Prepping For Paint

I am feeling better today...well, at least I don't feel awful and I am not constantly coughing as I have been for the past two and a half weeks. I actually felt like getting out and working on KITT! 

I decided to repaint the differential cover because I am unhappy with how the finish turned out. I used a red caliper paint, and the finish did not end up smooth. It is very wavy and shows all the brush marks. I did a poll on the blog a while back asking whether I should paint the differential cover black along with the other red parts that ended up covered in grey primer. The poll results indicated I should keep it red.

Today I pulled the differential cover off. Now you can see the new gears and posi unit.

Troy had put just enough differential oil in it to keep the gears lubricated when we were pushing it around. I drained this out and saved it for use again. I then placed a clean bowl over the opening to keep the inside clean.

Troy had used RTV Silicone Gasket Maker to seal the differential cover. I started by scraping this off.

Then I applied paint stripper to the front of the differential cover. I did this several times, but it did not lift the caliper paint.

Even with heavy scraping, it barely scratched the surface. 

I briefly considered getting out the wire wheel to remove the caliper paint, but then decided to check how much a new differential cover would cost. I found one on Amazon and decided the time I would spend wire wheeling and cleaning this differential cover up for paint would cost me more than just purchasing a new one. My new differential cover should be here Wednesday.

Moving on to the blower housing... This is the upper portion of the housing.

This is the lower portion of the blower housing.

I removed the blower motor so we can clean the blower housing and prep it for painting.

I will be replacing the blower motor. If you have a '83 LeSabre and need a blower motor, let me know. ;)

Lower portion of the blower housing with blower motor removed and ready to clean:

I cleaned the housing in two stages. First I used POR-15 Cleaner Degreaser, scrubbed the parts with a brush, and rinsed them with clean water to remove the major grime and dirt.

I hung them in the garage to dry. There was still some areas that were dirty, so we took them inside and washed them with hot water.

Here are the two pieces, cleaned and ready for paint! We will set up the painting booth tomorrow and hopefully will get some painting done.

Lastly, Mark Puette has created a limited run of collectible lapel pin modeled after the gullwing knight-head emblem. It is actually a recreation of the exact knight-head emblem found on a screen-used gullwing. It is 1.5" in diameter. I ordered two. Click here for ordering information.