At a crossroad

K

KirkT

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Commerce Township, Michigan
I have a 1970 2800CS (original).
I have an '85 Euro 3.5L 635 Engine.
I have a Getrag 265 5-speed.

I keep flopping back and forth: put the 635 drivetrain in or keep it all original.

I do have some rust that needs to be addressed (top of fender seams and door skin) but it still looks great and, except for a dead clutch slave and a dead exhaust, very driveable.

The purest in me says keep it original but the fun part says thow in a better engine.
 
Mods..

Most common reply you'll get will be that its your car so you should do what you really want to do. If done correctly, the changes you listed won't hurt the cars resale value or appeal anyway. You could always start with the 5spd swap and see how your like it, then do the motor swap later.

Dan
 
Re: Mods..

Most common reply you'll get will be that its your car so you should do what you really want to do. If done correctly, the changes you listed won't hurt the cars resale value or appeal anyway. You could always start with the 5spd swap and see how your like it, then do the motor swap later.

Dan
Click to expand...

Yeah, based on what I have seen, the real price is determined by the body and interior, not the engine side of things. If your car has a great body and great interior, even a shell would be worth 15k. I have the 5speed swap and it is very nice to slip into 5th on the highway; it brings the RPMs down from 3k+ (~60-70mph) to about 2500 or less. Makes the car much less noisy and the mileage significantly better.
 
I just crossed that bridge myself. I was running dual webers on my original 3.0 liter with a 3 speed auto. For the past ten years I was against modifying my setup but last year I hit the wall. My car was a bit smokey, the auto always leaked, the idle was always rough, and the gas mileage was 14.

Last year I went completely the other way and had installed a 3.5 liter FI, 5-speed, with a LSD. The car is totally diffent in attitude and reliability but still looks somewhat "original" under the hood. Idles smoothly at 700 RPM, has tons of torque and HP, and 25 MPG. The conversion does not seem to hurt values from recent sales and I actually think it makes the car more desirable and might help values at this point. Maybe when our garden variety coupes are going for $80,000 then originality might help values but at $20-$30K additional mods made to the drivetrain (not necessarily to the exterior or interior), especially for more reliablity, will help values IMHO.

Shawn :lol:
 
Make the car what you WANT!

And if your worried about originallity...
keep the old engine and box safely stored in case you do sell it on :wink:
Malc
 
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