Thursday, June 14, 2018

Celebrating 600 Subscribers On YouTube

Project: K.I.T.T.'s YouTube channel recently hit 600 subscribers! 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. channel on YouTube 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, June 10, 2018

Gummi Pflege Stift?

One of the things most people really don't think about with owning a classic 80s car is just how you deal with parts you cannot replace. That's the case with the weather seals for the doors on KARR. This is not a part that is being made or reproduced for the Fiero, so you are left with only two options. You can replace them with another 30+ year old set of used weather seals, which more than likely are either in the same condition or worse than the ones you are replacing. Your other option is to make do with the ones you have and find ways to care for them and to some degree, restore them.

That's what I was doing Friday: cleaning, protecting and rejuvenating the door seals. I started by cleaning them with just water and a microfiber cloth. This is just to remove the dirt and dust.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

KITT's Electronic Overlays Unboxing

I purchased two sets of 3rd/4th season electronic overlays for KITT's dash from Billy Gunter of Knight Designs in December.  I was going to do an unboxing video, but thought the overlays might show up more detailed in pictures.  One of these sets will be used in KITT, and the other set is being sent to Alessandro Zagni of ZA Electronica.  Alessandro is going to use these overlays when he designs his upcoming 3rd/4th season electronics.  

Billy had access to a set of screen-used overlays from Knight Rider and reverse engineered these to match exactly. They are made out of aluminum with a textured finish.    


Monday, June 4, 2018

Celebrating 700 Followers On Facebook

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Facebook page hit 700 followers this weekend! 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 Facebook 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.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Grounded

We had such great plans for today, but the weather had other ideas.  It is so incredibly windy we cannot open the garage door.  Therefore, rolling KITT outside is out of the question.  We had planned to clean the garage floor and needed to be able to move KITT outside to do that.  Since we could not, we tackled a couple of items from our What's Next list instead.

After installing the digital gauges in KARR, I noticed the temperature gauge and fuel gauge were erratic in their readings.  This could be one or more of three things: 1) the gauges are bad; 2) there is a grounding issue; or 3) the sending units are bad.  I know the temperature sending unit is not bad because I just replaced it.  I am going to operate on the assumption that the fuel sending unit is also not bad as it was working prior to installing the digital gauges.  Therefore, I am left with either a grounding issue or the gauges are bad.

To get started, I needed to remove the back cover of the gauge cluster to get at the wiring.


It's The Final Countdown

Well technically it's the second countdown, but more on that later...

One year ago today I purchased a 3rd/4th season countdown from Billy Gunter of Knight Designs.  Billy's countdowns are machined out of aluminum, with a custom printed circuit board (PCB) and electronics.  If you are not familiar with what a countdown is, it was the POWER, FUEL ON, MIN RPM, IGNITORS indicators that would light up and "count down" anytime KITT was started up.  You can see this in the clip below.

Friday, June 1, 2018

KARR's Second Car Show

Celebrating 600 Followers On Facebook

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Facebook page recently hit 600 followers! 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 Facebook 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.

Celebrating 500 Subscribers On YouTube

Project: K.I.T.T.'s YouTube channel recently hit 500 subscribers! 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. channel on YouTube 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.

All Settled In

5,467 pictures downloaded, sorted and uploaded; 504 posts copied, checked for code and reformatted; and 49 hours of time spent by Sara and I working diligently; but we're here and all moved in!

When I started this blog it was meant as more of a reference journal for me, and I never imagined that it would grow as large as it has with readers across the globe. It fills me with a sense of gratification that my experience and trials with this Project are interesting and even helpful to others. Sara and I are looking forward to getting back to steady work on KITT and being able to document it on the new blog.

As we started the process of transferring the blog, I wondered if there was anything I would learn from reading back through from the beginning. I discovered three things I either didn't remember, found the hindsight perspective helpful, or just needed to hear my younger self repeatedly stating.

1)  I purchased all black polyurethane bushings for KITT and not the red ones I thought I had. The black are impregnated with graphite to add a lubrication property and help eliminate squeaks. I purchased the red control arm bushings for KARR and have been dealing with a squeaky headache ever since, so I was really dreading having to deal with that on KITT too. The black should prove much quieter. I did manage to get KARR's squeaky bushings under control by adding grease Zerks to the control arms. This allowed me to add more of the special Formula 5 Prelube to the bushings.

2) Mistakes happen and they can be very costly. That cost is not always just money. It can kill enthusiasm, zap motivation, break hearts, make you feel like you are taking two steps back and only one forward, and it can require healing. The important thing is that we don't let mistakes beat us, that we learn from them, don't repeat them, and most importantly, move on.

3) My wife is awesome! I truly am blessed to be able to spend my life with my best friend. Then there is the assistance with this Project... she has been invaluable!  A source of strength, encouragement, ingenuity, organization, and she has easily shouldered half the workload. How many wives would even be willing to be out working in the garage let alone tearing apart a 35-year-old car for a frame up restoration? It goes without saying that I would not be as far as I am in the Project without her. Thanks Sara!

Moving the blog was a lot of hard work, but ended up being really fun.  It provided a really good look back at the last six years and just how far we have come. I know that lately things have been really quiet, but that is about to change. I am once again highly motivated to get KITT finished, and together with Sara, I know we can get back that awesome pace we had when we started this Project.

We decided that it would be beneficial to create a to do list of sorts for the Project. This will keep us on track and also provide our readers with an insight as to what's next. In fact that's what we'll call it. So look for the "What's Next" tab at the top of the Project: K.I.T.T. blog.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

We're Moving!


Hello to all of our loyal followers! It has been far too long since there were any meaningful posts about this project, but it isn't for a lack of content to post. As you are probably aware, our blog has been hosted on Google Sites. While it is an excellent website platform and did support a blog style announcement interface, it was never really intended to be used as a full-fledged blog (especially not one as large and detailed as Project: K.I.T.T. has become). That being said, Google Sites is being overhauled and a new version has been released. This new version did not continue the blog style interface, so it has become necessary to migrate the blog over to an official blogging platform.

We have chosen Blogger and have begun the process of moving each post one by one. Each post is being recreated and checked for formatting and coding so they display as intended. On the early posts the images are also being downloaded and uploaded to a new host so they are not dependent on Google Sites. This will allow for larger images and improved readability.

One rather cool side effect of all of this is that we will all get to take a trip back in time. As the blog is being recreated, we will be doing it in post order starting with the original post, which is live now. So, if you were not with us from the beginning you will have a chance to see how it all unfolded. If you have been following since the beginning then it will provide a fun way to look back.

The new blog is live now at www.ProjectKITTblog.com. Please bookmark this new address. There are also options to subscribe by email, RSS, and social media if you would like to be notified of new posts.

Once all posts have been recreated, the blog residing at www.pac-attack.com/project-k-i-t-t will be removed. Sara and I are excited to read back through all the progress we have made, and cannot wait to start the next chapter for Project: K.I.T.T.! Thank you all for your continued interest and support! 

Monday, April 2, 2018

KITT Visits Jay Leno's Garage

My friends Joe Huth and AJ Palmgren were lucky enough to have their screen used KITT featured on "Jay Leno's Garage"! This was filmed last month in California. The YouTube extra show premiered today and the televised episode will be in May. Congratulations Joe and AJ!



This is the screen used KITT we sat in at Southern Knights Atlanta 2016!

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Six Year Anniversary

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

Sunday, September 17, 2017

KARR Goes Digital

Installing KARR's New Gauges

I wanted to give KARR's instrument panel a little more of a Knight Rider look, so for my birthday this year Sara bought me a set of digital Fiero gauges from Tom's Digital Electronics. Thanks Baby, you are the absolute best! We had them custom built to look a bit more like the bar graphs seen on Knight Rider. They took six weeks to build, but they arrived a few days ago and I couldn't wait to get them installed. As you can see, KARR was just waiting to pull into the garage too!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t4CJo4RE7p8XlkV1Cy6MZ0TWe0v4u4XHSchPNOWE5VEbKA_6jn3FWtN_l1BOYOB6Y1xA95PdkgEb0fyp7sd9A7VqThA3zG5Luocj5JaCuAXj3COhkC27J1suETgNvJFXlKD1kEJM3MTi8E_GcRhSj6SClHtos2nMhnoIRAKvPcJaQJoGCBWYUXAzPrpOPG8kHaD_tgsXhPBEnVbZqW3lebLZQArpAdObLrh81VjwbB8EsKgeQR_jIlZq7yjKLYEf0mwttpUUvx22-KJvsW_gpv-azy9Xm6p5d07doayuKaX6OOpHMp5gJVhhgOrjupaJO04xi_Jav_XAgMaqeOHctkpvKXuawLWXJq5QVq0GHhPJWyXSodYQgYR7pBLZ4uKwCDJWy3lftB0OnkffDdzPb_TghuNiSQIFSlRcq5AgOQDiZqHGF6u_WPvZmNwyb_1e4k-pJfIoq5ag6RohM2qtSctmlpVL2MOUukCR3IhyiC1Dkz9Y7z8jhtHsqmtrpF-zN_C_t5FgcC8s7kNEwyO0-NFoKcK8DD7kCe4l4LmdAGp5mtTywR_8ri6mYpEDrOfIb2UCVC0Q6SPgfBdaas44ypnR0_d6NcvWw0gRLc-A5-VdiqT9d8KlQgt0iywwvpxqt7S9cTMp9breowQV1t7uKdszmCpX7uh49xHV=w1267-h950-no

Friday, July 7, 2017

Time To Fly The Flag

When Joe Huth, of the Knight Rider Historians, announced that he was making a F.L.A.G. flag...I knew I had to have one! Joe's stuff is always top notch and his attention to the smallest detail means you will end up with the most authentic prop. This flag is the proud symbol of Knight Industries and the Foundation for Law And Government as seen in Knight Rider.

Here is Joe's description:

NOW ACCEPTING ORDERS for the “F.L.A.G. flag”! Modeled after the flag seen flying high above the Foundation for Law and Government in “Goliath Returns”, our large 3’ x 5’ waterproof flag is double-sided and made of a high quality knitted polyester. The back side features the Knight chess piece in reverse. Grommets at all four corners allow you the flexibility to mount it to a flagpole, hang it on a wall, or stretch it between two posts! Perfect for car shows, garages and man caves.
We are offering this flag in two color schemes – black graphics/yellow background (similar to the “Goliath Returns” flag) and a more traditional gold graphics/black background. We had a limited run of 100 made (50 of each style), and when they are gone – they are GONE! 

I ordered the black and gold color scheme. Mine arrived today and I couldn't wait to get it open!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6IeFK8A41CUbq2Fg87Ryv25QHf94_sQ0Cu6IGp-F3NTBG3ZohDxV9hkk65pZu-62mZwygO4w1sa_X8DbzM0LVwUvwTIPqgcST0MVlCtpeizyQqeTN1G4S_9YGK0K4VsGPsaz8thiSSwunqzx4hnF4c7cHIOa-XIm_LNUpiQvcA1MYtYFxfQ7dqxyPfA9HC95myApKj8NjiOGsKSFIB0oJajnmGA-YcXwrSUEYHyvZUW6W29jXZ_PsqZCW30KJoVil78rD4hFKxsLM-tLavKnE-bv0tn_Z2gMYw6jesW-3Mba1xoI1VkTdOP0IOhZAzR_1Qh3lpO3JOdLyUkObLTZCg3n-SQpTRd-rmLhKi8My5uHAAfIKFJnBlhr4dSsFn-_2HyORxYWq1HXrtUIzUEdoviQEL2fqp79B-KTRYzAA5iyinyLOct9Mw7reSOayo-i_MD0WLmIADmJz-kMdNRnrT36EAqQ0V_zsT8kXtqM4kGBTNyYSTwvvrQuBQO6Xmy7Xv-Qqs4dUTHqBc9ARYlaQk1-7QMfZoY2QuiU4jHBRvQjqieogtDVtXT4n-zAafFYzb6VPBq-ZPt-gTYB7LIB_YsNmYELJjTivQsn-gcCkNVckPvorB3Kg237jMWtLA-X0NDcwlmTbx45JYGoO8qM7X3oyg6AgNIWjdQZm34K5LRXHZU=w2233-h1256-no

Monday, June 5, 2017

It's Unboxing Time!

I couldn't wait to get home today so I could get this bad boy open!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Z3n8s__v6X8qo7dCQEgVUYvUFslqBG-fEI7Oghh7wPgcb1XCytkGNpyXibAMoUwCJJXIXNXyUBw2aIR0CY1nL7C27SS4XyhKymHsHilMf5CZ3tCY-yktU2xFU1R1hYut0QKQi18uXD_P-B98wOBUKPb_1XaMquEEWy2oM9olcpri4tPfd5LVRT4MZIFZDnbhcylNgBfIoWWBEyGEGIPJ4vhalDHlon4ik0K9aw3LLEcWox6pOGxyowP3QWpNCd1sPuJDzrySmygSTJcZNLPu-kgH4ooVJ0DpmuYm6KDZ7ZEkJr4h6TE51fqFJRpHHV3T4_eRwN7z8W75GtLvxg_nTnLvszYNkMHexFDGKNa-YBcxBkNvWrWZbuWiIMupC9bEwLHmHfdl_rVCKxMeqR2uJmODjFfLeeu8UJduh-Ubfw5vMTVizgzyxlnCdDVXqFp2lApFKLrJ2pof7Oo-NxKGZaSLHcTM6I1wfO4gnVszn9F4dSE_V4Tmsrx2EGe_-duVDHkwaFy0Hk56tfXkMwtZZeiBQr8wMd-Xiu8_4FJg8wgwN1rSZ2mXv5sIPrPVrg5dAqs9EENq7H1yk6MHppm7nQODfq22CDaasLCFauqkaCzVLNR9STUpW1u9ZXSalZCqbeD_ra-C-GkF6kB1IAWxhNMZdHhPzjJaPQmnXr5Ey68=w1675-h942-no

Sunday, June 4, 2017

KITT Walk-Around June 4, 2017

A Day In The Garage

Sara and I are back to feeling ambitious again so we tackled a bunch of projects this weekend. After church this morning we fixed a rock chip in the windshield of the Freestyle, then rolled KITT out of the garage so he could enjoy the sun.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/W0M0SRvo_zfcsNClthyAcO9d3B25TGrrwcJZ7w2CCB-CSpJosPQJkFscDPZcPUJMPu6Xu8zWn-UGn7vkjHecksx_8CKGjowJVZd5gB2ytmTRZWpKeE3fNOjGGHGiXWBkla-kpYTNJ9J7PeubNWjLAyg5ZqS0onLrF1O_lOohBo0vw4DG6NahmFPfxhU-90DKJ-Arj7oQ3ywjU_JdzGUrbzSnzAIA3qgTWBeUtSXZHtctPOWPMTlyeusdV26QGQtS6RnH79K6PV9EdS9bKhEzmojGOpIgAmoZD5JtSfR8yQpFKLWJkjK3JyMRO79748rfIuHTVU8YKh_zLyvgVzK22Ej77Ja2dbYzCjm6exwIzwlARYxM6jyfqfdPzP_kCHCUH8i9B7PilmjagpGzaUilmj1J8H_d5kCoNZPmKKQ7sA2v6FI8V1luVqONSJWNuejr4aenNG8yd_7yzJmG1XFxm8cJgxZuiuv7CelPTzEFIGn9kVH7A9JKyz6XSpWJ6xDh61JF7UqImeesdBujoT8JfEG4TTWKk3qFh-jJrNs87KaZJfrRR7Uq_aYGAz1qlyvnRcggrCPfT6NS4PZFX76Kfd25pnGl2t_xh-R3cA5tXDhnrCs9dn3UpdkL7Wtfa9_WYDw2Sczp3n6GmbfH_NVeQc7-4I4w3T1EFNpGC_wz89Q=w1675-h942-no