Sunday, July 8, 2012

What A Little Cleaning Can Do

Yesterday ended up being hotter than originally forecasted, so I brought the taillight harness inside to work on cleaning/restoring it. I tried using all-purpose cleaner/degreaser to clean the wire loom, plugs and wires. This did not work the best, so I ended up using Gojo Fast Wipes. They seem to cut through the grease and dirt much quicker.

I started by removing the section of loom to the right of the large plug you see on the left side in the picture below. I cleaned the loom in the bathtub so I could spray it with water and cleaner. This loom, other than having overspray on it, is in really good shape. I plan to reuse it. I do not foresee this being true with the other wiring looms on the harnesses I am going to be cleaning and restoring.


Saturday, July 7, 2012

Hey Bonnie! New Diagnostic Wands!

Presenting two Diagnostic Wand props I made. They are not exactly like the ones on the show but similar in fashion with a slightly updated look. 80's style electronic wizardry at its best.


New Radiator Overflow Reservoir Has Arrived!

My new radiator overflow reservoir arrived this week in the midst of the sweltering heatwave. 


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Emptying The Engine Bay (The Continuing Saga)

The new windshield washer reservoir arrived today! Below are two pictures of the new reservoir next to the original. The design for the reservoir changed in 1986/1987 and this design superseded the previous models.


Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Reservoirs Are Out

Today I removed the washer fluid reservoir and radiator overflow tank. Both were easy to remove and secured only with two screws.

The washer fluid reservoir is mounted on the driver side wheel well.


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Eradicating The Radiator

I decided to start by removing the radiator this morning. The previous owner installed a radiator from a Pontiac 6000. Not only is this radiator too small for the Trans Am, but it required a hack job to get the transmission lines to hook up.


Friday, June 22, 2012

A Trans Am's Nose Job

A picture of the Trans Am nose before we started tonight:


Thursday, June 21, 2012

Removing The Hood

Tonight Sara and I removed the hood. I want to be able to work on the engine bay this weekend, and having the hood out of the way will make it much easier to access the bay.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Sunday, June 17, 2012

POR-15: Our Final Thoughts

  • The POR-15 Dauber Kit was a waste. The dauber ends are much too large to fit in any of the holes on the rails they are intended to coat. They just absorb all the paint and then splatter it everywhere when pushed through an opening. Also they have cotton daubers on both ends instead of a hook on one end as was pictured in the POR-15 catalog. I am sure this is for double usage, but once one end is covered in paint how do you use the other end without getting paint all over you? 
  • Want the final finish to be black? Order black. Using two different colors is nice hypothetically, but the silver does not paint as nicely as the black and it does not end up a true black finish. Next time I will be ordering all black and both coats will be black.
  • The spray bottles POR-15 provides are horrible. Do not even attempt to use the provided spray bottles with POR-Strip - brush it on instead. The POR-Strip just eats the spray bottles' plunger and then it won't spray and starts leaking. The spray bottles work fine for Marine Clean and Prep and Ready, however.
  • Marine Clean really is non-toxic and biodegradable  Moths can land in it and it does not affect them at all. This cannot be said for Prep and Ready, which is a very effective bee killer.
  • Brushes - The 2 inch brushes POR-15 sells do not fit in 4 oz cans of POR-15, which makes them worthless. The 1 inch brushes were well worth the money, although they did lose some bristles. They were cheap enough we were able to throw them away after applications without feeling bad doing so.
  • POR-Patch is awesome, but do not roll the metal tube. It will crack and leak if rolled. It is possible to reseal the tube as long as the threads are clean. I used a Gojo fast wipe to clean the threads on the top of the tube. I used a small plastic zip tie to push the POR-15 out of the tube (a toothpick would probably work too). I then used the Gojo fast wipe and pushed it up inside the applicator nozzle and twisted it so it worked all the remaining POR-15 out of the nozzle.
  • Gojo fast wipes remove POR-15 from tools, garage floor and skin, even after it has dried for a while. They are awesome!

POR-15: To Do List

This video shows the interior areas we have left to POR-15.

POR-15 Video

This video shows everything we have painted with POR-15 to date.

POR-15: Act II, Scene III

This morning I started by reopening the POR-Patch I sealed yesterday. I applied POR-Patch to a lot of the seams in the car that cannot be covered by the brush-on seam sealer I will be applying soon.


Saturday, June 16, 2012

POR-15: Act II, Scene II

The last time we painted with POR-15, we did both coats in black. This time we did the first coat in silver and the second in black. We thought two colors would make it easier to get proper coverage with the second coat. It was easier to see exactly where we had applied the first coat, but the black over silver did not coat as well as the black over black. The silver and black POR-15 are different. The consistency is different, the coverage is different, the results are different. The black did not seem to want to stick to the silver. It felt like we were just pushing the paint around. Although it did level out, the end result is not pure black like the passenger area of the car, and the finish is no where near as flawless-looking. In the end we wish we would have stuck with the black over black method. Part of the problem was the black bubbled in spots. We think it might have been leftover residue from the car's original seam sealer that had some kind of reaction with the silver POR-15 that caused the black to not adhere to the silver as well. We did not have this bubbling issue with the black over black, and there was leftover seam sealer residue there as well. We used 2 1/2 cans of black POR-15 tonight, so we did end up using the same amount as the silver.


POR-15: Act II, Scene I

This morning Sara started by brushing off all the loose dirt and debris from the areas we planned to paint today.


Friday, June 15, 2012

Back To Prepping

I got off work early, so I started prepping the Trans Am so it was ready for POR-15 this weekend. One of the areas that needed to be cleaned and prepped was the interior channel below the front t-top rail. I had spotted some mild rust in this area and want to POR-15 it to fix and prevent any future rust. I started by laying a tarp across the front of the car to catch the drips.


Sunday, June 3, 2012

Now All We Need Is The POR-15 We Ordered

Since our POR-15 has not come yet, we decided to start stripping the t-top rails. Here are the before shots of the rails.


Saturday, June 2, 2012

Another Stripping Saturday

I started this afternoon by removing the passenger side front ground effect and air dam. I have one bolt that I cannot get the nut loose. Sara and I spent about half an hour trying to get the bolt free, but ended up separating the ground effect from the mounting bracket and leaving the bracket on the car for the time being.


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Is It Screen Accurate? No. Does KITT Need It? YES!

My latest conversion purchase is the Knight's head logo for the shifter knob. In the series the Pontiac logo normally found on the shifter knob was blacked out. I think the Knight's head, the logo designated for the Knight 2000, adds a bit of authenticity to the car. These stickers have a gel-like feel and a slight domed appearance to them. The sticker is 7/8 of an inch in diameter and is the exact same size as the original Pontiac logo so it is a perfect fit!

The stickers are available from Knight Passions.

Monday, May 28, 2012

POR-15 - Second Application

After five hours we applied the second coat of POR-15. The second application took about an hour and a half. We definitely see the advantage of having two colors. It was very difficult to see where we had applied the second coat and where we had not. We only used one can for the entire second coat. I definitely applied it too thin in some parts with the first can.

We just placed our next POR-15 order. We are hopeful we will receive it by this weekend. We ordered two POR-Patch tubes and another six pack of POR-15, this time with four silvers and two blacks. I found the POR-15 data sheet, and it is well worth the read because it mentions that their silver actually contains flakes of aluminum and is designed for metal strengthening. I wish I would have known that before and used it on my driver side floor pan that was rusted. It was a little maddening because we scoured the POR-15 catalog and web site researching what we need for this project and never saw that mentioned. However, now that I ordered the silver I can coat the damaged area of the underbody and strengthen it underneath. I also plan to use some of the PowerMesh on the bottom of that floor pan.