So I'm in a bit of a dilema here. I purchased a project AE86 SR5 hatch recently. The floors and frame rails under the floor have a good bit of rust. I have the panels to fix the issue, and metalworking/ bodywork is not a problem for me to fix, just time consuming. My dilemma comes here. The car has been GTS swapped, minus the rear end. Whoever owned it prior to me put some money into the motor. It's got high compression pistons, fidanza flywheel, Msd ignition, adjustable cam gears, and the TVIS has been removed. I was not able to hear the motor run when I purchased the car. The wiring under the hood is trashed, I can't make any sense out of what is going on. Spliced wires and loose wires without connectors everywhere. Brake lines are all jacked up.... I could go on for a while about all the issues.

My question is, do I fix the body, get a new engine/ headlight harness and hope the engine/ trans are good?

Option two is ditch fuel injection to simplify the mess under the hood, build a manifold and go with bike carbs (I already have a set of R1 carbs I got from a friend).

Option 3 is ditch the 4age and go with a different engine (I'd LOVE to do a 1uzfe or ls1 swap).

Or do I just part the car out. I only have $500 into the car so far. I'm more than capable of doing any of these options, I'm just haveing a hard time deciding which route to take.

Those options seem to have really differnent outcomes. I think the first question is, what do you want to do with the car?

Just replace the harness and make the necessary repairs to whatever else is damaged. If you're worried about the condition of the engine just give it a thorough inspection, compression, and leak down test. If you want an ls1 then sell the car to someone else that will appreciate it for what it is, and buy yourself a corvette.

Try replacing the harness before making any moves towards another engine.

Then again, if there is rust in the engine bay, and you plan on painting everything, you will end up pulling the engine anyways.