The American Dream - My Knight Rider KITT Project :-)

[Rob]

Genuinely awesome. Proper proper cool. Get cracking and bring this to the next CSS, it'll be the car of the show.

 

[DaveDreads]

Wow, Knight Rider was a massive part of my childhood, looking forward to seeing you get stuck into this project.

Please tell me when you're finished the next project will be either this,

or this.

 

[Knight_Rider]

Ha ha i would LOVE an A Team van!!! That would be ace!!

 

[Daz_RT_04]

Hats off to you for taking this on.

That said, I have a feeling its going to be freaking awesome!!

Subscribed!

 

[Knight_Rider]

Doing a few quick sums based on income, figure to get this TOTALLY finished will take me 12/14 months hopefully! if I can get bits cheaper then may be quicker lol

 

[Marky_]

Great project! You must be mental (but in a good way).

And ive already looked into some voice recognition software that I can install that will make him auto start his engine, play music, open the windows etc etc (but thats a way off yet) lol

Get SIRI in there. Done.

 

[G3 NYX]

Best car on the forum by far! Whats the engine like? Need to get it on the rollers to see what its putting out compared to new

(Subbed)

 

[Goodj]

If not an A-Team van or Dukes' charger, then maybe...

 

[Knight_Rider]

The engine sounds beautiful very torquey though and I imagine not that good top end. Gonna tune it up and things either way

 

[Knight_Rider]

Started sanding and painting the interior today, main issue we found was that there is a leak somewhere drivers footwell, rear bench and rear left wheel arch are all pooling water which we need to investigate further :/ hmmm not good considering all this torrential rain!

 

[Tom]

a lot of yank cars from that era were all white internally from memory

Yup.

 

[Jekyll]

The engine sounds beautiful very torquey though and I imagine not that good top end. Gonna tune it up and things either way

are you getting the turbo boost and super pursuit mode?

 

[Djw John]

12-14 months ain't a bad timescale really. Obviously it really means 24-28. But that's still ok

 

[Knight_Rider]

Lol soon as I've fixed the leak I wanna get the interior back in so it's useable, then just tidy up the outer bodywork somewhat the biggest expense is going to deffo he the dash

 

[TimR26]

The leak will be from the rubber round the t-tops and/or boot. If it's perished you'll be able to order new stuff from that US Automotive I linked earlier.

It's worth having a look at this site http://www.thirdgen.org/ as it's got loads of info about Camaro's and Firebirds. Here's a guide for fixing leaking t-tops http://www.thirdgen.org/ttopleakfix

My Dad has a 1984 Camaro Z28

 

[Knight_Rider]

Brilliant shall have a look at those links tommorow get some pics up of the camaro! Love American cars!

 

[TimR26]

Brilliant shall have a look at those links tommorow get some pics up of the camaro! Love American cars!

Only got one more on my photobucket, it doesn't get driven very often now.

It used to be my Mum's shopping car but she has a Cadillac CTS now

 

[Knight_Rider]

Three stunning cars there fella! bet that caddi is comfy

 

[mad pierre]

This Thread is Full of WIN !!! :approve:

 

[Knight_Rider]

Bit of snow and crappy weather today which hindered progress somewhat managed to finish hammeriteing the interior and had a quick look underneath. Hole in centre box from scuffing and some nasty surface rust to deal with. Heres a quick pic of snowy kitt lol

 

[Knight_Rider]

Right just another brief update, got an email today from "Knights of England", regarding my enquiry as to how much a full dash set up is going to cost me..... fully ready to be fitted im looking at £3500!!!!!!!! :-o
Looking at that HUGE outlay, I am now thinking that a total respray is out of the question, the paint isnt too bad but could do with a touch up tbh, managed to sort some seats from ebay that look almost identical to the ones from KITT (ironically from a Gen 2 Proton lol) then just need to order the carpet (£300), and re trim the headliner, side panels, boot panels and other carpeted trim in cream to match kitt. Then the interior (bar the dash) will be ready to fit!
So much re-furbing needed to the bodywork (arches, round the lights on the back etc etc) which I can prep myself but im not confident spraying the car as dont wanna **** it up! Can anyone remember a good priced bodyshop in the Huddersfield area that could spray the bits that need spraying once they have been sanded and prepped? Many thanks guys!

 

[Knight_Rider]

Managed to make some progress sourcing the seats today, diehard fans will b**ch at me for this, but im NOT paying ££££'s for "pmd" seats identical to the ones KITT had when these ones I found on ebay from a proton gen 2 look very very similar!! Picking em up tommorow so its all good!
This is what KITT had -

and these are the ones im getting -

Not a bad doppelganger - £900+ for some 28 year old PMD's or £80 for these from the Proton! No contest!

 

[mace¬]

You sir are f**king mental and your Mrs must be an angel.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Rob]

Can you not have the ones you've got trimmed? Surely it won't be THAT much?

 

[Knight_Rider]

You sir are f**king mental and your Mrs must be an angel.

Keep up the good work.

She most certainly is

 

[Knight_Rider]

Can you not have the ones you've got trimmed? Surely it won't be THAT much?

The ones I have are the wrong design anyway, the PMD's were an optional extra and quite rare now

 

[Heez]

TBH you get those proton ones trimmed to look like the PMDs and they would look exact same.

Btw Hero thread is awesome.

 

[Knight_Rider]

TBH you get those proton ones trimmed to look like the PMDs and they would look exact same.

Btw Hero thread is awesome.

That's the plan save money where we can and then we can spend more money on other things!

 

[Topgeartom]

You are completely hatstand mental. Brilliant.

 

[Matt Cup]

Crackin project. Keep up the good work!

 

[Al_G]

Brilliant

Keep up the great work!!!

 

[Plummer]

Subscribed!

 

[koi]

You need to get Siri working on this

 

[Knight_Rider]

Picked up the proton seats, need a clean but very happy! The back seats and side bolsters will be stripped and material used to re trim the rest of the car here are some pics. So close to the proper seats I'm dead chuffed!

 

[couzens]

their also suprisingly comfy! and quite body hugging

 

[Knight_Rider]

There like a soft velvety touch to the bolsters god bless malaysia lol

 

[Knight_Rider]

Right then folks, Christmas is over now so project KITT can re-commence (as soon as it stops pissing it down!) Here are the latest photos taken for the bodyshop to show the areas of bad paint..... now just need to get some quotes for a total re-spray.... after washing and waxing the laquer in places is atrocious and there is bubbling rust here there and everywhere so full spray job is deffo looking like the best option! Hoping to get the interior panels welded and painted asap then the interior can go back in and then at least he will be driveable again!

 

[TimR26]

A lot of rust there, I'd suggest getting a new rear bumper.

Are you going to do all the prep work yourself?

 

[Knight_Rider]

Thats the plan

 

[Simon@SprayShack]

Jesus thats a mega job body work wise........really she wants completely bare shell strip and dipping then welding and repairing and repainting.