Checking In With Mario

I stopped by Mario's shop to drop off the door hinge pin and bushing kits. He has the doors completely sanded down and he filled some of the small dents with polyester finishing putty. The original passenger door had several layers of paint with the most recent being the blue. It took him two hours with 80 grit sandpaper to get through all the layers. Mario said whoever painted the car this last time did not even bother to remove the mirrors or even some of the pin-striping...they just painted over it!

Mario said that overall the doors are in really nice shape and the small dents that were there are along the body line where the molding will go, so even though they have been repaired they will be hidden by the molding anyway.

The Brake Calipers Are Here

I stopped by Troy's shop again on the way home from work and found out the calipers had been delivered. Originally I was just going to rebuild the original calipers, but it turns out that I could get re-manufactured ones for less than it would cost for the parts to rebuild them. Because they are re-manufactured they look brand new! Now all I have to do is paint them red with the POR-15 caliper paint I bought.

Painting The Transmission And Engine

I stopped by Troy's shop after work to take some pictures of the painted transmission. It now has a few parts accented in black. I am really loving the red if for no other reason than it will be different.

Door Hinge Pins And Bushing Kits

The door hinge pins and bushing kits I ordered from 1A Auto arrived today. I ordered a kit for each door so both the upper and lower hinge hardware will be all new. Mario said he would install these for me, so I need to get these to him tomorrow.

Inspecting The Replacement Glass

Today I stopped in at Mario's shop to drop off the trunk lid we removed yesterday and check on the scratch in the donor hatch glass. :(

Mario has made some progress on the doors.

This is the passenger door. Mario said there were no surprises on this door, other than a lot of layers of paint.

A Good Friday To Remove The Trunk Lid

After finding out from Mario that the trunk lid on the donor hatch glass I found was rusted in several spots, I decided that I wanted to use the original one. On Friday Sara and I decided to get the trunk lid separated from the hatch glass so that it would be ready to take to Mario.

Rebuilding The Rear End And Painting The Transmission

I stopped in at Troy's shop yesterday to see the progress on the rear end. I took a few pictures of everything laid out where he was working on it.

Replacement Hatch Glass Is Here!

I finally found a replacement hatch glass. The glass is in good shape overall, but does have a couple of deep scratches between the defrost grid and the trunk lid. The trunk lid is also quite rusted, so I will be using the one from the glass I have. Thanks to Mario for taking these pictures.

A Few More Painted Parts

Yesterday Mario dropped off a few more painted parts. He brought over the slam tray, front bumper support, window triangles, and the hood hinges. The front bumper support has already been modified to accept KITT's scanner.

It is really exciting seeing all these parts coming back finished in black!

Here is the slam tray.

Mario Brought Some Parts Back In Black

Yesterday Mario sent me a message saying he had some more painted parts to bring over. He brought back the spoiler/wing, side view mirrors, headlight covers, fender vents, side marker trim, and fuel cap, all done in black. These will all have to be color sanded once they are back on and the car is painted. We laid them on carpet squares in the garage for now, but I intend to store them inside to prevent accidental damage.

Here is the spoiler/wing.

In With Hood & Fenders, Out With The Doors And Bumper

Mario stopped over this afternoon to drop off the fenders and hood and pick up the doors. I decided that I also wanted him to paint the front bumper black, so I unstrapped the bumpers from the shelves and pulled out the front bumper. Then I resecured the rear bumper to the shelves so it would not fall over.

Mario pulled up and we opened the garage door. He brought in the driver side fender first and explained that the hood and fenders were in primer and guide coat. The insides of the fender jambs and the underside of the hood have been painted in gloss black.

KITT's Rear End Picked Up For Reassembly

Troy called today and said he is ready to work on assembling the rear end this weekend. He sent Joel over to pick everything up. I plan to help with as much as I can and if nothing else at least get some pictures. I was also going to get rebuild kits for the front and rear calipers, but Troy found out that he can buy rebuilt calipers cheaper than he can get the kits. He is ordering those for me and will be pressing in the new polyurethane bushings on the front control arms this weekend, too.

Gutting The Doors, The Finale

Today after work I wanted to finish up the doors so Mario can pick them up tomorrow. I needed to remove the armrest brackets from both driver side doors so I could swap them. I started by grinding down the center of the rivets.

Gutting The Doors, Part 5

Wednesday after work I started by scribing the outline of the door hinges on the driver side door. I really do not see any adjustments or how they can be mounted incorrectly, but it was mentioned multiple times online that it was important to do so - so I did.

Plastics Thrown Everywhere

Yesterday morning did not start out the greatest. When Sara left for work and put the garage door up, one of KITT's interior plastics fell just enough to catch on the garage door. When she put it back down it ripped a bunch of the plastics free and threw them to the ground. :( Sara took these pictures over her lunch break so I could see the damage.

Gutting The Door, Part 4

I had to work late today and had plans this evening, but when I got off I still had just enough time to get the rest of the components out of the driver side door. Cold in the garage? Not compared to outside. :)

I started by drilling out (read mutilating) the two rivets holding the power lock actuator. These two rivets were the hardest to remove. I am not sure why, as they were the same type used everywhere else on the door. Here is the power lock actuator.

Gutting The Doors, Intermission

Mario called tonight to let me know that he has the underside of the hood and the fender jams painted and they are ready to be brought back over. He would also like to pick up the doors, so he can begin the prep work on them.

Lately it has been very cold so I have not been working in the garage. Although this is not conducive to working on KITT, it has allowed me to get caught up with a few other things that I have been needing to get done. I told Mario that I would have the doors ready for him by the end of the week, so no matter how cold it is in the garage I need to get those doors finished. 

Anyone want to help? ;)

Gutting The Doors, Part 3

I was planning to work in the garage most of the night, but for some reason I could not get the garage to warm up. I worked out there for a while before deciding it was just too cold to work comfortably. I left the heaters running hoping that I can warm it up a little overnight so that I can work out there tomorrow.

I started by drilling out the two remaining factory rivets (the other two had been replaced by bolts) that held the regulator. Once these were drilled out I turned the two bolts out and the regulator and motor assembly was free to pull out of the door. This is not easy, but it will come out the rear access hole in the door with just a little flexing of the regulator arms.

Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment Series

I have been searching the local stores for the Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment version of KITT which came out in early December of last year, but have come up empty. None of the stores, in this little town known as Aberdeen, have even been stocking the Retro Entertainment series. Tonight we went to Walmart - thrilling to be sure! I checked the Hot Wheels aisle, as I always do, and lo and behold there was the Retro Entertainment series.

They had two of four pegs filled, one of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine and one of the '32 Ford from American Graffiti. I was excited to see that they were finally stocking the line, but disappointed that was all they had. Then I spotted KITT lying on the shelf down below. Score! 

I quickly snatched it up only to hear a little boy come running over and say "Oh man! Do you know what you just found? That is KITT! You know from Knight Rider! That is soooo cool!" I said "Yes, yes it is cool!" 

So...here is KITT in all his coolness:

Now, I just need to find at least one more so I can open one of them.

Gutting The Doors, Part 2

I only worked on the car for about an hour today, but I did manage to get a few more things off the driver side door. I started with the exterior handle and lock cylinder. I will be replacing both of these with new ones.