Come on in and watch the transformation of my "new" car!

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White95Max

New member
I picked up this silver '99 Protege LX yesterday. It's a 5spd with 63,500 miles. I saw it yesterday late in the afternoon, which of course means there were a few things that I saw today at noon that I didn't see yesterday :rolleyes: oh well.

It's got PS, PL, PW, PM, tilt, cruise, alarm, and CD player. And it's got cupholders! Unlike my Maxima... :down



I haven't even gotten a chance to wash it yet, since I got home with it last night around 8:00PM, and I had to leave for work at 3:00AM. :(

So here's what it looks like from a few feet away...



Protege.JPG




The stickers on the windshield have already been removed, and I was able to transfer the State Parks stickers that I had on the Maxima to the Protege.





Upon close inspection, here are the problem areas (well, some aren't very problematic, they just need a little TLC):



DirtyEngine.JPG


NoPaint1.JPG


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Can anybody give me an idea of what this stain is on the headliner? Is it cigarette smoke? I haven't tried anything to clean it yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated. :)



Headliner.JPG




A few more coming...
 
Looks like you made a good find there. It's amazing what a couple feet will change in what you see.



I will guess that the "staining" that you see on the headliner is road grime from driving around with the window slightly cracked. I had the something similar with a C Class Benz. Careful removing it and be very gentle.
 
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Here's a little tar for ya! :eek:



Tar.JPG




Let's see what Meg's APC can do for that!



Oddly enough, the owner said it was in excellent condition. :rolleyes: You'd think that they would at least wash the car if they're going to claim it as excellent condition. Obviously excellent condition means different things to different people.



More pictures coming after it gets a little work.

Oh, and yes, it was a Texas car. It was driven there for 4 years, so it was only driven through one Wisconsin winter.
 
Can anybody give me an idea of what this stain is on the headliner? Is it cigarette smoke? I haven't tried anything to clean it yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated
Click to expand...



Prestone foaming carpet cleaner the red can at wally world. It produces enough foam and cleaner without saturationg the head liner. it also works great on stains and upholstery :)



Nice looking ride!
 
Looks great...but I know you see the potential! Keep us updated!



Did you get it at Concours? How was the sales experience?
 
P.S. My mazda 6 gets those stains from having the windows down a little like mentioned above and from having the sunroof open.
 
What about Woolite and warm water with a MF towel? I'd like to use something I already have if possible.



I have:

Meg's Detailer APC

Woolite

Autoglym interior shampoo

Detailer's Pride Carpet/Upholstery Cleaner
 
Carl - I bought it from a private party. The owner bought it new at Concours, and it was driven to Texas for the next 4 years, and then came back here. The owner has an Infiniti I35 now. Major upgrade IMO. Although there's nothing wrong with a Protege! :)
 
woolite and or APC diluted appropriatly (sp?) will probably work just fine. turn the nozzle on the sprayer to really fine mist and give it a spray. After seeing how much glue is really used on these things at work I am not to afraid to even use my Spotter on them from time to time. I dont suggest on older cars doing that but a newer car it shouldnt be a problem as long as you are not soaking the thing so bad that it start to droop.
 
Try Folex on that headliner. DP stain remover might be similar, I'd try that first. Don't oversaturate with hot water, as the adhesive can come undone. And that's not fun (I'd know, sadly).
 
Scottabir - is your Mazda's headliner a little stiff compared to other cars? Mine feels like cardboard compared to the Maxima's soft carpet-like headliner. :nixweiss



I know about using very little water on headliners, and I'll use lukewarm water. Thanks for the reminder though. :)
 
Today's update:



I removed the tar with Meg's APC and a couple blue shop towels. I buffed off any excess APC with a MF towel.



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I also worked on cleaning the engine bay. Here you can see that I took the big front intake resonator box off, leaving the open tube in front of the air box. Also notice that I polished part of the engine with Mothers Mag/Alum Polish and a terry towel. That's after 7 applications of the polish by hand. It looked much better after the first application, but the subsequent applications were still yielding slightly better results, so I kept going. I'll probably go over the area a few more times yet too... :D



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For the engine bay there, get a cordless drill, and a felt wheel. It will look a heck of a lot better, and be 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x easier.
 
Can't wait to see the final results. Try a Mother's powerball in combination with that mag/aluminum polish. It's a great combo. Although felt wheel would get in the tighter areas better.
 
White95Max- Glad to see you found a car. Good choice. Looks like you're making good progress :xyxthumbs



And yeah, get the right polishing stuff for those underhood parts. No sense in wearing yourself out.



Got any idea what you're gonna use for polish/etc.?
 
I managed to wash it tonight, and I clayed the windows and VM'd them, plus I cleaned the tires and dressed them, and used 303 WT on the wiper blades.

Unfortunately tomorrow I can't work on it at least until the afternoon since I'll be doing a silver Jetta tomorrow morning. But after I'm done with that I'll probably just finish up on the engine bay. I do have a cordless drill, and I could probably use my ExcelDetail wheel kit for polishing that metal. I'm not sure if we have any felt wheels laying around. I also want to drain the windshield washer fluid reservoir, and refill it with a 303 Windshield Washer Tablet and distilled water. Then I'll clean the throttle body.



For the exterior, I plan on doing:



QD

Clay w/ Showtime (I have a bunch of it laying around, and I really only use S&G for QDing)

SSR2 via rotary and green pad (2.5 may be necessary for a couple areas)

AIO

WG or UPP. I can't decide :nixweiss I guess it'll be a spur-of-the-moment kinda thing.

Another layer of WG or UPP

Paste Glaz





Mothers Plastic Polish on headlights/taillights

1Z Chromepflege on all chrome

Possibly shave the "MAZDA" and "PROTEGE" from the trunklid to make future washing/waxing/etc easier. Any opinions on this? I think it would look very nice with just the Mazda logo in the center.

WG on tires (already done)

VM/WG on wheel covers

303 on wheelwells

Clay/AIO/WG on door jambs, after cleaning them thoroughly.

AIO on trim, wiper arms



And then wait for the custom license plates to come in. :)
 
BTW this is what the rear looks like if anyone has any opinions on shaving the MAZDA and PROTEGE emblems off, and just leaving the Mazda logo at the top center.



RearBefore1.JPG
 
Go for it on the debadging...just be careful I recall Accumulator telling us that the emblems on the back of his Mazda (MPV) were pinned.



PS What is that thing in the background? Portable car shelter? Greenhouse?
 
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