booster from the -se? or will my gsl ones be up to task? And will my ebrake cables from the gsl rear disks work with the -se ones, or do i need the -se cables as well?

Thanks!

 

Everything from 81 and up no matter what model it is meaning...gs...gsl...gsl-se will fit just fine with out chaning out the other brake equipment...

 

79 and 80 have different thread pitchies, everything dealing with brakes has to be swaped over in order for it work the way it is supposed to work...meaning all brake lines, brake master cylinder, calipers, rotors, suspension, hubs...blah blah blah so on and so forth

 

Well I am currently doing this swap as well, both front and rear, and I also discovered that the thread pitch of the 79-80 brake hoses are different from the 81-85. So instead of purchasing new brake cylinders/etc I decided to go to www.re-speed.com and purchase the SS Brake Hose kit that they have. I'm guessing they custom make the brake hoses so that each end matches the thread pitch for the SA and FB. (They have different combinations for the brake hose kit, so you might want to check it out for yourself first before deciding anything further). This way I'm hoping that I don't have to find/install the proportioning valve, etc and I will also get better braking response since since the quality of the hose is better than OEM.

But so far I haven't received the package yet, I'm hoping it comes in today.

 

81-85 all have the same thread pitch...you can take the complete brake line system from the 84-85 gsl-se and swap it over into the 79-80 model...and you will be fine...I own a 79 SA and did the gsl-se conversition...so i know first hand...going for looks buy the re-speed kit...or save that money for something else...

 

I don't really understand why getting the respeed kit would be just for looks? I see it as the fastest and simplist way of doing the swap without looking for many small brake parts, or even big ones. If I remember right, the SA brake system is well capable of providing the right pressure to each wheel and all that. The only downside of doing the swap into an SA was that the threading is completely different.

 

Why does everyone keep bringing up the SA's in this thread. He said he has an 82...

 

I have an observation regarding a GSL-SE rear end swap I did 7 or 8 years ago. I was restoring my '82 RX-7, and upgrading the the GSL-SE front and rear suspensions, so way back then- I purchased a set of Stainless Steel brake hoses. Everything worked perfectly and matched up just fine. Now years later- I am freshening up the car (I installed a TII motor and trans, and wanted to replace the old/used brake parts that I bought and installed years ago) Last week I purchased a rebuilt pair of GSL-SE calipers, and the brake lines do NOT thread into these calipers (the Earle lines have a smaller thread pitch, from the looks of it). I called Cardone, and they told me that the calipers have an M10 X 1.0 thread pitch. In trying to source the correct thread rear lines- I called Russell regarding their kit #685550, and they told me that they have no idea what the thread size of their lines are, and no way for them to find out. I wasn't impressed.

Could it be that I was using non GSL-SE rear calipers? I can't figure out why the threads are different on the old vs rebuilt calipers. Anyone?

 

I figured it out:

I purchased a pair of remanufactured rear calipers from Autopartsgiant.com. I put the rear driver's side on first, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary- except that it was a little hard to start the thread of the SS brake line I was installing. Other than that- it went on by hand. When I went to install the rear passenger side- the Stainless Steel braided line that I was using wouldn't thread and was difficult to start, (but so was the other side), so I gave it a twist with a wrench, and didn't like how it felt, so I backed it out, and found that the caliper had damaged the threads already. I called a local Mazda dealership earlier today and one of the longtime techs told me that Mazda has been using the M10 X 1.0 thread for all of their hydraulic parts since 1981, and they were certain that the thread is M10 X 1.0 (then they gave me the speech about buying non-Mazda parts etc).

I stopped by Home Depot on my way home from work this evening, and picked up a M10 X 1.0 bolt and nut. The bolt threads into the drivers side caliper, but not into the passenger's side caliper, so it appears that the threads are bad in the passenger side caliper.

This was supposed to be an easy, enjoyable project, and it is turning into a real PITA.

TONY

 

Teddy. Could you clarify this statement please. What brake parts are you stating that you do no have to change out when doing this swap?

 

By the way, go back to the junkyard and get that spare. If not, find an appropriate Honda one. Your spare no longer fits

Also check the casting numbers on your calipers. You can post them here and see if we can match it to stock ones. Someone may have returned a 12A core in their GSL-SE caliper box (basically ripped off Cardone to get a caliper swap) or it might just be a bad part. I remember that the GSL-SE had 12 31 cast into the rear calipers, but not sure of the fronts.

By the way, I've noticed a lot of folks swapping SE suspensions and not mentioning the spares - can a mod please go back and edit the good sticky in the archives to make sure that the spare tire is included? I'd hate for someone here to get stuck in the middle of nowhere because of it.