Front beam
Posted on February 16, 2011
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
Work continues apace, despite the lack of updates. The front end is now nearly complete, and front wheels should be ready to go on once a few last parts arrive. The track-rods are ready for installation and all the brake lines have been connected.
A Rancho Pro-Street gearbox was ordered in December (just in time before the VAT went up!) and should arrive next week. We could have a complete rolling floorpan by mid-March! Then the bodywork will begin…
Pedals
Posted on December 10, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
Pedals all installed and working! That’s all the controls done, the gear lever/linkage and handbrake had been done already. Suspension work begins now…
Floorpan
Posted on August 6, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
Bad pic of the floorpan as it stands right now (with a lot of detritus and parts sitting on it!).
Handbrake installed with new cables, front beam on awaiting seals and front disc brake kit, and gearbox cradle attached (with shiny new bugpack gearbox front mount). Brake hardlines are also in the process of being attached. New master cylinder has arrived as well as lots of new seals, bushes, etc.
Floorpan work
Posted on July 18, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | 1 Comment
Well work is still ongoing, and moving fast finally!
I stopped my work on the body to concentrate on the floorpan, I wanted to put stuff back together again!
I’ve got pretty much everything I need to complete the floorpan apart from some front beam seals and the front brakes, but they’re on order.
Attention to detail is the order of the day. I’ll know what’s in this Ghia, and I want to do a proper job on it. The original gearbox bracket bolts were dropped in rust converter, cleaned up, and then I sprayed them with primer and enamel black which should protect them, plus they look good:
The gearbox bracket fitted, along with a new bugpack gearbox mount
Lots of other things, but no pics. In the pic of the gearbox bracket you can see some copper hardlines in the process of being fitted, and the brake master cylinder has been replaced with a proper OEM two circuit unit and fitted along with the hardlines up front.
Front beam has been refitted, awaiting now a seal kit, and this next week I’ll clean up the gearbox and paint it black to match everything. Then that can go on and we can get rear wheels 
Then hopefully I’m expecting all the stuff for the front so in the next 2-3 weeks the floorpan should be finished and rolling!
Then it’s back to the endless bodywork…
I also got a new shift knob for my EMPI Hurst-copy shifter… it’s a real pool ball that’s been drilled out!
Decklid
Posted on April 7, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
Seperating the outer skin and the structure of the decklid. Someone did a really bad repair on the skin, and dented the structure; so we’ll repair that first.
The doors and the bonnet came out OK though.
Damage
Posted on March 23, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
This is most of the damage we’ve found on the primered shell.
Rot in the spare wheel well
Evidence of welding on all the pillars?! Has the car had a new roof in the past? Maybe she was rolled over by a rhino or something in South Africa…
Some cracking around the nearside “nostril” airbox. The offside one is fine.
Another view of that airbox, this time from in the bonnet:
I think this is the worst of the damage. Some yahoo’s had a go at the offside arch with a hammer.
This is the nearside arch, in much better condition.
Some detail of the crude weld there:
Someone’s made some very crude holes for speakers in the rear shelf. Although the rear shelf is covered with a vinyl pad, I still want to repair this area.
Nearly there. Some dents now on the offside wing:
There’s also some damage to the battery tray that I didn’t photograph.
Some rot under the front nearside wheelarch:
And finally, some rot under the nose.
This is the worst of the damage. There’s a couple of minor dings and dents in other places, plus some crude welds that can be tidied up.
It’s clear there’s work to be done – far more than I realised when I took on this project. So I’d better get started I suppose… and to begin, I got some replacement panels to repair the damage under the nose. Now the work begins in earnest.
Primed Ghia
Posted on February 5, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
Ghia after chemical stripping and priming at Surface Processing. She’s in quite good condition under all the paint and filler, the damage to the right rear quarter isn’t nearly so bad and there’s a couple small holes here and there but overall in good condition
Away for cleaning!
Posted on January 23, 2010
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
The little car went away on Wednesday the 20th to be chemically stripped and then e-primed!
Surface Processing are doing the work for me, and expect it will take around three weeks.
As well as the bodyshell, the doors, bonnet, and bootlid were sent away as well.
Got nuthin’
Posted on December 29, 2009
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | Leave a Comment
Work continues on the Ghia, but at a snail’s pace (what with actual work getting in the way).
Everything for the chassis/frame has been powdercoated and is ready to go back together, and the body ships out on the 20th of January to get chemically stripped and primed.
Carbs
Posted on October 7, 2009
Filed Under Karmann Ghia | 1 Comment
Starting to get things powdercoated… in fact the only things that aren’t coated yet are the floorpan which needed a bit of welding work and the front beam.
In the meantime, my carbs arrived… a pair of Dell’Orto DRLA 40s, complete with hex linkage.
