Upper Console Installed

FINALLY! Got the Upper Console installed, finger marks all over it, I guess I should have polished it a little before taking pictures but Oh well, one thing at a time. First time when I was test fitting it yesterday I connected up the Car battery to give it a run through, as it turned out my Fog Lights switches were not working, when I was spray painting the console I ended up getting spray pain inside of the Molex Connectors so some of the connections were "Masked" for lack of a better word. So I ended up spending a good hour yesterday cleaning out the paint with Acetone and some pipe cleaners. Hooked it up today after another cleaning session and everything appears to be working fine now. Funny thing is that when I was spray paining the Upper Console, in my mind I kept telling myself:

"You better mask off this connectors chum otherwise you're gonna have a problem."

But did I?.... Nope... Oh well, live and learn right ;) Anyways, job done and the Upper Console is FINALLY installed. Seems like it has been such long & troublesome journey getting this blasted part installed. For many that have been following along you will remember WAY back I had the other version of the console but had not only fitment issues with it but I had later on decided that it was a little too boring of a Upper Console for my taste so I bought this one only to discover similar fitment issues, that's what I get for buying parts from anyone other than a reputable parts vendor. Sometimes in this hobby you spend so much you are tempted to try and cut a few corners by getting a good deal with someone either selling some parts on eBay or "Face Book" in my case. As you know I had to heavily modify this Upper Console in order to make it fit properly, it seems to now but what a pain in the backside it was getting it there. Like I have mentioned before, If you don't mind doing a lot of custom work then buying some cheaper parts is a pretty good way to experiment, but if your looking for quick and simple I'd say make sure your parts you are buying are from a reputable parts vendor otherwise you'll be in for some extra work like I had to do.

Test Fitting The Headliner

Test fitting the fibreglass headliner by Joe Penko. this thing fits like  glove, I have the holes cut and all lined up with the mounting holes in the car, now I just need to apply the headliner fabric which should arrive today. The next step will be to install the heavily modified Upper Console.

I have the fist stages of the priming going on, I have some spot sanding to do still and then prime it again before painting, then let it cure for a week. once that is done I should be able to get the Upper Console installed.... lol I'm hoping to get that done before the snow flies.... apparently we are in for an early winter here in Winnipeg, go figure.... summer went by WAY too fast this year.

Upper Console Modifications

I had to make some modifications to the Upper Console I had bought from someone on Face Book. As luck would have it the upper console did not fit very well in the front almost like it was a little warped and possibly was not glassed enough on both sides and front on the console. The back part fit fine although a little snug so I'm still a little concerned about how that will fit after the Headliner fabric has been applied to the fibreglass headliner I got from Joe Penko. I might need to take my heat  gun to the back part of the console to spread it out a little.... we'll see.

But this is the stage I'm at so far with the additional glass work I had to do to the Upper Console to make it fit better.... always something with some of these fibreglass parts if you buy them from someone other than a reputable vendor. This is why the Foundation has the "Trusted Vendor" list. This in some ways I have learn ed the hard way with this project. We all like a bargain and we all like to try and save some money on our Knight Rider projects when and wherever possible, but in doing so you have to be prepared for the fact that you are in many cases going to end up doing some customizing on fibreglass parts from vendors that are not on the "Trusted Vendors" list, which is OK I guess so long as you don't mind doing the extra work. ;)

Making a Vent Cover For The Temperature Sensor

Although this is not show accurate I am making a combination Vent Cover and Compass indicator lights panel for this part of my Upper Console. I'm doing a few things different with my K.I.T.T. naturally ;) I need to put that Digital DS18B20 Temperature Sensor Module somewhere and this seems a logical as any place. My thought is that if I make a removable vent cover plate or panel then if the sensor ever goes bad it will be easy to replace because all I would need to do it remove the cover plate and unplug the sensor and replace it with a new one. The space on the panel next to the vent slits I figure I'll put 4 LEDs in there to serve as the Compass indicator lights even though the Compass sends data to our Knight O.S. Dash Software I figure what the heck, why not, gives the Upper Console some more lights that actually do perform a real function ;) 

I added the 4 LEDs for the Digital Compass and mounted the Digital DS18B20 Temperature Sensor all to a couple of pieces of Proto-Board. I tested out the LEDs to make sure they were working with the Compass Module and they seem fine, just need to ID each of the wires that I colour coded Green, Red, Blue, Yellow and Black for Ground, that way I'll know which wire is for North, South, East and West indicators. Now I need to glass in a mounting bracket to attach this circuit assembly too and hook the wires up to a Molex Connector.

I drilled the holes for the Compass Indicator LEDs to poke through the Vent plate I made. I had to make a hole template out of some thin card stock just to make sure I lined up the holes right. Once done I could test fit the combo module I made so the next step will be to glass in some sort of mounting brackets to attach the circuit module to the Upper Console. I was kind of hoping to have made the Temperature Sensor Module a little easier to remove if it ever went bad but unfortunately the header pins were soldered in the wrong way so I was not able to do it quite the way I would have liked. However if the Sensor ever does go bad and I replace it I'll make sure the header pins and soldered on in a way that I can just make it so that I can plug it into a socket. 


Then I cut out a couple of "L" shaped Aluminum brackets that will serve as the main mounting tabs. I then glassed those into place. I first cemented then roughly into place using some Bondo Glass that way they would not move around any when I used the actual Fibreglass Resin and some small strips of fibreglass matting to secure the Aluminum tabs permanently into place. once this is set I can make a piece of Aluminum that I can screw down on top of the tabs to hold the circuit assembly in place. I'll put a piece of rubber padding under the top Aluminum strap to add a little cushion.

once the top securing plate is complete the final step will be to connect up the wires to a Molex Connector like I mentioned earlier on and then our little circuit assemble will be pretty much complete. I may install the HMC5883L Digital Compass into the Upper Console too as it seems likely to be the best place, kind of hard to say though as any metal or wires close to it are likely to affect the accuracy of this very delicate Compass Module so that may well involve some experimentation.

I added the Molex Connector for the Temperature Sensor and the Compass LEDs. I used an 8 Circuit Molex which leaves one spare just in case I need an extra one like maybe an extra 5V Power or Ground wire, but at 5V it should be fine. just need to determine a length of wire needed to run across the top of the T-Top window edge and down the windshield column to wherever I'll end up installing the P.C. and Arduino so a little extra will be good just in case, I would rather have too much than too little, not that it's a big issue as I can always splice on extra if I'm too short but and ounce of prevention is good ;)

Installing LDR Into The Upper Console

Finally getting around to doing this simple little job that was getting put off for a while until I had done a lot of the Breadboard testing with the Arduino and Unity 3D. I suppose I could have installed it but just wanted to get a lot of the preliminary testing out of the way first. Happy to say that I'm finally going to get the LDR installed.
First needed to drill s hole in the front of the Upper Console (The Part that faces towards the Windshield). File it to fit the Plexiglas enclosure I made for the LDR. Had to be a little careful with my file as the electronics are installed so a little delicate work. But I got the hole for the Sensor done and then test fitted the LDR into the freshly made hole in the front of the Upper Console. Fits great so now all I need to do is glass that into place and then connect the wires to a couple of spare ports I have available on of the Molex Connectors in the console.

I glassed in the LDR Sensor with some Bondo Glass. I'll no doubt later put a layer of fibreglass resin and maybe some matting over top of that just so it's good and strong, but that can be done later as I'm currently out of Fibreglass resin, need to do a Canadian Tire run and pick up some more so later for that for sure ;) but the Bondo Glass job looks to be pretty descent for now.

Prepping For Final

I can start working on minimizing the need for the Breadboard now especially after I make a Optocoupler board for the button inputs to the Arduino so that Switch Pod or other buttons can be assigned to trigger certain screens in our Knight O.S. interface like the Environment Scan Screens, Manual Override, or Telephone Tap Simulator Screen. These can be any momentary button which makes either the Switch Pod, Space Matt Buttons or Possibly Lower Console Or Upper Console Buttons usable for this so long as they are momentary buttons.... heck even if they are not momentary buttons I have a circuit that allows Latching Buttons to generate a short pulse to simulate the function of a momentary button. So the option either way is there.

I currently have plugged into the Breadboard a bunch of wires that are going into the Arduino ports that are coded for stuff but not actually hooked up to a Relay Module yet. I need to get a 2nd 16 Channel Relay Module and modify that one just like the one here, but for now that is kind of optional for me as most of the main functions are routed through the first Relay Module. The 2nd Relay Module would be more for all the cool extras. Although you can mix and match and assign ANY of the outputs to whatever Relay you want so for example if you don't use the Auto Doors but are going to use the S.I.D. function all you would need to do is connect up the stuff you are using, The interface would still go through the motions just without the Relay hooked up it would not actually perform the "Physical" function.... but I think you get that.

The other thing I can do now is hook up the LDR and Temperature Sensors, I think I am going to install those two up into the Upper Console as that seems a logical place. The LDR Sensor I can mount so that it is facing forwards out the front part of the Upper Console that way it will get it's light values from whatever comes through the front Windshield. The Temperature Sensor seems to make sense to me to be up in the Upper Console as that way it is away from the Heater and Air Vents which I think would cause inaccurate readings to occur, that's my thought on it anyways, but I can see that being on of the best places. The Sensor for the Compass however is a whole other animal right now so not sure about that one. Getting Closer though :D

Upper Console Update

I marked and cut out my holes into the Upper Console with my Dremel tool. Each hole cut to fit each of my five DPDT lighted rocker switches. I was toying with the idea of making an aluminum plate with the holes for the switches cut into it but the rockers have their own plastic bezels so I figure this should be good enough. I then inserted the switches into the holes and snapped them into place. Next step will be to wire them up. I am going to wire these in a way that they will be lighted only when turned on.

Adding Switches To K.I.T.T.s Upper Console

I brought in the Upper Console from the garage seeing how it was kind of a crappy day out and did a little work on it in my back work room. I added those lighted blue and red switches from the season 2 console (that I was not too crazy about the fitment of) into the season 1 console. I pulled the wiring harness with the Molex connector off of the other S-2 console too. I figured that since my relays under the stock OEM dash were already set up for my Fog Lights I might as use these colored lighted rockers for the Fogs. No point running extra wires when I already have them in place and ready to use. ;)

The Zip-Ties Worked

As I pretty much thought the Zip-ties worked perfectly along with the 4 aluminum tabs I made to secure that small piece of electronics board into place that holds the indicator LED and microphone for the Annunciator sound board. One of the tabs was also good for securing the wire bundle that has the Molex Connector attached for the wires that go out to the switch part of the relays board for the Switch Pod Buttons.

Installing The Annunciator Sound Board Into The Upper Console

As part of my process of installing the Annunciator sound board into the Upper Console I needed a cover lens for my indicator light showing the system active so I picked up a small warning or indicator light. I just needed the plastic lens cover from the light so I removed the tiny light bulb, the stem was a tiny bit too tall so a cut of about a 16th of an inch off of the bottom to make it fit better over my indicator LED that I relocated from the Annunciator sound board to this smaller board for easier relocation into the Upper Console. I also made a paper cone to fit over the microphone to help capture the sound better when it's installed into the Upper Console.

I was careful to make my microphone cone have the same height of the indicator light stem. Here you can see it being put together, currently glued and held together with little mini spring clamps until the glue dries. Next step was to paint the microphone cone with a flat black to seal it, I did a couple of good coats of flat black to create a good seal.

Once the pain on the cone was dry I glued it onto the base of the microphone with a generous amount of Contact Cement to make sure it stays put when the board is secured into the Upper Console next to the Annunciator sound board.

In order to install the Annunciator sound board into the Upper Console I had to make some Aluminum mounting brackets, I first carefully made paper templates to test how they would fit against the board without interfering with any of the electrical components or board tracks. Once satisfied they were good it was out to the garage to cut them out of some Aluminum pieces I had kicking around.

Once cut out and filed the Aluminum brackets could then be mounted to the sound board. I used some short bolts, washers and rubber washers to fit the brackets onto the sides of the sound board.

Getting this particular board into the Upper Console was a bit of a pain, simply because of the Volume Control wheel. It had to fit into a slot I had cut out in the Console for it to fit into. If this was just a matter of mounting an electronics board I would have just glued in the mounting brackets with Contact Cement, waited for that to dry and then glassed them into place. This was a little more tricky because of it's careful positioning. 

Once it was successfully test fitted into the Upper Console I was ready to use some fibre glass resin to secure the sound board and mounting brackets assembly into the Console. 

Right now I just have it secured into place with a little resin only. I'll let this set really well and then add some layers of fibre glass matting tomorrow just to give the mounting brackets a lot more strength.

The next step will be to make some mounting brackets for the separate small board I did up for the microphone and indicator light and then make a hole for the lens cover for the indicator light and secure that into place, I'll also need to make a hole for the microphone and make some kind of cover plate for that to make it look more attractive and look the part.  I'll also install a small momentary button for the microphone too and install that into the Console also. Then hook it all up and give it another testing to make sure everything is still all working as it should.

I suppose another thing I will need to do next is make up a wiring diagram for how I'll need to hook up my whole Voice Projection unit to that Voice Projection button I have on my lower dash, same sort of button found in the P.A.N.P. group of buttons. This way the Switch Pod buttons that I have hooked up to the sound effects generator will only activate the sound board when the "Voice Projection Button" is ON.

K.I.T.T.s Voice Projection Unit Parts Wiring Assembly

It took me a little while to assemble all of the wire and Molex Connectors and wiring harnesses. I'm making all of the parts for part of K.I.T.T.s Voice Projection Unit all prepared and ready to install. I have some of them assembled here in this photo and numbered as follows:

1- Sound Effects And Microphone Board With Volume Control

Modified slightly using the board from the hand held unit of the Annunciator Loud Speaker. I basically added wires to the connections for all of the momentary push buttons and I relocated a couple of components from the board like the Mic and Indicator LED and moved them to a small board so as the two boards can be fitted into my Upper Console.

2 - Long Wire Harness With Molex Connectors

This is a long wire harness of 12 22 AWG wires connected at both ends with a male and female Molex Connector. This wire harness will run up the drivers side window frame across the top and go the the Upper Console where part number 1 will be fitted.

3 - Short Wire Harness

This short wire harness is basically the same as the long wire harness only it has one Molex Connector on one end, the other ends of the 12 connections will go to SPST Relay terminals that the Switch Pod Buttons will then activate when pressed. This wiring harness will be fitted to the inside of my Knight Rider 2 TV Dashboard.

Season One Upper Console

I picked up another upper console from someone on Face Book who had two and was looking to sell, the price was good so I bought one from him. My reason being that although in many ways I like the one I had because of it's flatter streamlined design, I did not like the way it was fitting along the front part of the windshield. The part that wings out at the drivers side had way too much of a gap and although I could fill it in with additional padding along the head-liner I was not overly thrilled with my electronics in it, they are pretty boring and uninteresting, the season one console to me has nicer and more interesting electronics and does actually match my season one dash. Now I'll need to get the electronics and switches for this new upper console. But I took it out yesterday to do a test fit and although I need to modify my mounting brackets I had made for the other console I can already tell that this one is going to fit WAY better than the one I was using.

More Work on the Upper Console

While working on getting those Fog Lights working I came to realize what an Octopus of wires I had going on in that upper console. I mean I had taken precautions and made sure everything was labeled and tucked away neatly but pulling it down to have a look at my lighted rocker switches that the Fog Lights were using it was quite a complex mess of wires. I have added four more lighted rocker switches to the front part of the console, this time I  went with mini-rockers.

My next job to tackle will be to take all of those somewhat chaotic wires and organize them better and make it so they are connected using a multi-pin connector, most likely 2 or 3 Molex Multi-Pin Connectors. I'm figuring at least a 16 pin for the Rocker Switches along the side, a 12 pin for the mini rockers at the front of the console and 6 pin connector for the Push Buttons. One of the other things I am going to do to save on having a lot of wires running around up there is to combine my ground wires from the rockers like in my diagram on the right. I will run the ground wires from the rockers into a slightly larger gauge wire and run that into a terminal on one of my Molex Multi-Pin Connectors and then run the other end into my ground bus I made in the T-Bar on the car. This should hopefully save a lot of unnecessary wire. I did a similar thing on my car Relays for the Fog Lights and it's working out very well so far. One other thing I did was to make the rocker switches for my Fog Lights into green lighted rockers just to give them some more distinction from the others that are unassigned. 

Fog Lights Need Checking

I have a suspicion that my impact absorption bar is not grounded?

My fog lights rocker switches in my upper console are lighted but the fog lights do not turn on. I'm going to do an experiment by lengthening the ground wires and running them to the (-) Negative of the battery terminal and see if that is the issue.

The other thing I am going to want to do is wire it in such a way that the switches are not lighted all the time as that will drain the battery pretty quick with them on all the time.... maybe a batter kill switch? As it is right now I just disconnect the (-) Negative terminal until I sort that out.

On the plus side I have my Marine speakers all mounted into my PVC elbow enclosure. I picked up a 4 way connector in the trailer section of Canadian Tire so that way I can just plug in my speaker unit when I install it under the front nose support plate. I have the scanner hooked up and tested it yesterday and it's working perfectly. A big thanks to Brenon from Lectric Enterprises for doing an AWESOME job on that for me. I'll post a video soon. Right now I'm using my sweetheart's Surface as my Galaxy Note II is in the shop getting the glass fixed since I dropped it in the garage a few weeks ago. Doh! 

Yesterday I found $4.55 under the seats of the parts car, lol the seats are PMD seats and look to be in awesome condition. They had seat coverings installed on them. My guess is is that they were installed when the car was still fairly new judging by the condition of those seats. What a gold mine that parts car has turned out to be. I paid only $500.00 for it and the Turbo Hood is worth over $1,000.00 and the PMD seats  sometimes go for as high as $2,000.00! Sweet!!

Upper Console Installed

I have the upper console pretty much installed. I have some tweaking to do and I want to see if I can add some more felt around the top edge to try and tidy up my install a little more. I also want to make sure my wires are tucked away neatly inside of the console, I did a pretty good job but there are a lot of wires in there so I just want to be doubly, doubly sure that there are not any pinched wires or wires that are not properly insulated that could cause a short, a short would be very bad! :(

I have the push buttons wires run down the drivers side windshield frame and under the dash to be plugged into the tone generator on the Knight Rider World Voice Box. They too can be hooked up to do things individually but that would be a whole load more wires to deal with so for now I'm OK with them just being hooked up to a tone generator when I put the Knight Rider 2 T.V. dash in. I have the rocker switches wired, the first two as mentioned before are for the front Fog Lights, the other four switches are not yet assigned for any purpose yet, not sure what I'll use them for just yet.

The headliner near the front will need some additional padding as I appear to have a gap there that needs to be filled, perhaps some 1/2" foam rubber under the headliner will do the trick? I'll see what I can do about that.

I'll follow up a little more on my install with a video as I know there are many out there who seem to like my videos.

Upper Console Mounting Brackets Painted

I painted the mounting brackets that I made from some aluminum 1" wide channel for my upper console install.  I probably did not really need to paint it as it is being covered by the console anyways but I just like to be thorough.