Sold my 73. Bought a 2001 Celica GTS 6-speed to get me around while i settle on a new build. This Celica corners insanely well with the 18's i have on it. It does everything i need it to, save be able to pass cars (and trucks) that dont want to be passed. 180HP in a 2450lb car is 'peppy', and fun in town, but everything on the road has 400HP now, and i'm sick ov tailgating into the twisties.

I have an extremely spartan '68 AMX 4-speed to build, but it needs everything. Its a 2-3 year build easy. I need a faster car now. Been looking for a 1984 Z51 coupe with a stick. Google says nearly half the 50K+ '84's were a Z51. I see piles ov '84's advertised locally, but in a year, out ov maybe 25 cars, not one has been a Z51. Statistically... this is unlikely. I'm guessing these people dont know what they have? Google then tells me that 2224 coupes had the Z51 and a stick? No wonder i cant find one.

My question:

So if the only key difference between an '84 and an '85 Z51 are the spring rates (i dont care about wheel sizes, i'n not going to use a 16"), and an 85 has all the other cool stuff (tighter steering, better sway bars, etc.), can i just buy an '85-6 Z51 and swap the springs to '84 rates? They seem to have made 2000-2500 Z51 stick coupes every year to '86... not specifically needing the '84 might make this at least a little easier. I do want the crazy '84 spring rates. Can you buy new '84 rate Z51 springs?

What else might i need to know?

 

I would skip the 205 hp L-83 and at least get an 85 with the L-98 which had 240hp. Even better, jump to the 92+ for 300hp. You can do suspension mods to any C4 to get a better handling car.

 

Agreed. It's also not as if the 84s handled noticeably better than the later years, far from it in fact. A Z51 LT1 car with the square 275 tire setup will run circles around an early car, likely even with the same power level.