Apparently, one cleaning was not enough for the interior…
A few weeks have passed since our initial cleaning of our project off-road Civic. We noticed that the musty smell coming from the car had not gone away. Better, but still far from great. So, I pulled out the big toys from my arsenal of cleaning supplies. First, we doused the carpets again with concentrated Simple Green. Next, I used my drill brush to agitate the cleaner. Then I used my hot water extractor to really get everything out. Lastly, all of the tough stuff was hit with our new steam cleaner. All I can say is, wow, what a difference!
New Seats!
Not only do I have new front seats incoming, but Jake had a surprise for me. He went up into the shop attic and pulled out a set of rear seats from an EK coupe! They are a nice, deep gray color and provide much heavier bolstering than the stock rear seats. However, the seat bottoms are totally different and don’t mount properly, so we will need to find a solution to that later. Shortly after I finish writing this, I’ll be headed about an hour away to pick up the front seats. I won’t give it away just yet, but they are definitely OEM+.
Engine Bay is 100% Clean!
It took about an hour outside with a pressure washer, but the bay is CLEAN clean! Again, lots of Simple Green and engine degreaser, plus high pressure water. I’m satisfied with the results for sure. However, we did uncover some… interesting things up front. I’ll elaborate in a future episode. For now, I think I’m happy with how everything has cleaned up on the car, minus the exterior paint. Looks like it was repainted at some point and all of the paint is flaking off. When we go to install the wrap down the road, I’ll need to do a lot of sanding. Not looking forward to it in the slightest.
New episode is LIVE on YouTube, check it out below. It’s got some satisfying clips of me detailing the interior, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Text & Photos by Ben Battles
