4 Months ago my brother called me and said "Hey Adam, my car died while turning." Being the handy mechanic that I am, I went and towed his car, thinking perhaps a axle broke.
Nope. The timing belt had never been replaced. In fact, nothing on the timing belt side had never been replaced. At 98,150 miles, the water pump bearings decided to seize and the timing belt shredded itself, taking six intake valves and the head along with it.
It took 4 months for my brother to get the money for:
1 junkyard head (50$)
8 new valves (150$)
A full gasket kit (100$)
A Full timing belt kit (100$)
Various Filters and fluids (150$)
Me finding the time to get this thing back together (Priceless.)
Now bear in mind that four/Five months ago, I had absolutely no knowledge on how to detail anything what-so-ever. I am a mechanic, and a programmer, but detailing had always interested me.
About a month before his car was running I bought my first buffer, a Harbor Freight DrillMaster and with some help and guidance from this forum, meguiars 105/205, a Twisted Wool pad, two velvet W7006 cutting foam pads, clay, detailing spray, a foam gun, and a TON of microfiber rags.
Now, this was my brothers first car, since he was 17 he has:
Destroyed the suspension
Ran it through the car wash a few times
Never waxed it
Never detailed the interior
Never cared for the paint in anyway.
Needless to say the paint was awful.
And so was the interior
So, I decided to detail his car for him, not only to see how well I could actually detail, but also as a Christmas present.
Enjoy:
(PS, I don't have a steamer or shampooer yet, so he will have to wait on cleaner carpets.)
First the interior afters:
And now on to the paint:
This was done with a cheap harbor freight drill master buffer with a 6 inch backing pad set usually to about 1500 rpm or so, except for polishing which was set at the minimum settings for 6 overlapping passes:
The roof is a huge improvement over the blurred mess from above!
Zero Defects
8 hours later the car looked like this:
All in all I think I did fairly well, but Feedback is always welcome!
Total time spent on his car: 50+ hours to fix the engine, suspension, interior, and paint.
I hope he likes it!
Nope. The timing belt had never been replaced. In fact, nothing on the timing belt side had never been replaced. At 98,150 miles, the water pump bearings decided to seize and the timing belt shredded itself, taking six intake valves and the head along with it.
It took 4 months for my brother to get the money for:
1 junkyard head (50$)
8 new valves (150$)
A full gasket kit (100$)
A Full timing belt kit (100$)
Various Filters and fluids (150$)
Me finding the time to get this thing back together (Priceless.)
Now bear in mind that four/Five months ago, I had absolutely no knowledge on how to detail anything what-so-ever. I am a mechanic, and a programmer, but detailing had always interested me.
About a month before his car was running I bought my first buffer, a Harbor Freight DrillMaster and with some help and guidance from this forum, meguiars 105/205, a Twisted Wool pad, two velvet W7006 cutting foam pads, clay, detailing spray, a foam gun, and a TON of microfiber rags.
Now, this was my brothers first car, since he was 17 he has:
Destroyed the suspension
Ran it through the car wash a few times
Never waxed it
Never detailed the interior
Never cared for the paint in anyway.
Needless to say the paint was awful.
And so was the interior
So, I decided to detail his car for him, not only to see how well I could actually detail, but also as a Christmas present.
Enjoy:
(PS, I don't have a steamer or shampooer yet, so he will have to wait on cleaner carpets.)
First the interior afters:
And now on to the paint:
This was done with a cheap harbor freight drill master buffer with a 6 inch backing pad set usually to about 1500 rpm or so, except for polishing which was set at the minimum settings for 6 overlapping passes:
The roof is a huge improvement over the blurred mess from above!
Zero Defects
8 hours later the car looked like this:
All in all I think I did fairly well, but Feedback is always welcome!
Total time spent on his car: 50+ hours to fix the engine, suspension, interior, and paint.
I hope he likes it!
rops: