Hey guys, wishing everyone a happy 2020! I sincerely hope that it’s gonna be a great year for everyone reading this post….and beyond, of course. 🙂
Over the Christmas holidays I’ve been thinking a bit how I want to continue with my MotorScotti YouTube and social media presence. The video says it all. I’m looking forward to making lots more useful and entertaining content with regards to cars, motorcycles and anything connected to wheels and engines. Stay tuned, Carl
On the timeline, the suspension restoration was something that came pretty much just after the basic maintenance of my KITT Trans Am. I have to say, it was also the part that I struggled the most with, at least when it comes to the front suspension. Oh wait..! Did I mention that changing the oil pan gasket on a small block Chevy without pulling the engine was possible and even more challenging than taking out and reinstalling the front suspension unit? Yes, it was, but that’s for a later post.
Anyhow, I went through this and documented it in the following video so that you can learn from it and hopefully get it done quicker and cheaper than I did, as well as stay safe and not get stressed. 🙂
Getting parts for the restoration of your Firebird is one thing, eventually you want to get some of the Knight Rider specific parts. Look no further, as I’ve put together a list of vendors that you can check out and get different variations of the same type of products.
If you’re gonna build your KITT replica, you’re gonna need parts. Some more, some less, depending on the general condition of your Firebird and depending on how far your want to go with the project. This usually correlates with the time and budget you have to get it done. Long story short, I would advise you to start with the mechanical part, the actual restoration of the car before diving into the specific Knight Rider related parts.
Here’s my take on where to find parts to restore your Firebid…and also several other american icons.
Whether you want to turn your third gen Firebird into a full KITT replica or just take some body panels off to repair or replace them, it’s always good to know how to proceed and go about that.
Well, since I am pretty particular about the appearance of my KITT and the level of quality that had to go into ‘him’ in the process of restoration, I took off the hood (bonnet in Queen’s english), the fenders, the front and rear bumper, as well as the mirror. None of these parts are particularely difficult to remove, at least not if you do it in the order I did and already removed the inside plastics. I’m saying that because the removal of the rear bumper just takes a bit of time. Why? Well I’m not gonna tell you just like that, I want you to watch the video, of course. 🙂
Here we go! After I went through how to remove the seats, seatbelts and interior plastics in Part 1 back in June, it’s now time to show you how to gut the rest of the interior, namely the steering wheel, the dashpad, the gauge cluster, the center console, as well as the carpets.
That’s about as far as most people will have to go if your car is not damaged in a certain way that you might have to go any further. Anyway, if you clear all of that stuff out of your way you can take care of the inner foundations of your third gen F-Body. For my Firebird that meant: sound deadening, new speakers, new carpets, new seat belts, painting the plastics tan and having the seats, door panels and headliner reupholstered and in some cases strenghtened. But that will come in a few later episodes. Enjoy this part for now! 🙂
This is a video I’ve been wanting to do since I first drove KITT home. I’m compressing the entire (almost) restoration and conversion of my Pontiac Firebird Trans Am KITT in one video. I say almost because this isn’t the of it. I’m still working on mechanic and appearance improvements. This way, it will give you an idea of the extent of work and the amount of video footage that’s gone into restoring this car and transforming it into my own KITT.
After this video, I plan on continuing publishing the countless videos on the restoration process, as well as including visits to car shows, driving sequences and just fun stuff. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
When I started my Firebird KITT project back in the second half of 2017, the first big part was to remove the seats and all of the interior panels to be reupholstered and have my front seat back rests modifyied to look like the original PMD version they had in the early Trans Am and logically, in KITT.
The car remained without seats and panels until I got it back from the body and paint shop. Then I went even further to remove the seat belts, the center console, dash and carpets.
Here’s the first part of how to go about that!
Originally I had in mind to dive into all the restoration videos around Christmas. Even though I have made significant progress in KITT since, I was too busy to edit a significant amount of videos. Meanwhile, I opened an Instagram account and started showing the current progress on KITT, which created a bit of a gap between the original presentation of the Firebird and the current status of the car.
Long story short, here is the March 2019 update of KITT. Enjoy the video!
