project 40th

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Wow! Where have I been on this one? Asleep at the switch, obviously.
I was hoping you'd fix it. That is a potentially awesome car that looks like its spent most if its life neglected. What was up with all the candy and crap under the seats?

Can't wait to see the end result.

Would that rust need to be fixed for the safety check?

Great job so far, Andrew. You've found a gem!

Adam

[00Beast]

MN doesn't have inspections, or emissions, AFAIK. At least not around here. If you have a license, ins. and are the owner, you're good to go.

[SSEi95]

We still have all the rules of the inspections to abide by, and I think that if you get pulled over, a trooper can make you go get one if he believes you are not in compliance. But no, no mandatory inspections otherwise.

[00Beast]

Right, cops can do an inspection, or make you get one, but there isn't a mandatory emissions or inspection every 2 years, or even if you sell it.

[harofreak00]

I did a little work today, got the carpet in, but its too cold to do anything else. 9°F outside!

The carpet looks better, but not near perfect. Oh well.. its the best its going to be.

The floormats didn't turn out at all. I might just buy a nice aftermarket set.

[labonnevillastrangiato]

No kidding.
We need to do safeties up here everytime a car changes hands, and an e-test every other year. Cash grab if you ask me.

Back on topic:

The floormats didn't turn out at all. I might just buy a nice aftermarket set.

Too bad about the mats. Can you take the special 40th insignia off the mats and put them onto the aftermarkets, or is it embroidered right in there?

Adam

[GoldenBullet]

Cops aren't too strict about handing out inspections tho, my old '88 being the case, never was bothered in that thing even tho it looked like a swift breeze would turn the car into dust.

[RJGill84]

How do you clean the carpets Andrew? A friend of mine does this sorta thing, and he uses a pressure washer and an attachment in which he puts some kind of carpet cleaner. The pressure washer then sprays the cleaner and water and he doesn't even have to scrub or anything. Works almost flawlessly. Can't beat high pressure, high heat, chemical cleaning lol.

[crzydmnd72]

How do you clean the carpets Andrew? A friend of mine does this sorta thing, and he uses a pressure washer and an attachment in which he puts some kind of carpet cleaner. The pressure washer then sprays the cleaner and water and he doesn't even have to scrub or anything. Works almost flawlessly. Can't beat high pressure, high heat, chemical cleaning lol.

X2. I used a Bissell, and its cleaned ok enough, but left the carpet fibers stiff. Would love to hear how you clean them

[harofreak00]

I take the carpet to the manual car wash, use the soap provided and let everything soak for a while. Then I use some foaming carpet cleaner and brush the carpet as much as is needed. Then just rinse everything off, and use a squeege to get as much water off as you can.

The carpets in this car were pretty highly stained. They are definately not perfect, but they are much better.

Same with the seats. They are not perfect, but much better.

Here are some pics before I started.



Here are some pics during the process




Gross under the switches


Everything back together

[GoldenBullet]

what did you use to clean the leather?

[harofreak00]

[RJGill84]

Man...imagine if that girl saw her $400 car now

What kind of person could live with a vehicle with that much SICK and FILTH on the seats and everywhere. I could not drive a car like that. That's just disgusting.

[Gumball]

that car has seen a lot of family road trips.

[*B2*]

Wow, the car looks much better. It's too bad you weren't closer. I'd hook you up with a killer detail on the cheap. Also, if you aren't yet satisfied with the seats, try a mild dilution of Woolite and distilled water with a brush. This will get all of the dirt out of the cracks and seems. What do you plan to do with the antenna, replace it with a fixed one? My sister's car has the same problem.

[harofreak00]

Killer deal on what?

The seats turned out pretty good. There really isn't much more dirt in the seams, just looks like that in the pics. I'll probably leave them alone for now.

I plan on replacing the antenna, maybe with a non-motorized unit.

[*B2*]

Killer deal on what?

Killer detail. You said it needed buffed. If you were closer, I'd have it looking like glass and would do it on the cheap to help out.

[crzydmnd72]

Yeah that car was pretty dirty before. Looks presentable as a work driver now.

The dead Blazer my brother just bought is just as dirty if not worse. It was a Mom's Taxi and I swear they must have had 3 or 4 toddlers in it at every mealtime. Just kid dirt, but its going to need gutted and cleaned. I think were gonna apply some of Andrews techniques to it.

Andrew, does it smell any differnt now and how long do you let the carpet dry?

[harofreak00]

Killer deal on what?

Killer detail. You said it needed buffed. If you were closer, I'd have it looking like glass and would do it on the cheap to help out.

Ooooh! Read that wrong. Ya, thats too bad you are so far.

Andrew, does it smell any differnt now and how long do you let the carpet dry?

The smell is getting better, but not perfect yet. I have some odor eliminators in the car right now.

I let the carpet dry overnight at least, with a fan blowing on it.

[sandrock]

Man...imagine if that girl saw her $400 car now

What kind of person could live with a vehicle with that much SICK and FILTH on the seats and everywhere. I could not drive a car like that. That's just disgusting.

Believe it or not, my SSE was just like that when I brought it home. It took about a week of constant cleaning, yanking out the carpet, and scrubbing everything just to make it look and smell normal. Alyssas Jeep is the same way, though I haven't had time to thoroughly go through it...that will be a project for later on in the spring.