A Little Progress, Time With Friends And A Rabbit's Review

Troy was not able to come over this weekend and as a result I did not get as much done on KITT as I had hoped, however I did get to spend some time catching up with friends. Saturday morning Andrea stopped by for a couple hours to visit. :) While we talked I worked on installing the fuel tank anti-squeak insulator pads on the top side of the tank. The pads were long enough that the excess I cut off will cover 80% of the bottom of the tank too. 

I also worked on repairing the damaged ground wire. This needs to be tack welded to the cover to complete the repair.

After Andrea left I took a break for lunch with Sara and her Mom. They were going to do some shopping and I decided to head back home. I met Cary just as I was pulling in. I had mentioned earlier that Troy and I would be working on KITT this weekend and he had come up to help. 

I called Troy to find out if we were still on for this weekend. He told me he was installing the new polyurethane bushings in the A-arms, so Cary and I went down to the shop to take a few pictures and see if we could help. When we got over there Troy had already installed one of the new polyurethane bushings in the first A-arm. 

Here is KITT's rear end. I took this picture especially for a friend of mine who has expressed somewhat of a curiosity in this stage of the project. :)

Troy used a press to remove the old bushings.

He also installed the new frictionless ball joints.

Once he had finished both the A-arms Troy went to grab something to eat, and Cary and I took the A-arms back home to coat the unpainted ends with POR-15. Here Cary is wiping off any dirt and dust before we apply the first coat.

Cary is applying the first coat of POR-15. We did not paint the zinc-coated bushing sleeves only because they were not prepped properly and we knew the POR-15 would not adhere. We did not worry about getting some on them though which made getting into the tighter spots much more manageable. 

Here are the A-arms with the first coat of POR-15. Cary and I just hung out and talked while we waited for the POR-15 to dry. After a while when we had not heard from Troy we decided to take Cary's Camaro and drive down to the shop to see what he was up to. It was the perfect excuse to drive with the T-tops out and enjoy the great weather. Troy was not at the shop though so we ended up heading back home. When we got back we went out for dinner with Sara and her Mom to give the POR-15 more time to dry.

Cary is applying the second coat to the A-arms and checking for any spots we may have missed.

Here are the A-arms after both coats of POR-15 had been applied. Just to clear this up for anyone that may be considering stopping over to help with KITT - I DID NOT make Cary do all the work (even though the pictures say otherwise). I had to stop to take pictures. :) Thanks Cary for all your help and for keeping me company while we watched paint dry!

This morning I discovered the installation instructions for these bushings. These particular polyurethane bushings are supposed to be greased on the interior diameter of the bushing sleeve. Troy did not do this when he installed them, so I thought I would see if I could push them out and grease them. It was not hard at all and the special lube that Energy Suspension provides is really easy to work with. 

Here are the finished A-arms. You can see that the bushings are now greased.

Our rabbit Fuzzie loves Knight Rider. It is about the only show she will just sit and watch the whole way through. Any time KITT is on the screen she runs around or jumps over anything she can. When we are out in the garage for hours on end "working on KITT" I am sure she has been curious. Tonight is the first time she has gotten a look at KITT though and I can't be certain, but I think she is just the slightest bit disappointed at the current lack of progress.