Operation Bora Body

[PranK]

Hi All,

I thought I'd post up a thread about my car.

Its a 2002 Bora 4Motion Sport. I've had it for about 2 months now and bought it with a 2" thick folder of receipts and letters from the previous (original) owner detailing *everything* ever spent on the car (including the original sales receipt for $62,000.)

The car has 190,000 k's on it and is mechanically perfect, blew me away coming from Nissans who really start to want a new motor soon so have a car that still felt so tight after so many k's.

The body is not so good. Dents, scratches, scuffs, bumps, you name it. It was absolutely filthy when I got it with about 2 - 3mm of grime in the door jambs.

The thing is, I've always had other people do work on my cars for me, especially in the body area. This car will be my first attempt at owning a fully owner-modified/maintained vehicle. Including all body work.

I dont *really* have long term plans for it. It needs to be a daily still, so no 'slamming' it (used to have an R33 GTR that was too low for me to put my shoe under the front bar - not doing that again.) I'm liking the idea of Porsche wheels but dont like the idea of adapters. I was also thinking of a 'rat' type look in matte black or something but my wife *hates* that idea and she'll likely win the argument. Maybe just a straighten and respray, I do like the OEM look.

The first thing I did was ditch the roof racks and the boot spoiler (which was half falling off anyway);




Body condition pics here

[PranK]

Next was to try my hand at repairing one of the wheels which went *ok*. Have mis placed the pics, will post here when I find them.

[PranK]

I bought some non genuine plastic black background headlights from the states. I have never been a fan of silver backed lights and mine were so cloudy (I did try to sand and polish them but with only limited success.)

Before;


After;


The difference;

[PranK]

Also my interior handles were in terrible condition and I cant stand wood grain (especially Feaux wood grain) so they were replaced with nice new black ones (although I did a little bit of damage to the door part when getting them off - I need some trim tools.)

[sirmoe]

Where did you get the power windows plastic thing? Mine looks shocking too, wouldnt mind replacing it.

[audi-tone]

use steel wool. gently ofcourse. did with mine, looks just like the one above

[PranK]

With regards to the body, you could always give it a buff first and see how much of a difference it makes.
Won't fix the dents/scratches on the "a" pillar but will take out most, if not all of the roof racks and spoiler marks.

The panels that have deeper scratches will need a respray but if your a perfectionist (like me), then you might end up having to respray the entire exterior of the car.

This takes time/effort and a bit of skill or a lot of beginners luck to get right but saying that, we all have to start somewhere.

You don't need to spray in a booth but I seriously recommend it, especially considering that you can hire one for $150 a day.
(Saves a fair bit of buffing in the end and your not suseptable to moisture like you are if you paint in the elements.)

Since there was so much dirt in the door jams, I bet theres heaps more stuck in behind the front guards. You can clean this out by removing your plastic inner guards or just do it if you need to remove the guards for paint.

Good luck.. I always love a project!

I bought a polisher and have been attacking small parts of the car with cutting compound and then a polish, makes a big difference in some places but barely noticable in others. I should say that I am no polishing expert though, so my technique could no doubt use improvement. Thanks Youtube!

A mate of mine up the road has a huge tent that he has erected inside a giant shed and he sprays cars in this tent. I *might* try and borrow that for a day or two, but I might even prefer to just pay for a booth, it'll be a lot cleaner.

There is *so* much grime behind the panels. Actually in any 'slightly obscured' part of the car. Under the boot, it must be almost a centimetre thick. It'd be interesting to see how much weight it would add (definitely not performance hindering but just for curiosity's sake.)

Thanks for the info!

Boras are great,so you have a wonderful project to work on.

The Navy is a good looking colour,I would keep the origional alloys,clean them up,and DONT spray them Black...

Hopeyou got it for a bargain price ???

Hah, you sound like my wife! They do look great when they are nice and clean, I must admit. A sand, respray and nice clear coat would work very well.

And yeah, I did get it for a bargain price. When I went to look at it, it was totally filthy. I could see this putting off so many potential buyers. It amazes me when people dont make any effort to make their cars look good when selling them. I must have spent 4 or 5 hours cleaning my Golf before showing it.

Where did you get the power windows plastic thing? Mine looks shocking too, wouldnt mind replacing it.

From here. I was pleasantly surprised that they were all genuine parts too.

[vwsport]

Great car I've had my bora sport since brand new and love it.
Just noticed the photos and yours still has the original sport floor mats in it! I'm surpised they've not worn thru. I went to buy them once after about 3 years and VW didnt have them as a spare part.



Also when you take the boot spoiler off you can replug back in the back window mounted brake light (if you havent already). Another tip on the bora especially on a car that has lived outside is to make sure the drainange channels on the sunroof are clear. If your car is that dirty they're probably blocked. Mine got blocked up and the drainage channels couldnt drain and so the channel overflowed into the car and I had a frigging lake on the floor of my car. You can put whipper snipper cable down them or a length of screw plug stuff and that clears them

[JSJW]

Hi mate, where did you get those black door handles? are they genuine?

[PranK]

Hi mate, where did you get those black door handles? are they genuine?

Which ones? The interior ones?

They are genuine and from the lower spec MKIV's. I hate woodgrain.

Search ebay, I did the lot (not including shifter or vertical stereo surrounds) for under $100 from memory. That includes ashtray lid, cup holders etc etc.