We define restoring a car as the process by which we take a car that is not in good condition and leave it in a state in which it appears fresh from the factory.
The world of car restoration is a very interesting world, since there are many people who repair their old vehicles and leave them as they were.
This is done for a lot of purposes, such as participating in an antique vehicle exhibition contest, recovering a broken car to be able to ride with it, or simply for fun, to spend a little time repairing a car that is no longer in use. good condition.
Do not think that the restoration process is a simple process, since it is a process that requires many hours of work on the car, both inside and out. Only with hard work, perseverance and dedication will we be able to leave a car as it was before.
In addition, it is not a cheap process, especially if it is about very old cars. In these cars, certain parts are no longer manufactured and we will have to move heaven and earth to get them. As these pieces are in short supply, the law of supply and demand is applied and the price of the pieces rises, which makes the collar more expensive than the dog, as popular culture says.
However, if you are a person who likes to collect old cars, restoring could give you more money if you do it right. You could buy a wrecked car for $5,000, spend $10,000 on restoration, but then sell the car for about $20,000, with a clean $5,000 net profit from doing this operation.
Also, it’s not just for selling, but there are people who simply like to have a collector’s car so they can show it to everyone. Let’s say that it’s a small way of self-realization for many people, something that we obviously have to respect.
Restoring a car will also help you to leave a car that has many kilometers as it was, but has not yet said the last word. Although as I have already said, the collar will be more expensive than the dog, although the hours of entertainment will not be taken from you by anyone.
Without entertaining ourselves any longer, we are going to explain in detail and step by step how to restore a car from 0, leaving it like new and going from having a real scrap, to having a car capable of winning a contest.
Instructions to restore a car
- Check everything that is in poor condition: The first thing that we must do before starting to restore a vehicle is to do a small review of everything that is wrong with the car, that is, everything that we must repair. This is obvious, but a lot of people forget to do it, as they are in a rush to fix the car and go straight to work on it. You should check the car both inside and out, because if you forget a part and then have to go back, you could mess up the whole job. Check the bodywork, the chassis, the wheels, the cables, the engine, the interior parts, the gearbox, the interior of the car, the state of the paint, the blows, the dashboard… in short, check everything that can be reviewed to be able to take inventory.
- Take inventory of everything that needs to be exchanged: An inventory is a detailed list of everything that is in a certain place. In the case of car restoration, we are going to make an inventory of all the parts that are wrong, in order to look for these parts and see how we can repair them. The way to do it is by noting somewhere the pieces that are in poor condition, the degree of poor condition they have, the breakage they have if it is known and if the piece has to be replaced with a new one or if it has to be changed. For example, you can point out that the engine does not start, but that it is because of a hose inside and that the rest is perfect. now you must take your time to get all the pieces that you are missing, because if it is an old car, you will have to renew heaven and earth. Also get parts to carry out the repairs and the material that is missing, such as wrenches, paint, a hydraulic jack. If you see that it is going to be too much for you, leave the restoration to a professional, even if it costs you money.
- Make interior repairs: The first thing we are going to repair in a car is what cannot be seen, that is, the parts that are located inside it. For what you understand better, we are going to make the car work, although the aesthetics of the vehicle are still not entirely good. The heart of the car is the engine, which must be in perfect condition for the car to work. Just like the engine must be fine, it is also necessary to restore the parts dependent on it, such as the camshaft, the gearbox, the wheel axles. We are also going to check the brakes, the car’s steering, the electronics if any, the parts inside the car, the odometer and the exhaust pipe. Once we have everything ready, we can move on to the next step, to change cables, filters and small parts of our car.
- Change of filters, cables and other small parts: A car is not only an engine or a body, but there are many parts that seem not to, but they do. A car has a total of three filters, which prevent air particles from entering the engine, they filter the muck out of the fuel and they filter out what goes through the air conditioning. Now we are also going to change the cables, since there are old cars like Jaguars in which the cable frayed very easily. To change the cables, we are going to strip the cable and change it for a new sheath that does not break. Finally we are going to change other small parts of the car, such as parts related to the fuel tank and screws that have been lost.
- Make a tuning: Now we are going to make a tuning of the car, that is, we are going to make a review and an adjustment to make the most of the characteristics of the vehicle. The first thing we must tune up are the wheels, which must be changed if they are bad, have the correct pressure and the tires are in good condition. Also tune up the brake pads, tune up the engine and tune up the electronic parts of the car if any. To do the tuning, we must go to a mechanical workshop, which will do it for very little money. Thanks to the tuning, the car is already going to look like a production car on the inside, now it only remains to look like it on the outside.
- Eliminate rust: If the car is very old, it probably has some rust. To remove rust from the car, we are going to use a special liquid that removes it and leaves the car without any rust. Check all the parts of the car that may have rust and remove it, remember that nothing can be left if you want the car to be in a decent state to go to a contest or an exhibition. It goes without saying that you also remove dirt from the car, especially if it is a car that has been locked up for many years collecting dust in the garage. To clean the dirt, go to a car wash to clean the outside and then vacuum the upholstery and interior of the car.
- Remove scratches and paint: Now we have to remove scratches that are in the car, since we cannot afford to have them in our vehicle either, since they greatly spoil the aesthetics of our vehicle. To remove scratches, we are going to use a special product that fills them in, which is a pencil that is sold in the teleshopping. We can do this with shallow scratches, with deep bumps and dents, we will have to sand the car and add a special paste to leave everything even (we recommend doing all this in a mechanical workshop). Once all this is removed, we are going to proceed to paint the car, for which we are going to paper the parts that we do not want to paint well and with a car paint, we are going to spread it well until we cover it completely, letting it dry in the special machine and giving another hand for safety. You can paint a new color or respect the original color of the car, that is a personal choice.
- Inspection of the car to see if everything is going well: Once we have the car restored, it is time to see if it passes the ITV. We do this for two reasons, firstly, to see if we can drive the vehicle normally, without any problem with the law and secondly, to check that everything has gone well and that we have not missed any step. If it does not pass the review, you should review what has failed and leave the car perfect for the next time it passes. Once we have done this inspection and passed it, you can enjoy your car again and be the king of the road again with a car that may be old, but is like new inside and out.
