Sunday, March 18, 2012

Life In Plastic, It's Fantastic

This weekend we decided we needed to clean up the work area and find a place to store the interior plastics. Sara cleaned all the trim pieces while I removed and vacuumed some of the loose debris from the inside of the car. (This post's title lends a nod to the 90's music we listened to while cleaning.) I also removed both the door panels. As you can see from the pictures they need to be replaced. I have found sources for both new panels and the upper black window trim. Now that all the pieces are dry they are being stored above the garage door. We covered the car seats in plastic to keep them clean until I take them to be reupholstered. We also took the time to dry the floor and sweep out the garage before rolling the car back in.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Clues From The Past

Sara made a list of everything we found under the car seats and center console. Although we made some money, unfortunately we did not find the build sheet.
  • Jolly Rancher package
  • "Made Especially For You By Chris Sawyer" clothing label
  • church bulletin from the Church of St. Andrew in Granite Falls, MN dated June 10, 1990
  • blue elastic hair band
  • credit card receipt for $17.08 dated October 8, 1997
  • 2 Wrigley's gum wrappers
  • "Shelled Roasted Sunflower Nuts" package
  • $2.26 in change
  • plastic reflective lens
  • various screws and bolts
  • empty package of iodized salt
  • wrapper from an anise-flavored cough drop
  • 3 Coors Light bottle caps
  • pink Christmas light
  • Blast Off breath freshener (3/4 full)
  • the side of a plastic CD case
  • strip of black electrical tape
  • the sticky seal part of a business envelope
  • two dime-sized rubber bands
  • Werther's candy wrappers
  • wire splice
  • washer ring for a fuse
  • Subway Sub Club card
  • 2 interior light bulbs
  • State Farm Minnesota Insurance card registered to Shane D. Christensen for a policy dated June 1991 - July 1992 issued by agent Dolly Olson
  • lemon warhead candy still in its package
  • blown fuse
  • 2 terminal connectors
  • Allen wrench
  • Hardee's straw wrapper
  • toothpick
  • pen from South Central Technical College Albert Lea/Mankato
  • red elastic hair band
  • the now-deteriorated instructions for the jack and spare tire

Turning Inside Out

With the weather in the mid 50's this last weekend, I decided it was a perfect time to tackle removing the interior. I wanted to start with the console, but after I figured out I would lose my stereo in the process I decided to just remove the console top plate and leave the rest until just before I take out the carpet. I have to have music while I work! It turns out that the previous owner did not seem to care what he broke in the process of doing whatever it was he thought he was doing. The console lid is not salvageable as most of the mounting points are destroyed or cracked and missing. On a positive note though, the electric mirror controls which I had believed to be non-functional (as in not belonging to this car) actually have factory wiring hooked to them! That means with a little troubleshooting I should be able to get those operational again.


Sunday, March 4, 2012

This Weekend's Headliner: Gone

This weekend Sara and I removed the headliner in order to find out the extent of the damage caused by the leaking T-top. Even though the headliner itself was totally water damaged and deteriorating we were pleasantly surprised to find the roof's interior virtually rust-free. My theory is the headliner caught the leaking water and kept it away from the metal inside because it no longer fit properly and was drooping. The outside was not so lucky and the passenger side front rail has some pretty extensive rusting between the seals and the front lip of the car. So far in the areas I have checked the rust does not appear to have spread under the seals or to the irreplaceable U-channel. I have been doing some research into replacing the T-top seals. From what I have read there is supposed to be an adheasive under the seals to keep them in place and to keep water from getting trapped underneath the seals. The seals currently on the car do not have any adhesive as I was able to easily separate them from the metal. It appears that without the adhesive water was trapped between the seals and the body of the car (as you can see in the picture where I am pulling back the seal). From what I have inspected so far this seems to have only affected the passenger side. Here are some before and after pictures followed by some shots of the problem areas.


Monday, February 20, 2012

F.L.A.G. Mobile Unit Support Team


How Would You Feel If It Was Your Alpha Circuit?

It is always nice to have a mechanic you can trust. It is even better when they are willing to let you use their garage, hoist and tools. I first met Troy a few years ago when I sold the shop he works for a digital message center. I have taken our Freestyle to him ever since. The fact that Troy also happens to own an 1983 Camaro just makes it even better! 

I knew the car was in desperate need of a tune-up and I really wanted a mechanic's professional opinion of the mechanical shape it was in. I intend to do the majority of the work on the car myself, but there are somethings that are just easier to do when you have a hoist and can get the car up in the air to get a better look at it.

I snapped some shots of the under body while it was up in the air. These are more for my reference than for aesthetic value.


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Licensed To Drive

It's official. Yesterday I registered and licensed KITT. The personalized plates I ordered will read "MY KITT" and will soon be proudly displayed on the car. Look for pictures soon!

Monday, January 30, 2012

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.


Saturday, January 28, 2012

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.


Saturday, January 21, 2012

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.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

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.

Friday, January 6, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

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.


Thursday, November 17, 2011

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)

Thursday, September 1, 2011

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!