Found a spare 40 mins this afternoon to sort out the boot. I had previously skipped in during the interior cleaning as I didn't really have the time. I tackled the spare first, horribly rusting which is truly bizarre as the thing has never been used - I can't (or won't!) take credit for that either as when spraying them I never touched the back part and that's worse!
Wheel before by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
So APC, some car shampoo, a single large boar hair brush (yes, I need to expand my selection
) and just a little bit of water gets us something sort of clean. I then dried the wheel and put on the only sealant I have, AutoGlyms EGP.
Wheel during by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Wheel after by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Whilst that was doing its 30min cure, I moved on to the boot which was in dire need of a vacuum and a scrub. The numerous boot leaks and wet-dog excursions over the years had made it a smidge mucky:
Boot filth by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Boot filth 2 by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Boot filth 3 by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
In keeping with the atrocious build quality one can expect if one chooses to torture themselves in such a vehicle, you can see all the areas where the boot floor has worn away the paint, as has the tyre which can't actually be bolted down using the supplied bolt unless you leave the tool tray out. Naturally this makes perfect sense as who needs a wheel brace or even jack when changing a tyre, I mean you can just lift the car with 1 hand and swap it with the other...
So it got vacuumed and scrubbed with APC. Then naturally the rubber spacers that are meant to stop the tyre wearing away the paint just detached themselves (useless). So now we have to contend with a load of old glue - and of course I have no tar remover. Copious amounts of WD40 and lots of scrubbing got it sort of presentable.
Boot after vacuum by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Tar removed by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Rubber spacers before by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Rubber spacers after by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Contact adhesive was used to reattach the spacers, which themselves needed substantial cleanup (see above!), and I applied two coats of Bilt Hamber DSW just to try and give it some sort of protection from further inevitable boot leaks. I have realised that this area really needs sanding back and repainting as it's sure to start rusting soon with all those chips and worn areas. Also, anyone else find it odd the seam sealer doesnt actually cover top or bottom (as pictured) sides of the boot floor? Must have saved PSA what, 5 cents?
Boot after wax and spacer adhesive by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
DSW gloss by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
On a side note, I am very impressed by DSW. It was super easy to apply (once I had dampened the applicator), cured quickly and left an impressive amount of gloss on the one clear-coated part of the entire boot.
Next up was that aforementioned boot floor. Which has foam spacers to protect the rubber tyre from wearing but nothing to stop the paint wearing. 10/10 PSA... It was dressed with AutoGlyms Bumper and Trim gel. I hate this product, its a pain to apply and so inconsistent finish wise with poor coverage. Yet some how I still have the damn thing after two years. Can't wait to finish it so I can get some PERL or maybe splash out on some ironically named Poorboys Natural Trim Dressing.
Boot floor before by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Boot floor during by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Boot after by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
It was at that point I noticed the rust bubbles appearing on the seat backs, and made the mistake of wire brushing them... Seeing it was quite bad I decided to wire brush it properly and then put a bit of Hammerite on it. I quickly learned that to get a decent finish here I would need to spray it but I don't have any and I needed to get some protection on there before it rusted even further. It's not too bad from a distance, might get better if I use some fine grade wet dry on it and then attempt to polish the seat backs.
Seat back before by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Seat back after by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Still on the seat front the covers on all four sides had started to work themselves loose somehow. Clipped them back in with ease.
Seat cover before by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Seat cover after by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Lastly the plastic trim on the C-pillar. APC and magic eraser was my friend here. One advantage of the horribly scratchy and hard plastics is that magic eraser makes short work of cleaning them with no risk of marring.
C pillar before by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
C pillar after by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
And that was it for the time frame. Could have been better with the aid of some fallout remover and tar remover, but hey ho. Getting close to having the car up to standard now. Really just the wheels left and then touching up some of the paint situation. Definitely glad about that as I don't really enjoy working on this car, which is weird as I enjoy it on every other car I have access to... Guess I still haven't fallen in love with it, probably because I have to drive it too!