1973 Maserati Bora - Extreme Makeover

[porsche912e]

I'm new here but a friend of lt1corvette, if their is room i'd love to tag along.

[HotRodGuy]

I ran into our mustang project car on the freeway today mike, still looks AWESOME!

[HotRodGuy]

I'm not 100% sure I'm going to make it today. But I'm definately going to try!

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by HotRodGuy
I'm not 100% sure I'm going to make it today. But I'm definitely going to try!

Hi HotRodGuy,

We'll be starting in about an hour and a half. I'm expecting to be here till around 7:00pm or later...

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Before


After


Before


After


Write-up tomorrow!

Mike

[Lt1Corvette]

First off, I would really like to thank everyone who came and helped out with the makeover. I just got the car home and went over it with the mist and wipe to even every thing out and let me just say it looks so much better. The paint looks much smoother and a little darker. Almost all of the micro marking is gone and many of the heavy scratches are much less noticeable. I am really amazed with how much of a difference could be made without having to get really aggressive on the finish. I am so pleased with the results.
Thank you again,
Joe

[HotRodGuy]

Sorry I didn't make it guys, i got tied up w/ admissions office at school solving a problem they created.


Both cars look great, LT1 it came out AWESOME!

[BoraBora]

RE: Makeover Aug.26th -- LT1 & Bora

Dear Mike & everyone--

Thanks again VERY much for all the efforts on these two cars. My Bora really took great benefit from all the attention, cleanup, great Meguiar's products, and generousity of all present. 'CarGirl' made seat removal much easier, and added some good ideas--especially re the 'trim' product on the flat black at the end there, for a complete look.

The LT1, being black, shows off the products better in some sense. It was a nice looking car in the first place, when it came in. When it left, it was much more than that--intense and striking!

Thanks to everyone present for such interest, involvement, sharing, fellowship, and 'elbow grease.' A great crew!

And thanks again to Mike for making all this possible, for us and for all those he helps!

Best regards,
Ned Evans (1973 Bora 4.9)

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks Ned, (again), for bringing one of your cars to Meguiar's for others to have fun learning and honing their detailing skills.

I've been trying to post some of the pictures since early this morning but instead find myself answer questions and e-mails!

I'll get to work on it right now.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Okay, ready to start posting some of the process pictures, for anyone who does this kind of thing, I'm sure you understand the work involved in previewing around 300 photo's taken, picking the ones that best tell a story, then cropping, resizing and uploading them to the Gallery. Then... inserting them into the thread....

That's why if you notice, whenever anyone else takes the time to do this I praise them for it because I know how much work it is behind the scenes and they could just as easily go watch T.V.

Before the Maserati Bora arrived, (from here on out referred to as the "Bora", I discussed with Mike Pennington the procedures for cleaning the wheels. These particular wheels are
first of all rare, second of all, magnesium.

We decided that we would use a wheel cleaner that is safe for all types of wheels, a wheel brush to agitate the wheel cleaner and loosen the years of built-up dirt and grime, and a pressure washer to rinse them clean.

Product used,


Gold Class All Wheel Cleaner



Ultra Soft Wheel Brush



All Purpose Cleaner




Here's some before shots of the wheels,



Here's a close-up of the wheel as well as the wheel manufacture, notice the ground in dirt embedded into the textured finish of the magnesium wheels.


Here's a picture of one of the Bora wheel caps after we have removed it, notice the dark color from tarnishing over time and the stains from who knows what,

[Mike Phillips]

For this makeover, because the wheels were so griming looking, I new that unless we make the sparkling clean again, they would do nothing but distract from the over beauty of this classic European sports car. So first up was to use the Gold Class All Wheel Cleaner to get the wheels clean.

We started by spraying the All Wheel Cleaner onto the wheel. We started spraying at the bottom of the wheel first, and then working our way upward. This is a technique Pro's use to reduce any potential for streaking or staining in case concentrated wheel cleaner were to have an adverse reaction to the wheel, or to the combination of built-up grime on the wheel.



Next we agitated the wheel cleaner into the wheel to help it dissolve, loosen and emulsify years of built-up road grime and brake dust.



Then we rinsed the wheel clean with water from a pressure washer and repeated the process. When wheels are extra grimy, and the dirt has been there for years, you will often find two applications of wheel cleaner will work better than just once. The first application will remove a majority of the built-up grime, the second application will be able to go right after the remaining, tougher and more resistant build-up. Again, for best results, agitate with a quality wheel brush.



After rinsing the second application, we tackled the tires. For this we used a product from Meguiar's Professional Detailer line called All Purpose Cleaner.



After spraying the tires down, we agitated the cleaner against the rubber tire for a really clean tire.



After working the tire over good with the brush and the All Purpose Cleaner, we rinsed both off thoroughly.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Next, we cleaned and polished the Bora Wheel Caps using the new NXT Metal Polish,



The new NXT Metal Polysh worked like a charm!



NXT Generation All Metal Polysh

[Mike Phillips]

After the wheels, tires and the wheel caps were cleaned, and the tires had time to dry, next we applied Meguiar's new Hot Shine Tires Spray

Hot Shine High Gloss Tire Spray (Trigger)




Here, Meguiar's Online forum member ghettocivic applies the Hot Shine Tire Spray directly onto the foam applicator pad,



Then applies the tire dressing to the tire using the foam applicator,

[Mike Phillips]

ghettocivic continues to work his way around the car treating each tire. Below he tries spraying the tire dressing directly onto the tires and then spreading it over the surface.





Mike

[Mike Phillips]

ghettocivic then continued around the car until all of the tire were treated,



Mikw