Thursday, July 19, 2012

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Removing The Engine And Transmission

Today Troy and I pulled KITT's engine and transmission. I took a really quick video of the engine bay in its current state before we got started.



Friday, July 13, 2012

Off The Jacks And Waiting For Jack

Once I had KITT lowered back to the ground, I covered it with a tarp to keep the sun off the POR-15-coated interior. Then I rolled KITT out of the garage to wait for Jack to bring the tow truck.


All Jacked Up And Nowhere To Go

This afternoon after work my father helped me get KITT up on jack stands.

The jack stands I had purchased have 16 inches of lift height. Although this is enough to get under the car, it is very tight laying on a creeper. I needed to find a way to get more lift, so I bought a 14' 2x10 and cut it into 9 1/4 inch squares. Sara and I glued them together in a cribbing style with Gorilla Glue last night. Once the jack stands are on these cubes, we've gained an extra six inches of clearance.


Thursday, July 12, 2012

Emptying The Engine Bay, Part 3

Saturday KITT goes in to the mechanic's to get the engine and transmission pulled so they can be sent off and rebuilt. I wanted to focus my efforts yesterday and today on removing some of the remaining brackets from the engine bay.

A/C Compressor Bracket


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Complete Crossfire Injection System!

I have been searching for another Crossfire Injection wiring harness because mine had been left at the mercy of some less than desirable previous owner. My harness is so badly hacked in some areas that I cannot make sense of the connections. A member of the Foundation board had a complete '82 Crossfire Injection system for sale, which included the wiring harness, so I bought it. The package arrived today. 

The set includes everything shown in the pictures below.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Emptying The Engine Bay, Part 2

We got up early so it was still cool in the garage when we started working on the engine bay. We planned to remove as much as we could from the engine bay today.

A/C Compressor


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.