Knight Rider AM Radio

[Transistorized]

I got this as a Christmas gift when I was 7 or 8.
This sits in my boom room normally. But today, I am listening to AM broadcast on it in my office. Not a good AM radio...but a radio nonetheless.

The fact that it survived my childhood is a miracle. I was hard on toys. This radio performed as many imaginary jumps as my General Lee did. And what's even more impressive, is that the battery door is still there and not broken.

This radio uses a single 9V battery. They didn't get the wheels right but it was one of the most cool gifts I got when I was a kid.

 

[Fatdog]

That's cool! Looking at the 180 degree sweep for tuning, man, you had to be really precise when looking for a station. Still wondering why they put Camaro rims on it.

 

[Transistorized]

That's cool! Looking at the 180 degree sweep for tuning, man, you had to be really precise when looking for a station. Still wondering why they put Camaro rims on it.

You are right. It's very difficult to lock in a station. At the same time, the car has to be pointed in just the right direction too. If you rotate it 30 degrees the station goes away. It will also go through a 9V battery in 8 hours flat

 

[Fatdog]

It will also go through a 9V battery in 8 hours flat

It's a talking car. Of course it will go through batteries like crazy.

 

[Superduper]

Does it have enough room to install the kitt led heartbeat?

 

[Transistorized]

Does it have enough room to install the kitt led heartbeat?

That is a great idea! I bet it does. The front bumper does come off and I could wire it in with the on/off switch on the radio. I am sure there are plenty of tiny LED kits that would run off a 9V battery. I would only need to make sure that their IC controller circuit doesn't interfere with the AM radio portion.

Silly thing picks up every pop and crack in the house. Which is good if you want to hear the arching on electronic contact switches in your house (heaters/light switches, etc..). It picks those up better than stations..lol.

 

[Fatdog]

Does it have enough room to install the kitt led heartbeat?

That would be really cool!

 

[Superduper]

Here you go Ryan. I can send to you if you want to try it. I was/am going to install these into my (2) Hitachi TRK-3D80 boomboxes to add to the already nice led light show. Will basically act as a power led indicator(s).

As you can see, will work with as little as 3VDC. Probably 5VDC will be OK. Not sure if you go too high, whether you will toast it.

Here's video of it working. Due to my host services provider always grumbling about my storage use, I dislike hosting videos on my server, so this video may be deleted after 30 days or so. Of course you can download it if you feel like it.


Kitt LED.

 

[Transistorized]

Here you go Ryan. I can send to you if you want to try it. I was/am going to install these into my (2) Hitachi TRK-3D80 boomboxes to add to the already nice led light show. Will basically act as a power led indicator(s).

As you can see, will work with as little as 3VDC. Probably 5VDC will be OK. Not sure if you go too high, whether you will toast it.

Here's video of it working. Due to my host services provider always grumbling about my storage use, I dislike hosting videos on my server, so this video may be deleted after 30 days or so. Of course you can download it if you feel like it.


Kitt LED.

That is a neat looking LED circuit. I think the biggest issue I am going to have is finding something small enough. I took a photo of the car with a measuring tape for reference. You can see the cheesy crooked and off center sticker they added from the factory. You don't know how many times I resisted the urge to remove it and apply it better.

Here's a rough example of the size I have to work with.

 

[Transistorized]

I had no idea. Apparently these are collectible. The price of these radios were roughly $5.99 in 1982/84. That's around 20 bucks today. A working one in this condition is around $75. A new MIB example is $189 (asking price). Holly cow! That is insane.

Of course I realize that is asking and not sold price. I will research that one next.

Ok. Looks like selling prices are around $20 dollars. So that seems about right. Some are not working though. Likely due to battery damage or dried up caps.

 

[Eddy]

That is a great idea! I bet it does. The front bumper does come off and I could wire it in with the on/off switch on the radio. I am sure there are plenty of tiny LED kits that would run off a 9V battery. I would only need to make sure that their IC controller circuit doesn't interfere with the AM radio portion.

Silly thing picks up every pop and crack in the house. Which is good if you want to hear the arching on electronic contact switches in your house (heaters/light switches, etc..). It picks those up better than stations..lol.

That's the charm of listening to medium / shortwave. Plus nowadays the switching power supplies all over the house
Makes listening almost impossible
Anyway , fun scanning Shortwave tough (pirate stations in the weekend)

 

[Transistorized]

That's the charm of listening to medium / shortwave. Plus nowadays the switching power supplies all over the house
Makes listening almost impossible
Anyway , fun scanning Shortwave tough (pirate stations in the weekend)

Every now and then I get the world clock when surfing. It's a hot evening when I can get that. Those are the nights I like to perform a Shango066 and try some DX'ing with a few of my top performers which ironically includes a cheap Sanyo mini

 

[Superduper]

I didn't realize that car was that small. This led circuit board is 2.25" wide. I'm sure it could be made tinier, but for a 1-off pcb, the cost would be prohibitive, and even with tiny leds, you aren't going to get very many in a 1" wide board.

Here's my firebird. Picked it up for $1k with a rod knock many years ago. A project I was just itching to do. My original thoughts of just simply changing the rod bearing from underneath got shot to hell and I ended up getting a replacement motor instead from which I pretty much refreshed everything before swapping over.

 

[Transistorized]

@Superduper

My buddy had a 97 White, T tops with the 6 speed 5.7L engine. I can't tell you how many donuts and interactions with cops we had. I lost count. But I do remember that when there were a bunch of cars in a p-lot and a cop showed up to disperse the crowd, people would start leaving and the cop would sit there and not move until the TA made a move. They targeted that car and would whip right in behind it.

He got all the tickets so didn't hurt me any...

 

[Eddy]

Every now and then I get the world clock when surfing. It's a hot evening when I can get that. Those are the nights I like to perform a Shango066 and try some DX'ing with a few of my top performers which ironically includes a cheap Sanyo mini

Yep , even though i own a Satellit 700 it's more fun scanning with a boombox. The GF 9000 is pretty good on shortwave

 

[Superduper]

@Superduper

My buddy had a 97 White, T tops with the 6 speed 5.7L engine. I can't tell you how many donuts and interactions with cops we had. I lost count. But I do remember that when there were a bunch of cars in a p-lot and a cop showed up to disperse the crowd, people would start leaving and the cop would sit there and not move until the TA made a move. They targeted that car and would whip right in behind it.

He got all the tickets so didn't hurt me any...

I won't get any tickets, mine doesn't have the big V8, it's the 6 cyl version but that's ok. At my age, plenty for having fun. Mine is also the 2002 version, the last of the mighty firebirds as that's the last year that Pontiac made those before retiring the line.

I used to have an SS chevelle back when chevelles were plentiful and movies turned them into demolition derby contestants. Anyhow I thought it would be fun to install a torker II intake onto that motor, the ones where the carb was mounted at like a weird 45* angle. Anyhow, it breathed so well that after I installed it, the engine breathed like weeeeee, I can rev to 10k rpm now, where before it was throttled. This was literally right after I started it, before I even drove it any. Was just blipping the throttle and after a few high rpm blips (I was a teen, I'm excused), the engine sputtered and died. Turned out the timing chain skipped a tooth and bent all of the intake push rods. That lead to twice weekly pushes across the street to avoid the street cleaning tickets and when that got old, I scrapped the car (yes, I scrapped an SS chevelle) and kept the engine because it was easier to store. FF 40 years later, I found the time to get the engine tore apart, all the machine work done, and built it all back together and it's been an engine waiting for a body for a few years. Classic bodies are out of the stratosphere or rust city. When I saw this "bird" with a terrific looking body, I snagged it. But once I purchased it and contemplated the swap, I realized it just isn't going to work. 1/2 the engine is set back 1/2 way under the cowl. Even if I could shoehorn the big block chevy in there, how will I ever adjust the timing or replace the rotor and distributor cap? Then I'd have to do something elaborate with a gear driven timing setup that drives an expensive distributorless system. All in all, it was going to be too much work and another black hole project. Just replace the bearing and be done with it right? But no, that wasn't going to be an easy deal either under the car. Heads would have to come out, etc.... too much trouble. Found a low mileage motor from an 05, and rebuilt the heads, all the gaskets, seals, all new injectors, coils, etc... everything new or rebuilt except the bottom end but at 65k, and crosshatch still looking new, not necessary to touch those. Then after about 2 or 3 years, I finally finished it. That was back when I could still lift an M70. Those days are behind me now. BTW notice how I jacked the car onto stands, placed a hydraulic cart under the subframe, and then lifted the body up off of the subframe (note hood touching the 8.5' high garage door. That's how these are done these days. The old days where engine and tranny come out the top are over. Nowadays, everything comes out the bottom. BTW don't try this with a HF cherry picker. This old sunex unit is godzilla compared to the new HF stuff.

 

[Transistorized]

That is some major swapping going on. I remember we had to pull my buddies engine out several times. He kept blowing it up. Eventually he got tired of taking it out the bottom and drilled all of the factory spot welds out to remove the front support so he could pull it out the front. He replaced the spot welds with pop rivets. When I found that out I came up with excuses not to ride in that car anymore. I felt that the entire front clip was compromised by using rivets only. Maybe not but I lost my faith in that thing as far as safety went..lol. I am sure its long gone at this point as I haven't seen him in over 10 years. Kinda went my own way and got a house and life happened.

As far as cars, I have one last project I need to get on. I think about this car every time I watch Vice Grip Garage and he tells everyone to get wrenching and keep the dream alive. A little bit of a story here myself.

Before my dad died, I got his 72 Olds Cutlass 'S' out for him to drive once more. Most people want to correct me when I say S. They'll say "Don't you mean Supreme". Nope.. Cutlass 'S'. Shorter wheelbase and different styling from the Supreme. Anyway, it's unrestored mechanically but I did get it running with cleaning and rebuilding the carb, new fuel pump, new coil, plugs, new alternator, belts and made sure the whoa was equally matched with the go. The paint is fresh and the vinyl top was replaced.

This video at the bottom was around 2014 or so and my dad lived for another 5 years after but never got around to driving it anymore.

The car is now mine to tinker with. Been sitting 10/11 years now total since he drove us around that day. We went hunting and fishing and used it to pull the boat. As for me, I have never driven it. Dad always drove. There will be many feelings coming through when I take my first ride down the road in it. Some happy, some sad.

But anyway, here's a little snippet of when I got it running for what was our last time cruising in it that day. If I had known what I know now, I would have enjoyed that moment much more.

This car has been in my life and family since I was too young to walk. Photo here with mom carrying me, my sis running in front yard and car in driveway.



Video of last time it was out.

 

[Transistorized]

If anyone was wondering, the aluminum foil running up the fuel hose to the carb was put there by my dad. He thought the car was vapor locking when it got hot...it was actually the coil breaking down but I never said anything when I replaced it to correct the real issue. I left it there because he thought it needed to be there and that it helped.

 

[Superduper]

Even sounds like a hot rod, lol. Careful with the throttle blips though, that's exactly what I did after installing the new intake manifold and watched as the pistons kissed the valves when the timing chain skipped.