Wednesday, July 31, 2019

KARR Is Getting New E-Brake Cables

I recently discovered that KARR's e-brake (aka parking brake) was not holding properly.  In fact, it was not hard at all to push the car when the parking brake was engaged.  I took KARR into Troy's shop to have Troy check it out.  Once up on the lift, we determined the 32-year-old e-brake cables are beyond stretched out.  They have been adjusted as tight as they can go and are still not tight enough.

And if that wasn't enough...in a very KARR-like act of defiance he decided he didn't want to start when I wanted him to...only when he felt like it. It would take two sometimes three attempts to get him to start and I often had to try to stroke his ego a bit. It seemed as if the engine wasn't getting gas. With practically the entire fuel system having already been replaced, Troy and I are betting on the fuel pressure regulator as the culprit. This would be the only thing aside from the stainless steel fuel lines that was not replaced. The fuel pressure regulator is an original now 32-year-old part. 

I ordered replacement cables, one for each of the rear brakes and the main cable running up to the parking brake handle.  I also ordered a new e-brake equalizer (adjuster). I am having Troy order the fuel pressure regulator.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Knight Industries Registration And Insurance Holder For KITT

Even KITT needs insurance and registration! So when I found out that KITT STILL ROCKS created a Knight Industries Insurance/Registration Wallet I knew I needed one!

From the item description: 
This rigid wallet is covered in high-quality black vinyl with a shiny gold silkscreened Knight Logo and the words "KNIGHT INDUSTRIES TWO THOUSAND." Two sleeves for your essential documents and foldable for compact storage.

This is awesome! 


Monday, July 29, 2019

The Cursed Fuel Gauge...

As you know, we have been trying to troubleshoot the erratic readings on KARR's digital fuel gauge.  After everything that we have tried, I have come to the conclusion there has to be something wrong with the gauge itself.  I contacted Tom at Tom's Digital Electronics to see if he had any suggestions.  He said I should send the gauge to him so he could check it out.  This required me to take the gauge cluster apart to remove the fuel and water temperature module. 

I started by removing the blackout panel.


Sunday, July 28, 2019

Replacing KARR's Door Ajar Switches


I was able to source the Fiero's door ajar switches, one from eBay and one from RockAuto.  The picture below is the one from eBay and is for the driver side door.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Replacing KARR's Power Lock Actuators

KARR's power locks had stopped working about a year ago and I had been locking the doors manually.  I decided it was time to do something about it so I ordered new power lock actuators.

Here is one of the new actuators from The Fiero Store.


Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Upgrading KARR's Exterior Lights To LED, Part 3

The last phase of the converting KARR's exterior lighting to LED was to to replace the rear turn signals and front turn signal lenses and bulb sockets.  I had mistakenly ordered the wrong LEDs for the rear turn signals and had to return them and reorder.

Once the LEDs were in, the difference was like night and day!  In this picture LED is on the right and incandescent on the left.


Friday, June 7, 2019

Project: KITT Approves HydroSilex

I had been researching protective coatings for vehicles in search of something more durable than wax.  HydroSilex Recharge was something that caught my eye and in all of my research kept popping back up.
From HydroSilex's Website: HydroSilex Recharge is the no limit ceramic coating suited for every surface on your car. Fully DIY, no professional installations are needed. Recharge will bond without leveling and create a smooth and shiny top ceramic layer protecting the surface against the sun, rain, dirt and other harsh elements.
HydroSilex is designed to be layered, and will last 6 to 8 months. This was the type of protection I was looking for. It was way more expensive than the waxes I have used before, but if it truly delivered the results they claimed I was game to try.


Thursday, May 30, 2019

KITT's Emergency Schematic Blueprint (ESB) Is Here!

The guys at KITT STILL ROCKS have been working hard to recreate one of the most sought after props from the series...KITT's Emergency Schematic Blueprint (ESB). Of course I had to have one, or rather KITT did, yeah that's it. KITT needed it.


Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Project: KITT Is On Twitter!


We asked what other social media we should be using and you said Twitter. 
Project: K.I.T.T. is now on Twitter!

Monday, May 6, 2019

Once More Unto The Breach...

The new fuel pump we recently installed when we replaced the new sending unit in KARR's fuel tank was defective.  It worked but it made a horrible constant high-pitched whine.  It was driving me crazy and made KARR unbearable to drive.  Even with my music cranked, the whine was persistent.  I did some troubleshooting with The Fiero Store where I bought the fuel pump as well as with my mechanic friend Troy.  The Fiero Store suggested the pump was just noisy and not actually defective.  Troy took one listen and agreed with me that it was a bad fuel pump.  I decided to go with my gut feeling and buy a new fuel pump.  I went with a Bosch, which was Troy's recommendation.

I also noticed KARR's starter had been hesitating lately and would not start on every try.  I decided to replace the starter when I replaced the fuel pump.


Saturday, May 4, 2019

Upgrading KARR's Exterior Lights To LED, Part 2

Today I continued upgrading KARR's exterior lights to LED.  As you can see, KARR is quite pleased.

Friday, April 12, 2019

Celebrating 1,100 Followers on Facebook!


Project: K.I.T.T.'s Facebook page has 1,100 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 700 Subscribers On YouTube!


700 people have subscribed to Project: K.I.T.T.'s YouTube channel! 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.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Upgrading KARR's Exterior Lights To LED

One of the four bulbs in the P O N T I A C of the rear taillight housing burnt out, so I figured it was the perfect time to start upgrading KARR's exterior lighting to LED.  I purchased four red 194-RHP5 LEDs and two cool white 1156-CW18-T LEDs from SuperBrightLEDs.com The red LEDs are for the P O N T I A C and the cool white are for the reverse lights.


What Fuels KARR's Rage...

After installing KARR's new digital gauges in 2017, the only one that we could not get to read properly was the fuel gauge.  Even after making the adjustments described in the installation instructions many times over the last year and a half, we just could not get the fuel gauge to reconcile with the tank.  This lead to me literally running out of gas twice (as in dead on the road) with the fuel gauge still reading more than five gallons.  I came to the conclusion that it had to be caused by the now 32-year-old fuel sending unit.  


Winter Update

This winter we started putting KITT back together.  We started by installing KITT's new rear bumper from Knight Designs.  We purchased new hardware as the original hardware from the vinyl bumper could not be reused.


Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Project: KITT Joins Instagram


We asked what other social media we should be using and you said Instagram. 
Project: K.I.T.T. is now on Instagram!

Monday, January 14, 2019

Seven Year Anniversary

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

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Google+ Is Shutting Down




Google has announced the official shut down of Google+ in April 2019. With this announcement we have decided to stop posting updates on Google+. When Google+ was at its height of popularity we had well over 2,500 followers, and we have been seeing a steady decline with only a little over 1,400 remaining.

We would like to help any of you that are following us on Google+ transition to another notification media. We don't want to lose any of you! Our fans and followers are important to us!