You’re building your KITT replica and you’re looking to get the correct, screen accurate wheels? Or maybe you’re open for something not completely screen accurate but similar?
Worry no more, episode 16 of my KITT Trans Am restoration covers all of that and a lot more. I’ll even show you how I restored my rims. This episode is jam packed with wheel information with the respective sources. Watch it now! 🙂
In this time of global Corona / Covid-19 pandemic, many people are asked to stay at home. You might be busy, you might be scared, you might also be a little bit bored and if you are a car person, just waiting for the day you can enjoy your freedom again and take your car out for a drive and to your next car meeting.
Therefore I’ve made this little montage of some footage we’ve taken over the past year of KITT driving around. For everyone who has to stay at home and misses the freedom of just going for a drive. Hang in there and stay safe everybody!
When it comes to converting the rearend of your Firebird to KITT, one of the crucial elements are the taillights. KITT being an 1982 Firebird Trans Am had very specific taillights (covered with a black plexiglas) that from the factory only came on 1982 – 1984 Trans Ams. The subsequent ’85 to ’90 Trans Am had different taillights, but kept the same light chamber partition, thus the wiring for KITT also fits the latter taillight clusters.
Long story short, over the ten years of production, there were several types of taillights and in this following video I’m showing you the different options you have when converting the wiring harness from the standard Firebird taillights from 1985 – 1990 to the Trans Am style from 1982 – 1990. Check it out! 🙂
The undoubtedly most iconic piece of Knight Rider and maybe even of the 80s is KITT’s wooshing scanner. If there is one thing that cannot miss and must be done right in any KITT replica, it is the scanner. It would definitely be cool if the so called scanner could actually scan its environment, just like KITT did on the show, but unfortunately it’s just a light bar with a trailing effect.
In the following video I’m showing you what type of scanner I’ve chosen for my KITT and how I installed it. Furthermore, I’m giving you an overview of what the current option are and what you should consider before you pick one. Enjoy the video!
It’s Friday, February 7th, 2020, I’m coming home from work and decide to watch an episode of Knight Rider to wind down from the week, of course. The episode is from the second season and called “Brother’s Keeper”.
Suddenly I realize it’s been over three months since I last drove KITT. Winter really is a sad time of the year in Switzerland if you care about your car and want to protect it from mother nature. 😉 Anyhow, it’s dry and super sunny outside and I decide to finally bring KITT out of hibernation and get the 2020 season started. But where is KITT..?!
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. 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
As KITT is already back from the body and paint shop and the enterior is almost finished as well, it’s time to remind myself that I haven’t showed much about the entire restoration process so far and that I should start at the beginning. Hence, here is a video about the basic maintenance I did on my 1990 Pontiac Firebird with the 305 V8 engine, the L03 TBI version. This would apply for most thirdgen Pontiac Firebird or Chevrolet Camaro, as they were basically the same cars with the exception of the front and the rear design. Enjoy the video!
