Spike Lab - 1971 Karmann Ghia Volksrod Project

Tags:   karmann ghia · volksrod projectNo Comments.

The door glass has been removed and won’t be put back in. I’m going window free with this project. The top of each door has a long metal strip that holds the rubber scraper. This was looking unsightly and needed modification. I used my trusty hammer and beat it into the window channel. Looks way better and cleans up the side profile of the car nicely. I went back after the photos and evened things out. You can see in the photo a little bit of unevenness.

The profile now matches the area where the 1/4 window used to live.

Tags:   door · karmann ghiaNo Comments.

I worked out the dash ugliness. The original veneer and dash pad were toast. Here is a before photo:

And the after shot:

I removed the crusty dash pad after I took the photos.

Tags:   dash · karmann ghiaNo Comments.

The lower right fender was bashed in below the turn signal hole. The turn signal brackets themselves are hammered! That’ll get fixed later. There was also a nasty kink in the edge of the fender. The edge itself has a slight rip so I need to tack that and try to clean it up a bit.

I took the right front wheel off and carefully worked over the dents with a hammer and dolly. The Ghia metal is very pliable and great care must be taken to avoid overdoing the metal. After about 15 minutes the lower area was looking like this:

You can see a tremendous improvement and the kink is nearly gone. I took some 100 grit sandpaper to it and worked it over to find smaller dings and then worked on those as they appeared. This is not going to be a total restoration so perfection is not the goal.

Once that was done I got over to the nose and worked on that some more and cleaned up the crusty paint and knocked out several more dings.

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I made up a template to check for smoothness of the transition for the top of the frame as it mates to the lower section. 5 inches is about all it can be or it will get an ugly kink and not look so natural.

Notice the lines that come together keep a natural flow to them.

I marked off the section that will be chopped with some black dots. I’m waiting on a reply from a fellow volksrodder for the top center section that I need to complete the chop. Once I get the center piece I’ll get out the sawz-all and get down with it.

Tags:   chop · ghia · roofNo Comments.

The right front fender needs attention. Down low is a big kink and the turn signal area is bashed in. I started sanding off the flaky crusty paint today and will just keep going until it’s straight(er).

Tags:   dents · fender · ghiaNo Comments.

The right rear taillight was bonked slightly. The lens is cracked but still in one piece. The outer edge of the body was bent. Some careful massaging brought everything back into shape.

Tags:   ghia · repair · taillightNo Comments.

My Ghia needs a nose job.
I hadn’t laid a hammer to the Ghia until tonight. I reviewed the damage, found a few hammers and dollies, and started working. I was able to gently coax the nose out in the center-most point. It had a dink in the middle that came out pretty easy. It looks like I am not the first one to massage this point. Near the horn was a large dent. It came out easily in a few whacks of the convincer. The finer details in the center nose area took gentleness and about 30 minutes. I am happy with the results considering that this thing was driven into something stout! Next up is a full yank of the left front fender to pull it back into it’s proper position.

Tags:   body · dolly · ghia · hammer · nose · repair · workNo Comments.

Get a couple beers, get some 3/16″ inner D tubing and get down with it. The following is my version of the story. Yours may differ.
Make sure your gas take is empty! Open a beer. Take a swig. Loosen the right front wheel studs slightly. Chock the left side wheels and jack up the right side. Use some jack stands to hold up the right side safely. Remove the right side front wheel. Enjoy the view

Reach in like a man and pull the dead ass fuel line off. Since this piece of shit is 29 years old it may crumble in your hand. VW was kind enough to use clamps that are neither adjustable or friendly. If you can’t pull the clamp and the dingleberry of a leftover hose off it’s time to chill. Take another swig of beer. Get your trusty 13mm socket out and lift the gas tank. There are a few wires to be aware of but if you’ve made it this far you can figure it out.

In the photo take a look at the circled fittings. Make sure these are cleared of old dead hose. At this point you can attach the new piece of tubing to the tube sticking out of the tunnel. Position the new hose clamp so you can either loosen or tighten it with the fuel tank in position.
Put the gas tank back and take a huge swig off that beer. You might be done. Open a new one if necessary.
Take a look at the new hose under the tank and reach in carefully and attach the end to the bottom of the tank. Don’t be a ham-fisted gorilla and knock the fitting off the bottom of the tank!
Tighten up a new hose clamp on the hose and enjoy your handy work.

Finish off that beer and then add some fuel to your tank. Check for leaks. No leaks? Great! Got leaks? Check your clamps, then crack a new beer. You have problem that needs a bit of attention.
Enjoy!

Tags:   ghia fuel line repair · volksrod · vwNo Comments.

I got into the horn wiring and found the relay wired incorrectly. I swapped things around and checked the voltage and it was good. But, the horn wouldn’t toot. After messing with it I think the problem lies in the wiring in the steering column. Screw that. I’m going to find an ooga horn and wire it to a button on the dash.

Tags:   horn · nightmare · wiringNo Comments.