depth clean and lots of little bits needing bringing up to scratch. Having shown Fords, very successfully, I knew what the car needed, so set about giving it those touches that are noticed by the judges, within the time and budget available.
First job was to scrub under the engine bay, i.e. clips, electrical plugs, heater box, fuse box, etc. with a general purpose cleaner, then power washed off, then repeated the process with the underside of the vehicle, including floor pan, exhaust, arches, chassis rails, all door shuts, boot shut and rear of bumpers.
Next job was to snow foam the car then wash it using 2 bucket method. Dried the car with a drying towel, ready for the next step.
Once dried and inside, it was time to start stripping the car. All exterior lights and light protectors were removed. The front bumper trims were loose, so removed them and number plates removed too, so we could get underneath to clean.
Next job was to drill out the rivets that held the old boot rubbers so we could fit new ones with proper Ford black rivets.
Car was clayed, then masked up ready for the first step in enhancing the paintwork. The car was treated to a two stage machine polish.
Once the paint had been machine polished, the grill was then removed to repair the loose mesh caused by the recovery man pushing on the nose cone. All under the headlights was polished by hand and the intercooler air scoop was treated before the nose cone was refitted.
The first of the two bumper trims was refitted securely as they had just been pushed in with nothing to hold them in place.
Moving on to the rear, the exterior boot trim was removed, so the spare wheel well and floor could be accessed for cleaning and polishing.
The original Ford kit was put back in after they had been wiped down.
Spare wheel was polished and tyre dressed.
The boot foam was then refitted.
Indicators were scrubbed along with the rear washer bottle top.
After a clean.
The seat foam showed signs of wear as it was starting to break up under the material, so it was stripped and replaced with a new bolster insert before it started to wear the material, which is a common problem with Recaro seats.
Picture below shows the material starting to bulge and crinkle.
Below shows the bolster insert replaced and the material now sat correctly. All the interior was vaccumed and treated; glass cleaned. Seat rails were also cleaned.
All four wheels had previously been refurbished, so were removed, cleaned and sealed. Tyres dressed.
Under the arches were then wiped down after having previously been scrubbed and washed. Shockers, brake calipers and exhaust polished.
Header tank removed, to get to the map sensor bracket to give it a coat of satin black as it was looking tired. Polished under the header tank while it was out of the way and suspension top, along with all inner wings and chassis rails.
All parts now refitted and given final wipe down, gleaming and ready for the customer to collect.
Other jobs done but not pictured:
Replace bonnet vent screws and washers
Paint bonnet stay and replace rubber
Cut down header tank hose and replace jubilee clip
Tidy up wiring loom
Tidy fan wiring
Cleaned and adjusted all hose clips
Drilled and fixed number plates, using original Ford clips and screws
Replaced bonnet stay clip with black Ford rivet instead of silver screw