One Rear End, Two Calipers, And A Ton Of Rusted, Seized Bolts

Yesterday after work I decided to work on removing the rear calipers. After much research and visiting with Troy, I discovered that the Service Manual is indeed wrong in its description the removal process. The rear calipers do not need to be compressed before they can be removed.

Cleaning, Scrubbing And More Cleaning

This weekend I worked on cleaning the garage and cleaning the rear underbody of the car.

I have a decision to make concerning the rubber padding for the gas tank and gas tank straps. These are my options:

Option A: GM's original stock anti-squeak kit (which is basically thick tar paper). I would have to get this from a salvage car.

Option B: Do as the previous owner of my car did and use a piece of living room carpet. I considered this, but having four strips missing out of our living room carpet might look kind of odd.

Option C: An after-market anti-squeak kit, running in the neighborhood of $130.

Option D: Garage Door Bottom Rubber. I read about this on ThirdGen.org. Not only is it an upgrade to the stock anti-squeak kit, but it much less expensive. It would run about $15.

All things considered, I am really leaning towards the carpet.

My Support Team

I want to thank Sara and her dad. They have both been a huge help working on KITT! 

Sara has been by my side throughout the whole project and I honestly could not do this without her. This project has taken and will continue to take up almost all of our free time, and she has been wonderful about that. I look forward to spending many, many years enjoying KITT and traveling with her after we are done. She is able to constantly surprise me with her talent and hard work. Thanks Sara, I love you!

Sara's dad has also been instrumental in helping with the "small stuff" as he puts it. I have to say it is the "small stuff" that often takes the most time. He has saved me countless hours. Thanks Dad!

Notice their Project: K.I.T.T. attire. There are always open positions on the Support Team.

Antenna Wrench, Sucking Gas And Fender Removal

The antenna wrench I ordered arrived on Monday.

KITT's Rear End: A Documentary #3

Troy is back with his Sawzall! 

KITT's Rear End: A Documentary #2

After removing the control/trailing arms, we placed the jack underneath the differential to lift it up and take the weight off the shocks.

KITT's Rear End: A Documentary #1

Troy called Sunday afternoon to say he could come over to help drop the rear end and gas tank. We had just finished applying the first coat of POR-15 and had parts and painting supplies spread all across the garage. We quickly picked up everything and moved it to the front part of the garage.

Spending The Last Sunday Of September Painting POR-15 With Sara

We started about 10:00AM this morning. The first thing I did was take this old fender well insert out to the dumpster. The other one is around here somewhere, but I could not find it. When I do find it, it is going in the trash too.

Last Saturday Of Summer

Today was the last Saturday of September and it felt like summer outside. It was 82 degrees outside this afternoon!

I started this morning by using the steel brush to rough up the edges of the POR-15 at the bottom of the drive tunnel so the new POR-15 would adhere. Then I used the air compressor to blow off any dust from the bottoms of the floor pans.

Forgotten Friday

I forgot to post last night, and I did so much on the car today that it is hard to remember what I did yesterday. I took some pictures though, so I am going to at least post these.

Here is a picture of the old seam sealer underneath the driver side fender. This needs to be removed and have new seam sealer applied. 

Just Another Thursday Knight

The MarineClean and Prep and Ready I ordered last week came today. 

Yo Devon! Knight Rider Turns 30!

30 years ago tonight, September 26th at 8:00PM EST Knight Rider hit televisions all across America! It is just awesome that 30 years later Project: K.I.T.T. is in full swing working hard to restore KITT to his former glory!   

Please join us in watching Knight of the Phoenix, the 2 hour pilot that started it all!

Michael Knight, a lone crusader in a dangerous world. 
The world... of the

Adventures In Fenderland

I started off this evening with a trip to Menards with Sara's dad to see how just how great the Lifetime Guarantee on my $7 ToolShop brand C-clamp really was. Turns out it is a really great deal as they replaced it with no receipt and no questions asked!

Rear End Woes And Sealing The Crack

Sunday morning started well enough with Sara's dad arriving early to take pictures as we dropped the rear end. I started out by working on removing anything else I could get off of the rear end area before Troy called. 

I removed the rubber stops for the axle on either side. Each rubber stop was secured with two bolts.

Preparing To Drop The Rear End

Saturday was rather disappointing. I was hoping to remove everything but the rear end itself before Troy arrived to help. It was one of those days where nothing seemed to go the way I planned. 

I started with attempting to remove the sway bar and link on the driver side. I really did not want to have to cut the rear end links like I had to on the front because I want to get a measurement off them. I tried everything I could think of to get them loose, including my impact driver. I got them to budge a little but they would not come off. I spent almost an hour trying to remove this one before deciding to move on to something else.

Removing The Mud Flaps And Muffler

The last few nights I have been working on the rear of the car. I plan to lower the rear axle tomorrow and wanted to get as much stuff out of the way as possible. 

I started with the driver side mud flap. I am not keeping the mud flaps, so I was not concerned with getting them off in one piece. I ended up using a combination of drill, screwdriver, vise grips and utility knife to remove the mud flaps and the three screws securing each.

One Shirt Can Make A Difference

Our Project: K.I.T.T. shirts arrived yesterday! It is exciting to have shirts that say "Project: K.I.T.T." and I am really happy how they turned out.

I added some more items to the Project: K.I.T.T. store based on some requests I have received. If you have not had a chance to check out the store, be sure to stop by!

If you are interested in supporting the Project, just know that one shirt really can make a difference!

Fender Wheel Well Liners

When we were taking out the plastic liners from the wheel wells we noticed that both were cracked. The passenger side was in much better shape than the driver side. I decided to see if I could find replacements. There are no new replacement liners being made, but I did find a used set that was in good condition and cheap.

They arrived today and, although the box was just a little bit bigger than what you would need to ship a basketball, they were both in there. The picture below illustrates how they managed this feat.

Another POR-15 Sunday

The first thing Jonathan noticed when we got started this morning was some of the underbody was still damp (specifically around the frame areas). He took the heat gun to these areas to speed up the drying process.

Sara's Dirty Saturday

Jonathan got called into work this morning, so unfortunately we did not get started on the car until noon.

These are the heat shields Jonathan removed yesterday.