Organized And Ready To Roll!

40 degrees in January! We decided to take advantage of the super nice weather and get rolling on KITT this afternoon. 

Jonathan's sister Amanda found this Pac-Man sleeping bag for him on an online garage sale. Jonathan hung it up in the garage last night. It looks cool, but I pointed out it is going to get super dirty once we start tearing into KITT again. So we snapped a picture and took it down. We are going to hang it with KITT's parts in the storage closet until we can put it back up in the garage. Thanks for the cool find Amanda!

Celebrating 700 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page just hit 700 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.

Three Year Anniversary

We got so busy yesterday that we forgot all about posting this, but as they say better late than never...

We got KITT's 1983 Pontiac Trans Am body three years ago today. Here is what he looked like on January 14, 2012...

Engine Rebuild Update

I stopped down at Troy's shop to visit and he was excited to show me how the engine was progressing. They continue to do work on it here and there as time allows and they have more parts cleaned and painted. It really is looking good. 

We finalized the decision to paint the engine block red to match the transmission. The red block will look sharp with the black and silver accents.

Frozen Package From POR-15

The POR-15 Rubberized Under Coating and Metal Prep I ordered arrived today. I quickly opened the package and the first thing I said to Sara was, "I wonder if this stuff is okay if it is frozen?" The Metal Prep was completely frozen solid. It is currently -10 degrees out, so it is not surprising. I will have to see what happens once it thaws out. I may end up checking with POR-15 just to be safe.

A Bright Idea

I just ordered a 1993-1997 Chevy Camaro headlight mounting panel from a seller on eBay. The 1993-1997 Camaro headlights are the perfect size to use as fog lights for KITT. They also mounted in a stair-stepped fashion which will naturally follow the angle of KITT's nose. Here are some pictures taken from the auction listing.

A Year Later...

KITT: But, I wanted high gloss wheel wells! You said!

Me: KITT are you whining?

KITT: No that would be undignified, but you did say that I would have high gloss wheel wells.

Me: Well, KITT, we cannot always have what we want in life. In case we forget that, there are always A-holes with paint skills out there to remind us.

KITT: I still get to be black, right?

Me: Yes, KITT.

After the paint fiasco that started off last year on a sour note, I had set out to determine the best course of action to remove the primer. I wanted to find a way to restore the wheel wells and underbody to the show ready finish they had before going in for paint. I was able to scuff off most of the primer from the underbody and then apply yet another coat of POR-15. I still have some touch up work to do in this area. The subframe connectors were not so easy and in fact trying to remove the primer destroyed the red powder coat finish. But that is all last's years news.

We tried to strip off the primer in the wheel wells and it was next to impossible to get off. What we were able to remove took enough paint stripper that it also damaged the POR-15 that was underneath. In thinking about all the time and money that we have put into just the wheel well areas in order to treat them with high gloss black POR-15, we just could not see starting over. We would literally be throwing away money. 

We decided to use another POR-15 product called POR-15 Rubberized Under Coating. This is a spray on undercoating similar in texture to the normal undercoating applied by many auto manufacturers, but with the added benefits of POR-15 protection. It remains flexible, has superior resistance to road salt, and will resist chipping and abrasions.

There are two benefits going this route. One is that we will save all of the hard work and money already put into the treatment of the wheel wells and two, it will add sound deadening and help reduce road noise.

New Year, New Toys, New Plan

I received two Project: K.I.T.T. related gifts for Christmas, and both will come in incredibly handy.

First up is a Black and Decker 6V and 12V Battery Charger / Maintainer. 

Merry Christmas 2014

Gasp...An Update!

This year has been different... I am not sure really how else to describe it. Project: K.I.T.T. has really taken a back seat to everything this year has thrown at us, and as a result we really have not done much on the Project.

Troy has been working on the engine rebuild as he has time in between jobs in his shop. I stopped down recently to see how things were progressing. 

He has the injectors cleaned up and ready for install. He said he still wants to swap some parts and use the better parts between the original and the replacement crossfire set I bought.

The intake manifold has been thoroughly cleaned and painted silver.

The rest of the brackets and pulleys were painted semi-gloss black.

The exhaust shield and EGR valve have both been painted silver. They should look pretty sharp against the red engine block. 

I know this is not much of an update, but I do promise that we will be getting back to work on KITT very soon. I am not going to promise an update before the new year, but soon. 2014 is closing rapidly. Stay tuned...

The Passing Of Glen Larson

Project: K.I.T.T.​​ observes a moment of silence for the passing of Glen A. Larson.

He is proof that One Man Can Make A Difference!

Glen A. Larson created Knight Rider and so much more....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_A._Larson

KARR's First Snow Storm

Sunday we were hit with our first snow storm. KARR sits outside so he got the brunt of it. We only got about five inches of snow so it wasn't actually that bad, but it was windy so that caused the snow to drift.

I am going to get snow tires for KARR, but I am still researching my options and have not ordered them yet. I spoke to a few Canadian Fiero owners who daily drive their Fieros all year long. They said with the proper snow tires Fieros get around just fine in the snow and ice. :)

If You Think KARR Is Cool...

Let's face it: my daily driver KARR attracts a lot of attention. I am constantly being asked about him and about Knight Rider. One thing leads to another and I always end up talking about Project: K.I.T.T. 

I wanted to find a way to spread the word and also provide people with an easy way to find out more about the Project. I decided vinyl stickers would be the way to go and I intend to put them on either side of the third brake light on the rear window.

Happy Halloween From Project: K.I.T.T.

KARR's First Road Trip

On Saturday we took KARR on his first road trip to Sica Hollow State Park. What we hadn't planned on was the 8 1/2 miles of gravel road leading up to the park.

Or this:

How KARR Came To Be

I needed a new daily driver and I could not pass up a 1987 Fiero GT...it just looked so cool! For an already 27-year-old car, it was in remarkable shape both inside and out! However, there were a few things that needed to be addressed. 

An Update With KITT

Introducing...

Finally! Here is what I have been busy working on the last two months. I am sure some of you have guessed already, but here is a video introducing KARR! This is my tribute to the Knight Automated Roving Robot. We kept KITT in the dark about this whole side project until the filming of this video. You can hear him having a fit over my Comlink...I do not think he is impressed. He'll get over it.

If you would like to know more about KARR's back story and why I decided to create a tribute to him, let me know in the comments and I will do another post.

Happy 32nd Birthday KITT!

Please join us in wishing KITT a Happy 32nd Birthday!

Knight Rider debuted on September 26, 1982 and as a result, KITT was born!

KITT will always be the original smart car! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Help Rebuild The FLAG Semi Trailer!

Fellow Knight Rider enthusiast +Danny Nasiff is rebuilding the F.L.A.G. Mobile Unit and needs your support. Please visit his Kickstarter page for more details. Just a little $ can go a long way!

http://goo.gl/MCCDYw

The F.L.A.G. Mobile Unit is a semi-trailer truck owned by the Foundation for Law And Government. It functions as a mobile garage for K.I.T.T. and Headquarters for Devon. The Mobile Unit was usually parked or driving around somewhere near Michael's and K.I.T.T.'s current location. The Mobile Unit is also known as The Semi, The Rook, Mobile Office, and Mobile Base.