Sound Deadening, Finally Finished (Kind Of)

I told Jonathan we could work on KITT all day long today, and that is what we did. 

Jonathan started this morning by test-fitting his new speakers. These are the 5.25 speakers that will go in the kick panel area. This is where the models equipped with the Bose stereo system had speakers mounted. The speaker magnet fits easily into the opening already in this area. We should not have to modify much to get these speakers to fit perfectly.

A good fit, and they are red. What could be better?

Next on Jonathan's agenda was the gas tank. He had not applied the anti-squeak insulator strips to the bottom half of the tank yet. 

This is where the straps will rub against the tank. The factory did not have any anti-squeak insulator pads in this area.

Sound deadening time! I put on my pink gloves and got to work.

I had forgotten what a pain gloves are with the sound deadening. I quickly removed them and really got to work.

Jonathan worked on the passenger side and I worked on the driver side. We filled in any spots we had previously left uncovered. Jonathan decided he wanted to cover more than 80%. This is the passenger side.

This is me working on the driver side.

This is my scrap container. My goal was to use every single little piece. Please notice my pieced-together mosaic-looking rocker panel area.

While I was perfecting my mosaic, Jonathan was working to cover the cross brace on the passenger side sail panel area.

Jonathan had to cut pieces for his rocker panel area because I was hogging all the little leftover scraps on my side.

These are all the scrap pieces I have left...

And we are breaking for lunch! Please notice the temperature. It is July 27th! Can you believe how cool it is? It was WONDERFUL!

After smothered burritos from Taco Bell, we got back to sound deadening. Here's Jonathan's almost-finished cross brace area.

The answer to my 14-year-old self's question of "When will I ever use geometry in the real world?" is: "When you are 32 and sound deadening a 1983 Trans Am destined to become KITT." (Also please notice my long sleeves. It is July 27th and I am wearing long sleeves. Between this and my use of geometry in the real world, today truly is a historic day.)

Success! I used every last scrap of sound deadening! And look at those great angles!

Here is Jonathan working on the top of the cross brace on the passenger side. 

And this is Jonathan filling in spots that I could not cover on the rocker panel on the driver side because I ran out of scraps.

My assignment: Find the missing screws for the rubber grommet for the parking brake cable. I had three drawers of plastic baggies to search through.

WTH is this? It was just laying in one of the drawers with no identifying baggie. (Jonathan identified it as the mount for the rear view mirror. Apparently it is not good enough for its own labeled baggie.)

And what exactly is a "nuetral safety switch"? I must have been high on marker fumes when I labeled this.

I narrowed my search for the missing screws down to five baggies.

Here are the missing screws!

The winning baggie is... MISCELLANEOUS AND UNKNOWN (FOUND IN CAR)! (Kudos to the smart girl that labeled it! Extremely descriptive and very helpful!)

After putting the screws in the rubber grommet for the parking brake cable, Jonathan finished covering the transmission hump with sound deadening.

Finished with the passenger compartment sound deadening (for now)!

Now on to the trunk area. Jonathan wanted to apply some more sound deadening to this area as well. I cannot reach the trunk very well since KITT is still up on jacks, so Jonathan worked alone on this part, while standing on a step ladder.

We only have a few sheets of RAAMmat BXT II left. That means we are probably going to have to order more later after KITT has been painted and we are finishing the interior. 

Here are pictures of the finished (for now) trunk area. There are still a few spots that need to be covered better, but we decided it would be best to wait instead of slicing into new sheets today. We will get everything covered after KITT is back from paint.

Jonathan unhooked the hatch glass from the garage door and we moved on to the next project...

bolts soaking in WD-40 in my old Presto fryer.

Jonathan found the four bolts he needed for the end link brackets for the rear sway bar. Our neighbor came over for a bit to see how the car was progressing. He was just as excited about the nice weather today as we were.

Jonathan got out his torque wrench and verified in the service manual the bolts needed to be torqued to 35 foot pounds.

Driver side.

Torquing the driver side.

Driver side is finished!

On to the passenger side.

Torquing the passenger side.

Passenger side is finished!

Last project for the day: straightening the front to rear stainless steel brake and fuel lines.

Jonathan consulted the handy instruction sheet from Fine Lines, Inc.

Each line had a sticker marking where to "Remove This Bend".

Uhhh, almost each line. This one seems to have lost its sticker.

To remove the bends, you roll the lines on the floor,

and then finish straightening them by hand.

Straightened brake and fuel lines!

Jonathan moved the lines under KITT and out of the way so we could park the Freestyle back inside the garage.

We were hoping Troy would come over today and put the rear end back on KITT, and unfortunately that did not happen, but we ended up getting a lot done anyway. :)