Simple Concours Car Prep - 1973 Toyota FJ40

[Mike Phillips]

Simple Concours Car Prep - 1973 Toyota FJ40


Most people think getting a vehicle concours ready for show and competition is a lot of work and to be honest... it is. At the same time, if you're not concerned about taking Q-Tips to every nook and cranny, you can keep the process quick and simple and still get show car quality results.


Here's how the paint on this 1973 Toyota FJ40 started out...










The back story...

The story behind this FJ40 is that it was previously a rock crawler and then it was transformed into the beautiful pavement pounder you see in these pictures.


This FJ40 was painted over a year ago and since then nothing has been done to the paint except the occasional wash and dry. Since being painted, the paint had become contaminated and needed to be clayed. The paint was also filled with light to medium swirls and was in dire need of machine correction and machine polishing.

This FJ40 is going to be on display at the 2016 Ocean Reef Vintage Weekend that take place December 1st through the December 4th.


Ocean Reef Vintage Weekend






Our job was to decontaminate the paint, remove the swirls and scratches and prep the exterior for display at the upcoming car show.

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....

We washed the exterior with McKee's 37 Waterless Wash on the Go. Next we washed the tires to remove the browning called tire bloom with McKee's 37 Tire & Rubber Rejuvenator.

After getting the exterior clean, next we clayed the paint to remove contaminants using McKee's 37 Universal Clay Lube and McKee's Universal Clay






Then we used McKee's 37 Fast Compound with Lake Country Orange Foam Cutting pads on dual action polishers like the Griot's Garage 6" Orbital Polisher and the Porter Cable 7424XP, (entry level machines), to remove the swirls and scratches.







After the swirls and scratches were removed we refined the results and sealed the paint using McKee's 37 360 AIO or Cleaner/Wax with Lake Country white foam polishing pads on the same type of simple orbital polishers. Because this is a one-step cleaner/wax it the abrasives together with the foam polishing pad maximized gloss and clarity and the built-in waxes sealed the paint and locked in the shine.






We applied the McKee's 37 Gloss Tire Gel to the tires to provide the finished look.





This was a simple yet effective approach to prep this incredible 1973 Toyota FJ40 for the upcoming car show.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's the final results....

























Not bad for such a simple process....

[Just02896]

Great work! I absolutely love everything about that FJ!

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....


Here's a list of the products we used to take the dull, lifeless paint on this Toyota FJ40 to show car quality. The McKee's line of products are world class quality and over the counter prices the average person can afford.


On Autogeek.com


McKee's 37 Waterless Wash On The Go

McKee's 37 Universal Detailing Clay & Lube Combo

McKee's 37 Fast Compound 16 oz

McKee's 37 360 Corrects, Cleans, Seals

McKee's 37 Gloss Tire Gel




Stepping up to machine polishing
If you're still polishing and waxing your vehicle by hand, here's an inexpensive way to move up to machine polishing which will give you professional quality results without breaking the bank.


Entry level easy to use orbital polishers

The Porter Cable 7424XP and the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher are the easiest and safest tool to learn how to use and become expert with. They have plenty of power yet they wont burn through the paint or instill swirls into the paint.


Griots Garage 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher
The Griot's polisher has the best warranty and the most power out of all the beginner's orbital polishers and for these two reasons plus it's low price point it's real popular with beginners. It comes with a 6" backing plate in the box so in order to run 5.5" pads you need to get a 5" backing plate.

Griots Garage 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher

Griots Garage 5 Inch Vented Orbital Backing Plate



Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher
The Porter Cable 7424XP is the dual action polisher that started the trend for easy to use orbital polishers starting back in the 1980s. It's well built and can handle both the weekend warrior and the full time detailer. This tool does not come with a backing plate so in order to use it you must also purchase a backing plate like I've listed below.

Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher

5" Dual-Action Hook & Loop Flexible Backing Plate



Buffing pads

Foam Cutting Pads
When buffing out cars you need lots of pads. If you need to remove swirls and scratches our of an average size car then you'll want around 6 to 7 foam cutting pads. As you're working around the car it's normal for foam pads to become wet with product. When pads become wet or saturated they don't perform like they did when they were dry. This means it will take you longer to remove the swirls and scratches. By simply taking the wet pad off and switching to a clean dry pad you'll be back to fast correcting and the job will go faster and you'll also get better results.


Foam Polishing Pads
After the compounding step the polishing step goes faster as the grunt work is over. You'll still want more than just one or two pads. For the average size vehicle 4 polishing pads is a good number to shoot for.


Foam Waxing Pads
If you're going to machine apply the wax or a paint sealant you really only need 1 pad.


Lake Country 5 1/2 Inch Flat Pads - 6 Pack - Your Choice!

When getting pads for the first time, call our customer sales staff and cite this thread. They will make sure you get enough of the correct pads for your specific detailing project.


Autogeek Customer Care

1-800-869-3011

[custmsprty]

Amazing...............

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Incredible work on that FJ! It really looks great. Let us know how the show goes.

Question, why was 360 utilized instead of the finishing wax?

[Mike Phillips]

Amazing...............

Thank you... my team did a great job and many of them were first time machine users.

Incredible work on that FJ! It really looks great.

Thanks Mike...

Let us know how the show goes.

Will do.

Question, why was 360 utilized instead of the finishing wax?

I wanted to knock this project out in to machine steps and because there were a lot of places we needed to hand polish I chose the more aggressive McKee's 360 over the McKee's Jeweling Wax. Both are one-step cleaner/waxes it's just the 360 has more bite and thus would clean up the areas we couldn't machine polish faster than the jeweling wax.


Great question... thank you for asking....

[Aaryn NZ]

Wow! Nice work, I must say - this one is in far nicer condition than the one we used to go "bush bashing" in back in the 90's when I was still in school! Perhaps we should've babied it? Hindsight huh!

Great job team, thank you for sharing Mike.

I like the colour too . . .

Aaryn NZ.

[Mike Phillips]

Wow! Nice work, I must say - this one is in far nicer condition than the one we used to go "bush bashing" in back in the 90's when I was still in school!
Perhaps we should've babied it?

Hindsight huh!

I think a lot of people think the same way about these old FJ40s as well as most classic cars we used to own before they were classics.

Great job team, thank you for sharing Mike.

I like the colour too . . .

Aaryn NZ.

The folks that worked on this knocked it out of the park!