Monday, May 26, 2014

The Great Underbody Dilemma

I need your help in deciding what to do with the Wonderbar steering brace, the only remaining red part, on KITT's underbody. My original idea was that all of the upgrades that were done to KITT's underbody and suspension would be in red. I wanted them to stand out as an upgraded part. This is no longer possible as the primer has destroyed the red powder coating on the subframe connectors and the lower control arms. Only the Wonder Bar on the front appears completely untouched by the primer.

The red Wonderbar steering brace in the front.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i8cJA49-L_8/U4OP5j-vr5I/AAAAAAAAjK8/SmOO-4BjCPw/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20140526_135105384.jpg

Friday, May 23, 2014

Primer: It's Not Supposed To Come Off...

I wanted to tackle the subframe connectors today and see if I could get the primer off of them. I am also working on refinishing a coffee table, so I was working on that on and off throughout the day, too. I figured it would be best to start with all the red parts because I wanted to keep them red. If I can remove the grey primer I would just mask them off really well so that I could reapply the POR-15 Black to the underbody.

I had noticed that when Sara and I had put KITT back up on jack stands to inspect the damage we did not quite have him sitting level and the passenger side seemed to be about four inches lower. You can kind of see that in this picture. I did not want to start working under the car with it sitting like this. I asked my friend Jessica if she would come over and spot for me while I jacked the car back up and readjusted the stands. 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8QJbnAVv6ow/U4J0bbwuPMI/AAAAAAAAjDw/JAX-1LI8mxE/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20140523_131911335.jpg


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Life, Love And Hope


Life, Love and Hope...That's the title of Boston's latest album and appropriately enough it also sums up this year so far for us. LIFE has definitely reminded us how not in control we really are and although there have been several setbacks and challenges, throughout it all we have witnessed and felt the LOVE of friends and family. It has been a difficult year but it's just when things seem that they will never turn around, something happens to give you HOPE.

That brings us to today, and although I have let this year affect me more than I care to admit, it is time to move on and get back to living life and doing what we love.

I want to thank you all for your support and continued encouragement during this time. I am going to get back to working on KITT starting today and I promise there will be more regular updates.

I visited with my high school electronics teacher this morning about the Project. We discussed some ideas and it did not take me long to realize again just how endless the possibilities are! I have a ton of great ideas and I am anxious to get back at it! Thanks Mr. Taylor!

Stay tuned...

Monday, May 12, 2014

Knight Designs Tow Bar

Project: K.I.T.T. has chosen Knight Designs for all of the Knight Rider related conversion parts needed for KITT. Billy's parts are absolutely the best money can buy! Here is another video highlighting the tow bar that will be going on KITT in the near future. Just another item to make KITT screen accurate. If you haven't already be sure to visit his website at www.KnightDesigns.com

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Project: K.I.T.T. Store Closing

With much regret, I am closing the Project: K.I.T.T. store due to a conflict with the vendor and NBC Universal.


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Celebrating 400 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page just hit 400 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.

Friday, April 25, 2014

General Lee

Look who I spotted while filling up the daily driver!  I have no idea whose it is, but I have never seen one in Aberdeen, South Dakota before today...

I am not sure that KITT would be impressed...  In fact, I am sure he would have some smart remark about it being an insult to automobiles or something, but I thought it was pretty cool. :)


Thursday, April 24, 2014

Celebrating 300 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page just hit 300 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.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Knight Shield Pins

The Knights of the West Coast and Nick Nugent of NRN DESIGN have teamed up to create an official one of a kind pin. The pin features a raised, die struck, and polished gold shield design with baked on black enamel paint.

Of course Sara ordered me two right away. :) I love you honey, you are the best!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ily56xxiieg/U18Hhl00OsI/AAAAAAAAgjA/PqEnbdjpo_4/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20140423_171340506.jpg

Friday, April 18, 2014

Happy Easter 2014

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter from Project: K.I.T.T.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Here's The Plan

Thank you to everyone that voted and helped me choose between LED and halogen. The overwhelming response was that the halogen could not be beat. In one last attempt to give the LEDs another shot, I disassembled all of the surface mounted LEDs on one of the LED replacements and re-soldered them as one front facing board. You can see in the picture below that the overall brightness increased, but still cannot compare to the one halogen bulb two chambers over. There just is not enough light to fill the chamber the way the halogen bulb does. Halogen it is, or as one follower put it, "Halogen For The Win"!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6rFB5oP_Ls8/UwqRZEicgcI/AAAAAAAAaus/lEjWTSAX0PI/s0-no/IMG_20140220_163655947.jpg

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

KITT's Hybrid LED And Halogen Scanner

The H3 halogen replacement LEDs and capacitors I ordered for the scanner arrived yesterday. I decided to do a direct side comparison since I could not find where anyone online had done that. I replaced four of the eight bulbs with their LED equivalents and wired the capacitors inline to provide the proper fade out and trailing effect.

The LEDs ended up being disappointingly dim compared to the halogens. I also did not care for the the trailing effect in comparison to the halogens. There is just something artificial about it. Here is a video comparing the H3 halogen replacement LEDs versus halogens.



Monday, February 17, 2014

KITT's Halogen Scanner

I know it seems like ages ago that I promised a video of KITT's scanner, but for those that have been patiently waiting...the wait is over. This scanner looks fantastic, especially with the screen accurate scanner bar!

Before we jump to the video I wanted to share some observations about the halogen bulbs. They are insanely bright, equally as hot, and eat your battery for a afternoon snack. I had not given any thought to the heat these bulbs would generate. After just a few minutes with the scanner on, the bar is almost too hot to touch and definitely too hot to hold comfortably. It is so hot that it honestly has me concerned about safety while operating the scanner in the summer.

I searched online for others who may have had issues with heat or documented how hot these scanners get, but I could not find anything. I decided to take some temperature readings of the bar at five minute intervals while in use over a period of 15 minutes. I took these temperature readings with an infrared temperature gun in our heated garage. The temperature in the garage was 61°F with 24% humidity. Here are the results:

 Scanner State  Temperature
 Powered Off  60°F
 Five minutes of runtime  167°F
 Ten minutes of runtime  178°F 
 Fifteen minutes of runtime  189°F
 Five minutes powered off   112°F
 Ten minutes powered off  95°F
 Fifteen minutes powered off  86°F

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i6D77m_uax0/UwLJ4eQbl2I/AAAAAAAAaRc/Nyn09yM5YaI/w1519-h855-no/IMG_20140217_155002145.jpg


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Celebrating 200 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page just hit 200 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.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

More Parts For KITT

Mark Scrivani of Mark's Custom Kits Inc. has changed his focus and is no longer going to be in the Knight Rider replica business. As a result, the large collection of Trans Am restoration parts he has amassed over the years is up for sale.

I ordered the following from Mark: Tan rear passenger roof trim, a lower dash trim panel without cutouts, a headlight switch, a New Old Stock (NOS) Glove box cover, and a new turn-signal, cruise stem, with wiper delay. The parts arrived on Monday.


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GSq_2sg5kUU/UvQxR9D8aRI/AAAAAAAAZ8o/kQjLXAgKlAU/w1519-h855-no/IMG_20140203_173610103.jpg

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Project: K.I.T.T - What's Been Going On

I dug out KITT's schematics from where they have been packed since we insulated the garage and hung them back on the garage wall. You know what that means... It is time for Project: K.I.T.T. to get serious again. No more anger, no more moping, and no more excuses.


Sunday, January 19, 2014

Damage Assessment

Since today was the warmest day in quite a while, Sara and I checked out the extent of the overspraying damage.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B6l80a7nX7c/UtyXEG6jnLI/AAAAAAAAZCU/zTzI8_vFFbk/w1431-h855-no/IMAG4695.jpg

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Two Year Anniversary

I got KITT two years ago today. Here is what he looked like on January 14, 2012...