Orbital Dreams: Best Way to Restore Rims & Winter Prep (AMMONYC)

Larry shares his Winter preparation and wheel restoration techniques. Grab a snack.


Video courtesy of AMMONYC.

The Red Coupe - Return of the Spring eye

couple weeks ago

Star Wars reference, sorta? Welp, that ol' groundhog in PA did us a favor and looked for his shadow on an overcast day. Next thing ya know, we got a 70 degree Friday out of nowhere. I didn't even sandbag the post this time, this was last Friday! This preview of Spring was all I needed to break out the wash mitt and bucket. And the microfiber towels. And a little quick detailer.

Mmmhmm. As you can see, the coupe did a pretty good job surviving the Winter and rock-blastings by those gd salt trucks on I-95. The amount of wax that was on the car previously didn't hurt as getting the grime off the back of the car was relatively painless. I only have a couple minuscule chips on my mirrors, so I'm glad I didn't go through the process of swapping them out. My front apron wasn't so lucky though ha. My exhaust cleaned up well too, but much like I feared from it's appearance while filthy, there's some mild tarnish/rusting that took place on the very ends. I'm confident some baby grit (1000+) and some metal polish should put it back to new.

In another couple weeks I'll take the steelies off and hopefully some new daily wheels will take their place. Along with picking out a nice one-piece wheel that'll look good, be functional (lightweight) and have a multitude of cheap tire choices (15"), I've been trying to work out what will be budgeted for this year in the form of restoration, repairs and upgrades. I snagged a spare front bumper during the off-season and I plan on getting that sprayed zinnobar along with the front apron since it ain't much metal at all. I also plan on respraying the rear bumper finally so I don't have to constantly polish the discolorations as well as get new side trim to freshen the rear. I need to get much of the engine bay wiring cleaned up as it all looks like a wilting mummy currently and I need a new set of headlights; as you can see in the first shot I had a low burn out and once I went to change it I realized on rigged up my smileys are. Some of the patchwork wiring got so brittle that the power wire was broken completely; I had my stereo shop fix and improve upon what was there. Furthermore the light output has always sucked on this mismatched set that came with the car and I want to have functioning city lights as well. On a related note, independently operating fog lights would be nice too.

The biggest question mark over the past couple months is the engine bay. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place; I want to partially rebuild this trusty ol' 230k M20 of mine, but the cost of rebuilding rivals the price of more powerful motors that could be swapped in. And if I go too far in that department, I could've just bought another car all together (on to the next one). After much soul searching and sound-boarding with the inner circle, I think I'll be doing a mild power upgrade and refresh the motor so it's nicer to look at in there. The budget is even tighter this year because I got a vacation planned that aint getting put off. I guess the knocking noise from the front suspension while turning needs to get sorted too...and those rusty brakes. Uh yea, I guess power can wait.

Orbital Dreams: Cleaning Session #1

Even though the season is about over, I'll start a series just for detailing sessions. For me cleaning your car is both fun and therapeutic; my mind slows down as I massage the paint, you see the finish shine and an impeccably clean auto arises from the filth. Depending on the condition and makeup of your particular paint job, you may need to put a little more work in than someone else. Plenty of clean microfiber towels, quality soap, wash mitt, quick-detailer, polish, wax and window cleaners are a must. You don't have to be ocd to be a detailing fanatic necessarily, but you do need the willpower and/or passion for it.

On the Friday before H2oi a week or so ago, we headed up to our buddy Tim's place to unpack, get lunch then get the rides cleaned up for the weekend. A little after we showed up in OC, our buddy Patrick joined the cleaning session. While all this was taking place, I shot a few pics.

As you can see, I finally got the red coupe dressed up after eight months of toil. We didn't really get to do an e30 shoot like we wanted, there just wasn't enough free time. Pat's back in Ohio now, so that's out, but maybe Ethan and I can get something worked out later this fall.