Which 850 to keep

[DetailingTurboBrick]

Hey Everybody,

Well i am picking up another 855 turbo for a crazy good price. My dilemma now is which 855 do i keep. I currently have a Nordic Blue 855 glt with 158k. I love the car and overall it's in great shape. The interior is really clean and the exterior is not bad as well. The engine is knocking so if i keep i will replace the motor with the motor from the other 855.



The second car is a 1996 855 turbo wagon. It's black with tan leather and has 160k. It's very simular to mine interior wise,except it has a trip computer. The transmission is messed up in it so if i keep this one my trans will be coming out of my nordic blue 855. So i guess i am just asking what would you guys do? Which one should i make fully operational again lol

[Schmitty]

Which ones front end and brakes are in better condition?

[kcjones]

Probably easier to replace tranny vs engine. But, you would have the opportunity to rebuild if you pulled from mr. blue. Personally, I'd keep both, build one back up to an awesome daily driver and keep the other in the garage for tuning

[sliptones629]

Blue is my favorite color. But I sure would hate looking at that dent. +1 if you can keep both. Keep the better body and put/keep the better interior.

[kcodyjr]

Anything else can be swapped, except an original straight body. Which of them has the cleaner collision history?

Hint, ignore CarFax, and ask your insurance agent to do the history search, as though they were doing a damage appraisal.

From here on the other side of the Internet, with just one picture each, the black one looks like a better move.

But - what year is the blue one? If it's a 1995 or older, get rid of it. If it's a 1997, consider keeping it intact.

You may be able to trade the blue one complete for a fresh rebuilt transmission.

Or, you could strip the blue one down for high-likelihood spare parts (relays and such) as well as the tranny, pull the Cetus wheels for a dedicated set of winter shoes, and sell what's left as scrap metal. Used brakes might be worth keeping, headlight assemblies, seat motors if they're power... if you have a place to put it up on blocks, sell the seats, fenders, and doors on eBay.

[jblackburn]

Your poll above is a bit confusing.

If the black one's a 1995, the transmission from the 1997 will not work. If it's a 1996 like it says in your post, it will work just fine, so I'd vote keep the black one.

[DetailingTurboBrick]

oh yeah i fail the black 850 is a 95 will the transmission from my 97 not work because it's obd2? Nevermind just realized the speedometer sensors are different,think im going to sell my glt and just keep the 850 turbo

[kcodyjr]

A 97 GLT in one piece? Yeah, probably worth more to sell it intact, unless you have a back yard and can part it out.

[DetailingTurboBrick]

Quick question, would i be able to take the 2.3 motor out of the 95 850 turbo and mount it in my 97 glt with the 97 transmission? I so want to do a m56 swap in the 850 turbo and be done with it,but since this will be my daily i need to get it back together asap lol

[kcodyjr]

You'd have to deal with changing over the ECU and possibly harness issues. I wouldn't try it.