In With Hood & Fenders, Out With The Doors And Bumper

Mario stopped over this afternoon to drop off the fenders and hood and pick up the doors. I decided that I also wanted him to paint the front bumper black, so I unstrapped the bumpers from the shelves and pulled out the front bumper. Then I resecured the rear bumper to the shelves so it would not fall over.

Mario pulled up and we opened the garage door. He brought in the driver side fender first and explained that the hood and fenders were in primer and guide coat. The insides of the fender jambs and the underside of the hood have been painted in gloss black.

KITT's Rear End Picked Up For Reassembly

Troy called today and said he is ready to work on assembling the rear end this weekend. He sent Joel over to pick everything up. I plan to help with as much as I can and if nothing else at least get some pictures. I was also going to get rebuild kits for the front and rear calipers, but Troy found out that he can buy rebuilt calipers cheaper than he can get the kits. He is ordering those for me and will be pressing in the new polyurethane bushings on the front control arms this weekend, too.

Gutting The Doors, The Finale

Today after work I wanted to finish up the doors so Mario can pick them up tomorrow. I needed to remove the armrest brackets from both driver side doors so I could swap them. I started by grinding down the center of the rivets.

Gutting The Doors, Part 5

Wednesday after work I started by scribing the outline of the door hinges on the driver side door. I really do not see any adjustments or how they can be mounted incorrectly, but it was mentioned multiple times online that it was important to do so - so I did.

Plastics Thrown Everywhere

Yesterday morning did not start out the greatest. When Sara left for work and put the garage door up, one of KITT's interior plastics fell just enough to catch on the garage door. When she put it back down it ripped a bunch of the plastics free and threw them to the ground. :( Sara took these pictures over her lunch break so I could see the damage.

Gutting The Door, Part 4

I had to work late today and had plans this evening, but when I got off I still had just enough time to get the rest of the components out of the driver side door. Cold in the garage? Not compared to outside. :)

I started by drilling out (read mutilating) the two rivets holding the power lock actuator. These two rivets were the hardest to remove. I am not sure why, as they were the same type used everywhere else on the door. Here is the power lock actuator.

Gutting The Doors, Intermission

Mario called tonight to let me know that he has the underside of the hood and the fender jams painted and they are ready to be brought back over. He would also like to pick up the doors, so he can begin the prep work on them.

Lately it has been very cold so I have not been working in the garage. Although this is not conducive to working on KITT, it has allowed me to get caught up with a few other things that I have been needing to get done. I told Mario that I would have the doors ready for him by the end of the week, so no matter how cold it is in the garage I need to get those doors finished. 

Anyone want to help? ;)

Gutting The Doors, Part 3

I was planning to work in the garage most of the night, but for some reason I could not get the garage to warm up. I worked out there for a while before deciding it was just too cold to work comfortably. I left the heaters running hoping that I can warm it up a little overnight so that I can work out there tomorrow.

I started by drilling out the two remaining factory rivets (the other two had been replaced by bolts) that held the regulator. Once these were drilled out I turned the two bolts out and the regulator and motor assembly was free to pull out of the door. This is not easy, but it will come out the rear access hole in the door with just a little flexing of the regulator arms.

Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment Series

I have been searching the local stores for the Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment version of KITT which came out in early December of last year, but have come up empty. None of the stores, in this little town known as Aberdeen, have even been stocking the Retro Entertainment series. Tonight we went to Walmart - thrilling to be sure! I checked the Hot Wheels aisle, as I always do, and lo and behold there was the Retro Entertainment series.

They had two of four pegs filled, one of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine and one of the '32 Ford from American Graffiti. I was excited to see that they were finally stocking the line, but disappointed that was all they had. Then I spotted KITT lying on the shelf down below. Score! 

I quickly snatched it up only to hear a little boy come running over and say "Oh man! Do you know what you just found? That is KITT! You know from Knight Rider! That is soooo cool!" I said "Yes, yes it is cool!" 

So...here is KITT in all his coolness:

Now, I just need to find at least one more so I can open one of them.

Gutting The Doors, Part 2

I only worked on the car for about an hour today, but I did manage to get a few more things off the driver side door. I started with the exterior handle and lock cylinder. I will be replacing both of these with new ones.

Gutting The Doors

It seems like ages since I last posted, but in actuality it has only been a week. It was a long, busy, tiring week at work though and to be honest by the time I got home I did not feel like doing anything other than relaxing.

Today I started the task of removing everything from the driver side door. I started with this door because I knew it was not the door I was going to end up using. That way I could experiment with just how to remove everything.

The first thing I wanted to remove was the window triangle, but I needed to get the weather strip corner out of my way so I removed the two screws that fasten it to the door. There are two more screws on the other side which I removed as well. 

Installing KITT's Subframe Connectors

Today Sara and I installed the Alston subframe connectors we purchased for KITT. We started with the driver side. Once in position we used jacks to hold it firmly in place.

And Now For The Rest Of The Order

As I noted in my unboxing video, the ring and pinion gear set I ordered was left out of the shipment I received from Drivetrain America. I emailed the company that night (Friday) and received a response on Saturday saying they apologize and it will be shipped out on Monday. On Monday I received two emails: one providing tracking information for my package, and one from the owner of the company himself apologizing for the mistake. I was impressed with their response, and I would definitely order from this company again.

I received the ring and pinion gear set today. Here are some photos.

Mario Gives The Door A Thumbs Up!

Mario stopped over to take a look at the door I picked up. He agreed with me on two points...1) it is not the best door in the world, and 2) it is better than the one I have. He said even though there is rust damage to this door, there is nothing that cannot be fixed, and he is willing to work with it.

He also brought over some of the parts that he painted matte black. 

Here are the drip rails for the A and B pillars.

Painting The Fuel Sending Unit

This afternoon I applied another coat of paint to the differential cover with a foam brush I picked up today.

Painting The Differential Cover And Prepping The Fuel Sending Unit

On Friday I cleaned the differential cover with MarineClean and prepped it with Prep and Ready. This morning I covered all the holes with duct tape to keep paint from getting on the inside of the cover.

Found: A Driver's Door For KITT

This morning Sara and I went to Hazer's Auto and Truck Parts in West Fargo, North Dakota to look at the driver side door. Before we left I took a quick video of my current door so I could compare it to the one at Hazer's.

Differential, Gears, Axles And Taillight Blackout Unboxing

The parts I ordered from Drivetrain America and Knight Designs arrived. Here is my unboxing video.

A Driver's Door For KITT

I have been searching for a replacement driver side door because the bottom lip of mine is just too rusted out to be salvageable. Today, after the suggestion of a member of the Knight Rider Revolution Forum, I searched Car-Part.com and located a door just a few hours away at Hazer's Auto and Truck Parts in West Fargo, North Dakota. When I called today the guy I spoke with mentioned they also have new glass for the front doors for only $55 each. This sounds almost too good to be true, but if it is true it is definitely too good to pass up. We are heading there tomorrow to take a look.

Taillight Blackout

I ordered a taillight blackout from Knight Designs. This is the darkly tinted plexiglass cover that installs over the taillights, effectively blacking them out when not in use. This cover sits completely flush with the edge of the hatch lid and the rear quarter panels.

I'll post a video when it arrives. In the meantime, here are some screenshots from the show.