Repairing One Man's Disaster

The previous owner performed a real hack job when it came to installing his aftermarket radio. I have never seen such a poor wiring job. Not only did he manage to break or damage most of the console and trim pieces, but he left unused hot wires exposed behind the radio. I am just lucky these did not short out on the drive home...or did they? The mysterious headlight behavior when I first got the car back into town suddenly has a possible cause. Here is a before shot of the wiring mess.

Feeling Nostalgic?

With all the information you can dig up, you really have to love the Internet and Google. I was able to put together a collection of sales literature, articles and photos pertaining to the early 3rd generation Firebirds (1982-84). I have converted these to PDF for your viewing pleasure. I won't apologize for the quality of these pieces as it is amazing to me still that I was able to find them at all.

It's All In The Code

Learning all you can about the history of your car is an important step in the restoration process. The Vehicle Identification Number is great, but it can only tell you so much about the vehicle. I was able to learn the following from the 17 character VIN on my car:

Build Country: USA

Manufacturer: General Motors

Make: Pontiac

Restraint System: Non-Passive/Manual Belts

Carline/Series: Firebird Trans Am

Body Type: Coupe - 2 Door Plain Back

Engine: LU5 5.0L (305 CI) V8 TBI (Throttle Body Injection)

Model Year: 1983

Plant: Van Nuys, CA

Build Sequence: 234580

This was great for starters, but I wanted to know more. Many of the cars prior 1984 had what is called a Body Tag that was stamped and affixed to the cowl of the car at the manufacturing plant. This tag contained much of the same information as the VIN, but also provided Regular Production Option (RPO) codes for body, trim and features included on the car. I snapped a picture of the Body Tag on my Trans Am and went to work researching and decoding its RPO codes.

If You Are Going To Do It, Do It Right

This recent severe drop in temperature has been a quick reminder of what a typical South Dakota winter is usually like. We have had such mild winter weather thus far that it was easy to pretend winter just wasn't coming. Needless to say this cold is not very conducive to working on the car in a non-insulated garage. However it does allow ample time for research, which is what I have been doing this past week.

Goodbye Sunshade!

We removed the awful black sunshade! Unfortunately there is some etching on the glass I was not able to see before. I am not sure if there is a way to remove the scratches, but they are very light. I am going to research it and if I find anything I will post it. Here are the before and after pictures.

Now I Can Open The Passenger Door!

When I bought the car the passenger side door was inaccessible from the outside. It appears someone tried to break in to the car and managed to break the door handle and severely bend the metal latch assembly. Although there is nothing I can do for the door handle, Sara and I were able to make it functional again by removing the door panel and straightening the latch assembly rod.

My First Accessory

I figured if I wanted to park my Trans Am in the garage, it would be nice to be able to open and close the garage door. Since I only had one garage door opener, and that one belongs in our other vehicle, we made a trip out to Menards for a universal garage door remote. Sara programmed it while I started on the passenger door...

My Trans Am!

I purchased a 1983 Pontiac Trans Am from a Ford dealership in Redwood Falls, MN yesterday. The car runs good, but is in serious need of a engine and transmission tune up. It sports a 305 V8 LU5 with Cross-Fire Injection. It does have the WS6 package and 15" wheels although they are not Turbo Cast wheels. The body is in excellent condition with only minor (hail type) dents and scratches.

KITT, Can You Hear Me Buddy?

Every respectable KITT replica is going to need one, right? Well Mark Puette has taken it upon himself to create the most screen accurate Knight Rider Comlink the hobby has ever seen. It is nothing short of awesome, and thanks to Sara I now own one! For Christmas this year she gave me one of Mark's Comlinks with its own Knight Industries leather display stand and his 'KNIGHT' & 'Knight Industries' license plates.

A Knight's Keychain

On Thanksgiving my wife surprised me with a Knight Rider license plate keychain! This keychain is made as an exact replica of the 1982 California "KNIGHT" licence plate.

William Daniels Has Spoken

I do not have a Trans Am yet to use as a donor car, but that did not stop me from purchasing my first conversion part so to speak (pun intended): a DVD containing the audio of every line spoken by KITT! Rafael Ramirez has painstakingly gone through every episode of Knight Rider, extracted all of William Daniels lines as KITT and packaged them all on a DVD. The DVD also includes Voice Commander a voice recognition program. This will allow anyone to use these voice files to make their KITT conversion talk and interact with them! I am so excited about this project! I have an IBM ThinkPad X31 that I plan to use for KITT's CPU. Its small form factor and the fact that it is completely portable makes it perfect. More on that as I get everything setup.

Here is what Rafael has to say about his DVD (as posted on KnightRegistries.com)

Planning For The Future

I needed a good place to start and blueprints seemed like the logical first step. Lucky for me Nick Nugent had just recently enhanced and redesigned the K.I.T.T. kit originally published in 1983 by Universal Studios. He also took the opportunity to create a matching K.A.R.R. kit. He made both kits available in limited production run of only 100 prints for the 3rd annual Knight Rider Festival held in Las Vegas. Although I did not attend, I was able to order two of these sets through the festivals online store. Thanks Nick!

Runnin' Down A Dream

From the first episode of Knight Rider I knew that someday I was going to drive that car. In retrospect, I was around 6 years old at the time and shared that dream with just about every other fan of Knight Rider in the country. As I got older and reality set in, the feasibility of ever owning a car like K.I.T.T. grew even more remote. 

But I never let the dream die. In high school I had to choose between taking auto mechanics or electronics. I chose electronics and began studying the layout of K.I.T.T.'s dash.