K.I.T.T Knight Rider Replica Conversion Cost Estimates

Hey All,

My car is on the road in California, 100% above board and legal!

I've been looking into the costs to bring the car the rest of the way to a knight rider conversion. There are various different options available that i have cataloged @ http://bit.ly/kittpartspricing

Just go here to check them out

These numbers should help any new builder figure out where to start.

Let me know if it helps in the comments section :-)

All my smog parts are now belong to Trans Am

Hey Everyone,

So i finally have all of the emissions equipment reattached to my car. I picked it up from Jimmy on Saturday after Uber-ing to Silverlake. He actually had to weld some of the parts on because the previous owner had cut off the pipes.

The whole thing came to $550 cash - which i think was really decent, considering it was a dirty non straight forward job.....

Below are just some of the things that needed to be performed

• Weld in new CAT (Was $250)
• Weld in LHS Air Check Valve
• Reattach RHS Air Check Valve
• Attach OEM Air Breathers
• Replace OEM Valve Covers
• Attach Silencer
• Attach Diverter Valve
• Attach Smog Pump
• Run and reconnect all hoses and attach Air Duct Plenum.
• Add new belts to pump
• Check everything was working
• Make the car not run like a dog after all of that

I'm actually amazed that he went through all of that to get the car road legal again. Like i said, the other guys said it was too much work, but Jimmy took it on, and didn't charge me an absolute fortune. I guess this is why he has 4.5 stars on Yelp.

The only problem remaining now is the Check Engine light. There is a lot of troubleshooting involved in figuring out whether it is the ECM, the Lamp Driver Module, The Bulb etc, so I've decided to do this myself, as its going to be another $200-$300 to get someone to do this for me and Jimmy is not really set up to do this kind of electrical work.

Still stuck in Smog Hell

I called Jimmy the other day who said that the right hand side Air Valve could not be attached because either it was cut off so there is no thread on it or the one i gave him was already attached to the metal pipe and he couldn't get it off. I couldn't figure which.

I ended up buying some additional parts while looking for an Air Valve, which was cool. I'm still waiting to see if this car is going to get road legal.

New Parts

• Snorkel duct and the little hose that connects to the air cleaner (below)
• Both left and right Air Check Valves

Spare Parts

• Spare Smog Pump 
• Spare EGR 
• Spare Diverter Valve
• Spare Silencer

This is the best video i have ever seen

My Trans Am and Firebird Workshop Manuals 1982-1992

Hey Guys,

So at this point in the conversion I've already collected a few manuals which are very very useful and i'd like to share the how why and what of each one.

Clymer Camaro and Firebird 1982-1985 Shop Manual

Where do you get it? : Ebay or Amazon for about $10-$20 
No. Pages : 323

Why do you need it? : This is for your use, not your mechanics. Its a fairly compact book and is smaller in every way than its Haynes equivalent. It has some really nice colour photos though that will help you learn about maintenance of your car generally, which i think is the biggest advantage.
Pros : Easy to read, color Sections, Good tooling section. Sharper and higher contrast photos.
Cons : Not as detailed as Haynes (an example would be radiator removal)

    

Haynes Pontiac Firebird Automotive Repair Manual 1982-1992

Where do you get it? : Ebay or Amazon for about $10-$20 
No. Pages : 344

Why do you need it? : Again, this is for your use, not your mechanics. It is very similar to the Clymer book, but i feel that the font is smaller and the book is generally more detailed.It also has an index at the start of each Chapter, in the Clymer book you need to read through the chapter until you get to the section you want.

Pros : More detailed than Clymer, better indexing
Cons : No color sections except for the Spark Plug conditions on the back page, low contrast photos

Original 1985 GM Pontiac Firebird Service Repair Workshop Manual

Where do you get it? : Ebay for about $25-$60
No. Pages : 1766

Why do you need it? : This covers absolutely everything you could want to do to a 1985 Firebird in excruciating detail. It is a huge and daunting book. The main reason you (and i) want this is so that you can bring your car to any mechanic in the area and he'll have the documentation to get the job done right. Nothing in this book is geared towards the amateur, its a shop manual, so only mechanics are really going to get the value out of it. If you are a total gear-head and can handle it, its all here. 

Pros : Can help train your mechanic, there is no equivalent. Will also help you buy the parts that you need exactly, rather than having your mechanic order the wrong ones. I used this to pull emissions parts from a 1982 fire-bird and then deliver every single tiny part that was required to my mechanic. I then scanned the reassembly instructions, printed it out and gave them to him including all the emissions settings. This probably saved me about a $1000 in money and time as my mechanic searched junkyards for these really hard to find parts and then installed them. 
Cons : Heavy.

1982-1992 Pontiac F - GM Parts & Illustration Catalog - September 1992

Where do you get it? : Ebay for $80-$100, GMParts Wiki, or PDF online here. (Pontiac - contact me if this is not supposed to be linked)
No. Pages : 1078

Why do you need it? : This is useful if you are looking for the GM part number of a very specific part so that you can go searching for it online. It should be in here.

Pros : Nice to have parts inventory book
Cons : Expensive in physical form.

GMC Dealer Parts Inventory and Sales

Where do you get it? : Online at several GMC dealer sites (i.e Nalley GMC)
No. Pages : N/A

Why do you need it? : This is SUPER useful. You can literally browse your cars body and engine and find exactly the parts you need. I use this in conjunction with the Workshop and Parts Manual to find whether GMC are still selling the hard to find parts NEW. Yes, this is a real thing, some parts are still for sale which is really cool.

Pros : Super detailed with diagrams
Cons : You have to boot your computer. Not necessarily the best descriptions for each part.

KNIGHT plate arrived and still waiting for Smog work

The KNIGHT plate has arrived, which i intend to only use as an ornament for now, but at least i have it. Its not going to be the legal plate i use obviously, i need to wait for the DMV to send me KNIGHTE for that. It's an extremely accurate replica with everything embossed. I ordered it from bigkidkate on ebay for $17 shipped :-)

The  smog parts are still being attached to the car and i honestly have no idea what its going to cost or if Jimmy is even going to be able to complete all of the work. In an ideal world he does it, and then i get it smogged and registered in Silverlake that day, but that is going to be highly unlikely. I'm thinking of getting it done via AAA, which i'm going to need to sign up for if i'm driving a 30 year old car around.

I also got in contact with Jay Ohrberg in La Quinta, CA. Jay worked on the Knight Kider series and actually built the Super Pursuit Mode version of KITT for Season 4, as-well as appearing in 4 episodes. This guy really knows how to build cars, and has put together a ton of other movie cars, including the Bat-mobile for Batman Returns.

I've already ordered 2 sets of Bowling Ball hubcaps and a nose.

Check out the SPM KITT chronology - pretty bad-ass.

Dropped the parts to Jimmy

Jimmy now has all of the parts for a Smog un-delete

• Air Breather
• PCV Valves
• Air Diverter
• All hoses and pipes
• Smog Pump and Bracket

The only parts that i think he is missing now are the Air breather extension duct (below)

I just need to wait until he lets me know what can be done.

I'm definitely concerned that the aftermarket dash will cause trouble as the Check Engine light does not come on and so it may need to be removed for troubleshooting which may cost me more :-/