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To start off, I'm only 19 and was given this car a few years ago. It was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. Then I stumbled upon this site and saw all the work that could be done to make a car look brand new, all without new plastic trimmings or a paint job. So I decided to learn using this site off and on for about a couple years before I finally decided to dedicate a good portion of this summer to apply these techniques to my car.
There were a few setbacks however, as I had enough spare cash to afford a G110 V2 buffer, but right before I was going to get it, some one hit my car in a parking lot and left leaving no note or anything.
After setting me back a new paint job and some time to gain some spare cash for a buffer, I was finally ready again to get it and begin working. Then I was rear ended by a drunk driver. I have no pictures, but fortunately his insurance paid for it and it was fixable so I got a new paint job for free. After thinking I was finally clear of all problems, a beaver sprints into the middle of the road and I had no time to avoid it. It got grinded by the undercarriage as its very low and the end result was a popped right rear tire and a broken side skirt(not dented as its made of polyurethane). After that I just parked the car and sat there laughing for the longest time thinking "REALLY?" I was beginning to think I'd never get my chance to work on my car as I had no money once again. Thank god for parents though as when my birthday came around they surprised me with the buffer. After picking up some other products I was finally ready to begin:
My goal was to get this car in show car condition and have absolutely NOTHING wrong with it cosmetically.
First thing was to fix every part of the car that was either worn out or broken.
I started with the headlights as they are glass so they avoid the yellow hazing situation, but are prone to fill with condensation that leaves waterspots and such. The only way to open them was to use a heat gun, then clean the inside, and finally put them together again and seal them with silicone sealant to prevent this again in the future.
You'll be able to see the end result on the car further down.
Next up was the notorious dash vents on the car that are known for cracking. I had to pull the dash to do this, but I wanted to check the work that had been done on this car to install an autostart and stereo system to make sure all bolts etc. were still there. I also wanted to seal all cracks in the air conditioner piping so I went at it.
What I found was almost 20 screws and bolts missing. Some on kinda important things, like the air bag which only had 2/4 bolts holding it on.
Finally, these things are no longer cracked and nasty looking.
After that, I opened both door panels to stabilize everything that was rattling as it was annoying while driving.
As I was back there I changed out both window switches as the pictures on the switches had been scratched off from wear and tear.
I then coated them with Meguiars supreme shine.
I then worked on the trunk area and cleaned up the spare tire which was brown and then sanded and spray painted some parts that were rusted back there so everything is now black and clean.
Some other jobs I did that I don't have pictures for:
-replaced spoiler light
-took out rear seats and rear interior panels to get to rear speakers and plugged them in (they got shaken loose over the years)
-installed tint felt on door panels
-took out both seats and sprayed mechanical parts with WD-40 to stop them from squeaking
-replaced worn out plastic parts to seats
Now that everything was replaced or repaired, I moved on to the body work, which I'll type up in a bit.
There were a few setbacks however, as I had enough spare cash to afford a G110 V2 buffer, but right before I was going to get it, some one hit my car in a parking lot and left leaving no note or anything.
After setting me back a new paint job and some time to gain some spare cash for a buffer, I was finally ready again to get it and begin working. Then I was rear ended by a drunk driver. I have no pictures, but fortunately his insurance paid for it and it was fixable so I got a new paint job for free. After thinking I was finally clear of all problems, a beaver sprints into the middle of the road and I had no time to avoid it. It got grinded by the undercarriage as its very low and the end result was a popped right rear tire and a broken side skirt(not dented as its made of polyurethane). After that I just parked the car and sat there laughing for the longest time thinking "REALLY?" I was beginning to think I'd never get my chance to work on my car as I had no money once again. Thank god for parents though as when my birthday came around they surprised me with the buffer. After picking up some other products I was finally ready to begin:
My goal was to get this car in show car condition and have absolutely NOTHING wrong with it cosmetically.
First thing was to fix every part of the car that was either worn out or broken.
I started with the headlights as they are glass so they avoid the yellow hazing situation, but are prone to fill with condensation that leaves waterspots and such. The only way to open them was to use a heat gun, then clean the inside, and finally put them together again and seal them with silicone sealant to prevent this again in the future.
You'll be able to see the end result on the car further down.
Next up was the notorious dash vents on the car that are known for cracking. I had to pull the dash to do this, but I wanted to check the work that had been done on this car to install an autostart and stereo system to make sure all bolts etc. were still there. I also wanted to seal all cracks in the air conditioner piping so I went at it.
What I found was almost 20 screws and bolts missing. Some on kinda important things, like the air bag which only had 2/4 bolts holding it on.
Finally, these things are no longer cracked and nasty looking.
After that, I opened both door panels to stabilize everything that was rattling as it was annoying while driving.
As I was back there I changed out both window switches as the pictures on the switches had been scratched off from wear and tear.
I then coated them with Meguiars supreme shine.
I then worked on the trunk area and cleaned up the spare tire which was brown and then sanded and spray painted some parts that were rusted back there so everything is now black and clean.
Some other jobs I did that I don't have pictures for:
-replaced spoiler light
-took out rear seats and rear interior panels to get to rear speakers and plugged them in (they got shaken loose over the years)
-installed tint felt on door panels
-took out both seats and sprayed mechanical parts with WD-40 to stop them from squeaking
-replaced worn out plastic parts to seats
Now that everything was replaced or repaired, I moved on to the body work, which I'll type up in a bit.
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