'03 Civic. My first full detail *Pics Galore*

J

Johnnie27

New member
I'm about to sell this '03 Civic that had been lent out to a friend for the past 3 years. He obviously didn't take good care of it and it needed a lot of TLC. It looked as if the car had never been washed inside and out. It looks like he ate his food out of the center console because it had plenty of crumbs. The paint had a lot of crap stuck to it from never being washed. Since I'm about to sell it I didn't want to invest to much time into it but had to be done.



Engine detail

Wash

Clay

Dry

Wax

Trim



I decided not to polish since it's silver and it hides the swirls pretty well. If it was a darker color I would've definitley polished it.



Engine before.



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Engine after.



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Exterior before.



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Crap stuck to the paint which I thought was rust. The clay removed all of it without a probelm .



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Exterior after.



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Interior before.



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Interior after.



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The interior can use a little more attention but to the average person they'll think it's spotless. This was my first full detail from head to toe. It took me 4 hours but I think I definiteley raised the value.



Products used.



CG's Citrus wash

Clay Magic

Awesome Degreaser

CG's Trim Gel. This stuff is awesome. I've used it on 4 cars and have used about a 1/2 ounce.

ArmorAll Extreme Gel

AquaWax on the interior vinyl and windows.

Natty's Red. I used a thin layer and had no problem removing it. As you can see I used it in the sun and it was about 75*-80* out. I had no problems with it. It really brought out the flake.

Water





J
 
Mind listing the steps of the engine detail? Those results especially are impressive. I'm going to tackle the wifes 02 cavalier this weekend (~120,000miles+) and it's never been done.
 
Johnnie27 said:
AquaWax on the interior vinyl and windows.



J
Click to expand...

Did you use AW on all of the interior plastic and vinyl or just the dashboard?

I've heard of doing many things with AW but I've not tried it out on the interior.



Good turnaround and time well spent. You certainly increased its "worth". :bigups
 
evilWagon said:
Mind listing the steps of the engine detail? Those results especially are impressive. I'm going to tackle the wifes 02 cavalier this weekend (~120,000miles+) and it's never been done.
Click to expand...





Bro, it's so easy. This is only the second engine I've done.



Run your engine for about 2 minutes.

Cover your electrical parts just to be on the safe side. I like using foil to cover.

Spray down the entire engine compartment with water.

Spray your degreaser of choice through out the entire engine.

Scrub all accessible parts using a scrub brush.

Spray more degreaser and using a softer sponge like brush, continue to scrub.

Rinse with water.

Spray tire foam through out the entire engine and let it sit until its gone.

Soak up any big puddles.

Done.



Here are my tools.



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twitch said:
Did you use AW on all of the interior plastic and vinyl or just the dashboard?

I've heard of doing many things with AW but I've not tried it out on the interior.



Good turnaround and time well spent. You certainly increased its "worth". :bigups
Click to expand...





I use AW on anything I can! I use on the dashboard, plastic, vinyl, mirrors. It gives a nice matte finish and smells good with a little cleaning power.
 
Nice turnaround! That sucks though that you lent a car for 3 years and the person didn't even take care of it. You are one nice friend! I don't have a single friend that would lend me a car for that long! I see your nice cart in the back. I wish I had gotten one too but Ontario was a bit of a drive away though for me.



Just a tip: I wouldn't run the engine BEFORE cleaning it. The reason being is because you don't want to spray cold water onto a hot engine. Just like how you wouldn't dip a hot pan or dish into a tub of cold water, you don't want to do the same with your engine because you can possibly crack something. I know firsthand because I cracked my exhaust manifold. Luckily, my car has a TSB for this common issue and it was replaced under warranty for free.
 
Thanks for the advice. I try not to run it until it's hot. I just like to warm it up and help loosen the grease. However, since you cracked your manifold, I won't be running my engine at all next time.



I use that cart every weekend. I take out all the products I'll be using and keep them handy on the cart. It's better than dragging out a big box everytime.



Thanks for the tip.
 
BlackElantraGT said:
Nice turnaround! That sucks though that you lent a car for 3 years and the person didn't even take care of it. You are one nice friend! I don't have a single friend that would lend me a car for that long! I see your nice cart in the back. I wish I had gotten one too but Ontario was a bit of a drive away though for me.



Just a tip: I wouldn't run the engine BEFORE cleaning it. The reason being is because you don't want to spray cold water onto a hot engine. Just like how you wouldn't dip a hot pan or dish into a tub of cold water, you don't want to do the same with your engine because you can possibly crack something. I know firsthand because I cracked my exhaust manifold. Luckily, my car has a TSB for this common issue and it was replaced under warranty for free.
Click to expand...



While I generally agree that you shouldn't wash a hot engine warming up a cold engine for a minute or two will help clean things up.



If your manifold cracked it was probably defective. What do you think happens when driving through large puddles in a downpour? You guessed it... Your HOT engine gets soaking wet. Not nice but generally they are built to take it. Again, I don't condone washing a hot engine but I believe warming them up for a minute or two is the way to go. I've been doing that for 20 years and have never had a problem yet.



I don't even cover anything electrical. I do avoid spraying degreaser inside things like the alternator or soaking pulley bearings. Washes the grease a way and best case you have a squeaky pulley, worst case they might fail due to lack of lubrication.



I believe that a car isn't clean unless you can eat off the engine :)
 
ssmokn said:
While I generally agree that you shouldn't wash a hot engine warming up a cold engine for a minute or two will help clean things up.



If your manifold cracked it was probably defective. What do you think happens when driving through large puddles in a downpour? You guessed it... Your HOT engine gets soaking wet. Not nice but generally they are built to take it. Again, I don't condone washing a hot engine but I believe warming them up for a minute or two is the way to go. I've been doing that for 20 years and have never had a problem yet.



I don't even cover anything electrical. I do avoid spraying degreaser inside things like the alternator or soaking pulley bearings. Washes the grease a way and best case you have a squeaky pulley, worst case they might fail due to lack of lubrication.



I believe that a car isn't clean unless you can eat off the engine :)
Click to expand...



Sorry, I should have pointed out that a slightly warm engine shouldn't be much of a problem and like you said, the heat should help the product work better at dissolving the grease and grime. For me, I just want to be on the safe side, especially considering how quickly an engine can get hot. I just didn't want anyone to think that they could take their car out for a spin and come back home and starting washing their engine bay without letting it cool down.



You're right though about the exhaust manifold being defective because there was a recall on it. Based on other members on the ElantraXD forum, it was never a big issue for most owners because most didn't experience any problems with it and the ones that had it replaced it was usually because they went in to the dealer for one thing, the dealer noticed the recall, and fixed it automatically.



So my issues were partially contributed to the quality of the manifold, but had I not done what I did, I most likely would still be on that same manifold because I had the car for 4 years prior with no problem.



I don't agree with the comparison of driving your car through a puddle, because unless you were caught in a very deep puddle or a flash flood, not much water ever gets up there into the engine bay (dust is a different story.) There's no way it would get as soaked as if you were to hose it down in a wash. The tread of your tires generally pushes the water to the rear and side of the car. Plus, if that much water was getting into the engine bay, on rainy days every car we see on the road would have steam coming out.
 
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