The moment everyone has been waiting for is now here

I'm sure all of yous are wondering why I did that big update to this blog. Is my Knight Rider car fixed up and on the road again? Did I get to sell it and get another one? Did I just bite the bullet and get rid of it? What the heck is going on? Well, to tell you the truth, I did not get rid of it. It is still sitting in the garage right here:

From 1984 Trans Am

With a dead battery, which is why the charger is on the floor, and a flat tire:

From 1984 Trans Am

As well as the messed up dash shown here:

From 1984 Trans Am

and here:

From 1984 Trans Am

Hurry up and cut to the chase already, you say? Alright, here it goes...

From 1986 Pontiac Trans Am

Looks a little different now, no? Take another look:

From 1986 Pontiac Trans Am

And one more:

From 1986 Pontiac Trans Am

So, there you go. Another Trans Am? I can hear you guys now, "Why the F- did you get another Trans Am when you already have one? Where did you get the money for such a thing? What are you going to do with TWO Trans AM's now?

Well, to answer your questions quite simply: As you can see in the pics, the body is in damn good shape. Trying to make mine into good shape again would cost over $1000 to fix the rust, dents, and weatherstripping. Oh, and swapping the nose. This one has not been "fucked with," so to speak, as far as the electronics and dash of the car goes. Everything is STOCK on this 86. So, I should not have any issues with shit not working or screwing up. There is a REAL dash in this car and it works unlike the crap dash mine came with which NEVER worked when I got the car for the price of a BRAND NEW car.

My car has been sitting in the garage for close to a year now. I just didn't see the point in driving it around much anymore because of the engine leaks, roof leaks, non-functioning dash, and the way the body looked. As much as I'd like to get it all fixed, I found it financially unfeasible, considering with the debt I am currently in. With the price it would cost to fix everything up, I could have all my credit cards and then some paid off so that's one of the main reasons why I did not anything with it. So, there it sat, in the garage, literally just collecting dust and developing more rust and a flat.Then comes the 1986 Trans Am.

A couple months ago, while in the St. Lucie West TGI Fridays, I was having a conversation with the Karaoke dude because I just sent a "friend request" on his Myspace page. He said how we have some things in common and noticed I had a Trans Am. He said he had one too. A black 1986. The body was in good shape but the engine overheats a bit and the engine starts to knock. He said he's trying to get rid of it because he doesn't have time to work on it and will sell it to me for $______. I said I have one I am trying to fix up myself and don't really need another one nor have the cash for another. Of course, if you know me well enough, I can't just respond to a question like that without analyzing the question many times afterward. So, I got to thinking.

I haven't driven my car for close to a year for the reasons stated above. To fix everything to make it semi-driveable again would cost more than $3000. So, I was like hmmm....... I can get the '86 which is all stock and not screwed with, with body work already done to it, for cheaper than it would cost to fix my car, swap parts form my '84 to '86, and have a nice drivable Trans Am again. Of course, it won't look like a "Knight Rider" car yet and it won't for a long while but what my main focus now is having a TA I can drive around in because that's really what I miss. Later on, I'll be doing an external conversion with just the nose and scanner, as well as black out cover on the taillights. I did not mention the price I am paying for the '86 just like I didn't mention the price I paid for the '84 because of many different reasons but let's just say, it was a fair price for me.

The '84, as you saw in the pics above, is still in my garage and the '86 is parked in front of my friends' garage. Sometime next week, I'll be getting my '84 to my friends house, either by driving it or maybe getting a trailer to put it on. If I can start it, I may bring it to Tires Plus to have the tire repaired and get an oil changed or I may just trailer it to my friends house in Fort Pierce. The latter way is obviously safer but we'll see.

Here is what I'll be swapping from one car to the other:

I'll be taking the hood of the '84 and putting it on the '86 because it's the one with the hood scoop and the "Knight Rider" style. I'll be replacing the '86 hatchback with the '84 because the '86 one has the rear light up top as shown here:

From 1986 Pontiac Trans Am

It also has the '86 spoiler style design as well. It's not on the car but it has the stock fitting on the hatch for the wrap around style. The '84 taillights will be switched out too because these are the "rounded" ones which came on the '85 and later models. The black out cover does not work on these. I was going to switch out the doors and still might because the '86's doors are a bit rusted on the bottom, more so than the '84 but, as you can see in the pics of the '84, there are door "lines" on the door which would not go with the style of this car. The main reason why I want to switch them out too is because mine have the automatic door locks. The engine's will be switched out because my '84 has the bigger 350 versus the stock 305 the '86 has. Transmission will be switched as well because I had the '84 one rebuilt around 6 years ago or so. As for the interior, the seats, as well as lower console and headliner from the '84 will be put into the '86 for obvious reasons as far as the "Knight Rider" conversion goes. I also like the seats and lower console in the '84 more anyway. Oh, and I'll be swapping the.... the engine part I can't think of right now, lol!! The..... the.... alternator!! There we go!! Took like 10 mins! I'll be swapping that because mine is rebuilt and has more amps or whatever it's called. I have two batteries in the '84 too of which I may have the '86 done the same way but that isn't that big of a deal.

Other than all of that, there isn't much else to note so far. I will be posting more updates and pics here as soon as the work starts. After everything is swapped out and working, I'll be putting my '84 up for sale or sell it for parts or whatever is best. If anyone needs a Trans Am for parts, let me know.  I'll be putting another update on my main blog as to why I have made this move, of which most people in my family will not approve of again so stay tuned for that soon.

Until next time,

Justin

Massive blog update before the BIG news!

The big update you've all been waiting for... or not!!

As you can see, I haven't really updated this blog in quite some time. The last update to this blog was on  December 18, 2007, which was barely anything. Let's just start off where I left on that one and get to the present.

Below are the links to my main blog where my "Knight Rider" car was mentioned. Following the links are the excerpts of what was posted in the blog posts about the car. You can click the links to read the fulls posts if you wish but it is not necessary. The main focus here is the car itself, not me. That's what the other blog is for.

Here it goes, in order from oldest posts to newest:

  October is starting to shape up pretty good

Thursday, October 07, 2004 

"Welp, the thing I wanted..... I just picked up tonight and it is sitting someplace right now. I won't get into the full details about it yet but it's something which made me pretty happy and it's something I have wanted practically all my life. There will DEFENETALY be a page on my site devoted to it. Soon, after I get everything straightened out with it, it will be posted on my site for the world to see! ;-) (Well, not the world, but the 4 people who actually view my blog!) "

Time to dance my little fingers over the keyboard again!

Sunday, November 21, 2004

"I got me a 1990 Pontiac Firebird! This is the car I really wanted since I was a young lad (actaully any one between 1982-1990 but this one will do too!). I'm not going to get into the specifics of how I got it and all that stuff here; that will be devoted to another page in my site comming soon!"

Quick Version

Long version

Pics of the 1990 Firebird

I pulled out looking like I spilled Prego thick and chunky sauce all over...

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

"Welp, here I go again! Time to update my blog! First off, as the three of you had probably noticed, I added the Firebird Conversion section located here: http://www.justinrocque.com/firebird/firebirdmain.html. For those other five billion who never check my site out anyway, there it is justin case you want to take a peek. I am working on the Knight Rider part of my site too, which will soon be up shortly and the conversion page will move into that part. I just realized I gotta finish up that y2k+4 thing because the year is almost about to fly over again. It's just insane how the years are going by these days; justin sane! ;-) "

"I just got my new chrome-plated center caps for my Firebird wheels in the mail today. As soon as I get a chance, I'll take a close-up pic of those. Now, all I'm waiting for is the money clip, steering wheel, coin holder, and tail light assembly."

Just a bit Brisk

Wednesday, December 15, 2004 

"My car was dripping its blood so I took it to Goodyear. It's been dripping it's life juice for a couple weeks but I finally took it someplace to have it checked. I looked at my baby from below and it wasn't a pretty sight. The blood was dripping on the side of the heart and down to the artery. The Goodyear dude there said it will be $400 to get it fixed. I was like, "well, holy shitballs!" in my head and told him I already had a mechanic who was supposed to have it all fixed so I'll take it back to him. $400 my arse!

I took it to the mechanic to see if he could check it then and there so I can see what was wrong with it and get a price. He, of course, couldn't, so I made an appointment for this Tuesday at, what I thought was, 10AM. He said he get's there at 8AM and I said ok. There is no way I was going to be there at 8AM though, considering I don't go to bed until around 4AM."

1 more day until the new year and I'm not prepared and this damn hicky is killing me!

Friday, December 31, 2004

"If I could, I would drive around in my car all day if I can get paid for it but I can't, so I won't. :-( You know you are in your dream car if you wouldn't mind spending all day and all knight in it! The Neon I had was OK but just not big enough and cooler enough. ;-) My new soon-to-be Black Beauty is and there is just so much shit I want to do with it but it will take time, which I don't mind because I won't be getting rid of it at all; you might as well bury me in it! Yea, I'm a pretty screwed and obsessed dude who has loves his car more than his girl, which is in his dreams still... or is it?? "

Got me a new toy to celebrate

Sunday, January 09, 2005

"My car is really starting to take on the roll and life of KITT because it really is starting to have a mind of its own. I drove it to Mc. D one afternoon and all was good. I then had to leave to drop off a PC for someone and for some reason, my baby wouldn't turn over, as in it would keep churning but not totally start. I thought it might be that idle switch thing my uncle told me about the last time because I had that problem last time and put it in neutral and it started. This time, it didn't. I called my uncle Bri and he thought it could be the starter or fuel pump. His brother in law couldn't come over to check it out so I ended up taking the ol' Dragonmobile. I was not used to it anymore because it is much higher than my Firebird and, for some reason, the rear-view mirror was on the back floor with a crack in it so I was kinda pissed off about because, even though it's not my car anymore, I still have feelings for it. But, ah well!

After I came back home, I had my uncle take a look at my car. He too said it might be the starter and popped the hood and was going to try to smack the starter to get it going again but it was blocked under some other "car parts" (I'm not a mechanic and I don't know dip about cars so don't laugh!). After that, he closed the hood and tried to start it again and miraculously, it started..... and started again... and again. So, it's been working ever since but I bought a starter today and am going to have Uncle Bri's brother in law check it out in the morning and probably have him install the new starter I got anyway so I don't have to worry about getting a new one in the future; this one also has a lifetime warranty. When I do that, I will also have him check out the other "car parts" to see if they are in good shape too."

My new home

Friday, January 14, 2005

"I got a new starter for my car from the zone (Auto Zone) and my friend's (Uncle Bri) brother-in-law was finally able to install it for me on Monday evening. Since then, the car has been starting without any problems now. However, the noticed the head gaskets or valve covers leaking (I'm not a mechanic so I'm not sure which one he said) so my uncle is trying to find the invoice from the mechanic who spent the month on my car so we can find out if he touched the engine parts at all; I think he did but my uncle doesn't so I'm not sure. I'm sure he said he install new head gaskets or valve covers or something. I think I should go back in blog to the year 2004 to check on that! ;-)

The big ass box you see above in my room is my new car headliner, along with sun visors and speaker panels. It looks like the same color like the one in my car but darker than the "doeskin" tan which I was trying to get for the whole "KR" conversion but it's still good enough and I can always change it much later! The color is still tan though, which is ok. All I need to do now is find someone who can put it in for me. I called a few upholstery places and one said $75 and it would take 4hrs and another said around $90 and it would only take an 1hr and a 1/2. I may go for the latter place but I'm still looking around. I also got my tail lights I ordered on ebay on the beginning of this week to so that is cool. I am looking for a person to install that too because I don't mess with any of that stuff for fear of breaking it."

Since when is a drive-thru a god damn walk-thru?

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

"I got that new headliner I ordered installed in my car two days ago. My uncle helped me do it. It looks pretty good."

Been sloppy these past few times but it's all good.

Monday, March 21, 2005

"I quit that security job 2 weeks ago, which will be discussed in another part of my site. I am currently just doing my PC biz until I get another one soon and I do mean soon because there is another big surprise coming pretty quickly! Sneaky bastard #3 is in full affect and is on it's way full force! ;-) That, of course, will also be explained in another part of my site soon."

 More information about the sneaky bastard here

I had enough of this bullshit called life....

Thursday, April 14, 2005

"And what would K.I.T.T do without da man? He needs me and I need him so I gotta stick around for a long while. ;-)"

Here he is!!

Friday, May 06, 2005

"As far as KITT goes, some bitch backed into his nose and now he needs a new one. He can't just get a nose job, he needs a new one. I got the check for it from the insurance company. Now I'm waiting to see what is holding the body shop up. I called it again (2nd time) and have not gotten a call back. It's shit like that that really pisses my penis off! All I want is for the dumb ass to order the part already because it will take a few weeks for it to be done and shipped out. Then another 2 days to get on my car. So... long story short, it will probably be a little more than a month to have my baby looking good again. I think while I'm waiting for that, I might as well take care of the speedometer, fuel guage, and other stuff in the inside. More updates on my car in that regard and all other will be posted on my Knight Rider Conversion page."

Here I am again...

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

"A few knights ago, on my way home from work, my dashboard took a shit on me (not that it was working that good anyway); it just went dark and made a ding ding ding sound, as if the headlights are left on with the keys out. Also, the gauges on the side are all out too. So, now... it's just darkness. I don't know when I'm getting that fixed because I just don't have the money right now. So, now I'm really taking my life into my hands with KITT, who is supposed to preserve human life but now I just don't know. Other than that, I'm still here, working yet broke, alive, with not much of a life but it will all be changing..... soon!"

Over a month now!

Monday, July 25, 2005

"I got some mechanical stuff done on KITT. Now he doesn't sound like a diesel truck and I don't have to turn him off when I go through a drive-thru. There was a big hole in the exhaust manifold which caused it to sound awfully loud. Now it's as if KITT is in "Silent Mode" now. The dash works (well, lights up) again and I got the cigarette lighter fixed too. Next up will be the brakes, transmission (leaking but temporarily patched with some leak-stopper liquid), and I have to see where that leak on the engine is coming from. Hopefully it won't be something major."

Not worth updating with all the negativity

Thursday, December 08, 2005

"A tad of good news which isn't that good because I had to shell out a shit load of money..... I ordered a new nose, nose grills, blackout cover, and scanner for the distressed Knight 2000. I ordered the one here. The reason why I picked this one between the 3 other worthy companies is because I did some research and actually emailed the guy a few times back and forth and he seems reputable and he knows what he's talking about. I also ordered the grills and black-out cover from him too. I ordered the scanner from here  for reasons which can be explained at the site itself! By the time I will receive them both will be towards the end of this month. Who knows how long it will take to have someone install them though.

A couple months ago, I got 4 new tires for the Knight 2000 because the other ones had no more traction and were shitty ones anyways. I had to have them special ordered though because Goodyear didn't sell that odd size anymore."

Happy new year!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

"I'd just like to mention one interesting thing which happened to me on the way home from my friend's house though: I was turning the block my house was on and felt a nice, cool breeze, even though my windows were closed because it was a tad chilly out tonight. I looked through the rear-view mirror and could not see a thing. I then looked over my shoulder and...... sure enough..... my trunk decided to open on it's own! Good thing I was already home and on a side street. How and why did this happen? Probably because the car has a mind of it's own like I've been saying for the past two years. I parked my car, closed it, tried to open it with my hands and it didn't so I just drove around some more for a bit to see if it would happen again. It did not so I just parked it and went inside..... disgusted at another problem with the damn car. Hopefully this BS won't happen again on my way to work tomorrow!"

Another problem fixed, another problem goes in place of the former

Thursday, January 18, 2007

"Well, here I am, in my room, on my day off. I had an appointment in Stuart to take care of someones Ipod but and make some fast, easy cash.... my car wouldn't start so now I'm just sitting at home, listening to loud rock music, being pissed at the world and the shitty life I have.

I guess it all started when I noticed some ants in the car a week ago. I vacuumed the whole car out and bug sprayed all over. I thought it was all over but, like always....... I was wrong.

Getting in my car to head home after work yesterday, I noticed a lot more came back for the attack. I headed to Wal Mart to get a can of bug spray and a bomb thing to bomb the bitches. After heading home, I let the bomb loose and let it do its thing. I went into the car a couple hours ago to head to Stuart and saw what a wonderful job it did. No ants in site, or at least live ones. I was quite proud of the annoying task I accomplished. That was... until I tried to start my car. Looks like it may be a dead battery again, just like the other times when it "chooses" not to start. I say chooses because it honestly has a choice whether it wants to start or not and this time it chose not to. Could it be because I bombed the inside with that bug eliminating killer? Maybe he didn't like that. But I took care of the problem it had. Maybe he wanted to have the ants in the car to keep him company or wanted some pets. Or maybe he wanted to turn himself into an ant farm, instead of being a car because we both know he hasn't been doing a good job of that lately. Oh, one more thing to note too, on the way home from work, the radio and cd player were acting oddly. I realized it was because the headlights and fog lights were on. I turned them off and the radio and cd player worked fine. But when the lights were on, the car chose to make the cd player act like it was possessed, which it is and the car anyways.

Maybe I bought the wrong kind of bomb..... I wonder.
I'm starting to wonder why that guy got rid of it. Now I think I know. The car is cursed and acts like the real car from the tv show but in a negative way. I try to fix the problems it has but another one ALWAYS pops up after it. Could it be a "Knight Rider" curse with them all? I know it's not the Trans Am causing it. There are quite a few people on that Knight Registries who have similar problems as well.

I'm honestly ready to throw in the towel and I know everyone will be happy if I did because everyone wants me to get rid of the damn thing. But everytime I think about the money I spent for the car and trouble my uncle and I went through, I know the money I get for it will not do me justice and the car justice for that matter.

I hope I get a pretty decent tax return in a few months so I can buy a "regular" car and set this one aside from being my daily driver car until I actually get some decent money coming in to take care of the problems it has and to break the curse it has on it once and for all!"

Posting Positively

Monday, January 22, 2007

"It turns out the battery was dead in my car again. I went to Auto Zone to have them test it and low and behold, it was a goner. Since I got it less than a year ago, they gave me a free replacement. Saved me $70 on a new one. So, now the knight rider is riding again through the knight."

Speak American!!!

Thursday, March 29, 2007

"It looks like a fix has been done to prevent my battery from dying down every damn week. It seems like the secondary (aux) battery was draining the other one for some odd reason, or maybe something connected to it was. The fix, for now, was to just unhook that battery all together. The place I took it to said the radio was hooked up to it and the amp but.... the radio still works and so does the amp. I have not been using the radio at all since it's been unhooked but sometimes when I put the fog lights on, the sub-woofer makes a noise. So, I guess everything is still hooked to the other battery as well for some odd reason.
Another prob is the rust near the windshield getting worse. I thought it was the t-tops causing massive leakage but there is a small gap between the frame of the car and weather strip seals so I around it for now using black wire tape. It looks nicely sealed and I have not notice it leak as much.

I got my fender in the mail a couple months ago. As soon as I get a second job and save up some more money, I'll be getting that put on, along with everything else I got for the outside of the car as well. But, before I do that, I'm probably going to get a second cheap ass car to use while that is getting done because it will take a couple weeks to get the body repaired. I'll also be using the other car to drive back and forth to work. I'm just going to find a decent 2 door with no less than a v6 for around $1500 or less. I saw a few 90's Pontiac grand am coupe for around that price a few weeks ago online.

The door locks on my car locks using the remote lock thing when it wants to; other times I have to open the car door and....... lock them manually with the door lock thing in the inside of the car!
The car has not been remote starting in a long ass while.

When I get that second job soon, I'll take it to sound insights where I got the alarm and have them inspect the wires in the car and have them redo the main areas: locks, second batt, alarm, and other minor things. Later on..... I'll have someone rewire the whole car back to fact. specs. For now, the main things I just mentioned will be good enough.

The car is dripping shit again so that needs to be checked again. It could be power stearing fluid because it was low a couple days ago so I had to fill it up..... and ended up overfilling it! lol!
The exhaust needs to be looked at and fixed as well because there is more leaks in it. Eventually, after all the other stuff is done, I'll have the exhaust and pipes redone because they are all rusted anyways. That won't be for a long while. My main goals now is the body, electrical, and dash. Just three basic things, which is the most expensive shit to fix, of course! Such is my life!!
Other than that.... my car is running great!! ha!"