# First ever attempt, and on a 10 year old Ford too !!



## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

I have never ever detailed a car before, but after reading all the info on this great site, plus watching numerous videos on You Tube, I took the plunge and parted with a large wad of cash to the great guys at CleanYourCar for numerous items including a DAS. I figured I could do SWMBO car also afterwards to gain me some extra brownie points!

All photos taken on a LG Camera phone as i don't own a digital camera.

Car was stripped internally:



















The car was in dire need of a good vac:










After a few hours hard work:



















As you can see, the previous owner had a dog, so I was stuck with dog hair in places:










So after some work with sticky tape and tweezers:










Not perfect but after an hour, I couldn't do any more....I was going cross eyed!

Next was prepping the interior pieces. I had painted some silver before, but due to time constraints I hadn't done as good a job as I would have hoped, so I re-did everything I had done, plus a load more pieces. Sparying the dull almost beige interior parts seems to make the Cougar much more modern, hence me doing this. Also thought it would help my Cougar stand out from the hundreds already on sale everywhere.

Some pieces were done with plastic filler primer first, to help fill any scratches etc:










Work on the door cards:



















More interior parts in paint:



















Centre console:










Whilst the various layers of paint and primer were drying (24hrs between primer and paint then paint and lacquer etc), I removed the wheels.
These were filthy and required some specialist alloy wheel cleaner/degreaser to clean them up. I used premium blue rim cleaner.










You can see how any slight kerbing and stone chips etc caused the alloy to corrode and thus the lacquer to lift:



















I tapped up the lower parts of the spoke so if I slipped with the sanding wheel I wouldn't scratch the paint:










I then worked on a small test section with different pads etc until I was happy I had the one that worked best:










I then did the whole rim:










I then did the other wheels, with just the inside lip left to do, before the bloody weather stopped play. I need to machine buff them to a high finish and then re-lacquer

Whilst the wheels were off, I decided to spruce up the very ugly looking brakes:



















Using my drill and a polishing/sanding disc I removed as much rust/debris as possible and then applied 6 coats (yes 6 !!) of red caliper paint:



















Time to put it all back together. I also fitted my brand new leather gear lever boot and handbrake boot that have been living in my shed for about 2 years:



















I was hoping to recover the headliner with some black alcantera I had left over from my previous Cougar, however it was just too small.....bugger:



















Carpet on the boot lid not cleaned in this photo:










Spotting a break in the clouds I "just" managed to wash and clay and then wash the car again. This was the clay after the bonnet which I didn't think looked too bad:










I started to machine polish the bonnet but managed less than 1 hour till the heavens opene'd up yet a bloody gain !! Not a great photo, but hopefully you will see a line down the right hand side of the photo showing the side I have cut and the side I haven't. This was just my first cut and I need to go over it a few more times.










I managed to finish the bonnet.
A couple of passes with Menzerna power Gloss on a heavy cutting pad, followed by a single pass of Menzerna Final finish on a finishing pad.
I then went over the whole bonnet with poor Boys Black Hole Sealer Glaze.
Finally I then applied DoDo Juice Purple Haze by massaging it onto the paintwork with my fingers:










The bonnet looks great but I will be honest and admit that in an ideal world, it would have a respray. Allthough my car has yet to hit 50k miles, the front of the car is soooooooo badly stone chipped I almost wanted to cry. The worst stone chips i will be sorting out later, but for the hundreds of tiny ones, there isn't anything left I can do.

I then moved onto the passenger side wing. As you can see from these photos, the paintwork was awefull How on earth it got to this state I will never know. BTW, you can see in one of the pictures that the passenger side headlight looks quite scratched. This will also be "attacked" and detailed later.





































Then a very strange thing happened. I was peeling off the 3M tape and it did this!!!










Yes…..that is what happens when 3M tape kindly removes the lacquer for you !! ggrrr

Anyhow, applying the same process as for the bonnet, this is a 50:50 shot with the right hand side after only 1 pass.



















This is the wing after all the cutting, but before I applied the sealer and the wax:










And me pulling a funny face, just ....well....just because I wanted too!










Yes, the white dots are stone chips. I will tackle these after I have finished all the other more important jobs on the car.

I then moved onto the roof, but because my phone was on charge, I don't have any "before" pictures. All I have is this one below, which was after all the same process as the bonnet, so after all the sealer and wax etc.










Moving on.....good weather meant I managed to do the passenger side door, passenger side quarter panel and the top of the boot lid. I also did another 2hrs on the wheels.

Here was the door before I started. As you can see, the kind owner had fitted some door protectors at some point which had marked the paint. Through to the primer in places so not much I could do with the heavy marks:



















This is after a number of passes, but before glaze and wax:










I then applied sealer and then the wax:










I then forgot to take a final piccie….doh!

So.....onto the quarter panel. Again, just look how $£&* the paintwork is:



















I have a few big scratches by the side of the bootlid. The worst one I will have to touch up and cut back:



















This is after many, many passes and various different cutting compounds and pads:



















As you can see below, the deep scratch needs more work:










I'll do that when I do the stone chips.

Door jam and sill were done but I forgot to take an "after" piccie. Will do that when I get a chance.

Boot lid next which was also **** paint. Notice the deep scratch in the middle:




























Like the quarter panel, I tried various compounds and pads to get the best finish. I was very happy with my end result:



















Only the top was done. I will do the "face" of the bootlid tomorrow:










Light was going down so packed up and moved back onto the wheels. The inner lip of the rim needed sanding back as you can see:



















After a couple of hours, ears ringing and fingers full of pins and needles, I got this result:




























This was the passenger side door sill after shot as promised:










I then started with the rear bumper and so many more scratches....sigh:




























This after all the cutting, but before the glaze and wax:




























While i was back there, I decided to spruce up the rear lights also. No before pics as there wasn't much to pick up on a camera. However afterwards they just seem so much more ....shiny



















I didn't take any before shots of the drivers side as it wasn't in the sun and thus the scratches etc couldn't be clearly seen on a camera. Anyhow, needless to say it was just as bad on the drivers side as it was on the passenger side:

This was after cutting, but before sealer and wax again:



















Sealer then applied, then wax:




























Finally all buffed up:




























Door jam IMHO could do with some more work:










This is just a close up piccie of the drivers side door:










OK. Todays work seemed like a lot of effort for not much return, but that's the nature of the beast.

I tackled all 4 rims with 1200 wet and dry. The ones in the back weren't done at the time of the photo.










Next I tackled them with 1500 grit wet and dry.










I couldn't do any more as my order of 2000, 2500 and 3000 grit wet and dry paper didn't arrive today like I had hoped.
When it does arrive, I shall polish the lip right up to 3000 grit.

I then moved onto the passenger side headlight. God knows what the previous owner had done to it. My guess is some sort of euro light sticker (for driving in France or something - clearly he didn't know about the lever behind the lights to adjust for Euro driving ), which he then removed with a knife......leaving a load of sticky residue to bake into the plastic lense over the years. Remind me to kick him in the nuts if I ever see him !




























I started with 1200 wet and dry to see if that would suffice in removing everything......plus it was the lowest number grit I had left










Not good enough, so a second going over. Again, with 1200 grit wet and dry.










Again, not good enough, so off to Halfords for some 600 and 800 grit wet and dry.

This is it after 800 grit.










This is it after 1200 grit.










TBH, in the photos it doesn't look very different through the stages, but in real life you can see a subtle difference. Like the wheels above, I then had to stop as I need my higher grit wet and dry before I continue.

Like I said, doesn't seem a lot, but I spent over 2 hours on the headlight so far (would be so much quicker and easier if the headlights were flat), and another 3 hours on the wheels.

No postman arrived at all….

This meant all I could do was crack on with the engine bay and door jams etc.

Engine bay and bonnet before:





































It looks like someone at some point covered the whole of the engine bay in some form of waxy sealant type stuff. This has baked on over the years and I couldn't shift it for love nor money. I tried engine degreaser, steam, T cut, white spirit.....you name it, yet it all made hardly any difference ! 
Battery is out being charged in the house.




























Anyhow, I did the best I could, but forgot to take a picture of the whole engine bay once I had finished. Will do that when I get a chance.. I did remove the airbox and fuse lid and gave them a good scrub in the kitchen sink, but yet again, I couldn't shift all the waxy substance. While the air filter was out, and despite it being changed only 5k miles ago, I took a stiff paint brush and gave each crevice a good clean out.




























This is the front bumper and the damage the plastic number plate holder has done over the years










I will tackle the front bumper after I have finished the headlights and my new cutting pads have arrived.

I then moved onto the door jams. Before:



















After:


















Then the rear rain gullys. Before:









I don't seem to have a "before" of the drivers side

After:



















At last....sandpaper arrived which enabled me to finish the headlight. The end result isn't perfect as I need to purchase some smaller diameter cutting pads to help cut around the "boobies", but the finish is still a million times better than it was:

so.....2000 grit wet and dry:










Then 2500 grit wet and dry:










Then 3000 grit wet and dry:










Finally Meguiars PlastX:



















I then finished the wheels. I got fed up of sanding them down, so attached one wheel at a time, stuck the car in first gear, let the wheel spin while I held the wet and dry paper against it Much easier!!
After sanding i then polished them up with a polishing attachment on my drill. Again, not 100% perfect mirror finish, but good enough for me and again, a million times better than before.



















It was dark by the time I had finished so no very good pic. Also, car only just down from it's axel stands, hence the very OFF ROAD appearance. Notice I had also cut and polished the front bumper, removed the brick and attached the plate direct to the bumper for a much cleaner appearance:










I will take some daytime pictures when i get a chance.

So there we have it. My first ever full internal and external detail. I spent a good 12 days doing all the above, with most days being 10 hrs long……..so whilst my back is killing me, I hope you will agree that I have managed to make the Cougar look a hundred times better. This should help make it easier to sell and I should get a lot more for it than if I had sold it with a simple wash with a bucket !


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## declanswan (Feb 27, 2008)

Good skills mate, that seemed a right dog before. Brilliant turnaround :thumb::thumb:


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Holy smokes, great work man. A lot of effort went into that and it sure does pay off. I need to give mine the full treatment but never find the time! Everytime I start one of the boys phones me up with an offer to do something or go for some beers lol


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## x28buc (Jan 8, 2008)

Great transformation!!

That's gotta be quite satisfying when you compare the 'before' and 'after' shots!!

Well done :thumb:


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## athol (Oct 3, 2009)

Excellent work, huge improvement


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## rodders (Jul 8, 2008)

Great read, and superb transformation!


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

fantastic work :argie:


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Good work there mate. :thumb: Just a question though, did you do the headlights after you machine polished and waxed the bonnet?


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## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

You missed a bit :lol:
Nice work, that is what you call dedication :thumb:


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2010)

Fantastic work and a very interesting read - thanks for posting :thumb:


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

nice work :thumb: 
would'nt rest my car on bricks though...


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## THE_BHOY_C15RLN (Jan 16, 2010)

cracking job m8, weldone:thumb:


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## geert dr (Jul 13, 2007)

The Cougar looks great ! :thumb:


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## Warwickshire Detailer (Oct 11, 2009)

Great work mate :thumb:


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## Black-Cat (Oct 7, 2009)

Great read and great results, well done

P.S Fantastic nametag! :thumb::lol:


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## deeds (Aug 18, 2009)

Great work with excellent results, very enjoyable post..which i will no doubt read again due to the variety of the detail.:thumb:


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Nice work mate :thumb:

Good write up


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

crackin work mate

Would get more views in The Showroom


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## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

mattastra said:


> Good work there mate. :thumb: Just a question though, did you do the headlights after you machine polished and waxed the bonnet?


errrr...yes......    Doing this I learnt quite a few things, and doing stuff like the headlights first was a definate top 5 :lol:

I didn't realise I put this in the wrong place.

Can I PM someone to get them to move this thread into the showroom?


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## cotswoldiver (Feb 15, 2010)

Loved seeing the before and after shots


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

What a busy little beaver!  Great read and write up, car looks completely transformed :thumb:

drew


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2010)

Can you give any more details of the paint used on the plastics?


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## Cullers (Sep 29, 2009)

Got the same car mate. V6 Black cat. Doing mine a bit at a time. Did the headlights at the weekend but my paintwork is at least as bad. Drivers door around the lock and around the petrol filler cap was scratched to buggery. Doing my interior plastic red though.
Nice turnaround on it. Looks excellent.


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## big ben (Aug 25, 2009)

someones been busy :lol:

excellent job there mate :thumb:


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## evenflow (Apr 2, 2008)

Really enjoyed reading that, thanks v much for posting. You've made a real difference to that car.


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

BlackCat said:


> errrr...yes......    Doing this I learnt quite a few things, and doing stuff like the headlights first was a definate top 5 :lol:
> 
> I didn't realise I put this in the wrong place.
> 
> Can I PM someone to get them to move this thread into the showroom?


PM a moderator


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2010)

brilliant turn around


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## Yoghurtman (Dec 9, 2008)

Nice read and a great turnaround, :thumb:


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## Stallion (Mar 21, 2009)

great effort there - difference is night & day


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## BurningFeetMan (Mar 9, 2010)

That's some effort you put into that fella. Must take great pride from doing such good work.

Im hoping to begin detailing my car, as opposed to just washing it. Unfortunately, like you, my car is black, and shows every imperfection as you clean it. When done nicely black looks awesome though huh 

BFM


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Cracking thread mate, great turnaround...black is very rewarding :thumb:


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## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

Phisp said:


> Can you give any more details of the paint used on the plastics?


Hi mate,

Paints etc used were:

Halfords plastic primer
Halfords Plastic filler primer
Halfords "VW Diamond Mettalic Silver" (Simply because it looked nice :lol: )
Halfords clear lacquer

Thanks for the comments guys.

Can't wait to do my next car now


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## jonmac73 (Aug 1, 2008)

great turnaround - especially attention to detail - taking interior fittings out even !!


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

That is simply amazing, what a great job and fair play for getting stuck straight in with a DA, wish I had the bottle to do that on mine !:thumb:


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

Wow what a great read and fantastic transformation.


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## Jai (Mar 16, 2010)

Fantastic! Looks a completely different car!


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## Brian. (Sep 21, 2009)

What an awesome effort for your first "try". It's a confidence booster to get on with doing my scrap panels which i might do tomorrow sometime 

Cracking work - i bet you're pleased!


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## rallyman1978 (Aug 8, 2007)

Good skills there!


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## croydesurf (Feb 20, 2010)

Wow, fantastic job. I loved the cougar when they first came out. This car looks great. Well done.


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## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

Thank's everyone.....doing a black Skoda Estate on Saturday :detailer:


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## butterbean (Mar 10, 2010)

bloody good effort, excellent


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## ets2k9 (Jan 21, 2010)

What an epic detail - great turnaround.


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## yarters (Mar 9, 2010)

Looks like a completely different car mate fantastic job. Amazing what you can do to make an abused car look like new. :thumb:


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## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

I must admit.....weeks later...God knows how many downpours and still I am feeling smug about how nice and clean she looks !!

Did my partners mettalic black Seat Ibiza last week. She went to Yorkshire at the weekend and now the car looks even worse than before !!! 

Mettalic black doesn't come up as nice as flat black I must say.


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## dgreg (Apr 14, 2010)

very good job


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## zakk (Apr 23, 2010)

Wow.. that was epic, a great read. Ive got the same ebony cougar and the body is just the same condition as your "before" photos you have inspired me to go and do the same :buffer:

Congrats


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## silverback (Jun 18, 2008)

that is a tremendous job mate:thumb:


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