In this video I’m going through the installation of my new radio, the inside, as well as engine bay speakers and how I connected the radio with the scanner control box together using a sound mixer. In short, the sound system. Check it out! 🙂
In this video I’m going through the body and paintwork that went into my KITT Trans Am. It’s not one of my typical how to videos, but more like the story of how everything came together, what to pay attention to and what to look for when searching the right body and paintshop. I’m also giving you some tips regarding the installation of new T-Top seals.
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!
We’re moving forward with the restoration of my KITT Trans Am, or should I say with the video documentation. This time I’m tackling the braking system; rear drum brakes, front disc brakes – all stock, all new. This might be of interest for you, even if you don’t have a thirdgen Firebird or Camaro, as the principles are pretty much the same for all drum and disc brakes.
It’s all the more relevant for you if you are building a full Knight Rider KITT replica with the respective dashboard and lower console. Why? Find out in the video. 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
What some could consider as being part of the basic maintenance, I decided to make it a separate video. Whereas changing the fuel filter is fairly easy on these thirdgens, getting to the fuel pump is a bit more tricky. Not super hard but it requires you to lift the car and drop the tank, as there is no fuel trap door to access to it from the inside of the car…at least not from the factory. Enjoy the video!