how to polish your rims

UPDATE: This Blog is no longer active as of 10/22/06.

I found that a forum was much more useful in allowing viewers to ask questions, as well as post their own advice and images. On September 30, 2006, I launched www.Civic-EG.com [a forum dedicated to the 92-95 civic]

There's lots of how-to articles with pictures, members' rides, an interactive online wheel viewer for Civics and Del Sol, Classifieds section, Local area shows & events, and More! All future updates to my car can be seen at www.Civic-EG.com

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original article:

How to polish your rims

This is a project that takes time and patience. You will be wet sanding and it makes a mess and your finger nails will be black for a while, the ladies will be impressed. The important thing is to sand long enough with each grit to remove the scratches from the previous grit. If you rush through the grits, you will end up sanding much longer with a finer grit to remove scratches from early grits.



Here's what you need:

-A variety of sand paper, I had

180 grit

240 grit

320 grit

400 grit

600 grit

1000 grit

1200 grit

1500 grit

2000 grit

- Mother's Wheel polish

- Blue Magic Wheel Polish

- any automotive carnuba type paste wax in a can









Here is of lightweight rims from a civic hx. As you can see they are badly corroded. They are painted silver from the factory, but had already had most of the paint stripped before I bought the car.







I began with 180 grit on these because there was so much corrosion to sand through. I sanded so much that I probably made them even lighter lol, yet still could not get through all the corrosion on the lips. You could start with 240 on a cleaner set of rims. You want to sand all the lines out of the factory machined surface.







Some pics after sanding with 400 grit







After 600 grit







After 1000 grit





Be sure to clean the inside of the rims as well so you can have the stick on weights put there rather than on the outside of the rim you just polished. I just used 180 grit to get the dirt off.









On the first wheel, between 1000 and 1200 grit, I masked off all the inset areas between the spokes to be painted. I did this before the 1200, 1500 and 2000 so that the rough edges from the masking tape would be sanded smooth as I finished the surface.













I sprayed them with Duplicolor Wheel Coating, Graphite











These are after sanding with 1500 grit. The rim in the background is 180 grit to show how far it has progressed.











after 2000 grit... almost done!!







Mothers wheel polish is good stuff, I have been using it for almost 10 yrs.

Just dab some on a terry cloth you dont use for anything nice (it turns black) and rub it on a section of the rim for about 30 seconds. Let it haze over for a minute after wiping and wipe the haze off with a clean cloth.





Done! (with that little area)







Spoke before Mothers





Spoke after Mothers







Half polished


Complete!







Compared to the 180 grit rim






Now I have 3 more to do!



Also not yet pictured, I find that waxing them with a wheel polish called Blue Magic will make them a little bit brighter. Mothers is an abrasive, but the Blue Magic is much finer. It removes what is left of the black oxidation from the Mothers.



Finally wax them with a coat of regular carnuba paste wax. This will act like a seal on the surface and keep them looking good after a rainstorm. On the inside, wax but do not wipe it off after it hazes. This will make it much easier to keep the insides of the rims clean in the future. They aren't clear coated, but I hope you wouldn't even think about using them in the winter anyways!

How to remove engine through the bottom

UPDATE: This Blog is no longer active as of 10/22/06.

I found that a forum was much more useful in allowing viewers to ask questions, as well as post their own advice and images. On September 30, 2006, I launched www.Civic-EG.com [a forum dedicated to the 92-95 civic]

There's lots of how-to articles with pictures, members' rides, an interactive online wheel viewer for Civics and Del Sol, Classifieds section, Local area shows & events, and More! All future updates to my car can be seen at www.Civic-EG.com

_______________________________________________________

original article:

I'm no certified mechanic, but this was way easier than I expected.

There's a couple of reasons you would want to do this, rather than pull it out.

1. You don't need a hoist.

2. You don't risk banging up the inside of your engine bay.

3. You can do this by your self.


Take lots of pics of the engine bay. This will help you later on to see what hoses go where and where all the harnesses are.


Remove the bumper, splash shield, inner fender liners.


Remove the header, intake & radiator




Pull the axles (and have a pan ready).




Unhook all harnesses, coolant lines, fuel lines, power steering, shift cable (automatic).







After you have double checked that nothing is still hooked to the motor, unbolt all 4 bolts on the rear motor mount (reach 3 from the bottom, the one closest to the motor can be reached from the top. After you remove the 4 bolts, wrestle with the mount so that it is pulled up away from the block. (I wrestled it for a while and couldn't get it all the way out.


Next remove the 2 small front mounts.




Here's where you have to start guessing...

Measure the height of your motor and be sure your jack can lift your car high enough to slide the motor from under the side. You might need to add some wood blocks, but not too many or the car won't go low enough to set the engine down.

I made a little cart out of some scrap 2x4's and (4) $4 casters. It worked out perfect that the cart was high enough to roll over the end of the jack.

Now put the jack with 2x4's for additional height under the radiator support & lift a little, then pull out the jack stands.

With the cart under the motor, let the car all the way down slowly.


When the motor is resting on the cart, unbolt the left and right top motor mounts.

Now jack the car up slowly, a few pumps at a time, then look around the back of the motor to be sure everything is clearing. You will have to pull that rear mount up around the throttle body.

It is a close fit but you don't need to remove the power steering pump.


Now jack the car up slowly, a few pumps at a time, then look around the back of the motor to be sure everything is clearing. You will have to pull that rear mount up around the throttle body.

As you continue to lift the car you will need to slide the motor/cart forward since the intake manifold sticks out over the back of the motor.

The rear mount, you will have to wedge it up like this and watch as the motor drops that it does not get hung up on the throttle body.

Keep lifting and when it gets high enough put the jack stands back under.

Make some room...

You can take the motor out either side. I didnt feel like looseing the rusty bolts holding the front tranny mount, so I went out the drivers side.