Detailing Thread

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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DanT
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My tercel:: 83 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon
Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by DanT »

HI Ron,

Wow. That is impressive. I thought I was the only one nuts enough to do something like that to fix up a Tercel wagon. I pulled the seats yesterday and took all of the carpets to the car wash to take out the sand and the first layer. Then scrubbed them inch by inch in the tub with a stiff brush and hot water and dish soap and 409. (It was 30 degrees outside at the time so the driveway was not an option.) Found out I could roll the carpets like a scroll and scrub one section at a time as I rolled the carpet from between the scrolls on both side. Then back to the car wash for a final power wash and thorough rinsing. Carpets look great. First time they have been washed like that in 240 miles I am sure.

As for the seats. They do not stink and are not soiled too badly, so I do not think I will need to remove them... though very cool to know that is possible to do. I think that I will washed them as described before. It blew me away how much cleaner they looked last time after the scubbing.

Thanks so much for your helpful comments.
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
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Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by ARCHINSTL »

DanT - dlb's car is named Ron - not him.
You may see, from time to time, mention of the late member RonB, who purchased a NM T4WD, had it hauled to his home in NY, and proceeded to strip and clean it - his work is impressive - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/rblachut/s ... 186816318/

Oh - and you will see MANY of us are "nuts enough to do ___" about our Wagons.
Welcome to the Club!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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DanT
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My tercel:: 83 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon
Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by DanT »

Tom,

Thanks for the clarification etween dlb and Ron. Sorry about that. I just went through the entire series of photos for the restoration that RonB did. Great to see that kind of commitment to do it right. I bookmarked the site. Thanks so much for sending this my way.

Dan T
4wdchico
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My tercel:: 1985 tercel 4wd
Location: Chico, Norcal

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by 4wdchico »

ohcanada_00 wrote:After answering a question about clay bars in another thread, I thought I would put my knowledge to good work and ask if anyone had any detailing questions? I am a detailer with close to 12 years experience now and work for Griot's Garage, a manufacture of detailing product. I promise you I will not try to sell you anything but if you had any specific or general detailing questions, I'd love to help out. I do love me a clean car.
Thanks for the offer of a bit of advice! A couple of areas of concern please:

First, what do you think of 303 Aerospace Protectant? I have been using it for a while on plastic and rubber. It seems to be a pretty good product. Just wondering if there is anything better out there?

Second, I have heard that there is a version of the DuPont™ Krytox line that is very good to lube rubber window channels so that the glass slides up & down with low friction. If this is true, could you tell me which Krytox product works best? Or is there something else out there that you prefer for this application?
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dlb
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My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by dlb »

hey dan, no worries. for the carpet, i used a small carpet cleaner meant for spots and upholstery. works really well, this is the one:

http://momsfocusonline.com/giveaway-bis ... eaner.html

you probably accomplish the exact same thing with a scrub brush and water but i always found myself doing this stuff so i bought it a few years ago and used it lots since. i like that it sucks the excess water up to speed drying and decrease the chances of mould or general grossness.

another member here, DCN, takes EXTREME pride in his immaculate T4. look for his posts and check out pics of it, it's wonderful.
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DanT
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My tercel:: 83 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon
Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by DanT »

dlb,

Getting back to your post on how to remove the upholstery from the front seats, as it looks like I may be doing this. (I am working on a deal to trade a blue seat cover from my parts car for a brown plaid cover that I need for my driver's seat):

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6526

I just studied this post. Very, very helpful. I can see how to take the covers off, but do not see how you put them back on? Did you re-use the hog rings that you took out with the needle-nose?

I called an auto car seat re-upholstery shop to see what they do. Apparently they cut those "hog rings" with a side cutter and then use a special pliers to but the new hog rings back in. I can get the tools from him to do this... which looks like it would make the job a lot easier, yes?

Also, from what I can tell, it looks like there are differerent kinds of rings... the ones that do need to get re-used to hold wire frame parts together. But it looks like those "hog rings" that hold the fabric together at the bottom of the back would be easier to cut and replace yes?
Any further comments on this would be wonderful.

Thanks,

Dan T
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DanT
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My tercel:: 83 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by DanT »

dlb,

One other question: It appears that the seat covers that are pulled from a passenger seat will work on the frame on the driver's side, yes?

I have the seats out now and can see that the seat bottoms have different brackets for bolting to the frame, so it does not work to simply lift a seat bottom from a passenger seat and bolt it to the driver's side frame, as I had thought earlier. The shape of the top and bottom covers looks the same to me, but would be great if you could confirm that the passenger covers will fit on the driver's side.

Thanks.

Dan T
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dlb
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by dlb »

yeah man, no worries. there are only the hog rings, and they are both a bitch to take out AND put in. i'm sure if they have a special tool for putting new ones in that would be easier. it would probably be easier to chew glass than put those stupid things back in but i can be very focused and patient when i want to be so i just reused all of the old hog rings and used two needle nose pliers to put them back on.

installation of the covers is the reverse of removal. it involves a lot of pulling and wrestling to get the covers back in place but it's not that hard. i think the front seat bottoms were the most difficult to get the covers back on.

there is just the one type of ring used throughout all of the covers. it usually attaches to the seat frame on the seat side and a metal rib in the seat cover on the cover side. there are a few other weird fasteners though, like the rubber strings on the front seat back covers, which tie onto a point on the seat frame. besides that, though, it's all awful little hog rings.

you're correct, the seat frame/cushions are not interchangeable but the covers are. i think i actually swapped the covers on the project i did because the passenger seat covers were nicer, as can be expected since they will see less use than the driver seat.

it's tedious work but i love a clean interior. good luck, and take some before/after pics if you can!
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Goldie Forever
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My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I just started a thread on "Hog Ring Pliers" in the Tool Talk Forum - might be interesting.
Hog rings themselves seem kinda expensive for what they are!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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DanT
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My tercel:: 83 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by DanT »

dlb,

Thanks so much for all of your help with this propject! This is really, really good information, and will make the job much easier on my end. Very much appreciated.

My best regards,

Dan T
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dlb
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by dlb »

believe me, after all the help i have received from this forum i'm more than happy to be able to help others out as well. so you're welcome!
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dlb
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by dlb »

update for dan t: to preserve the lower driver seat cover which was just starting to show it's age, i removed the seats and did the cover swap that you mentioned a few posts ago. it only took me an hour and a half to pull the seats, remove the seat trim, remove the lower seat portions, remove the covers, vacuum the car out, and put everything back together and back in. i found the easiest way to remove the lower seat covers was to unfasten the sides first, then the rear, then the front. putting them back on was the reverse order. this was much easier than starting at one point and then working around the seat, like i did last time.

i'm really pleased to have done this before the driver seat got ugly. thank heaven for slow nights at work.
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DanT
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My tercel:: 83 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by DanT »

This is very helpful to know about. Unfortunately my driver seat has a hole in the middle of the bottom already... and the fabric is also trashed from scrubbing. Should have done this a long time ago. Good to know that if I can just find the seat cover from the passenger side for a brown plaid seat (83 or 84) that I am all set. Would not have known how to do this seat stuff without your help. Looking forward to getting this last seat nailed down... as the rest of the interior looks fabulous right now. Thanks once again for the details.

I cleaned the entire interior with a small hand brush and APC/detergent and water... inch by inch. dressed all plastic/vinyl with armorall. Took about 45 minute for one door panel. Looks like know throughout. A true pleasure to drive. After using armorall everywhere I discoverd aerospace 303 at an auto reupholstery shop. I tested it and it appears to do about the same thing as armorall. The guy at the shop did not like armorall, and said that 303 blocks UV, and armorall does not, and that armorall blocks the heat in, etc. Anybody have an opinon on this?

Dan
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dcn
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My tercel:: 1987 4WD SR5 Wagon
Location: Halifax, NS, Canada

Re: Detailing Thread

Post by dcn »

Any chance of seeing some after shots of your seat dlb? I'd like to see how much of a difference it made, especially since they're just like mine - as far as the colour...
Metallic Blue '87 4WD SR5
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dlb
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Re: Detailing Thread

Post by dlb »

sure thing, DCN. i should also mention that when i swapped the covers i also swapped the cushion since it breaks down with use as well.

here is the former passenger seat bottom/current driver seat. it's in excellent condition.

Image

here is the former driver seat bottom/current passenger seat. you can see that the cushion is worn on the left, there is a grey stain on the upper left, and it is getting threadbare in the center. still ok as long as you're not inspecting it though so i think i swapped them just in time.

Image
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