My 1994 Cleaning and Restoration Thread

[Sylvan]

Well this isn't really a build, but I have some progress photos of my car in work, and I figured I'd consolidate them into one thread so anyone can look on while I do stuff to it. My car is a 1994 Berlina Black with about 110,000 miles. Runs great, recently I did my TB/WP and transmission fluid.

Right now I have the passenger side rear suspension apart because I'm doing my CV joint boots. So I took the opportunity to do a little bit of cleaning while I was in there...

What's that? All the rubberized undercoating in the wheel well.

I scraped off the majority of it without much trouble, using a plastic paint stripping scraper. Here is a shot about halfway done. It's getting there... this is pretty stubborn stuff once you get down to the end.

95% there. The last 5% was the most time consuming, it required lots of scrubbing with a stiff nylon brush, and liberal use of my pressure washer. I didn't want to use metal because I didn't want to scratch off the nice coating underneath.

I cleaned up it real good, masked off the suspension then sprayed a couple of light coats of black paint-in-a-can to finish it off. It's not this glossy up close, it was just the angle of the pic.

Reinstalled damper, all done! (1 down, 3 more to go... ugh!)

 

[Sylvan]

Interior

I have my seats out, since I'm preparing to do my Leatherseats.com upgrade. I took the opportunity to install my new GROM bluetooth iPhone adapter. I didn't take pics of this, but it's awesome!

I vacuumed and scrubbed my carpets, and cleaned up all my vinyl panels with some light degreaser and followed up with 303 Aerospace Protectant for UV protection.

The lighting made it look kind of light-brown, but in reality it's a darker charcoal color.

 

[Sylvan]

Another "while I was in there" thing I did...

I couldn't help myself. The suspension undercarriage "U" brace was pretty dirty and had some deep scratches. I sanded out most of the scratches and cleaned / polished it up a bit. (Yes, both sides. I'm weird like that).

 

[Sylvan]

"Guppy Attack" antenna that I installed last week:

Gets good FM reception, no AM reception. I like it.

 

[PHOEN$X]

I love these types of threads. Thanks for the pictures! Subscribed.

 

[dfdtruckie]

Good stuff. Im subscribing. Lots of pics of your progress please, specifically the new seats.

 

[Nefarious]

Looks like it is coming along. Subscribed.

 

[Sylvan]

I practiced a bit of detailing today. I'm a total noob when it comes to paint work, but I got some new pads and compound so I practiced on one of my fenders. I filled in my big rock chips with some touch-up paint, then sanded down the bumps and polished it out. I did the driver's fender, and the lower half of the front bumper. It looks a lot better than before, but there is still a ton of road rash though, I don't know if I can ever get it out.

Here's what the fender (and the rest of the car) looks like:

Here's my 50/50 shot (first time doing this, excuse the not-so-good quality). Definitely not perfect but I don't know how much better I could get it without respray:

Passenger side (unpolished):

Driver's side (sanded and polished). From about 5 feet away you don't really see the touch-up paint spots.

 

[Sylvan]

Here are some wider shots. I'm encouraged to go ahead and do the rest of the car now. This is good practice, but time consuming. By the way, the stuff I used was:
Touch-up paint wet sanded with 2000 then 3000 grit
Meguiar's 105 compound on a purple wool pad
Meguiar's 205 polish on a white pad
Menzerna SF4500 finishing polish on a black pad
Poorboy's World Natty's blue paste wax

When I do the whole car I'm going to use Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant before I apply the wax. I am still waiting for that shipment, along with more pads Learning as I go... (and reading a lot!)

 

[PHOEN$X]

That looks pretty good! Black is so hard to work on, so good job!

I need to get my garage organized so I can start doing these projects as well.

 

[Sylvan]

Finally got my Leatherseats.com seat covers installed:

This is their Ecstasy leather kit with Alcantara body center. I love it!

 

[Fuoss484]

Those seats are amazing. Very very nice work!

 

[PHOEN$X]

Very nice! I need to install mine.

 

[Sylvan]

Thanks

 

[Meeyatch1]

Great job! Proof that 1994 NSX owners are the ones willing to go above and beyond to keep their NSXs looking beautiful.

(* Yes, I have a 1994 also.)

 

[synth19]

great work! Love the seats!

 

[nikey22]

I think the bottom part of the front bumper is beyond this kind of repair/restoration, it may just need to be repainted. But very good work for a beginner.

 

[Sylvan]

I think the bottom part of the front bumper is beyond this kind of repair/restoration, it may just need to be repainted. But very good work for a beginner.

I agree. It's kind of like trying to polish a turd... But I'll do the best I can until I get it repainted

 

[Sylvan]

I finally finished my detail. The formula that I ended up settling on:
M105 compound with a white pad (orange pad for the deeper scratches).
Menzerna SF4500 finishing polish with a black pad.
Sealed with Blackfire Wet Diamond.
Topped with Poorboy's world Natty paste blue wax.
Trim was blackened with Poorboy's world trim restorer.

I also wet sanded some deep scratches on my taillights and polished them up, also replaced my taillight gaskets while I was in there. No more condensation!

I think it looks great, although there are many flaws in the paint and some spots just need to be repainted, but overall I'm really happy. I have to say, that Blackfire Wet Diamond has such an incredibly slick feel, it was sad to cover it with wax but I wanted a bit more protection against the elements. The Menzerna polish is something else. Incredible clarity. On to the pics...

Trunk lid being polished up:

Polish removed:

Can you read the label?

New taillight gaskets:

Topped with my sealant of choice:

 

[Sylvan]

Some outdoor pics!

Roof:

Taillights;

 

[Sylvan]

It's black alright..

 

[myw]

WW !!!

bravo!

 

[butter78]

It's black alright..

When clean black is the best color.

 

[Lamini]

great work!

You can tell who's into their cars!

 

[Fuoss484]

Car looks amazing!