Just saw a lot of the finished results of the detailing going on with the CR this weekend, and WOW.

 

When I picked up the car I knew that it needed some elbow grease and love, but I didn't know how much. The original owner washed the car all the time, but his house was plagued with hard water. It left a mess everywhere. On top of that the owner right before me (the clown who absolutely had to have the car because the world was going to end if he didn't have a new shiny toy) took terrible care of the car. Thank god he only had it for a month. When I got the car the front end was caked with bugs that had been on there long enough to leave holograms in the clear bra. The clear bra was already old and yellowed and it needed replaced anyway, it was just the principle behind letting the car get that trashed. Oh well, at least he didn't own it long enough to cause any serious damage.

After everything else that I've done so far, I also had to have the windshield replaced. I caught a rock on the way home from an Autocross event which cracked the three month old OEM windshield. Thankfully my insurance company stepped up and replaced it with all OEM components.

10.03.2014 - Windshield Replacement

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 06 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 07 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 08 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 09 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 10 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 11 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 12 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Replacement 13 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

 

With the windshield replaced I wanted to start tearing into the car and getting it cleaned up. The clear bra needed to be removed and replaced so I started with that.

Please note that this entire process took me from 10/3/2014 - 11/15/2014. Over that time I spent all of my weekends, time after work, and any spare time I had available working on the car. Some of the process is a little bit out of order, and the photos are from a combination of my cellphone, Adrs2k camera, and S2k4lifeAZ camera. I've tried to detail as much of this process as possible so that people can see my car as it was when I took delivery and then what it looked like when I was done. This is the biggest detailing project I have ever undertaken, I have easily 80-100 hours into this project. It looks like a brand new car now. In fact, this car looks better than a new car. I'm confident that this is one of the cleanest S2000s on the road regardless of mileage.

10.03.2014 - Clear Bra Removal

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

You can see the color difference in the fender with no bra versus the front bumper.

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 06 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 07 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 08 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 09 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

I was a little concerned that this mark was going to be a chip that went through the paint.

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 10 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 11 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Thankfully it was all just dirt that got trapped under the bra after an opening formed from a rock impact.

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 12 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 13 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.03.2014 - CR Restoration - Clear Bra Removal 14 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

 

After the bra was pulled I started dissembling the car. I really wanted to get into the car and get it as clean as humanely possible. I figured I would never get the chance to purchase a CR brand new so I might as well make this thing as clean as possible.

10.04.2014 - CR Tear Down

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

I'm not sure why these washers were there. The original owner much have put them there for some reason but I can't seem to figure out why. The bumper lines up much better without them.

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 06 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 07 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 08 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 09 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 11 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 12 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 13 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Even the clips holding the under trays to the bumper were caked with mineral buildup. They had to be pulled out as they wouldn't come undone. I had to order an entire box of replacement clips for the under trays as these were unusable.

10.04.2014 - CR Restoration - Tear Down 14 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr


You'll notice that all over the car there is a thick mineral build up. It's from the hard water that the original owner used to wash the car with. This stuff was literally everywhere and I had a terrible time removing it. It ended up coming off with a mix of 50% white vinegar and 50% distilled water. I would spray an area, let it sit, and then work it with a toothbrush. I basically repeated this over and over until the section was clean and then I moved on. I spent probably 20-30 hours on this step alone.

 

Next up was the engine bay. It was filthy. Much like the rest of the car there was mineral build up all over the place. I dealt with it the same way that I did on the rest of the car. With the engine bay having crap everywhere I had to start removing things so that I could get to the hard to reach areas. I ended up pulling the coolant reservoir, the horn, the cruise control module, the fuse box, the battery, battery tray, and whatever else I could remove relatively easily.

The underside of the hood was cleaned, hand polished, and then sealed. The engine bay took a ton of time to get all of the mineral build up out of it. The biggest pain in the ass what the areas around all of the bolts. Again I used the vinegar/distilled water combo to break it up, and then toothpicks and toothbrushes to remove it.

10.05.2014 - Engine Bay

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Here is what it looked like after the initial scrub down.

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 08 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 09 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 10 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr


Here it is after removing all the mineral deposits around all of the bolts and off of the walls of the engine bay.

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 12 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

The underside of the hood, polished and sealed.

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 14 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 15 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 16 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 17 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.05.2014 - CR Restoration - Engine Bay 12 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

You'll also notice that I was able to remove some of the yellowing in the places that had the bonding from the factory. I polished them with M105 by hand as hard and as quickly as I could with a microfiber applicator.

 

Next up was cleaning of the windshield washer squirters.

10.13.2014 - Windshield Washer Squirters

10.13.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Washer Squirters 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.13.2014 - CR Restoration - Windshield Washer Squirters 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

After that the car was washed to get ready for detailing.

10.10.2014 - Wash

10.10.2014 - CR Restoration - Wash 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.10.2014 - CR Restoration - Wash 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.10.2014 - CR Restoration - Wash 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.10.2014 - CR Restoration - Wash 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.10.2014 - CR Restoration - Wash 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.10.2014 - CR Restoration - Wash 06 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

You'll noticed all of the mineral buildup behind the tail lights. I was able to remove all of that just like on the rest of the car. I have the after pictures somewhere, I just need to find them. >_<

 

Looks good Feezy, believe me I know what you have gone through. Wait till you do the entire underside.

 

After the wash it was time to clay the car down and polish it. I noticed that after each pass with the clay bar the bar it would turn red. I'm assuming that was iron particles in the paint that were being removed. I clayed each panel twice to make sure that I had removed everything. After that it was polish time. I hit the car with 2 passes of Meguiars 105 and one pass of Meguiars 205. Once that was done I hit the car with a coat of Meguiars 21 sealant.

10.15.2014 - Clay & Polish

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 05 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 06 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 07 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 08 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 09 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 10 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 11 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 12 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 13 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 14 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 15 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 16 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 17 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 18 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 19 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

I was able to remove the yellowing from that body seam, and I pulled some of it out of the textured portion on the bottom side of the car. I destroyed multiple pads in the process, but it looks way better now that there aren't yellow lines in the body.

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 20 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 21 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 22 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 23 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

The side windows were covered with water spots and mineral build up on all of the edges. I removed them to refinish them and while they were out I clayed, polshed, and sealed the inside of the side mirrors.

10.15.2014 - CR Restoration - Clay &amp; Polish 24 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

 

Wow! Nice job.

 

Before I polished the car I worked on touching up all of the paint with the hope that wet sanding and polishing would blend everything in. It worked so incredibly well, I couldn't be happier with the results.

As I'm sure many of you have experienced, the front bumper loves to rub against the fender and start chipping paint from the backside of the bumper. I decided to try my hand at refinishing the bumper. I'm especially proud of this update. This more than anything else I did just shows that with the right tools, some patience, and a little bit of research you can do some pretty incredible things that you wouldn't normally expect. I'm absolutely blown away by the results.

10.16.2014 - Front Bumper Touch-Up

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Front Bumper Touch-Up 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Here is the same spot after some wet sanding, a few coats of paint, and a little bit more wet sanding.

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Front Bumper Touch-Up 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Here it is after another 3-4 layers of paint and a very light wet sand.

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Front Bumper Touch-Up 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

As you can see it's almost perfect. When installed you will never know that there was an issue. I have a few spare sheets of clear bra courtesy of my installer and I will be making little pieces to sit in between the fender and the bumper. I'd rather the clear bra rub against it self than the paint. The bumper is not completely aligned in this picture. I need to remove it and reinstall the CR lip. I just needed to mount it to get it to the clear bra appointment.

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Front Bumper Touch-Up 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr


10.16.2014 - Paint Chip Touch-Up

I had to mark the chips so that I would remember where they were durring the touch up process. White is such a pain in the ass. I ended up buying some dispisable ultra fine paint applicators. They worked out so incredibly well I went and bought out the remaining stock at the nearest Hobby Lobby so that I had spares for my AP1 and other peoples cars should they want a paint touch-up during a detail.

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Paint Chip Touch-Up 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Paint Chip Touch-Up 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Paint Chip Touch-Up 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Here you can see some very light wet sanding to blend everything together. If you haven't done it before don't learn on your S2000. I had done it on several other cars first and it was still nerve racking.

10.16.2014 - CR Restoration - Paint Chip Touch-Up 04 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

More wet sanding.

10.17.2014 - CR Restoration - Wet Sand 01 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Same spots on an overcast day.

10.17.2014 - CR Restoration - Wet Sand 02 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr

Same area after a quick test pass of M105.

10.17.2014 - CR Restoration - Wet Sand 03 by Teh_Feezy, on Flickr