The "Today I did something to my car" thread

andyseadog

engine bay, before/ during and after. tools used. the detergent reacted with the top of the rad and intercooler piping and left a chalky ****e on it that i cant get rid of






interior all clean



and a few of the outside

colm_mcm

Lovely car andy, apart from those extra graphics

CianRyan

Andy, any chance of an engine bay cleaning walk through?
Mine's an absolute mess but I'm not sure where to start.

Don't know what to cover/remove after the battery and is that just alloy cleaner you used?

eringobragh

CianRyan wrote: »

Andy, any chance of an engine bay cleaning walk through?
Mine's an absolute mess but I'm not sure where to start.

Don't know what to cover/remove after the battery and is that just alloy cleaner you used?

Any APC is your best bet...lads on detailing world swear by the Tesco own brand stuff.

Main thing to be careful about is getting water into the spark plugs and alternator

andyseadog

colm_mcm wrote: »

Lovely car andy, apart from those extra graphics

thanks all the white writing is OEM, though the white text on black is a little loud its how it originally looked.

as for the graphic on the front windscreen... meh, very on the fence over it. takes away from the originality mucho.

CianRyan

CianRyan wrote: »

........ any chance of an engine bay cleaning walk through?............

WD40 all electrical looking yokes, spray Autoglym degreaser on the engine, agitate with an ole paint brush, hose off avoiding the starter and alternator and any boxes of tricks. Tyre foam shtuff on the plastics after you dry it with rags. Lovely.

CianRyan

eringobragh wrote: »

Any APC is your best bet...lads on detailing world swear by the Tesco own brand stuff.

Main thing to be careful about is getting water into the spark plugs and alternator

Would sealing around the plug boots with electrical tape and wrapping the alternator with a black bag do it?
Might take a crack at this tomorrow along with the rest.

eringobragh

CianRyan wrote: »

Would sealing around the plug boots with electrical tape and wrapping the alternator with a black bag do it?
Might take a crack at this tomorrow along with the rest.

Yup should do it..APC for plastics should I say...further to RoverJames post a degreaser is probably needed for you...I used brake/clutch cleaner stuff on a primera and it shifted oil no problems.

andyseadog

@ cianryan and eringobragh

dont buy my advice, im an engine cleaning pikey :P i just get in there with the hose.

i used very harsh alloy wheel detergent this time, but as above, i would generally use tesco's own brand "Daisy APC", spray it on 1:1, dampen it lightly, work it in with a brush and then rinse.


my only 3 rules of thumb are to

- wash the engine while its running so if something starts to go wrong, i can see the engine react and stop what i'm doing

- spray WD40 on all the electrical connections when your finished rinsing the bay

- keep every cleaning agent/ water and WD40 away from the aux belts or it can be a nightmare.

If you use a garden hose you can just avoid spraying the areas, it would take an awful numpty to fill plug holes with water using a garden hose carefully. Black bag over the alternator and starter would be no harm is they are easy to get at.

colm_mcm

andyseadog wrote: »

thanks all the white writing is OEM, though the white text on black is a little loud its how it originally looked.

as for the graphic on the front windscreen... meh, very on the fence over it. takes away from the originality mucho.

The 1300 intercooler turbo one, never seen that before, you sure it's OE?

andyseadog

colm_mcm wrote: »

The 1300 intercooler turbo one, never seen that before, you sure it's OE?

always open to correction came as part of a set i ordered which had every replacement vinyl in it for a 98 model, may not be on them all, i hadn't seen it before either, just took for granted.

colm_mcm

andyseadog wrote: »

always open to correction came as part of a set i ordered which had every replacement vinyl in it for a 98 model, may not be on them all, i hadn't seen it before either, just took for granted.

Just the font doesn't look very Toyota. Shouldn't the rear badge say Glanza V?

andyseadog

colm_mcm wrote: »

Just the font doesn't look very Toyota. Shouldn't the rear badge say Glanza V?

indeed it should, i was hoping that wouldn't be spotted though its the very same dimensions as the front bumper one, but they whole set was only €14 so how bad i suppose.

i'l do a bit more research into the "1300" badge on TOC and see what it turns up.

colm_mcm

andyseadog wrote: »

indeed it should, i was hoping that wouldn't be spotted though its the very same dimensions as the front bumper one, but they whole set was only €14 so how bad i suppose.

i'l do a bit more research into the "1300" badge on TOC and see what it turns up.

That Toyota parts website that shows the part numbers etc would tell you too I'd say

Toyodiy.com

colm_mcm

http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_J_1998_TOYOTA_STARLET_EP91-AGMQY_7501.html

http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_J_1998_TOYOTA_STARLET_EP91-AGMQY_7507.html

andyseadog

was just browsing that there, very very good for a free rescource.

not looking good for the 1300's though, think im confusing them with the "Glanza S Limited" emblem. the one you can see above the moulding on this car

colm_mcm

Yeah, that site seems to have all the variations on it.

Aside from that, it looks a bit wrong either way, I'd be getting the hair dryer out

andyseadog

colm_mcm wrote: »

Yeah, that site seems to have all the variations on it.

Aside from that, it looks a bit wrong either way, I'd be getting the hair dryer out

i'm seeing what your saying for sure. at this stage im just trying to dodge taking a credit card to my new stickers. its for the greater good though. want this car to be oem original.

colm_mcm

andyseadog wrote: »

. want this car to be oem original.

I'd be going for grey decals and the slightly raised badge for the grille in that case, the white decals may well have been OE (I didn't think they were, but I'm no glanza expert) but they don't look right.

Car has massive potential for very little work.

andyseadog

Ah its sound advice with the side ones, but the rest will be staying, i should re-phrase it to i want it OEM on a student budget :P so very close to correct will have to do :pac:

spent my savings on the glanza because i couldn't shift the vectra and i knew the glanza would be sold before i could get rid of it. so i have zero money to brun until the veccy is gone!

Gary ITR

Gave mine a wash, a coat of Autoglym HD wax and sealed it up with Chemical Guys V7. Might use some Chemical Guys Blacklight on it later too

My wheels will be going a dark bronze very soon, they are impossible to clean at the minute, the finish on them is awful




For the glass I've been using 3m glass cleaner which I find excellent, I found the bottle though and have no idea where it can be bought, anybody know?

TestTransmission

Gary ITR wrote: »

For the glass I've been using 3m glass cleaner which I find excellent, I found the bottle though and have no idea where it can be bought, anybody know?

Tesco

franksm

Getting the sister's MX5 ready for it's MOT in Belfast, I picked a great week to borrow it for tooling around Dublin

Anyway, today I replaced the two steering tierods - they're only on the car a year/4,000 miles yet the rubber boots are completely perished. They were from Autolink.co.uk, the new replacements are proper Mazda items albeit at twice the price of the AUTOLINK items. Lesson learned: buy cheap, buy twice



Here's a lower balljoint also from AUTOLINK that's been sat in the shed for the past year: even its boot has gone bad !! Aaargh



Also replaced its radiator and fan with a setup from IL Motorsport.

fanadman1

polished and waxed my car today
my god it was a tight job i had parked the car in the shade of a house but by the time i had polished and aplyed the wax the sun had move that wax set like a rock
i had to rub it of first with a polishing cloth then use a micro fiber to finnish the job

W0bble5

Changed the pollen filter on the car today. First time in its 6 year life. It was manky :eek: and managed to fix the light in the glovebox while I had it out. It never worked and always annoyed me. The bulb had just moved so happy days!

Also changed the oil filter with the right one after getting the wrong one last week when doing a service.

allen175

Today I actually done something to me car, I got a new mirror that someone broke off my car. Nissan quoted me 155 euro for a new mirror :eek: so went and got one from a breaker for 30 euro. Wasn't very hard to replace, had the whole thing done in 30 mins.

Before:


Middle:



After:

MetzgerMeister

Looking great gary but you're wasting your time applying blacklight over the wax. Blacklight is a gloss enhancer and not a sealant so it should go on before the wax.

Voodoomelon

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful in your entire life! :eek:

L-M

Are they just polished?