Monday, June 24, 2013

Sound Deadening, Part 4

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Cary and I did some more work on the sound deadening for KITT. We secured the hatch glass as I had done before and started on the passenger side rear wheel well.


Knight 2000 Intarsia Wooden Artwork

My friend Cary stopped over on Saturday morning with a surprise for me. He does a type of woodworking called Intarsia and made the Knight 2000 logo into a beautiful piece of art.


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Paint Finishes: Taking Another Look

The weather was beautiful on Saturday and I took the opportunity to take the trunk lid and spoiler out into the sunlight to compare the finishes. Just as a refresher, the spoiler was color sanded and buffed while the trunk lid was not.

My thoughts while it was under fluorescent lighting was that the spoiler had a little more dull finish, but it was completely smooth. Whereas the trunk lid was high gloss, but it showed more imperfections, i.e. specks/dust. Out in the sunlight I still feel the same way. I like the high gloss look of the trunk lid, but also the flawless look of the spoiler.

Make sure to click on the photos to see them in full resolution.


Monday, June 17, 2013

Sound Deadening, Part 3

I worked a little more on sound deadening KITT this evening. I decided to tackle the driver side rear wheel well. I used some paper as templates and folded them to the size and shape I needed. Then I used them as patterns to cut out the RAAMmat BXT II.


Sunday, June 16, 2013

Sound Deadening, Part 2

This afternoon we worked on the sound deadening again. We needed the hatch to be up and out of the way so we could access the back of the car. I started by raising the garage door and unplugging it.


Saturday, June 15, 2013

Sound Deadening, Part 1

This afternoon we started on the sound deadening. KITT was full of spare parts and was quite dusty, so I had to empty him out and vacuum the inside.


Friday, June 14, 2013

The Ultimate Knight Rider Map

Have a Knight Rider replica or wonder if others in your area might?  Would you like to see where the closest Knight Rider Convention or Club is?  How about being able to pinpoint shooting locations from the show?  This map has it all!  Make to sure to check out the Ultimate Knight Rider Map!


Finishing The Calipers

Yesterday afternoon I did a quick touch up coat on the interiors of the calipers. I was mainly concerned with the "mistake" caliper as some of the lacquer thinner had worked its way onto the interior surfaces. 


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Knight Rider Historians

Knight Rider Historians - Finding and documenting original props from the television series Knight Rider.


Knight Rider Archives

The Knight Rider Archives has been relaunched!  This site is awesome!  Check it out if you have not already.


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Painting The Calipers

My friend Cary was in town today and asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch on my lunch break. I mentioned that I was going to paint the calipers after work and he decided to stick around town so he could help me when I got off work.

When I got home today, I used the air compressor to blow the dust off all of the calipers. At this point they all have just one coat of the POR-15 black. You can see my "mistake" from Monday in the lower right corner. :(


Monday, June 10, 2013

Don't Make The Same Mistake Twice

It is said that we learn from our mistakes, or rather that we should learn from them. The latter applies to me today as I did not learn from my first attempt with the POR-15 Caliper Paint on the rear differential cover. Painting that red was a nightmare. It took four coats before it even began to look solid red and another three before I wasatisfied enough to give up. I decided that the result was not worth the effort.

So today in my infinite wisdom, I decided I was going to paint the calipers red. Brilliant, I know!

Here are the calipers with one coat of POR-15 black. Don't they look awesome? Wouldn't they even look better with another coat of POR-15 black? Did this occur to me this afternoon? Nope, not once.


Friday, June 7, 2013

KITT, As He Sits

Today after work I stopped down to see Troy and find out how KITT's rear end was coming and when he planned to come over to do the welding on KITT. Right now, we are planning on an evening this next week.

I decided to shoot a quick video showing KITT's current status. The video gives an up close look at the finished firewall pad we made. We will be finishing the rest of the sound deadening this month.


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Trunk Lid And Spoiler Back From Paint

Mario dropped off the trunk lid and spoiler today. These were the last two pieces he still had. The rest of the car will wait until this fall to be painted. He color sanded and buffed the spoiler but not the trunk lid. He wanted to give me the option to choose which finish I preferred.

It was raining when he dropped them off so they had dust and water spots on them. I used a damp microfiber cloth to clean them up.


Monday, May 20, 2013

Knight Designs Order Update

I got an email from Billy at Knight Designs today. He said he is finishing up a few orders and then I am up next. I cannot wait to see the 3rd season front nose, rear bumper, and rear stone guards! 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Painting The Calipers, Part 2

I just have a quick update for tonight. Dad came over and helped me paint the opposite sides of the calipers tonight. Thanks Dad! 


Monday, May 6, 2013

Painting The Calipers

Tonight I started painting the calipers. The first step was to mask off some of the hardware so I could keep it paint free. I noticed while doing this that painting the entire caliper in one sitting was not going to be possible. I only intend to paint the outsides of the calipers red, but I want to coat the whole caliper in POR-15 black for the rust protection.


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Prepping The Calipers

On Saturday I started prepping the calipers so I could paint them on Sunday. In between the MarineClean and Prep and Ready treatments I picked up the garage a bit. One thing is certain, space is at a premium now that the hood, doors, and back glass Mario dropped off are being stored in the garage.

Here are the re-manufactured rear brake calipers.


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Scrap Metal

Today after work Sara helped me move the doors, back glass, and front bumper Mario dropped off so we can get the Freestyle back in the garage. We also took the old axles, original driver door, and the donor trunk lid down to Troy's shop. Once he has a full bin he will take them to the scrap yard for recycling.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Multiple Delays Bring Project: K.I.T.T. To A Crawl

In 2012 we were able to make so much progress on KITT it is almost mind boggling. So far in 2013 we have not been as fortunate and our experience thus far has a recurring theme: Delay.

It all started with the engine rebuild which was supposed to be done and reinstalled in early January. The engine was not finished until mid-March and when it arrived it was the wrong color. Troy and Joel are working to repaint the engine red to match the transmission.

The car was supposed to go to paint at the end of March, but that required that KITT be back on his wheels. The rear end has been at the shop for over a month now and little progress has been made. The fuel sending unit needs to be rebuilt and there is welding that needs to be done to the Panhard/track bar bracket and subframe connectors. Troy has been very busy at the shop and has not had time to assist me with this. Although I feel I have done great so far, there are some things I am just not comfortable doing myself and would prefer the help of a mechanic I can trust.

I have also been waiting for my front nose, rear bumper and rock guards to arrive from Billy at Knight Designs. I recently contacted him to see how they were coming along and found out they too had been delayed due to a necessary shop relocation. 

I guess I was naive enough to believe we could maintain the pace we set in 2012. It has become apparent that I am not going to be able to get KITT to Mario in a reasonable amount of time, so although it sucks I decided that I needed to postpone KITT's paint job until this fall. This should give everyone ample time to recoup and hopefully get things back on track. 

Mario stopped by this afternoon to drop of the doors, back glass, and front bumper. I was a little worried to break the news to Mario, but I should not have been. He has been awesome to work with and said he understands that delays happen with projects like these.  Mario and I decided that we would just resume the painting when things are back on schedule. I am aiming for a late summer/early fall date. Thanks for understanding Mario!

Here is the new back glass/hatch glass.