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This is my 82 Trans Am KITT replica thread. It will be long and will mostly just hit some highlights throughout the years since this began way back in 2006. It will take me awhile (probably weeks) to get it all in here and up to the present day. Actually, this is my second KITT car since I used to have a 84 Trans Am KITT replica, but it was "budget" built, not even close to as nice as my 82 and was sold in 2005. This time around, I took my sweet time on the 82. In 2006, I bought this car off Ebay for $500.00 cash not running or driving in Jacksonville, Florida. It had a clear title and over 160,000 miles on it. Here is what it looked like the day I brought it home to a friend's house where it stayed for many months while I worked on it. At the time, I lived a couple of hours north in an apartment, so it was easier to work on it here every weekend.
After a few hours of tinkering with it, my friend and I had it running and driving the same day and we drove it for about an hour around town. The starter was wired backwards, the carburetor was shot and the transmission was 3 quarts low. That was all that was wrong with it. This car still had the factory LG4 and TH200c and for the most part ran and drove pretty good!
I tell ya...I was not a fan of the show when I was younger, but after reading the last couple of issues of Smoke Signals (The official publication of the Pontiac Oakland Club Intrnational [POCI] ), which had lengthy and detailed articles about these cars, I'll enjoy following the work you're doing.
You should source the KITT replica components from Don Colie at Advanced Designs in Virginia.
There is none better and you really do "get what you pay for" when it comes to the Knight Rider stuff.
I've seen some hideous KITT "replicas" owned by people trying to do it on the cheap...
Just to make this clear, almost all of this is past tense. All the work has already been done on this car over a period of 12 years. I am just showing the process highlights and will eventually get to present day. With that said, as you can tell from the pictures above, it was pretty rough overall, but rust free except the t-top area. The first thing I did was install the 14" turbo cast wheels and caps I had along with a turbo hood and I went ahead and put the dash and wheel I had at the time. This dash was pretty terrible honestly, but it looked good at the time. I also buffed the car to make it look a little better and began cleaning the interior:
Then a few weeks later, I scored a set of factory take-off 15" wheels with the original Goodyear Eagle GT tires and a set of NOS 15" caps:
A short while later, I brought it back home to Kentucky when I found a house to rent, stripped the window tint off the doors and began the hatch and it stayed like this for quite awhile:
The car stayed black and gold for quite awhile and I toyed with leaving it that way. After a few months, I sent all of the black interior to my upholsterer for a complete change to tan, except for the headliner which was beyond saving. I also was on the hunt for tan plastics which I later found a complete set out of an 86 Trans Am in good condition. While the interior was out, I decided to fix any surface rust and coat the whole inside of the car front to back and top to bottom with rubberized undercoating. This was about a 2 week process.
After several months, the interior was back! I already had new carpet ready to go and so I installed all of it into the car and was really liking the look!
Next up, I finally decided to remove the gold paint on the bottom and the pinstripe. This was in summer 2008.
Then came the tail light black out panel:
I stored the original tail lights and bought a cheap set of broken ones to remove the covers from so the blackout would sit flush. I placed the screws in such a way so that the panel curves with the bumper instead of being straight across like most I had seen.
About a year later, I installed the front bumper that I acquired which was already in black gel coat along with a red scanner and it stayed like this for a couple of years and I didn't do much else due to work.
Fast forward 2 years. I moved 2 hours north, sold the Eagle GTs for 300.00 and put a set of Good Year Eagle GPS tires on it so it could be driven, replaced the hood and buffed the paint out again:
Then about 4 months later, FINALLY found a great condition factory headliner and had it and the sun visors recovered. I also sold the dash, but kept the steering wheel and scored a good condition dash pad for it!
I was now in the process of looking for a more accurate dash set up.
ooo would you e able to show pics of that scanner setup?
I don't know where the pictures went of the build of the scanner. I tried to find them awhile back. It was built in 2002 by a good friend of mine. I'll try to take some pictures of it later, but essentially, it's an aluminum bar with 1156 bulb sockets/bulbs and uses the old JC Whitney controller that came with the bulge lens scanner they used to sell and it has a box with 8 relays in it under the hood.
In the Spring of 2011, I decided I had enough of the ugly engine bay and so I stripped it down to bare engine and using scotchbrite pads and sand paper, sanded the entire thing down and repainted it semi-gloss black. I think it turned out pretty darn nice with the engine still in.
BEFORE:
Disassembled and sanding begun:
After an eternity of sanding and air blowing it out several times, primed:
Also, I added the later Firebird hood latch brace.
Painted and put back together:
The funny thing is, at the time, I had no idea I would be replacing the engine several months later, otherwise, I could have waited until then.
I was wondering the same thing with those posts? I have the same black and gold car you had and will be putting on a front nose soon, how did you paint the gold on the bottom without repainting the whole car? or did you have to repaint? I would like to make mine all black as well but the paint job is nice and I don't want to repaint if I don't have to. Gullwing steering wheel doesn't look to bad with stock dash either must have been custom made spacers to make it look good I'm guessing. Keep posting photos subscribed.
The 6 threaded posts are what the factory turn signals and scanner mount to. This allows me to raise the factory turn signals so they can be clearly seen and used and not have to relocate them. This also allowed me to raise the scanner to have a very small gap between the scanner and hood so it looks nice. I have the bumper raised in the center over the factory lip of the front of the tray to bring it up to the hood. I have the hood latch adjusted so that I can sit the hood down and using light pressure, click it and it latches and doesn't touch the turn signals or the scanner.
...I have the same black and gold car you had and will be putting on a front nose soon, how did you paint the gold on the bottom without repainting the whole car? or did you have to repaint? I would like to make mine all black as well but the paint job is nice and I don't want to repaint if I don't have to. Gullwing steering wheel doesn't look to bad with stock dash either must have been custom made spacers to make it look good I'm guessing. Keep posting photos subscribed.
I'm pretty handy with spray cans on small stuff and single stage paint. I masked off the entire car from about 2 inches above the gold up, sanded all of the gold and 2 inches of the black. I had the local body supply shop mix a matching color in spray cans. I sprayed about 2 coats up to the tape line, then moved the tape line about 4 inches up and let the paint dry. I then lightly sanded the hard edge using 1,500 grit paper and sanded the rest to give the next 2 coats some key. I then sprayed 2 more coats not getting close to the new tape line, just sort of feathering it. Once completed, using 1,500 grit sand paper, I wet sanded the paint on the bottom all the way to just an inch below the new tape line, then high speed buffed the entire area. When it was done, there was no paint line anywhere on the car and the finish looked the same as the rest of the car. This is easy to do with single stage paint, not sure it would work as well with base coat/clear coat. When it comes to black, I prefer single stage, any other color, I prefer base/clear. The line never showed up all the way to the day we sanded the whole car down for paint, but we'll get to that later.
Nothing too fancy about the mounting of the gullwing, it's a Mark's Custom KITTs wheel that already has a steel pipe and frame embedded in solid urethane and it's mounted with a Grant adapter. I used the black bell for looks back then, but it no longer has the black bell today since it can't be seen with the dash/pod installed and it's not necessary for mounting.
Sometime back in 2010, on the way to a show, I overheated both the engine and the transmission, reverse went out and so the transmission was replaced with a TH350 that basically bolted right in and only needed the B&M torque arm kit. Later in 2011, the 305 really started to get tired on this car and was making some noise. So, I decided to build an engine for it and actually learn and do it myself with the help of a pro coaching me of course. The engine build could easily take up 10 pages, but I'll just show a few build pics and the final results! This was a pretty cool engine that my Father kept all of these years after pulling it out of his race car in the late 70s. Unfortunately it was moved around several times and sat outside under tarps with no valve covers, and it would not turn freely by the time I got to it. Decided it would be a good one to learn on even if it failed! I decided to rebuild it as it was except for the 12:1 domed pistons which took some doing to get out of it. The distributor had to be cut out in pieces, etc... It was in bad shape, but the lower rotating assembly was submerged in oil and survived somehow. After 2 weeks of disassembly and general cleaning, the block and heads went to the machine shop. It was already bored .30. It was bored an additional .30 due to rust in the cylinder walls. Heads were completely redone including hardened seats. I decided on 10:1 flat tops for it and a mild cam. After the block and heads returned, assembly began:
Is that a pcv valve in the rear of the block next to the oil pressure port? I see there is a breather at the front of the intake, the valve covers look much cleaner without the extra holes in them but I haven't seen a block with pcv provisions in the rear.
Is that a pcv valve in the rear of the block next to the oil pressure port? I see there is a breather at the front of the intake, the valve covers look much cleaner without the extra holes in them but I haven't seen a block with pcv provisions in the rear.
That is a 327 Chevy (60's) block. 4.00" bore, 3.25" stroke.
Those blocks were earlier than PVC systems.
They were just vented to the atmosphere.
The rear port by the distributor was for a road draft tube.
Any oil coming out of there just fell onto the ground.
Do you have a part number or any info on the hood latch brace. I want one.
No, sure don't. I was in a junkyard one day and spotted it on a later Firebird and just grabbed it. I seem to recall reading on here somewhere that it was installed on later Firebirds due to the stress cracking of the metal around the latch as mine is doing in that picture. I don't recall what year it started though. If I can remember, next time out in the garage, I'll see if I can get the part number.
That is a 327 Chevy (60's) block. 4.00" bore, 3.25" stroke.
Those blocks were earlier than PVC systems.
They were just vented to the atmosphere.
The rear port by the distributor was for a road draft tube.
Any oil coming out of there just fell onto the ground.
Yep, the early blocks had what's called a road draft tube that ran down into the car's slipstream. After finding a suitable grommet, I was able to install a PCV valve in there and connected it to full vacuum on the carb. I also have an oil separator can that's installed in the lifter valley to prevent oil from being sucked through the PCV. Works the same way as a baffle in a valve cover. Coupled with the front breather and oil fill tube in the intake, I was able to use the streamlined valve covers with no openings. Works perfectly. Learned it from the Corvette guys.
What kind of paint did you use on the engine compartment?...
I used high temperature engine paint in satin black. I do not remember the brand or the part number as it has been too long since I did it. I think it was VHT or something like that.
I love the old school 327's. I have a pic somewhere of me at about 4 years old with my dad and a 375 horse 327 with a tunnel ram. Looking back it was probably way too much induction for the lil mouse but man it looked cool. I bet that thing moves your car around pretty good.
I love the old school 327's. I have a pic somewhere of me at about 4 years old with my dad and a 375 horse 327 with a tunnel ram. Looking back it was probably way too much induction for the lil mouse but man it looked cool. I bet that thing moves your car around pretty good.
It moves it pretty good, but the Trans Am is a pretty light car. It takes little effort to roast the tires or take off sideways. I honestly have no idea how much horsepower it makes as it's never been on the dyno. My Father used to boast it was 350hp back in the day, but it had 12:1 domed pistons and a Holley double pumper back then which I did away with. It does still have the 461X camel hump heads. I think I'm closer to 300hp with the 10:1 flat tops and Edelbrock 600 4 barrel, might even be a little lower than that. I do know that with my 3:42 posi gear and 350 Turbo transmission with a 2200 stall, it's fun to drive and it's a world of difference over my other two Firebirds.
So, after the engine was installed, I started to slowly concentrate on the Knight Rider stuff. I acquired a pilot lower console with template. I got the correct white rockers & 5 red and green buttons, bought brand new power window switches and obtained a static coding keypad with all of the labels and colored vinyl and just started putting it together.
Test Fitting the keypad and template
The Keypad was bonded to the fiberglass from underneath and the rest of the buttons just snap into the template, but I didn't do that just yet and not until it was time to put it in the car. To attach the template, I drilled holes and bonded small nuts underneath and used very small Allen screws that look similar to rivets.
Next up, I acquired a nice, accurate looking dash and switch pod:
Test fitting in the car:
Here I realized I needed to have some sort of attachment from the top of the console to the bottom of the dash for support.
I decided to bolt the pod to the dash using 6 bolts to snug it up tight and then sanded and primed the dash and pod together and painted it all with SEM Landau Black. Wasn't really happy with the paint layout, but that's okay, it all gets shot with a paint gun later while the car is being repainted. It's extremely hard to paint something this big with spray cans and keep it wet, but it looked okay back then.
Next, I decided to tackle TV frames. I've always liked the pilot frames the best. At the time, I wasn't happy with what was available, so, I made my own using the actual TVs that the show used, by cutting the inner housings out. This was difficult and time consuming because the housing I need is part of the larger housing and not a separate piece.
Both frames finished:
Test fitting in the dash and realizing I would have to heavily modify the dash to get the TVs to sit back in there right.
To be continued...
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 09-19-2018 at 06:31 PM.
Continuing the dash build. At first I put some smoke plexi glass in for a temporary look to fill the holes, worked on the tv area some more and installed a top countdown I had at the time.
Still wasn't happy with the placement of the TVs just yet, but I get it about perfect later on.
Next up was the overhead console. I've always favored the pilot/1st season due to it's huge size and cockpit look. My number one goal was to mount it all the way to the top with no headliner showing between it and the t-bar.
Once the fit was right, took it out and put it together.
I'm leaving out a million details so if anyone wants to know how I did something, feel free to ask!
After about a year or so, I was tired of the smoke plexi-glass in the dash and decided to get some plastic overlays for now along with a voicebox bezel and some static switchpod buttons to finish it out some more. I also heavily worked the TV area for a much better result.
Everything installed back in the car with the lower console also put together:
Moving away from the interior, I installed the signature fog lights into the bumper openings using some simple strong brackets to mount them with.
That was all for a few years. I showed the car like this until July 29, 2015 when I stripped the car down as far as I could go and still drive it and drove it to the paint shop and dropped it off.
Do any of those interior buttons, lights and TVs work or are they just decorative?
At that time, nothing worked except the power window switches. Most of the buttons were real buttons (pressable), but they didn't light up or do anything. The TVs are real CRTs, but they didn't work then and they don't work today either. Eventually, I make it all functional, but that was still a couple of years away.
Continuing this saga. As I said earlier, on July 29, 2015, I stripped the car down in one day and drove it to the painter. I wanted the car in the building until it was started on so it wasn't sitting outside. As soon as I got the phone call saying mine could be put in the building, I got to work on it. Little did I know, it would be 1 year and 3 months before it was back in my driveway.
A few weeks after dropping it off, I stripped it further at the shop to save myself money. Removed all of the weatherstripping and metal A & B pillar channels, door handles/locks, mirrors, window sweeps, etc... pretty much anything I could take off. Later on, I assisted with removal of hatch, windshield, doors, bumpers, etc...
It sat for about 8 months before it was started on and due to circumstances, I ended up helping on the whole car, driving there 2-3 nights a week and just about every weekend for 7 months, sanding and helping with bodywork just to get it done. There's a whole story that goes behind all of this, but I'm not getting into it except to say the painter lost his help and was losing his property to the bank, so I got involved heavily and quickly. Learned a lot about paint and bodywork and in the end saved myself money by doing a lot of the work myself and the two of us finished it and got the car out a couple of days before the the property was seized.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 10-06-2018 at 08:31 AM.
After just a few weeks of sitting at this shop, it was getting covered in dust and at the very end when I got it home, it took me 3 days to get all of the dust out of it. Also, after acquiring a set of GTA wheels for my 89, I took the factory 89 wheels there and swapped them out so my good ones would not get over sprayed and the brand new tires would not be flat spotted.
I was a little leery of getting a good paint job after seeing this shop! However, to my surprise, it came out exceptional in the end!
We found a perfectly round hole filled with fiberglass in the driver's rear quarter. I assumed CB antenna in the past! That was welded up.
The t-top channels were destroyed on this car and the whole t-top area was a disaster. I drilled a set of channels off a junkyard car and removed the old channels myself and ground down everything myself and the painter welded all of the holes in the body up and fixed the body ledges. This was a 2 month job from start to finish.
After all of the welding was done, I went back and carefully ground down all of the spot welds pretty flat. Then, we sanded everything and primed it and moved on to the rest of the car. Later, when the car was painted and cured, we skim coated the inside of the t-top channels and filled the seam between the body and channels with panel bond adhesive to seal it all up.
Finally after a couple more months of body work and block sanding until my fingers were raw, we started getting it all in primer.
I masked off the hatch and sanded all of the rust out of the metal surround trim and painted it SEM trim black, then when that dried, we rolled paper around it and masked it so as to finish the hatch.
After a couple more months of blocking, guide coat, blocking, priming, it was finally time for sealer:
Then, it was finally time for color:
I should note that the underside of the hood did not go as planned since we failed to get all of the dust out of the bracing somehow, but it looks okay and I decided we were not redoing it due to the time crunch, so it is what it is.
You're probably thinking as was I at the time. How can you possibly get a good paint job in this dusty pole barn with clutter everywhere? Truth is, I have no idea. When he was done spraying the car, we walked around it and there was only a few minor specs here and there which easily sanded out with little effort.
08-29-2018, 07:32 PM
