Hmmm....confusing. Could it be blue/gray primer starting to show, if there was such a thing? I can't imagine rear and and roof damage would economically feasible repair. Could it be a factory mistake, they started to paint blue and realized it's supposed to be black, but that doesn't explain red on the engine cover bracket. After all these years it's common to find areas of touch up and repair. My car had something happen to it at some point, almost all vertical body surfaces have been repainted, but all the horizontals are original. What's really strange is the repainted surfaces are base coat & clear coat, the rest of the car is just paint - no clear coat. Amazingly the color match is perfect, I can't tell anything was done in any lighting condition. Amazing job by somebody. The factory is known for shoddy paint work, and cars were damaged during transport across the ocean and repaired. Keep doing your detective work. Keep me posted....I love a good suspense story!

Jeff..I looked back in all the records for repair and the earliest receipt was 3656 miles and the original receipt has Blk/Blk listed for color and trim...as well as all receipts. Looks like original color sticker of Nero black under bonnet in front. Funny thing is that paint is worn on engine cover and a blue color shows through as well as on the hood above the door. I checked all the VIN information and everything looks ok. I will keep looking for places inside the door or other. On the frame I think it is blue under the black as I was cleaning off the dirt and scaped a little paint away. I found the bracket to the engine bonnet was chipped and was read, so now I think it may have been repaired, but I cant imagine the whole back end and top of car was swapped out. Any thoughts?

Hi Tom...glad you got things figured out, and Speedline wheels are quite desirable. The frame should be black, not blue. If you think your car's color has been changed, snoop around and look for more clues. It's a big job to truly change the color of a Testarossa. Let me know what you find...Sincerely; Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I figured it out, I have speedline wheels on the car and the lug bolts are longer. I found 5 new 45mm length bolts used on a Mercedes with a 17mm hex instead of a 22mm head for a total of $8.75 and just added a 17mm socket to tool kit. did not feel like paying $20 each for used lug bolts. On another note, I think my car was repainted and was blue once. should the frame color on a black TR be blue?

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Pete! That's really odd that your lug bolts are too long. Is it possible that your spare wheel is for a different Italian car? Or could it be for the early single-lug TR? Your stock bolts should work with the spare...?????

Hi Jeff,

Quick question, I got a flat yesterday on my 88 TR. The lug nuts were too long for the spare tire...your thoughts? are there spacers or different lug nuts I need? I have the small spare in the bonnett.

Thanks

Hey Pete! Years ago I converted my old black TR to manual belts, what a pain. Some of the interior panels can be carefully bent to allow some clearance...but exercise great caution. I had to mount a fixed loop (no slide through) up at the shoulder area, and mounted the retractor down at the bottom of the door. I did a lot of grinding on the retractor housing to get it to fit...barely made it work. Ideally the retractor goes at shoulder level...but I just couldn't make that work out. There are manual seat belt cars being parted out, but as you said the costs for interior trim pieces are quite high. I never did get a really clean look, it was acceptable and nobody ever noticed how I had to rig things up...but it certainly did not "look" factory. I also removed all of the factory seat belt tracks from the door opening - what a mess. No matter what "knowledgeable" people say this is NOT an easy job to do. If I've confused you by my ramblings...let me know....Sincerely; Jeff

Hi Jeff,
are you familiar with any modifications to the pillar/door opening trim to fit retractable 3 point belts in place of the PR system. On the Klippan retractables, the pillar 'loop' will not allow the trim to be replaced unless it is cut away to allow the loop to function. the issue is with the depth of space to accommodate the cable track of the PR system; the loop will not fit within the cavity being too wide. I am thinking that the difference in trim for any cars carrying a 3 point system and that with the PR system would be in the cavity depth.

I am attempting to revisit the exemption on the PR belts to evade cutting the trim as it will look real bad, however if the exemption is not granted, I will have to stick with the 3 point and engineer a way to fit the trim and the upper loop and have it look factory. Obtaining a set of 3 point trims would be nigh on impossible, availability and price wise. having it look like crap to appease regulators is not an option!
Pete

You only need to block off the ports on the bottom of the cylinder heads. You will not get a "check engine" light from removing the air pump. There is a vacuum hose that connects from the air pump valve to the pressure differential switch - which is located in the upper-right corner of the engine bay. You need to be sure and block off the vacuum port that was originally hooked to the air pump system. If you follow the hose you will see.....

Hi Carguy I had a quick question about the air pump system. When You removed it I seen you made block off plates for the engine but what else had to be blocked off. Also does this cause a check engine light to activate. Is it good for the engine?