So the good news is: it’s an original TT (manufactured late 1989 actually), it’s rust free aside from some spots on the hatch where a spoiler was mounted, the T-tops (unavoidable pretty much) and the spare tire well. It was a Texas car I’m pretty sure it’s whole life which helped and nothing was past the surface at all. The frame is straight aside from being jacked from the lower radiator support which is also super common on these cars unfortunately. The driver’s side headlight bucket is a tiny bit sunken as well but nothing horrible body-wise aside from the molded side skirts lol but they’re actually really growing on me and I’m thinking of keeping them and seeing what I can do to make them work. It’s got upgraded SMICs, upgraded injectors (JECS 850cc I think but need to confirm) allegedly upgraded turbos, a chipped ECU and an HKS exhaust.
The bad: the interior is pretty trashed tbh, and a few bits are missing or broken. Someone recarpeted, and they put carpet on the door cards which did not stick at all and left a horrible residue so those will be replaced, as well as a couple other bits. The main EFI harness is trashed but I’ll be replacing that this winter, got a killer deal on a barely used set of all the main wiring specialties harnesses for this car and that’s just waiting for a plenum pull to drop in — I’ve done a fair amount of repair on the existing harness in hopes of at least getting it started and test driven before the plenum pull but no dice yet. It does run briefly on starter fluid and sounds mostly healthy but it’s got a fuel issue that I’ve only had time to half sort out (details in an upcoming post).
All in all I’m over the moon to be back in a Nissan chassis and I’ve wanted a Z32 TT since I was a kid so despite the red flags I’m full speed ahead and am hoping to bring this car back to her former glory.
Oh and me and a friendly neighbor fixed the radiator support with a block of wood and a sledgehammer — after weighing the options it just seemed like the best choice and I’m actually stoked on how it came out.
Before:
After:
