Sunday, July 19, 2015

My Birthday = KARR's New Gullwing

I thought it would be cool to put a gullwing steering wheel in my Fiero (KARR). It was an idea I was toying with, but I really could not justify the expense of putting a gullwing in my daily driver just to have a gullwing. This summer the leather-wrapped GT-style steering wheel in my Fiero started oozing whatever glue was used to hold the leather in place on the steering wheel. It oozes out of the pores where it is stitched and looks like melted chocolate, in both consistency and color. It also stains clothing. One day while trying to get a "chocolate ooze glue" stain out of my dress pants, Sara said, "How about for your birthday present this year you get a gullwing steering wheel for KARR?" Got to love my wife!

I had decided before starting Project: K.I.T.T. that all of KITT's conversion parts, both interior and exterior, will be from Billy at Knight Designs. Billy's parts are the true "Cadillac" of conversion parts. They are not only the highest quality and most screen accurate, but feature all the bells and whistles, too. The downside to having "Cadillac" parts is the "Cadillac" price that goes with them.

When it came to choosing a gullwing for KARR, I was not looking for the ultimate in screen accuracy, but rather a cost effective, functional, quality gullwing. Also, I needed a customized gullwing, as I was putting it in a Fiero and not a Firebird, and would not have the dash and the rest of the conversion parts.

I turned to João at Knight Passions. I liked the look of his 3rd season “Gullwing” steering wheel and he was willing to customize the steel neck of the gullwing by shortening it for my Fiero. He also had an unbelievable turnaround time for a customized part. I had my customized gullwing in just three weeks!

Here is the box from Knight Passions. João wrote "Very Careful!" or "Extremely Careful!" on every side of the box, including the bottom. I have never seen a box marked that well. Very impressive!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/P8EWNTCZiH6GmWK5Rp_wAGNcdDjqlaovKPA0gbyktRvM=w1679-h945-no

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Google+ And YouTube Custom URLs

Project: K.I.T.T. has new Google+ and YouTube custom URLs!

https://plus.google.com/+ProjectKITTblog

https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectKITTblog

June has been crazy busy for us and all the while KITT has been very patiently waiting in the garage. We hope to be back at work on him soon, so stay tuned!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Fixing The Front Bumper (Again) And Applying (More) Sound Deadening

When we mounted the front bumper, we used fender washers to replace the brackets that spanned between each bolt pair. Unfortunately the fender washers, because they are thin, bent and/or cracked when the bolts were tightened down.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gps--qtUz6WJzgmGggow1MkuDAj8hnRENu4hGToBb-zE=w1597-h899-no

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Finishing The Heater Box And Blower Housing

This morning we went to Menards to get the hardware I needed to finish the heater box and blower housing. Because the receiving nut stripped out, I needed to create a stud in the blower housing that would reach through the firewall so that I could secure the heater box with a nut and washer from the inside.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zs7XAs160p58Evie6Wu_xmsPBVgJjZYT9VZLlDD2E-sw=w1679-h945-no

Friday, May 29, 2015

To Screw Or Not To Screw...

After work today I got out all the parts bins and went through each bag one by one looking for the four screws for the air inlet.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wtMVZr_jasHiwiNFsFskWbXQTrhZfw6U__TULzMgqoRW=w1679-h945-no

Monday, May 25, 2015

Memorial Day 2015

I started this morning by cleaning the air inlet. The air inlet goes directly behind the blower motor on the interior side of the firewall. I had forgotten about this piece when I cleaned the rest of the heater box. Here are some pictures for reference.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DL_sbtjk44A/VWOYhx8BV0I/AAAAAAAA-IA/ShtSAXYSpQU/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150525_112524611.jpg

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Finishing The Sound Deadening

This morning we made a quick trip to Menards and then got started on the sound deadening. The first thing I did was get KITT's interior plastics down. We decided to put the plastics in KITT to see the exact area they will cover, and then sound deaden everything not covered by plastics. It is our intention right now to cover all the backs of the plastics with Ensolite prior to installation. This should achieve the same sound deadening as applying it directly to the RAAMmat BXT II. If that ends up not being the case, we can always still apply it to the areas behind the plastics.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fTklCUypQcQ/VWJ0Iz7ebKI/AAAAAAAA95Y/ZL25a-bmzK8/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150524_125859788.jpg

Saturday, May 23, 2015

A Little Bit Of Engine Bay And A Lot Of Sound Deadening

This morning we pushed KITT to the end of the garage so we could clean the engine bay without getting water all over the garage.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7nr0ZyLLGF4/VWC2hyOyuLI/AAAAAAAA9MI/2zk6-mDc5Lw/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150523_105300091.jpg

Friday, May 22, 2015

Heater Box Cleaning, Part 2

The parts I ordered for the heater box and blower housing arrived this week. I needed to compare them to make sure everything looked right. Here are pictures of new versus old.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CcM5tgHmCrI/VV6RVD9kIiI/AAAAAAAA8n8/d_gs86gl42A/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150519_202220886.jpg

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:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RERI6nvj-cU/VU68yfcDjQI/AAAAAAAA7cw/Xc3YQmYyLdE/w1520-h855-no/IMG_20150502_114336827.jpg

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