Time To Paint Over Rust with POR-15

The supplies I ordered from POR-15, Inc. arrived this last week and over the weekend I started to experiment a little. 

Here is what I ordered:

• POR-Strip
• Marine Clean
• Prep & Ready
• POR Patch
• POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint - Black Six Pack
• PowerMesh Reinforcing Fabric
• Dauber Kit
• 10 Pairs of Gloves
• Six 2" Paint Brushes
• Six 1" Paint Brushes

Raising The Bar

The garage was a mess of tools so I spent the night picking up after myself and then worked on separating the t-top bar from the car frame. I will need a new t-top bar as this one is rusted out beyond saving. So far it still doesn't look like there are any holes in the body of the car around the T-top channels, but the channels themselves are going to need some attention in order to save them.

More Grinding, Sanding, Scuffing, Cleaning And The T-Top Blues

We spent today doing some more grinding and clean up of the floor pans and rear cargo area. We found out it does not need to be down to the metal for the POR-15 to adhere; it just needs to be free of flaking and needs to be well scuffed. At this point I am still planning to do the entire interior, but we will see how the floor goes.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Today we continued to work on stripping the paint and removed all of the seam sealer from the interior.

MiniMates And Hot Wheels

My latest Knight Rider purchases :)

KITT's Shell Exposed

KITT: Unharnessed (Part 2)

Today we worked on removing the remaining harness wires from the doors. The cross car wiring door harness runs across the car just below the windshield and enters each door through a rubber grommet. Once we unhooked the wires and pulled them back through the grommets on each door we removed the entire harness by unhooking the cross car tubing.

KITT: Unharnessed

I spent the evening separating the interior wiring harness and fuse block from the engine bay side of the wiring harness. There was a modular plug connecting the two harnesses and once unhooked I could easily pull out the harness inside the car. In hind sight, it would have been much easier to get the dash out if I would have discovered this first. Here are a few pictures of the plug connecting the two harnesses. I also took some pictures of the main harness and sub harnesses once I had them out.

The F.L.A.G. Mobile Unit Support Team Expands Into A Two Stall Service Bay

On Sunday we upgraded from a single stall garage to a double stall. The extra space will be great for working on KITT and give me a chance to store some parts, too. We will be spending the rest of this week transferring the contents of our single stall into the new double stall! I am hoping to move KITT to his new home this weekend.

Cleaning The Dash And Untangling The Wires, So Many Wires...

This last weekend I removed the firewall. I worked on removing the wiring harness starting with the taillight harness and moving forward. So far I have been lucky and have not broken any of the plugs or clips. With 30-year-old wiring everything is very fragile, however for the most part what I have examined so far looks to be in really great shape. I have decided to leave the clips in place on the frame for fear of breaking them as long as they will not interfere with the restoration of the interior. So far I have up to the rear speaker underbody loom removed. I took pictures of the wiring before I removed each section so I have it as a reference. You can see in the pictures below that the firewall is out now too. Once I get all of the wiring out or at least out of the way I will be putting up a video of the inside prior to starting on the floor.

While I worked on the wiring Sara was busy cleaning up the taillights and various dash pieces that we removed the previous week. She used both the air compressor and an all-purpose cleaner to clean up the pieces for storing until it is time to install them again. With all the years of dirt that has accumulated on this car, cleaning them requires multiple treatments and a lot of time and persistence.

Two Screws, Or Not Two Screws: That Was The Issue

Those last two pesky screws in the dash occupied way, way too much of my time! I thought I would recap the various methods I tried over the course of a week to remove the screws:

• used nut driver while prying from behind with screw driver
• used nut driver while pulling forward on the dash
• used flat piece of metal to push on the screw from behind while turning with nut driver
• used toothpicks from behind to get teeth to grab...lost toothpicks
• used razor blade to pry behind screw head while turning...very dangerous...scratch that idea
• used needle nose visegrips on screw head to pull while turning and just about put the visegrip though the windshield when it slipped off...waited for heart to stop pounding
• used needle nose visegrips on screw head to pull while turning and landed on my butt in the rear seat well...that could have been so much worse
• used rubber mallet to tap the metal retaining clip to one side or the other and then tried to turn it out
• used ice pick to try to create more tension on clip
• tried to use hacksaw blade to cut off the shank of the screw and broke the blade
• tried to use the broken hacksaw blade to cut off the shank of the screw and cut myself
• decided to drill out the head of the screws, very slow process...broke drill bit
• tried larger drill bit...very hard screw...not getting anywhere
• it was suggested to use WD-40 as a cooling agent...this helped a little but did more to splatter everything in sight... also WD-40 does not taste very good
• switched to a larger bit and now the head started turning...no way to hold it
• tried using C clamp to put pressure on screw from behind...clamp slipped...no good
• ready to cut dash into pieces to remove...Sara wants to take a look at the problem

I had been working on the dash issue as I had free time over the last week, but it is important to note that I was always working on the problem alone. When Sara came down to look at the source of my frustration and incessant grumbling\cursing, she said, and I quote, "Have you tried using the drill to turn them out? Maybe you could even pry with the screw driver while the drill is turning." 

Out of all of the things I had tried and that had been suggested to me this was not something I had considered. What did I have to lose? After putting the nut driver bit into the drill and while prying from behind with a screw driver, the screw came out like there was nothing wrong with it! I could not believe it! I was ready to try the second screw fairly confident that it would not work twice, however it came out too. It took a little more prying from a couple of different angles but it did turn out.

Words of Wisdom: Always keep your wife close by; you never know what she will come in handy for!

After the screws were out it was just a matter of unhooking the various clips that held the dash wiring harness in place on the back of the dash. This required me to become somewhat of a contortionist. Laying on my back using mirrors to see what I was doing was only part of the challenge - I also had to figure out how to get my arm(s) in between there to unhook the clips.

Once the dash was removed I worked on removing the jute padding along the top of the dash. I wanted to save this, but it was just deteriorating in my hands as I removed it. I also wanted to remove the firewall because I could see some rust issues going on along the bottom edge of the firewall on the drivers side. The firewall itself was crumbling in that area.

Here are some pictures with the dash removed. I will post pictures with the firewall removed once I start getting the wiring out of the way.

Hard Work And A Dash Of Persistence

I have been busy since my last post researching the power mirror options available to these early third generation Trans Ams. I have the switch and what looks to be factory wiring running in the right spot, but both mirrors are the manual type and there is an aftermarket manual adjuster lever on the driver side door. I can see no wiring in the door for the power mirrors, so I am worried that this will be another hacked apart wiring job. I have found a few sources for power mirrors, but without being able to ascertain the condition of the power mirror harness I am hesitant to buy any that do not have a complete harness.

Life In Plastic, It's Fantastic

This weekend we decided we needed to clean up the work area and find a place to store the interior plastics. Sara cleaned all the trim pieces while I removed and vacuumed some of the loose debris from the inside of the car. (This post's title lends a nod to the 90's music we listened to while cleaning.) I also removed both the door panels. As you can see from the pictures they need to be replaced. I have found sources for both new panels and the upper black window trim. Now that all the pieces are dry they are being stored above the garage door. We covered the car seats in plastic to keep them clean until I take them to be reupholstered. We also took the time to dry the floor and sweep out the garage before rolling the car back in.

Clues From The Past

Sara made a list of everything we found under the car seats and center console. Although we made some money, unfortunately we did not find the build sheet.

• Jolly Rancher package
• "Made Especially For You By Chris Sawyer" clothing label
• church bulletin from the Church of St. Andrew in Granite Falls, MN dated June 10, 1990
• blue elastic hair band
• credit card receipt for $17.08 dated October 8, 1997
• 2 Wrigley's gum wrappers
• "Shelled Roasted Sunflower Nuts" package
• $2.26 in change
• plastic reflective lens
• various screws and bolts
• empty package of iodized salt
• wrapper from an anise-flavored cough drop
• 3 Coors Light bottle caps
• pink Christmas light
• Blast Off breath freshener (3/4 full)
• the side of a plastic CD case
• strip of black electrical tape
• the sticky seal part of a business envelope
• two dime-sized rubber bands
• Werther's candy wrappers
• wire splice
• washer ring for a fuse
• Subway Sub Club card
• 2 interior light bulbs
• State Farm Minnesota Insurance card registered to Shane D. Christensen for a policy dated June 1991 - July 1992 issued by agent Dolly Olson
• lemon warhead candy still in its package
• blown fuse
• 2 terminal connectors
• Allen wrench
• Hardee's straw wrapper
• toothpick
• pen from South Central Technical College Albert Lea/Mankato
• red elastic hair band
• the now-deteriorated instructions for the jack and spare tire

Turning Inside Out

With the weather in the mid 50's this last weekend, I decided it was a perfect time to tackle removing the interior. I wanted to start with the console, but after I figured out I would lose my stereo in the process I decided to just remove the console top plate and leave the rest until just before I take out the carpet. I have to have music while I work! It turns out that the previous owner did not seem to care what he broke in the process of doing whatever it was he thought he was doing. The console lid is not salvageable as most of the mounting points are destroyed or cracked and missing. On a positive note though, the electric mirror controls which I had believed to be non-functional (as in not belonging to this car) actually have factory wiring hooked to them! That means with a little troubleshooting I should be able to get those operational again.

My Plates Have Arrived!

This Weekend's Headliner: Gone

This weekend Sara and I removed the headliner in order to find out the extent of the damage caused by the leaking T-top. Even though the headliner itself was totally water damaged and deteriorating we were pleasantly surprised to find the roof's interior virtually rust-free. My theory is the headliner caught the leaking water and kept it away from the metal inside because it no longer fit properly and was drooping. The outside was not so lucky and the passenger side front rail has some pretty extensive rusting between the seals and the front lip of the car. So far in the areas I have checked the rust does not appear to have spread under the seals or to the irreplaceable U-channel. I have been doing some research into replacing the T-top seals. From what I have read there is supposed to be an adheasive under the seals to keep them in place and to keep water from getting trapped underneath the seals. The seals currently on the car do not have any adhesive as I was able to easily separate them from the metal. It appears that without the adhesive water was trapped between the seals and the body of the car (as you can see in the picture where I am pulling back the seal). From what I have inspected so far this seems to have only affected the passenger side. Here are some before and after pictures followed by some shots of the problem areas.

F.L.A.G. Mobile Unit Support Team

How Would You Feel If It Was Your Alpha Circuit?

It is always nice to have a mechanic you can trust. It is even better when they are willing to let you use their garage, hoist and tools. I first met Troy a few years ago when I sold the shop he works for a digital message center. I have taken our Freestyle to him ever since. The fact that Troy also happens to own an 1983 Camaro just makes it even better! 

I knew the car was in desperate need of a tune-up and I really wanted a mechanic's professional opinion of the mechanical shape it was in. I intend to do the majority of the work on the car myself, but there are somethings that are just easier to do when you have a hoist and can get the car up in the air to get a better look at it.

I snapped some shots of the under body while it was up in the air. These are more for my reference than for aesthetic value.

Licensed To Drive

It's official. Yesterday I registered and licensed KITT. The personalized plates I ordered will read "MY KITT" and will soon be proudly displayed on the car. Look for pictures soon!