# 1966 Blown Nova - Extreme Makeover - Lots of Pictures



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*1966 Blown Nova - Extreme Makeover - Lots of Pictures*

*You know what's easy?*

Taking a finish in really bad condition and showing a dramatic before and after by restoring the finish. When the pictures go from really really bad to really really good everyone is impressed. I know I am.

*You know what's really hard?*

Taking a show car with what most people would consider a show car finish and then taking it to a higher level. Even more important not making any mistakes during the process.

When I first met Harris I told him the finish on his Nova looked very good but there was still a little room for improvement. I took a few pictures of the condition of the paint during the night at a local car show, the below pictures show the parking lot lights overhead reflecting off the paint on the Nova that night.

The paint on the other hand needs a night at Autogeek's Garage! 










The below picture is the full size section cropped out of the resized photo above.



















Same here, the below picture is a cropped out full size section of the picture above.










I normally like to take my before pictures with the project car outdoors in full sun with sunlight shining directly down on the paint as this will do a great job of show casing and revealing the true condition of the paint.

Well it was cloudy and raining outside as Harris arrived.

Plan B 
I took a few pictures using the overhead florescent lights and then the flash from my camera.

Overhead florescent lights....










The below pictures are the full resolution portions cropped out of the above resized picture.



















Camera flash










The below picture is the full resolution portion cropped out of the above resized picture.










As you can see the paint not has the normal wear-n-tear type swirl or cobweb scratches but it also has straight line scratches all running in the same direction.

These straight-line scratches are probably tracers left behind when the car was hand sanded and the compounded and polished.

The word tracer is a term for a straight-line scratch left in the paint when a larger grit particle comes off the sand paper and gets trapped between the sandpaper and the paint. It is then rubbed or ground into the paint in the direction the technician is moving their sanding pad.

My guess is these deeper scratches we found throughout the finish are tracers and tracers are both tricky to remove and bring with them a certain amount of risk.

Diagnosis

The above documents that while looking at this Nova from a few feet a way it looked like it had a really nice, even show car finish, upon closer inspection the paint has a lot of swirls and deeper scratches called tracers that we will need to remove.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*Continued....*

Contaminated Paint
Yes, even a show car can have contaminated paint!

Besides inspecting the paint for defects like swirls and scratches we also used the Baggie Test to inspect the paint for above surface bonded contaminants like overspray paint, (common problem for "car guys", or tree sap mist, etc.) and we found the entire finish had little tiny bumps all over it.

Since we were going to use the Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads to mechanically decontaminate the paint we had to use a Autogeek Cover-up Towel to cover the scoop and blower from clay lube splatter.




























The Baggie Test




























Do the Baggie Test to you won car! You might be surprised!
If you want to find out what condition your car's paint is REALLY in then after washing your car or wiping your car's finish clean, simple place your hand inside a clean sandwich baggie and lightly feel the horizontal surfaces of your car's paint. If you feel any type of little bumps or surface texture this is a sing your paint is contaminated.

Detailing Clay
A few of the guys had never used detailing clay and knowing how to use detailing clay is a great skill set to have for taking care of your car's finish. Here's Rob, Harris and Al all using Pinnacle Ultra Poly Detailing Clay and Pinnacle Clay Lube to clay the paint on Harris's Nova.



















Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads
An advanced technique to decontaminate paint is to do it by machine using Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads. I teach this technique in all my *Detailing Boot Camp Classes* which are held three times a year and always fill up.




























Just decontaminating the paint actually starts to increase gloss because decontaminating the paint removes surface texture which restores a smooth surface and....

_Gloss comes from smoothness...._


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Machine Compounding & Polishing

The prep steps like compounding and polishing, even a little wetsanding for this project, are the most important factors that will determine the end results.

Here's some random shots of the machine work performed. We used a variety of tools, pads and products including,

Tools
Rupes Bigfoot 21
Rupes Bigfoot 15
Rupes Bigfoot Duetto
Rupes Bigfoot Mini
Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher
Griot's Garage 6" DA
Griot's Garage 3" DA
Meguiar's DA
Porter Cable DA

Compounds & Polishes
Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish
Rupes Zephir Gloss Coarse Compound
Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Polish
Meguiar's M100



























































































After the correction step there was a quick lesson on correct technique for how to do the polishing step...







































































































































__________________


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Machine Waxing

Next step... seal the paint with Pinnacle Black Label *******

Most people hand apply their waxes but I'm a *machine guy*. By this I mean I try to do EVERY step by machine and the reason why is because the human hand cannot compete with a machine when it comes to creating the best results. Period.

First a quick lesson on how to machine apply a wax using the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher with Rupes 4" white foam finishing pads....



















*Here's the owner machine applying *******....*














































Here's Denis machine applying ******* while his brother Matt watches.... these two brothers flew to Stuart, Florida from New York just to be a part of this project.




























Dry to a haze
These next pictures show a thin machine applied coat of ******* drying. This wax needs to dry to a haze before removing.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Microfiber towels and microfiber gloves....

The gloves help you to grip the microfiber towels effortlessly and also prevent finger smudges from getting on the car.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*And here are the results....*

_Here's the after pictures...._


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Prep work is the key to any show car finish but just as important is to use a high quality car wax that will not only seal the surface and protect it but build-off the results created in the compounding and polishing processes and then take the paint to its maximum potential.....

To seal this paint and create the deep, wet shine we used *Black Label ********




























:thumb:


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

And here's the AG Team that did the magic minus Den, 
(Den is the guy that owns the way cool black 1969 GTO that won best of show at this years' Detail Fest)



















Here's Den removing swirls and scratches with a Rupes 21










Special thanks to Denis and Matt who flew here all the way from New York just to be a part of this project. Very cool guys!

Here's Denis machine applying ******* while his brother Matt watches....










Matt, me and Denis...










A couple signed copies of my how-to book as the *Long Distance Award*.










*Any questions, comments?*









__________________


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Here's a few more shots from this project off my camera...

If you've ever heard of the term, _*narrowed rearend,*_ this is what one looks like under the car. The axles and axle tube housings have been cut to shorten them and this makes the rearend more narrow to make room for fatter, wider tires....


----------



## SBM (Jul 4, 2013)

Just awesome! - love that there are several of you attacking it!!:buffer::thumb:

Brilliant! what a car too!

Ben


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Here's the rest of the story...

*First Place at Super Chevy Show - Palm Beach International Raceway April 4-6*

On Thursday, March 27th a core group of car guys and a few new guys came together to create a show car finish on a 1966 Chevy Nova Pro Touring. You can see all of the before, during and after pictures and two videos here.

*1966 Blown Nova - Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Videos *

Then two weekends later, at the April 2014 Super Chevy Show, Harris put his 1966 Nova on display for judging and took _*first place*_ in his class!

Harris's red 1966 Chevy Nova Pro Touring on display at Super Chevy 




































This is the 5th or 6th car that I can remember off the top of my head where after being polished out here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage they have gone on to take first place at a major car show.

It's time to start a thread with a list of these cars.

_Congratulations Harris on your win at Super Chevy!_


----------



## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Top job as usual Mike ! Congrats on 1st place !


----------



## steve from wath (Dec 12, 2008)

stunning car

you all certainly worked hard and it shows

beautiful car

would love to hear that running,especially up my driveway

thanks


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

I always have people ask me to take a video of the cool cars we buff out here so they can _*hear the engine*_.

*Here you go...*

Hear this Blown 1966 Nova detailed at Autogeek


----------

