Now that I have a box fan for the back window for ventilation I have been able to get the room set up for some priming and painting of some of these larger parts for K.I.T.T.
I primed and painted the front impact bar that the impact absorption rubber was attached to. It was just white before from the original paint on the car, I took it off and gave it a good going over with engine grease remover, and then cleaned it up several times with soapy water, then gave it a good going over with a scuff pad. I had to remove any of the black pain that had not adhered very well due to a not very good cleanup job before it was painted from white to black. My guess is that they probably figured why bother seeing how this is a part that gets covered with the stock front nose so it's never seen, however with the Knight Rider front nose, you do see this bar a little through the front nose openings for the Fog Lights and relocated turn signals. While researching how to do the Fog Lights I came across many different methods, most seem to use the impact absorption bar to mount the lights but others with higher budgets I noticed got pretty fancy with custom made parts... all depends how much you want or have to spend and personal taste I guess. But for me I figure I might as well utilize the impact absorption bar seeing how it's there and I can easily rig up brackets for the Fog Lights to be mounted to based on what I have seen others do.
My small finishing paint gun was perfect for this part, not to big and not to small. I got a great finish on the impact absorption bar. Now I'll remount it back onto the car after I clean up the front end a little more and then I can refit the front nose and mark where I need to situate my mounting brackets for the Fog Lights and Turn Signals. Then the nose will be coming off again so I can work on getting the Fog Lights assemblies and brackets all into place, then take them off for priming and painting before installing the lights... a lot of put on and then take off, put on and take off in this project ;)
Step 1: Cut these ends off neatly with a hacksaw.
Step 2: Make up a steel or aluminum "Re Attachment Bracket." Bend it slightly on one end as shown to match as best you can the angle of the end pieces you cut off of the front nose support assembly.
Step 3: Drill holes and re attach using small bolts. This will make fitting the end pieced in behind the rigid fibreglass Knight Rider nose much easier as you can fit them in first and then be able to bolt them back onto the front nose support assembly.
Step 4: Depending on how much space you have where your scanner is to be mounted you may need to remove this centre piece of the support assembly.
Step 5: If you do find that you have to remove the centre piece of the support assembly you can re screw it back onto the centre support structure using the remaining screws, you can drill an additional hole and place an extra bolt on each side but it's not critical as once all the pieces are attached you should have plenty of support at the ends of the front nose support assembly and have a nice clear location for your scanner.
File off any sharp edges from where you cut off the centre part of the support assembly. Keep in mind that you will need to clean up, prime and re paint your modified parts to help prevent rust.
This option should enable me to keep the front nose support assembly for it's intended purpose which was to offer greater support for the front nose and serve as a place to put the turn signals. Mine are being re located to below next to the Fog lights but I still want to give my front nose all the additional support I can so to me this option makes sense. ;)
