Thursday, April 16, 2015

Painting The Differential Cover

One of the projects I have been putting off is cleaning up the intermediate steering shaft. The engine rock shield was particularly grimy. I started using Gojo wipes to cut through the grime. The plastic is actually shiny black underneath and will not need to be painted. You can see just how bad it was on the areas around the collar that I still need to work on.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dEeO4qZC81U/VTBi02WKWgI/AAAAAAAA5_s/I_Py0Zq1FYY/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150414_180414728.jpg

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Painting The Blower Housing

Our paint booth held up well in storage. We got it set up this afternoon in no time.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l8NJz1n0RxE/VSr3uOAIFAI/AAAAAAAA5wQ/OsjvLyNbcow/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150412_140602079.jpg

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Prepping For Paint

I am feeling better today...well, at least I don't feel awful and I am not constantly coughing as I have been for the past two and a half weeks. I actually felt like getting out and working on KITT! 
I decided to repaint the differential cover because I am unhappy with how the finish turned out. I used a red caliper paint, and the finish did not end up smooth. It is very wavy and shows all the brush marks. I did a poll on the blog a while back asking whether I should paint the differential cover black along with the other red parts that ended up covered in grey primer. The poll results indicated I should keep it red.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-15bL3cAd9ro/VSnJeCVXleI/AAAAAAAA5pI/6H3T5QgdmXM/w1438-h809-no/IMG_20150411_123055380.jpg

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Renegade Intake Manifold

The following was copied from Dynamic Cross-fire Solutions and is presented here for historical purposes. 

...INTRODUCING FROM DCS...

THE ALL NEW RENEGADE MANIFOLD

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-66Vry6mPlM0/VRtOrRFuAqI/AAAAAAAA5Pc/GQagEHtYHQY/w800-h372-no/DCS-Renegade.jpg

Monday, March 23, 2015

Celebrating 1,250 Followers On Google+



1,250 people are now following Project: K.I.T.T.!

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, March 20, 2015

KITT's Rockin' Red Engine!

I stopped down at Troy's today after work today because I had a couple of questions for him. I wanted to get his opinion on using a newer ECM along with the Painless EFI harness. In order to make the new harness work, I will need to use an ECM out of an 1986-1993 Firebird. I was a little concerned about being able to balance and tune the Cross-fire with a newer ECM. Troy said that it would not be an issue. 

The second thing I wanted to ask him about was the intake manifold. I am trying to decide whether to leave it stock, port it out, or purchase the Renegade manifold. Troy said I would definitely see a benefit by porting the manifold and even more by using the Renegade manifold. He was trying to explain just how restrictive the stock manifold was. He said it might be easier to just show me... also, they just finished painting the engine red! We went to the back of the shop to check it out.

Here is the engine:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3TlpWMvEg88/VQzIpKJ0lfI/AAAAAAAA4is/RKDzEhKg_Yc/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150320_163854739.jpg

Monday, March 16, 2015

KITT Has All 16 Wheels On The Ground

We decided to take advantage of the super nice weather and get KITT down off the jack stands.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p_3yFuUsP9k/VQd63dwwyzI/AAAAAAAA4Zc/pG1Sb8vWQE4/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150315_175931210.jpg

Friday, February 27, 2015

Celebrating 1,000 Followers On Google+

Celebrating YOU, our followers! Thank you for helping us keep the dream alive! One Man Can Make A Difference and each of you make a difference with your support of Project: K.I.T.T.

KITT cannot wait to be restored to his former glory, but knowing there are so many fans waiting for that moment too only makes it all that much sweeter!

Keep on spreading the word! KITT loves the attention!
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.


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

KARR's New Shift Knob

The original Fiero shift knob in KARR was leather wrapped because it was a GT. Considering its age it held up well, although the leather was starting to come unstitched.  KARR, being the uber cool prototype for Knight Industries, deserves better! 

Matt Meyer, a member of Pennock's Fiero Forum, offers a service of recovering your shift knob in leather. He does however require the core from your current knob. I could not send mine in until I had one to replace it so I took before and after pictures to show what an awesome job he does on these! 

I ordered KARR a grainy black leather with Knight Industries gold stitching. You can see the results below:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-NmLtK3VjE5Q/VO0sN5aCD1I/AAAAAAAA3dI/HwVNE-L3xEk/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150224_180149166_HDR.jpg

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Don Peake's Knight Rider Music

Last July Don Peake made an announcement about the release of the next four volumes of KNIGHT RIDER soundtrack music. Here's what Don had to say...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h1N_68ZiIe4/VOkG3NT1vbI/AAAAAAAA3Ko/1YzvBXmO0Hg/w800-h445-no/DonPeakeFromFacebook_zps8fd40520.jpg

Thursday, February 19, 2015

POR-15 Follows Through

POR-15 contacted me on Tuesday and told me they had received my return (the cans of rubberized undercoating). Instead of giving me a refund for the two cans of undercoating and the return shipping, they refunded the cost of my entire original order. (I had ordered the undercoating and also a jug of POR-15 Metal Prep.) Here is what the email said:

Jonathan,
               I received back the undercoating today.  I also just refunded you the full amount for your order.  That will cover the return shipping to us and then some.  You should see the credit back on your credit card in a day or so.  Sorry about the inconvenience and I hope this problem doesn’t sour you from ordering again from POR-15.  Let me know if you need anything else.  Thank you.


This problem definitely will not sour me from ordering POR-15 again. I still think they rock!


My father-in-law has been in the hospital, and we have been spending a lot of time visiting him instead of working on KITT. Sara and I might work on KITT a little bit tomorrow night/this weekend.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Celebrating 900 Followers On Google+


Thanks for following everyone! Your support, encouragement, and feedback is always appreciated! Wow! When we said spread the word about Project: K.I.T.T., we had no idea we would pick up so many new followers so quickly! Keep on spreading the word! KITT loves the attention!

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.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Applying BlackCote To The Firewall

Today I applied BlackCote to the firewall. BlackCote is what the rest of the engine bay is done in and is the UV-resistant equivalent of POR-15 Black. Due to the rough texture of the undercoating, it was very hard to brush on. It actually reminded me of painting over some of the very rusty areas on the car, like the battery tray.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s6fOKaddepQ/VNfk2IVzbpI/AAAAAAAA20M/YbnzZQ4Avw8/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150208_110923622.jpg

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Undercoating The Firewall

I started this morning by making sure the tape was still firmly attached in all the areas I masked off last night.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sIJdBGL6rx4/VNZ9VHd0JbI/AAAAAAAA2aQ/5Vm3jcrSIoE/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150207_110158374.jpg

Friday, February 6, 2015

Masking Off The Firewall

When I got off work today, I touched up the spots I could not get to on the underbody last weekend. Here are the spots I wanted to touch up:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SpSGpxwgn2M/VNWHLKzn43I/AAAAAAAA2WE/9MSBqINL7ks/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150206_154455784.jpg

Monday, February 2, 2015

Celebrating 800 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page hit 800 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.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Unveiling The Wheel Wells

I started today by making a close-up inspection of all four wheel wells to look for spots I missed. I noticed in the driver side rear wheel well there was some cracking over top of the area I retreated with POR-15.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5vhbjOTSgyw/VM6V0GH8blI/AAAAAAAA2Ec/Khiz57D9qWY/w1438-h809-no/IMG_20150201_115614420.jpg

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Undercoating The Wheel Wells

Last night I did quite a bit of research online, and I decided to fall back on my original plan for the wheel wells before I had decided to do them in high gloss black POR-15. Originally when we stripped the wheel wells, I had two options: 1) replace the factory-style undercoating, or 2) try something different and go with high gloss black. I decided to go for something different, and everyone knows the ending to that story...

Prior to deciding on using high gloss POR-15, I had researched online and found 3M Automotive Coatings makes a heavy duty rubberized undercoating as part of their Bondo line. This is what I would have used had I decided to replace the factory-style undercoating. Fast forward a couple of years to us once again having to make wheel well coating decisions. POR-15 had introduced their own line of rubberized undercoating, and when it came time to undercoat the primered wheel wells I thought the POR-15 undercoating would be a better choice.

After last night, I decided to fall back on my first idea. Sara and I had breakfast and then went to Menards and purchased cans of Bondo heavy duty rubberized undercoating. Each can cost only $4 compared to the $20 POR-15 undercoating. 

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4BlfWAnFgBY/VM1l-7OyaQI/AAAAAAAA1zU/YzM1BGziriE/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150131_100603801.jpg

Matte Black Spray Paint Only $20 A Can!

Yesterday as soon as I got home from work I hit the garage running. I wanted to get as much done on the wheel wells this weekend as we could. The first thing I needed to do was clear out underneath KITT, which meant putting KARR's summer tires away.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-airOWaQc9AE/VM0KrEAfjkI/AAAAAAAA1Uw/0png5lJuixU/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150130_161118347.jpg