OK, this is probably going to be long, so I apologize in advance. Let me preface this with- this is not a full blown resto, this car is a cruiser that will see plenty of street and track time, so it is being "restored" accordingly.
I owned a 24k mile TTA back in 2000 or so and have always regretted getting rid of it but for some reason, the last year or so it has been on my mind constantly that I want another one. Between life, kids, house, etc. I couldn't justify the coin to buy a low mileage, mint TTA at the moment and thought "Well, who am I kidding, I'm only going to mod it and have fun with it anyway, let me look for one needing work".
I found this one in Miami- where I ALWAYS say I would NEVER buy a car from but the price was right and even better (at the time) is he was looking for a 4th gen f body. It just so happened that I promised the wife I'd sell my extremely 01 Z28 if I bought another TTA, sooo I traded an extremely clean low 11 second head/cam 01 Z28 for #1134 back in February after being told it had "Holley HP EFI, ported heads, forged pistons, mild cam, built trans, etc." Knowing it needed a quarter panel, paint misc body work and interior to be nice. Apparently my definition of "what it needs" and the sellers are waayy different. This car has been abused and neglected in every possible way- brakes, bushings, steering, tires, interior, body and yes, even his totally awesome kickass built motor were shot. Only thing still working well is the trans (I just jinxed myself..)
Every single thing that they worked on on this car was a mess- the motor was a hack rebuild that had been overheated to the point that every seal was hard as a rock, the rings had no tension left and it leaked oil like the Valdeze. They cut (looks more like they bit..) an access panel in the hatch to do a fuel pump at one point. Fuel lines were all spliced with regular fuel hose. The holley wiring was just as bad. You name it, they screwed it up.
Fast forward to today- it now has a properly built forged piston, arp bolted, roller cammed, Champion headed motor in it, I have rewired the holley and relocated it to the stock location under the dash and I just got it back from paint about 2 weeks ago and finished reassembling it all last week. I did the motor disassembly/reassembly, quarter panel and body disassembly here. Machine work and paint were done by others. I was going to finish the body and spray it myself but just couldn't find the time. I still have the interior, suspension and brakes to finish but we are closing on another house next week so it has to wait until after the move. I was going to wait until it was completely done to post pics and such but wanted to show something for all the work so far lol. It's not a flawless show car but it is a very nice driver/friday night cruiser. It's come a long way in a relatively short time considering all of the labor was done by me lol.
I owned a 24k mile TTA back in 2000 or so and have always regretted getting rid of it but for some reason, the last year or so it has been on my mind constantly that I want another one. Between life, kids, house, etc. I couldn't justify the coin to buy a low mileage, mint TTA at the moment and thought "Well, who am I kidding, I'm only going to mod it and have fun with it anyway, let me look for one needing work".
I found this one in Miami- where I ALWAYS say I would NEVER buy a car from but the price was right and even better (at the time) is he was looking for a 4th gen f body. It just so happened that I promised the wife I'd sell my extremely 01 Z28 if I bought another TTA, sooo I traded an extremely clean low 11 second head/cam 01 Z28 for #1134 back in February after being told it had "Holley HP EFI, ported heads, forged pistons, mild cam, built trans, etc." Knowing it needed a quarter panel, paint misc body work and interior to be nice. Apparently my definition of "what it needs" and the sellers are waayy different. This car has been abused and neglected in every possible way- brakes, bushings, steering, tires, interior, body and yes, even his totally awesome kickass built motor were shot. Only thing still working well is the trans (I just jinxed myself..)
Every single thing that they worked on on this car was a mess- the motor was a hack rebuild that had been overheated to the point that every seal was hard as a rock, the rings had no tension left and it leaked oil like the Valdeze. They cut (looks more like they bit..) an access panel in the hatch to do a fuel pump at one point. Fuel lines were all spliced with regular fuel hose. The holley wiring was just as bad. You name it, they screwed it up.
Fast forward to today- it now has a properly built forged piston, arp bolted, roller cammed, Champion headed motor in it, I have rewired the holley and relocated it to the stock location under the dash and I just got it back from paint about 2 weeks ago and finished reassembling it all last week. I did the motor disassembly/reassembly, quarter panel and body disassembly here. Machine work and paint were done by others. I was going to finish the body and spray it myself but just couldn't find the time. I still have the interior, suspension and brakes to finish but we are closing on another house next week so it has to wait until after the move. I was going to wait until it was completely done to post pics and such but wanted to show something for all the work so far lol. It's not a flawless show car but it is a very nice driver/friday night cruiser. It's come a long way in a relatively short time considering all of the labor was done by me lol.
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. Still some hurdles ahead but the worst is behind me now.
of saving what looked (and sounds like from your description) a real mess. Nice work!
