Cowl Induction Hood Modification Part 3

My version of the Cowl Induction Hood modification is coming along slowly as I figure out how to do this. I have been in contact with Antoni J. Hairston

on Face Book who I am closely following for my version of the modification. On his version he says that the green light is hooked up to the Fuel Pump Relay, however on my 1982 Trans Am which has a Chevy Small Block V8 and some other after market modifications, I think my Fuel Pump may be a mechanical one. More investigation there is needed to be sure. But if it is a mechanical one he say for my green light I may need to tap into the hot ignition wire for my green light.

For now though I wanted to see how well my bracket for the lights was going to fit so I installed it temporarily for a test fitting to make sure the lights will be visible and that the unit fits into place well. So far so good. You can see in these shots (Above) how the unit fits inside of the Turbo Hood bulge and in the shots (below) how the lights are visible inside of the air flow opening.

Now keep in mind that this is NOT something K.I.T.T. actually had in the show, this is just what I think is a very 

cool modification that is WORTHY of K.I.T.T.

New Scanner Lenses

I cut to shape one of the scanner lenses I got from Charodon plastics. As you can see the new custom lens fits way better than the one that came with the scanner. It fits nice and close to the top of the hood and also follows the inverted "V" shape better too. If your front nose and scanner fit was anything like mine here is my plan for the plastic lens that fits much better.

Some More Work on the Upper Console

I did some more work on the Upper Console with getting the multi coloured buttons mounted in place. I had to make some more mounting brackets using some "L" channel aluminum. I cut out middle sections and bent tabs outwards for mounting my Lexan plastic strips too that I ran through the centre part of the electronics board sandwich between the button bases.

I Contact cemented the aluminum brackets in place similar to the ones on the 2 TV Dash electronics install. Once the Contact cement was set I fibre glassed the brackets securely to the underside of the Upper Console.

Once the fibreglass resin was set overnight I had to do a little more filling to better accommodate my buttons assembly a little better. Once that was done I was able to drill some holes in the folded out tabs to place in some small bolts and washers to secure the board to the inside of the console. I wish I had pre-drilled my holes before I fibre glassed my brackets in place because it was a real pain in the butt drilling the holes with the brackets already fibre glassed in place. Just a little mental note for next time should I find I have to mount my buttons this way again.

Finally I Contact Cemented my black plastic trim into place. I have a little clean up to do once the Contact Cement dries tomorrow, but that's OK because I still need to pick up the other buttons for the console and install those before I can paint it. I also need to do another test fit in the car and see if I can figure out where to drill my holes for the mounting screws. I'm also still trying to decide if I want to keep my roof light assembly and if so if I should mount it to the back part of the console. I have removed the light assembly from the car and have it sitting on my work bench. I wouldn't mind keeping it, all I would have to do is extend the wires and make a hole in the back of the Upper Console to accommodate the light fixture. 

Prepping the Knight Rider 2 TV Dash

When I began researching into how to install the dash electronics into the Knight Rider dash I noticed that a lot of people out there seem to use wood blocks, to me this seemed like a potential problem many years down the road, at least this had been my experience with wood in the past when I used to make props and miniatures. The wood is fine for a good many years but if it gets moisture in it, even treated wood it can expand and swell, not only that but if you need to make additional tweaks there are only so many times you can run a screw through the same pice of wood before the hole needs re drilling and you need a larger screw. So my though on this was for a more permanent solution where there are less likely to be any problems with temperature changes, moisture and many of the other issues that can be wood related.

Here is what I have done. First off I have chosen to use aluminum "L" brackets from the metal centre of many home hardware stores, Canadian Tire in this case ;) I cut the brackets to fit my Overlays.

Next I roughed up the surface onto which I would apply a generous amount of Contact Cement and then stuck each "L" bracket into position. I left plenty of room for the possibility of adding acrylics to my dash along with the electronics and overlays. I'll most likely use home made spaces that I'll make out of plastic or aluminum tubing along with rubber washers to get the electronics and overlays to fit nice and snug to the dash face.

I used clamps on some of the brackets to hold them in place while the contact cement sets. Once they were dry I removed the clamps.

I then began cutting up strips of fibreglass matting, the omni directional stranded stuff which I think is the same stuff the dash is fabricated from. I cut up a good deal of various sized strips in preparation for when I mix up the fibreglass resin.

I masked off the inner surface of the dash where there might be a potential chance of accidentally dripping some fibreglass resin and then mixed up my resin in small batches of two ounces. I then began laying in my fibreglass strips using a small brush with the resin. I gave each aluminum "L" bracket a good two or three layers of fibreglass and resin.

The aluminum "L" brackets are secured in very tight and will not budge so they'll make excellent supports for the dash electronics and overlays. Best of all they will never rot or deteriorate in any way, especially after I prim and paint them for good measure.

Priming Some Parts of the Turbo Hood

I sanded and painted that small part of the Turbo Hood that I removed, what it's called I'd have to look into, I'll get back to you on that ;) The pictures here probably don't do it justice but it looks like a brand new part now that it's all sanded and primed. I took off the vent screen and soaked the screws in the rust removing gel. I then sanded down each part separately before priming. Each part got a good three coats of primer even though two seemed quite sufficient. I re assembled the part and gave it it's final coat of primer. This part is ready for paint.

More Turbo Hood Prep. Work

I was hoping to not have to remove this part while doing my prep work for re painting but as I was sanding down some areas on the top of the Turbo Hood I noticed some paint chips along the seem line where this part is attached so I figured Oh hell, I might as well just take that off as it will make sanding along the seem line where the paint is chipped a whole heck of a lot easier. So I took the nuts off and popped out the part to place it aside and sand and paint it separately.

Here you can see from the underside of the hood where this piece was removed, excuse my dusty finger marks on the underside of the hood lol. 

I have the underside of the hood pretty much cleaned up and I'm just in the process of making sure I locate any rust areas or areas that look like they may be starting to develop the early signs of rust, sand and prime all of those areas. But right now I still have a fair amount of cleaning to do. Overall mostly just some surface grime.

I will most likely need to re do the gasket or seal around the edge of the part I took off of the hood. Now I'm note sure if those gaskets are easy to come by or if I should just use that liquid "Create a Gasket" stuff I've seen available?? Or option "B" I get some thin rubber sheet and cut out my own gasket?? Either way, easy enough for me to do.

As you can see here I've sanded a lot more of the top of the hood. It looks shiny here because I had just washed all of the paint dust off from my sanding job and I wanted to inspect the hood again to catch any more scratches and paint chips that still need to be sanded.

Once done I'll give the whole hood a good scuffing over with the scuff pad and clean it thoroughly before priming it.

So far it's coming along and it won't be too long before K.I.T.T. has the correct hood installed. :)

Turbo Hood Removed

I removed the Turbo Hood off of the red donor car, that was fun by myself I'm here to tell you, not impossible but it would have definitely been an easier job with two people. lol

Soon K.I.T.T will have the correct hood installed.

As you can see this hood is in really great condition. Just a few minor light surface rust spots on the underside near the front, nothing some sanding and priming can't take care of.

I got the whole car for $500.00 bucks and I know there are a lot of people paying way more than that just for these Turbo Hoods which are getting scarce. You can find nice fibreglass reproductions for around $1,200.00 - $1,500.00 but I really prefer the original steel hood.

I will definitely get a helper to help put the new hood on once it has been refinished, either that or rig up some kind of harness and lower it into position carefully.

Please keep in mind I know next to nothing about cars so all of this is pretty much a BIG learning experience for me, kinda learn as I go. I'll listen and welcome suggestions but I'm pretty much a "do it yourself" type… more fun that way eh? ;)

More Parts For K.I.T.T.

My brother John and his girlfriend from Calgary came in yesterday night for a visit and to drop off the car I bought from Kijiji for spare parts another 1982 Trans Am Firebird.

 I bought this one because it has the correct wheels and hood, but from the looks of it, it has a whole load of other parts that will be good also.

 The front Turbo hood looks to be in great shape, the rest of the body not so much but that's OK so long as the hood is OK that is mostly what matters.

The tires on the Turbo Cast wheels look to be in great shape too which will be an added bonus. Overall for $500. bucks this was a great deal to get all of those much needed parts for my Knight Rider conversion.

Some Tweaks in the Garage

I added a little work shelf near the front of the garage to place a battery charger for K.I.T.T.  and to place tools on for when I am doing any work on the front of the car. This should come in handy for when the nicer weather arrives.

Painting Drivers Side Powered Mirror Assembly

I started painting the new driver's side powered mirror I got yesterday from eBay. It had some paint chipped off that left tinny divots that went right down to the metal surface. I used some 180 grit sandpaper and the scuff pad to fix that up and get the surface all smooth and even for the sand able black primer.

Once the primer was dry I sanded out some more rough areas that are always easier to see once you get that first coat of primer applied. Gave it some more sand able primer to see if there were any more trouble spots. I think I went through this process about 4 times before I was satisfied that it was ready for it's first coat of paint. Because this is such and odd shaped part I had some issues with the paint running a little so once it was dry I had to use the tried and trusted scuff pad to even out where that paint had run and then clean my surface again before applying more paint, this time in lighter coats.

With the painting on the power mirror done all that needs doing now is the clear coating. Hopefully I won't have issues with the clear coat running because that's a lot more tougher to fix, should be OK though.

I like a lot of these simple jobs I can do inside the house as it's WAY too cold out in the garage to be able to do any kind of painting or paint preparation work which is a bit of a shame because I'm just twitching to get into some of that. But while the weather outside is frightful I can do a lot of work prepping K.I.T.T.'s parts and having them ready for when the nicer weather does get here. ;) C'mon summer :)

K2000 2TV Dash Ordered

I chose the K2000 series 2TV dash for many reasons. Superior quality for one, I especially like the additional wings added to this dash to ensure a much better fit to the existing GM Dash. This model from Knight Rider World was more pricer that many other options I found within the vast Knight Rider community but to me well worth the few extra hundred bucks for something this sweet. I have sent off an inquiry to Jupiter Electronics for all of the components to make this dash functional and complete. 

1982 Stock Bumper

I was very pleased to discover that the stock bumper on my 1982 Trans Am is the correct one for my Knight Rider conversion so I save a good 300 too 500 bucks there :-)