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 :)

More Parts for K.I.T.T.

Just arrived in the mail today from eBay a new driver's side mirror assembly. The one currently on the car has an incorrect replacement mirror glass and is a manual mirror, this one is a powered mirror assembly so I'm not sure if it can be made to work. I'm willing to bet it can, but I more got it for the replacement of the correct mirror glass. The price for it's condition could not be beat so if I can get it to work then I'll be in the market for a passenger side powered mirror assembly. That dash and inner consoles has a lot of dummy switches that can be hooked up to anything so I might as well make as much use of them as possible lol.

Knight Rider...Kitt... Be the light on the people's way

Is it ANY wonder I love this car!!

Clear Coating The Bowling Ball Hubcaps

Here is the difference between one hubcap that has been given the clear coat VS the one that has not (right). As you can see the one on the left has much more gloss and reflects light way better. Four more to go like this and then the Hubcaps are totally done.

Finishing the Bowling Ball Hub Caps

I finally finished off the Bowling Ball hub caps last night. All they need now is the clear coat which should go on pretty easy.

I was thinking more last night about getting these caps to fit after market rims or rims other than the Turbo cast rims that originally would have been on the 1982 Trans Am Firebird. I noticed that a lot of people in the Knight Rider community seem to use Zip Ties to hold their rims on. I have not seen any examples of how this is done but last night I had a thought about possibly creating some kind of adapter that would use Velcro to hold the hub caps in place, my thought was that if this could be done right it would hold the hub caps on quite securely even better than the tabs that originally hold the caps in place on the Turbo Cast rims. The Velcro would also make taking the caps off a lot less of a chore VS the zip ties I hear of so often. I'm pretty inventive so I'll put my inventors thinking cap on and see what I can come up with in this department.

As you can see from the photo on the right that from the day the Bowling Ball hub caps arrived from eBay to how they are now (Top Left) that they are looking much better now that they have had the centre logos removed and have all been sanded and refinished. Once the clear coat is on they will look even better.

Shiny Parts For K.I.T.T

Just arrived today via Greyhound from Fairmont  Electroplating in Saskatoon MB. A nice new shiny Air Cleaner Housing for under K.I.T.T.'s hood. I got a REALLY sweet deal on this as it had been sitting in their shop unclaimed for two years and they were kind enough to put it up on Kijiji for a great price. Nothing wrong with the one currently on the Trans Am, it's even black and I might repaint it even just to have a spare. But when my brother John in Calgary let me know about this one it was just WAY too good a deal to pass up.

K.I.T.T. says Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

From

K.I.T.T.

And Us :)

Happy Ho Ho :-)

A Better Jack

I have to thank my brother John in Calgary for recommending this car jack over the little hydraulic MotoMaster I had initially purchased. Although a fine jack this sTp jack is clearly a note durable and stable jack for lifting up K.I.T.T. 
This will come in handy for when I need to check out the underside and change wheels and tires.

Painting Hubcaps

I started priming the odd one out Bowling Ball hubcap. I can see a lot better after applying the first coat of sandable primer where I have a few areas that need some additional sanding. A little more work and this one will be ready for paint.

After another going over with the scuff pad and then re priming you can see all of the minor surface scratches have been eliminated. The only area of difficulty is the centre indentation where the logo used to be, it's kind of tricky getting the scuff pad into the trouble area without effecting the surrounding areas too much, but it's getting closer to the painting stage.

I put the first coat of paint on the odd one out hub cap and now it looks better that the other 4, not to worry, they will get the same treatment and be looking just as good. With this first coat of paint I can see I will need to wet fine sand paper a few small areas before giving it perhaps a few more coats of paint.

Sanding the Bowling Ball Hubcaps

This one was the odd one out of the set of 5 I ordered from eBay. It seems it was originally black, painted white and then back to black. The other 4 caps seem to be in their original black and should just need a light sanding, re priming and then painting. This one requires a little more work.

Removing Logos From Hubcaps

I removed the logos from the centre of each of the Bowling Ball hub caps gently with an sharp hobby knife, then scrubbed off any glue residue with a little Goofoff, then washed each hub cap. Now they are ready to be sanded, primed and repainted. I'm still not sure if they will fit the after market rims I have, it's kind of hard to tell just by looking at them. Like I say maybe there is some kind adapter out there, don't know??

Bowling Ball Hub Caps Arrived

K.I.T.T. 's arrived sometime last night. Funny time for a delivery though. I'll have to clean them up and then see if they will fit my after market rims. Then remove the center logos and re sand, prime and paint them.

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. 

Getting my tools in order

Seeing how many of the parts to K.I.T.T. are on order or on the way I figured it was best to start getting my tools already. Billy from Knight Designs suggested must have tools that will make installing the tail light blackouts easier so I made sure I added a mini drill, Unibits, Scratch all, Titanium bits and some assorted Socket sets into my tool collection. Also picked up a set of Axel Stands and a Hydraulic Jack for any under the car work that may need to be done.

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 :-)

Doing a little bodywork in the garage today

I was doing a little minor body work in the garage today since I had the new Mr. Heater for use with a Propane tank. Mr. Heater warmed up that garage pretty good especially considering how freakishly cold it is out today minus 30 brrrrrrr. . ... So I was able to use this awesome rust disolver and some stage 1 auto body sand paper to remove a tiny bit of rust along the front of the T Bar. This rust removing gel is AWESOME!! If you have never tried it before I highly recommend it :-)

Front Nose Ordered

I ordered the front nose from Knight Rider Shop.Com probably one of the most prominent features of the Knight Industries 2000 is K.I.T.T.'s front bumper with Cylon-like scanner. I ordered the Out of the mold version as I want to do as much of this project myself as I feel I am capable of. Jacob Knight's web site came highly recommended and certainly seems to have authentic parts for all different version of the Knight Rider car from all seasons of the show's duration. His parts come with instructions for installation which is an added bonus for a newbie to auto body work such as myself. I'm looking forward to this project very much. It's going to be a lot of hard but rewarding work.

Trans Am Wheels

These are the wheels that came with my 1982 Trans Am... not sure if they are original wheels an if the Bowling Ball hub caps will fit when they arrive. ... If not maybe somewhere in the Knight Rider community there is some kind of adapter made??

So What's Under the Hood??

OK so not knowing a whole heck of a lot about car engines I figured I would take a few pictures of what's under the hood. If someone much more knowledgeable about cars can tell me what type of engine we have here that would be great. From what I can see it looks to be in great shape for a 1982 model Trans Am. Looks like it needs a bit of a cleaning to me but hey... what do I know lol ;)

K.I.T.T. base car has arrived!!

My 1982 Trans Am has FINALLY come home and he is a real beauty!! This car was never driven in winter, was never left outside, the previous owners REALLY looked after this baby!! He's in beautiful condition for a 1982 model. No rust on it at all, and even though it was never left outside it's been undercoated at least 3 or 4 times!! Not sure what the engine type is but when they drove it into my garage I could sure hear it purring like a kitten so the engine has also been well looked after. New battery was installed, fully saftied (which it passed with flying colours) I could not have asked or even hoped for a better car for a Knight Rider transformation project.

This is the first time I've ever owned a car and I know next to nothing about auto mechanics or body work so this is going to very much be a learning experience for me and many new skills will need to be learned as well as a lot of research into all of the various "How To's" Fortunately I'm an artist both traditional and digital with a keen eye for detail and good hands, I've worked on props and miniatures, sculpting, and painting so I have good skills in those areas, I'm pretty mechanically inclined so this is going to be very much like a much bigger art project for me. This car IS a work of art. I'm so stoked to finally be able to work on creating my very own K.I.T.T.

Today he's going to get a good cleaning as you can see he's a little dusty but beautiful non the less :) Parts wise so far I've ordered the Bowling Ball Hubcaps, I got a pretty good deal on a set of 5 that look to be in pretty good condition.

On this blog I will keep up to date on my K.I.T.T. conversion's progress and provide links to where I have purchased custom parts for my Knight Rider. I hope you will wish me luck as for me this is a life long dream that is FINALLY coming true :)