Sunday, May 17, 2015

A Picture From The Past

One of my coworkers brought me this picture from a car show he had attended in the 90s. He had the opportunity to see a screen used KITT. He said I could have the picture, so I hung it up in my office. Thanks Gary!

Heater Box Cleaning, Part 1

On Saturday afternoon, Sara attended a bridal shower, and I tackled dismantling and cleaning the heater box. One of the things I have discovered while looking back through my blog for reference pictures is that I did not take enough pictures. I have had trouble finding pictures of certain parts, fitment, sides, angles, etc. I have decided I cannot take too many pictures of this project, hence all the pictures of the heater box in this post.

This is all four sides of the heater box before I got started Saturday afternoon.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V_wRlrVJUu8/VVj_6IBgDJI/AAAAAAAA8QY/kyfBcgUfTwo/w1438-h809-no/IMG_20150516_115359331.jpg

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Return To Fenderland

Today we mounted the fenders! Up until now they have just been hanging on the frame of the car. First we located all the hardware for the fenders.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aNOdR98q3_s/VU_l3LYr-jI/AAAAAAAA70M/k_Tg9TFKPRk/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150510_114510918.jpg

A Tale Of Two Bumpers

Sara and I spent Saturday mounting the front and rear bumpers back on KITT. I really do not need them on the car yet, but I also really do not need them off the car any longer. Plus, it will be nice not to have to store them any more.

Sara and I started by cleaning the nuts and washers for the front bumper. This is a fused nut and washer combo where the washer is allowed to freely spin.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yHF-ZHINEUQ/VU68yTnsViI/AAAAAAAA7dM/DIQZB_f-A_g/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150506_192458486.jpg

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Fog Light Pods, Part 2

This week I finished cleaning the rock shield for the steering shaft.

Here is a before picture of the rock shield covered in dirt and grease:

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Fog Light Pods

It has been beautiful here the last two nights and I have made sure I was out in the garage taking advantage of it. I have been cleaning up a bit, and by cleaning I mean going through KITT's parts. Tonight I decided to work on the fog light pods. I have been wondering just how to approach cutting off the pods from the Camaro headlight mounting panel. I am thankful that I have a broken one to experiment with.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y7GhBOtUC38/VUGGiNWlDZI/AAAAAAAA6xk/G5t2WFnMy9E/w1438-h809-no/IMG_20150429_185123202.jpg

Friday, April 24, 2015

Differential Cover, Knight Pins And ECM Chips

I bought Permatex Ultra Black Gasket Maker so I could put the rear differential cover back on. 

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Pw_FZfrIU-w/VTrehv2ujpI/AAAAAAAA6eQ/fP6P4_1gOTI/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150424_142933721.jpg

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Cross-Fire Injection Adapter

When I decided that I wanted to replace the wiring harness on KITT, I knew that I wanted to use a wiring harness from Painless Performance. They have some of the best wiring harnesses available. I have been gathering parts that will be needed in order to use their electronic fuel injection harness. Troy had the ECM #1227747 and I just recently found the 5.0 L EPROM #16139492 and Calpack #16060836 from a seller on eBay.

The last piece I would need to make the EFI harness functional with KITT's Cross-fire setup was the Painless Wiring Cross-fire Injection Adapter Part # 60112. Unfortunately, this part was discontinued by Painless Performance in 2011. I tried unsuccessfully to order this from five different online vendors that still showed it in stock on their websites. Each time I was informed that they could not fulfill the order as the manufacturer no longer stocked the part.

Feeling frustrated, I called Painless Performance and spoke with Mike in technical support. I explained that I wanted to use their EFI harness to power KITT's 1983 Cross-fire injection system, but that I could not without the adapter. I also explained how many stores I had contacted looking for the part. He said that he had one on the shelf behind him and that he would check with the powers that be to find out if he could just sell it to me. He took my number and promised to call back.

He called back about 15 minutes later and said that he could sell it to me for well below what I had found it online for! It arrived today. Thanks Mike!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5VAHBKYizxo/VTcE_JgusiI/AAAAAAAA6L4/g1urETrvn4E/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150421_210625922.jpg

Friday, April 17, 2015

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

I titled this post for Sara, my A-Team fan. If you are not familiar with the show, Hannibal Smith often uses this catch phrase when things work out and go his way. It also sums up how I felt today when I stopped by Troy's shop.

I stopped in to ask him a few questions, and we got to talking about the EFI harness I plan to use for KITT. I mentioned I have been searching for the ECM the harness will require, but so far have not found one. He asked, "Which one is it? I have about fifty of them in the back." He went to the back of the shop, opened up a cupboard, and the first ECM he pulled out was SERV. NO. 1227747 - the exact one I needed! Thanks, Troy!! Now all I need to find is the PROM for the 5.0 L engine.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-aYEeSonFXC0/VTHBbFgVJ2I/AAAAAAAA6Gc/8Vci6fY-Q4s/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150417_162653244.jpg

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.