Differential Cover, Knight Pins And ECM Chips

I bought Permatex Ultra Black Gasket Maker so I could put the rear differential cover back on. 

Cross-Fire Injection Adapter

When I decided that I wanted to replace the wiring harness on KITT, I knew that I wanted to use a wiring harness from Painless Performance. They have some of the best wiring harnesses available. I have been gathering parts that will be needed in order to use their electronic fuel injection harness. Troy had the ECM #1227747 and I just recently found the 5.0 L EPROM #16139492 and Calpack #16060836 from a seller on eBay.

The last piece I would need to make the EFI harness functional with KITT's Cross-fire setup was the Painless Wiring Cross-fire Injection Adapter Part # 60112. Unfortunately, this part was discontinued by Painless Performance in 2011. I tried unsuccessfully to order this from five different online vendors that still showed it in stock on their websites. Each time I was informed that they could not fulfill the order as the manufacturer no longer stocked the part.

Feeling frustrated, I called Painless Performance and spoke with Mike in technical support. I explained that I wanted to use their EFI harness to power KITT's 1983 Cross-fire injection system, but that I could not without the adapter. I also explained how many stores I had contacted looking for the part. He said that he had one on the shelf behind him and that he would check with the powers that be to find out if he could just sell it to me. He took my number and promised to call back.

He called back about 15 minutes later and said that he could sell it to me for well below what I had found it online for! It arrived today. Thanks Mike!

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

I titled this post for Sara, my A-Team fan. If you are not familiar with the show, Hannibal Smith often uses this catch phrase when things work out and go his way. It also sums up how I felt today when I stopped by Troy's shop.

I stopped in to ask him a few questions, and we got to talking about the EFI harness I plan to use for KITT. I mentioned I have been searching for the ECM the harness will require, but so far have not found one. He asked, "Which one is it? I have about fifty of them in the back." He went to the back of the shop, opened up a cupboard, and the first ECM he pulled out was SERV. NO. 1227747 - the exact one I needed! Thanks, Troy!! Now all I need to find is the PROM for the 5.0 L engine.

Painting The Differential Cover

One of the projects I have been putting off is cleaning up the intermediate steering shaft. The engine rock shield was particularly grimy. I started using Gojo wipes to cut through the grime. The plastic is actually shiny black underneath and will not need to be painted. You can see just how bad it was on the areas around the collar that I still need to work on.

Painting The Blower Housing

Our paint booth held up well in storage. We got it set up this afternoon in no time.

Prepping For Paint

I am feeling better today...well, at least I don't feel awful and I am not constantly coughing as I have been for the past two and a half weeks. I actually felt like getting out and working on KITT! 

I decided to repaint the differential cover because I am unhappy with how the finish turned out. I used a red caliper paint, and the finish did not end up smooth. It is very wavy and shows all the brush marks. I did a poll on the blog a while back asking whether I should paint the differential cover black along with the other red parts that ended up covered in grey primer. The poll results indicated I should keep it red.

Renegade Intake Manifold

The following was copied from Dynamic Cross-fire Solutions and is presented here for historical purposes. 

---

...INTRODUCING FROM DCS...

THE ALL NEW RENEGADE MANIFOLD

Celebrating 1,250 Followers On Google+

1,250 people are now following Project: K.I.T.T.!

If you have not had a chance to check out the Project: K.I.T.T. page on Google+ you really should. It's a great way to stay updated, leave comments, or even ask questions about the Project. It will even notify you of new blog posts and videos.

KITT's Rockin' Red Engine!

I stopped down at Troy's today after work today because I had a couple of questions for him. I wanted to get his opinion on using a newer ECM along with the Painless EFI harness. In order to make the new harness work, I will need to use an ECM out of an 1986-1993 Firebird. I was a little concerned about being able to balance and tune the Cross-fire with a newer ECM. Troy said that it would not be an issue. 

The second thing I wanted to ask him about was the intake manifold. I am trying to decide whether to leave it stock, port it out, or purchase the Renegade manifold. Troy said I would definitely see a benefit by porting the manifold and even more by using the Renegade manifold. He was trying to explain just how restrictive the stock manifold was. He said it might be easier to just show me... also, they just finished painting the engine red! We went to the back of the shop to check it out.

Here is the engine:

KITT Has All 16 Wheels On The Ground

We decided to take advantage of the super nice weather and get KITT down off the jack stands.

Celebrating 1,000 Followers On Google+

Celebrating YOU, our followers! Thank you for helping us keep the dream alive! One Man Can Make A Difference and each of you make a difference with your support of Project: K.I.T.T.

KITT cannot wait to be restored to his former glory, but knowing there are so many fans waiting for that moment too only makes it all that much sweeter!

Keep on spreading the word! KITT loves the attention!
If you have not had a chance to check out the Project: K.I.T.T. page on Google+ you really should. It's a great way to stay updated, leave comments, or even ask questions about the Project. It will even notify you of new blog posts and videos.

KARR's New Shift Knob

The original Fiero shift knob in KARR was leather wrapped because it was a GT. Considering its age it held up well, although the leather was starting to come unstitched.  KARR, being the uber cool prototype for Knight Industries, deserves better! 

Matt Meyer, a member of Pennock's Fiero Forum, offers a service of recovering your shift knob in leather. He does however require the core from your current knob. I could not send mine in until I had one to replace it so I took before and after pictures to show what an awesome job he does on these! 

I ordered KARR a grainy black leather with Knight Industries gold stitching. You can see the results below:

Don Peake's Knight Rider Music

Last July Don Peake made an announcement about the release of the next four volumes of KNIGHT RIDER soundtrack music. Here's what Don had to say...

POR-15 Follows Through

POR-15 contacted me on Tuesday and told me they had received my return (the cans of rubberized undercoating). Instead of giving me a refund for the two cans of undercoating and the return shipping, they refunded the cost of my entire original order. (I had ordered the undercoating and also a jug of POR-15 Metal Prep.) Here is what the email said:

Jonathan,

               I received back the undercoating today.  I also just refunded you the full amount for your order.  That will cover the return shipping to us and then some.  You should see the credit back on your credit card in a day or so.  Sorry about the inconvenience and I hope this problem doesn’t sour you from ordering again from POR-15.  Let me know if you need anything else.  Thank you.

This problem definitely will not sour me from ordering POR-15 again. I still think they rock!

My father-in-law has been in the hospital, and we have been spending a lot of time visiting him instead of working on KITT. Sara and I might work on KITT a little bit tomorrow night/this weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day From Project: K.I.T.T.

Celebrating 900 Followers On Google+

Thanks for following everyone! Your support, encouragement, and feedback is always appreciated! Wow! When we said spread the word about Project: K.I.T.T., we had no idea we would pick up so many new followers so quickly! Keep on spreading the word! KITT loves the attention!

If you have not had a chance to check out the Project: K.I.T.T. page on Google+ you really should. It's a great way to stay updated, leave comments, or even ask questions about the Project. It will even notify you of new blog posts and videos.

Applying BlackCote To The Firewall

Today I applied BlackCote to the firewall. BlackCote is what the rest of the engine bay is done in and is the UV-resistant equivalent of POR-15 Black. Due to the rough texture of the undercoating, it was very hard to brush on. It actually reminded me of painting over some of the very rusty areas on the car, like the battery tray.

Undercoating The Firewall

I started this morning by making sure the tape was still firmly attached in all the areas I masked off last night.

Masking Off The Firewall

When I got off work today, I touched up the spots I could not get to on the underbody last weekend. Here are the spots I wanted to touch up:

Celebrating 800 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page hit 800 followers today! Thanks to everyone for your continued interest and support!

If you have not had a chance to check out the Project: K.I.T.T. page on Google+ you really should. It's a great way to stay updated, leave comments, or even ask questions about the Project. It will even notify you of new blog posts and videos.