Sir Speed A Lot

midknight rider, while I am not TAmatt27, its axiomatic how he opens his hatch. Third gens were made with a button inside the car. My car has had F'ed up locks ever since I bought it. Ive never had a problem getting into the hatch. I just push that button and PRESTO! it opens

Aviator857

It really doesn't matter if the car was illegal to drive or illegally parked, unless its parked on an interstate, then you are still liable for the damages done, Don't worry to much your insurance will not go up much due to it, its life and part of drivng.

who put music on here, take it off its disturbing to read, I guess I just had been lucky not to open this with my speakers on.

Aquafied Iris

I do realize I was responsible. The thing that just peeves me off is that she said not to worry about it and then claims. The insurance company said they would pay for it up to $25,000 worth of damage. It just gets me to thinking about the deductable ($500) on her side of things. The damage to her car would have to be more than $500 to be able to recieve money from the insurance company. There is no way a 6 inch scratch is going to cost more than $500 to repair. So, she must be out to say I've done more damage than I really did; hense the dents, scratches, cracked windshield, I had mentioned. That's what pisses me off and that's why I'm upset about this.

As for the "reference to race" in my description of the incident, I was merely being descriptive and not suggestive.

Furthermore, on a different note, my car's hatchback will not open from the inside of the car. I have looked at my manual where the dash button to open the hatchback should be, but mine simply does not have one at all (just a plastic piece covering where it should be). It could just be that my car is more of a base model car.

As for the conversion, I'm fixing the O-ring seal tommorow as well as some cosmetic things on the car like the center console, hatchback, and (hopefully) my Formula hood.

One thing worth noting on my car is that the transition from first to second gear is followed by a lot of tugging. After maybe 2 or 3 times after I've shifted to second it seems to die down to be completely not existant. What do you guys think this might mean for my transmission? Perhaps a loose gear?

Aviator857

if you hear a thud when it shifts its probably the transmission mount on the rear of the tranny. Its common for them to go out.

Aquafied Iris

You guys aren't going to believe this...

I work at a health car facility (AKA a nursing home). Today I found out that the lady I hit with my car was not only hired there as a CNA, but I actually bumped into her.

She recognized me right away and didn't say anything to me. Later I looked out the window and saw that that there was a silver Honda Oddessey parked blocking my car in within the parking lot. I also noticed a couple people eyeing my car. After they left, I went out to see if they messed with my car. They hadn't...thank ***. But this is starting to freak me out!

Aquafied Iris

Has anyone out there had thier car painted? What kind of job was done? How much? What should I be looking to pay to get my car painted up black?

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

You said that your insurance company is paying to fix the damage, not hers. Therefore, YOU will be responsible for the deductible. She will not pay a dime. If there is a bank loan on her car, the insurance company might insist that they write the check in the name of the bodyshop that is doing the work (to make sure she gets it fixed). If the car is paid off, they will likely just cut her a check directly.

Aquafied Iris

Yes, you're absolutely right. I DID say that my insurance company would pay for the damages. However, heres the thing: we have the same insurance company! Therefor, she would need to pay a deductable to claim on an acident with someone under the same insurance company.

Aviator857

Sounds like your insurance company is treating it as a NO-Fault accident then. If the insurance company was running it as your fault you would be liable for the deductable, but the deductable is per accident not car, so if you deductable is 500 and you have full coverage then you pay 500 and the insurance pays the rest of the cost on both cars. But then again insurance law is different in each state.

ivirscar

Thank You kindly 3rdGen! I DO have some BLUE Lens material AND I can custom manufacture a bar to any LENGTH and ANGLE Specs! The depth (front to back) is 1 1/4" and the height is 1 1/4" Can be CUSTOM Programmed also! The new units are USER Upgradeable too! No one in the Industry can match those abilities! By user upgrading, you attach a DB9 female to DB9 male cable from your controller unit to the COM PORT 1 of your home computer, visit my website and download the latest Firmware Upgrade and run the application. The program will AUTOMATICALLY upgrade your unit to current modes and scans! Visit www.knight-f2k4.com for all the details!

Thanks again 3rdGen!
ivirscar

blackbeauty

I have looked at one piece blackouts and I honestly can't see how with the 82-84 tail lights that can sit flush with the car. It looks great on your car, but if I put the perspex on my tail lights it would definitely not be flush, and it's also the case with my friend's 82 Trans Am. They just don't sit recessed enough for it to work.

The only way I can see it fitting flush is if you take out your existing tail lights and pull off the outer half (containing the factory lenses) and install the perspex in place.

Is that how it's done or am I badly getting the wrong end of the stick?

Gambit69

With tamatt27's tail lights, he had the gta style tail lights, I think correct me if I am wrong matt. These tail lights are similar to the earlier models of ta's and firebirds. His had the bubbles on the tail lights not the fins and he took the bubbles off that is why his blackout sits flush with the rear of the car. That is how he did his.

blackbeauty

How did he take the bubbles off, do you know? Did he take the lense half of the tail light assembly off?

tamatt27

Oh Crap, sorry guys for not answering. Yes Gambit's right. That's exactly what I did to my tail lights. The one-piece blackout is designed for the '82-'84 flat tails, so it'll fir no problem. The 'bubble' part of the '85-'90 tails is easy to get off. There's 2 plastic 'rivets', I guess is the best way to put it, on the tops of each tail lamp. I just pried them and they fell apart. Just take those out, and pry the top of the bubbles over the rest of the 'rivet' and the bubble is glued pretty good, so be gentle. And they just pull right off.
I left the red refletors on..if didn't make much of a difference with the brightness of the LED's, but it's illegal to not have reflectors on the tails.
Of course, it's also illegal to have a blackout..but who's counting.


ivirscar, I e-mailed you a few days ago about the silver scanner idea. Do you still think that's feasible?

blackbeauty

Are you saying that there were Trans Ams with flat tail lights from 82-84? Mine have fins on them and there is absolutely no way that I can see how a bit of perspex will cover my tail lights and remain flush with the car. It just ain't gonna happen baby, the perspex will stick out too far. The outer half will have to come off, just like what you did with the bubble part of your tail lights.

Aquafied Iris

Ok, here's an update on my progress with my Firebird KITT project. Let's start with the work done. I first concentrated on my car's overall performance and maintenance. Here's the list:

1-Tune-up
2-Replace O-ring seal causing my oil leak
3-New air filter
4-New heater core
5-Clean breaks, checked alignment
6-Readjusted emergency brake

Here's a funny story about installing my new heater core. First off, let's just say it was a pain in the @$$ getting to the heater core! The dash, center console, and radio needed to come out. The steering column also had to be moved to get at it. No wonder why the previous owner didn't feel like replacing it (When I bought the car, they blocked off the flow off coolant to the heater core - smart, considering no one really wants a puddle of coolant inside the car). Anyway, it was also a pain getting the thing out as well. A lot of hard work (tugging, pulling, prying) went into removing the blasted thing. When it was finally out, it appeared to be extremely burnt up in certain blotchy areas. There was also what seemed like a lot of "debris" or "dirt" inside the housing. Upon taking a vacuum to the housing, I was amazed at what I saw. Dead mice. They fried in there at the certain spots to make the burnt blotches I saw. The built a whole nest in there. I didn't think they had enough space to do so, but I guess I was wrong. When the housing was cleaned out, and the new heater core was installed, it took another couple of hours putting the dash, center console, etc., back in place. But then came the big moment. Upon turning my defroster on, I was glad to see I finally had heat. But heat wasn't the only thing I noticed. Rat hair was blowing out of the vents like crazy all over the interior of my car!

So please people, if you're going to let a car sit for a while (especially an F-body, where it's just so damned hard to get to the heater core) please do something to prevent your car from housing mice! I heard a great idea from my uncle. He said that it's good to put fabric softener sheets in the interior as well as in small places where mice can attract themselves. This helps to keep mice at bay. This was very helpful to me because I plan to store the car in the winter for obvious reasons (ice, snow, SALT!).

Some areas that mice like to live in your F-body:
1-Under the hatchback (cargo compartments)
2-Spare tire compartment
3-Air filter housing
4-Heater core (ugh...)
5-Exhaust
6-Housing between motor and radiator
7-Any other small area that's both warm and dry

This wasn't my first run-in with mice, however, after buying the car, I took out the custom amp under my hatchback and found a nesting area with large amounts of fodder. Luckily, the person laid down a towel under the amp (probably for spacing) and I was able to clean it out rather easily.

Continuing on from the mice topic, here's some new stuff I've bought for the car (most of which I'm waiting to receive via UPS):

1 - Autometer Autogauge 3 3/4" 8000rpm Shift-Lite tachometer with shift light on dial - approx. $120
2 - Two Autometer A-Pillar Pods (one single and one double) - $10.50 on Ebay (I HAVE received this part)
3 - Autometer Z-Series voltmeter 2 1/16" gauge - $30 Ebay
4 - Autometer Z-Series oil temp 2 1/16" gauge - $41 Ebay
5 - Autometer Z-Series transmission temp 2 1/16" gauge - $41 Ebay
6 - Custom KITT voice emulator - $160 Ebay
7 - Free time! (I'm on vacation this week! Hellz yeah!) - priceless

All gauges, by the way, are electric.

I've found that the Z-series gauges seem to match my interior the best. My interior lights up red (some would say orange). On a different note, it seems weird that my stick shift Firebird didn't come with a factory tach...or coolant temp gauge...or oil temp gauge.

Here's a list of things I have yet to accomplish on my car (in the near future):
1-Seal under air scoop off my 1988 Formula Firebird (non-functional) cowl induction hood
2-Install hood
3-Hook up the existing after-market mechanical gauges (oil press, water temp)
4-Find a material to make a custom lens for my scanner (I'm thinking red plexi)
5-Figure out a way to convert halogen fog lights into amber turn signals
6-Buy an exterior speaker to install PA system

Hope your not sick of the lists quite yet...

Here's a list of things I have yet to accomplish on my car (in the far future):
1-Mount nose
2-Install fog lights
3-Install scanner
4-PAINT CAR!!! (By far the biggest job to get done!)

I'd also like to note out that I came across a page at Knightreplicas.com concerning a man named Robert Lamoureux. Has anyone heard of him? He owns (or previously owned) a 1983 Trans Am KITT conversion. On the page, it states that almost all of the parts on his car were custom made (dash, nose, upper and lower consoles, etc.) and the car looks damned good! But the thing that gets me is that this guy lives in Plainfield, CT! That's only like a ten minute drive from here! I'm probably going to give him a call to see if he still owns the car (and if I can see it...sit in it...smell it...) and if he's be willing to give me any advice in making my KITT replica (Hell, it's not long distance!). Maybe I could also see his methods of building his own custom parts. That would be more than interesting for me to see!

If anyone would like to see what page I'm talking about it's:
http://www.knightreplicas.com/databa...RRReplicaID=61

To update you on the insurance claim I've been talking about for the last month, nothing happened. Nothing. Nothing at all. She, I guess, never claimed at all. She called and left an answer on the machine saying that the incident happened. They ( the insurance company) just figured that she wanted to claim. But upon numerous returned calls, they finally got a hold of her and she said she didn't want to claim after all. All getting worked up over nothing. I've learned my lesson...

Ok, anyway, I've typed enough. I'll try to keep you guys posted the best I can. Take care and *** bless you for reading all that^.

82RECAROTA

..

KiLLJ0Y

unless you guys get a hair do like David Hasselhoff.... there is no point to having a KIT car..


do all yourselves a favor.. get a perm, and then cruise.

3rdgenparts

iTrader: (8)

Typical of a camaro owner.Kit"T" made the third gen and trans am VERY popular it's fact.I didn't see Hollywood make a tv show about a talking camaro huhhhhhhhhhh .Only have seen camaro's recently on fear factor getting wrecked and taking Dennis rodman for a bad ride

3rdgenparts

iTrader: (8)

No problem can i get a discount,this makes two people i reffered to your scanner. .Oh ya I'm okc knight on the boards

kanuck

I'll chime in.

Even with 82-84 taillights, you still need to either sand down the "fins" a bit so that the blackout sits flush with the trunklid and rear fenders, or somehow modify the mount points for the bolts by sanding them down. Either way, you have to make the taillights stick in the car a little bit to make the blackout flush. There was no totally flat T/A taillights.

blackbeauty

Thanks for your input. I can rest easy at night now, knowing that I'm not a complete idiot (some parts are still missing!! ). I just have to get an electronic trunk release for my car before I go covering my tail lights with perspex....

Aquafied Iris

I came in contact with Robert Lamoureux (the guy from Plainfield) via the telephone. At first, it seems like it was an awkward call to make, but after talking to the guy, I was definitely glad I did. The guy was very nice and very generous. He gave me advice on my car, and told me that I was welcome to give him a call (or hook up with him) at any time to discuss things about my conversion that I would need advice with. He even recommended aplace where I can get my car painted up and where I could look locally for the Turbo Cast Rims. As for HIS car, he no longer has it . He sold it to somebody in CA. He mentioned that he misses the car and how he'd like to own another.

I just think it's been awesome to talk to someone that's created such a beautiful car almost entirely by one's self. His replica was very precise on imitating KITT. I also think it's so cool to think that he did it just a town or two away from me. Overall, all is good.

Aquafied Iris

I just finished my guages install. Pics to come very soon!

Gambit69

Just curious to know what gauges you had to install

firebirdjosh

iTrader: (1)

You hit a parked car and they are the jerks? Just go to a different gas station if you think you can't get through.

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

great info

light rider

hi just woundered if you knew but the true kitt was 82 up to 84,