'93 RX-7 disaster...part 1- interior

golfdude

New member
So a friend of mine wanted their RX-7 detailed...Obviously it was not taken care of. The first time I saw it, I knew it would be hard work, and it was! Today I just did the interior. Tomorrow I might go over the trim with some Sonus Total Eclipse because the panels seem a little dry in appearance, but it certainly was a huge improvement in my opinion. Too bad I didn't use the flash on one of the "before" interior shots because it was hiding the mess inside. The process was as followed:

-vacuum

-interior panels cleaned with a mf rag and Sonax NS7 (whatever it's called) interior cleaner/conditioner

-carpets cleaned with Prestone Interior cleaner



Before:

dsc00675ix7.jpg




dsc00676uq3.jpg




dsc00680oa3.jpg




dsc00679uu5.jpg




After:

dsc00684dj4.jpg




dsc00683mg4.jpg




dsc00685hm6.jpg




dsc00686mq7.jpg




dsc00687fc6.jpg




As for the outside, well, it is much worse. The owner says there is not much clear on the paint, so I will have a tough time getting the paint good at all. Oh well, it will be a fun test. Here's a preview:

dsc00668vz4.th.jpg
 
Was the car in a flood? That is horrible. I looks like a dog covered in mud shook off inside the car. Great turn around, I cant wait to see the exterior.
 
Good lord! what happend to the interior? that was HORRIBLE! damn good job and restoring it. the outside is going to be fun
 
Thank-you all for the comments! I do wonder how the interior became the way it was. I don't know if that stuff was mold or not...the interior certainly is smelly though, it could be a moldy smell but I don't know for sure what mold smells like. The stuff all over the interior seemed more like a pollen. Any suggestions to remove the smell? The vehicle "could" have been in a light flood, but I don't know. It was in storage for 6 months though. But, the vehicle seems to run just fine though. It's certainly a sexy looking car. Yesterday at an autocross I attended, I saw 3 RX-7's racing, and two of them had the LS-1 swap. All I could say was, DAMN! They are pure jets. Even with the turbo rotary they are lethally quick. But with the LS-1 the car seemed much more stable and balanced as those turbos in the rotary tend to upset the stability of the vehicle exiting a corner.



Whatever the case, I must say I have NEVER seen a car with such a durable interior. And this vehicle that I detailed is a great example. Please keep in mind this vehicle has over 100,000 miles on the odometer! I have seen multiple FD RX-7's, and the interior panels seem to show basically no wear whatsover, despite being 14+ years old. Why is it that today's cars can't wear as slowly as the FD RX-7's??? Despite the surface disaster, once cleaned-up, the interior basically looks like new! Even the seats look almost new (that is, on the R1 models, which came with this suede-type material)!
 
45calmike...I will probably be starting a new thread on the exterior, but I will notify everyone of the new thread when I get to making it.
 
Oh that's defiantly mold. Hopefully you killed it instead of just wiped it off. It looks good now. Give it a couple days and you'll know if you killed it all. Might take a couple good cleanings to get rid of all the spores.
 
GOOD GOD MAN!!!! How could anyone even DRIVE in that thing being that dirty??? :bat It looks like someone took a german shepherd swimming in muddy water, then locked it inside the car for 24 hours and let it lounge around all over the place!



Good work! I'm afraid to see what the outside looks like.
 
Thinking about the circumstances with this vehicle, "part #2, the exterior," will probably never happen. The fact of the matter is that, I took the car from the owner thinking I can sell it for more than $11,000. Anything over $11,000 and I would keep the money. With this mold issue, all hopes of this happening, at least in my opinion, is lost. Therefore, I will probably be turning the car back to the owner tomorrow. I already spent at least 3 hours on the car for basically nothing but a risk to my health. Let's just hope I don't get sick. Anyone want the car??? It has 104,000ish miles on it. PM me if you are interested.
 
Holy crap, man, don't go mental!!



First of all, you're not going to die because you cleaned it without a mask (if that was true I'd be dead long ago from my own personal moldmobile that was tons worse than yours and I cleaned it many times--had a leak). Second of all, you WILL be able to eradicate the mold. You already have the carpet out, which would have been the toughest to disinfect. You just need to monitor it and clean it with something with some disinfectant properties (I used to use Lysol liquid). I'm guessing an ozone generator would be a good idea in there for a few days.



Listen to some of the pros on here who have dealt with this before, and get your finger off the panic button.
 
Ya...thanks for the comforting and support. I might just want to keep this project going. I did some studying on mold on this forum and I want to go with some damp rid and Microban disinfectant. But, it's not the real issue. The real issue is that I don't think the car, even if I get the paint looking in excellent condition, will sell for more than $11,000.
 
Back
Top