Project: K.I.T.T.: Painting My Day Away

Today was going to be my day to paint all of the parts I had prepped: the rear end, the rear bumper, the springs, the brake pedal bracket and the rear of the car. It was going to be glorious. I was out in the garage and ready to begin at 9:00AM.

I was trying to figure out how I could paint the rear end all in one shot. Even resting on the jack stands, there was not quite enough room to get under it, which was necessary to paint all of the nooks and crannies. It dawned on me to set the jack stands on cinder blocks to gain extra height. This gave me more than enough room to paint it all at once. You should have seen me trying to lift the rear end, position the jack stands on cinder blocks, and maneuver the rear end into place all at the same time. Unfortunately no one was around to hear it, but I think my Yosemite Sam impression is improving.

I started painting at 9:30AM.

Well, it's 11:36AM. Sara will be home for lunch any minute and I have the following painted:

The rear end,

and the rear bumper. I was hoping to get coats of paint on all of the parts I listed above, but it took me almost two hours just to paint the rear end. I painted the rear bumper in about ten minutes.

I was a little disappointed with how long it took to paint the rear end, but very impressed with the results. It looks nice in black, doesn't it?

I started the second application at 3:00PM.

This time in two hours I:

applied a second coat of POR-15 to the rear end,

(Notice the garage door is open in this picture - it got up to 62 degrees this afternoon!)

and applied the second and final coat to the rear bumper.

After painting second coats on the rear end and the rear bumper in only forty minutes, I got a little excited and started applying POR-15 to the top of the springs. I did not get very far before I realized they need three coats, and I did not have enough time to do that tonight. So I stopped painting the springs and moved on to the brake pedal bracket which only needed two coats. It is still amazing to me how much better the POR-15 flows during the second coat. The first coat grabs so much that it almost appears as if the metal is sucking the paint right off the brush.

Next I tackled the first coat on the rear of the car. I decided to only paint in between the seams of the rear quarter panels where they meet the back panel.

Last but not least I painted the tops of the rear spring cushions. I finished with everything just about the same time Sara got home from work.

A little after 8:00PM tonight Sara and I went back out to the garage to finish painting the second and third coats.

Sara painted the third and final coat on the rear end and I painted the second and final coat on the rear of the car. Sara used this palm light to check that every nook and cranny of the rear end was painted. Sara also painted a second and final coat on the metal portion of the rear spring cushions. Thanks Sara!

When I applied the first coat of paint to the rear end I had the garage door open, so there was plenty of light. Even with that light it was difficult to see. Now that the garage door was closed, it was really hard to see. I set one light up on the shelf in the corner and balanced another one on my lap while I painted.

After Sara finished the rear end (and got the POR-15 off a strand of her hair with a Gojo wipe) she held the light wand for me while I painted the drip tray on the rear of the car.