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Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:38 pm

Ok time to come clean and tell us what you reckon is the dumbest thing you've done while maintaining/fixing/driving your KG?

Mine so far are:

.drove while part of my firewall came unstuck and lodged in the fan. Thought I had blown my engine to bits from the noise it made.

.drive :oops: a few miles on a damp dark night with a broken fan belt. My God the smoke/etc. that came out of the car when I got home. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

I know my list will expand and expand so come one, be brave and share :)

Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:18 pm

Mine would probably be: using fiberglass to repair rocker panels on a 'vert - really stupid.

Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:39 pm

lemke wrote: Mine would probably be: using fiberglass to repair rocker panels on a 'vert - really stupid.

You went to the Roachghia school of body repair?

Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:22 pm

Icy wrote: lemke wrote: Mine would probably be: using fiberglass to repair rocker panels on a 'vert - really stupid.

You went to the Roachghia school of body repair?
Oh, now you've gone and done it, Icy. :roll:
You KNOW that those are fightin' words to the Roach. :x

Wed Jun 28, 2006 6:46 pm

4.Not buying a light colored interior earlier

3.Buying a center mount Weber 40 IDF

2.Being so careless with nice OG Hella tailight lenses

1.Not finding just how bad my ghias body really was before buying it

Wed Jun 28, 2006 6:59 pm

took off on a trip to the florida keys (300mi) with my teen kids in my window van, towing a pop up camper. just almost finished an engine rebuild from line bore out the day before. almost because i forgot to torque the heads the final torque. 36 hp became about 25 in 100mi. by the time i got to the keys top speed was about 35mph. and were those head popping! spent the week anyway and called for someone to come down and tow it back..... with a vega. do i win?

Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:25 pm

Bought a '67 Ghia without looking for rust (I was 19). Got it home and found LOTS of rust. Basically, the entire bottom 7 inches of the car was rotted. It looked fine, but you could actually poke your finger through. Poor Ghia. Sold it to the local Sheriff, who used alot of fiberglass and bondo. Yikes. His daughter loved it though! Oh the second dumbest thing I did was to leave the Empi steering wheel in the car. Duh!

Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:38 am

1) Did not torque an axle nut to the proper spec. It backed off, broke the coder pin, de-threaded the axle, ejected the brake drum on the highway... 3 wheels on the highway is not fun.

2) Towed my ghia with a bug towbar with an F150 without a drop hitch or extension. $1500 worth of body work later it was back to how it should look.

3) Drove my cars for way too long with crap brakes

4) Left my cars titled in my parents name when I was young... Near perfect paint and interior Super Beetle with 10 disc changer, 2 300w amps, 2 10 inch subs, Jensen 6x9s in every panel, Low miles 1914cc engine with bugspray carb and 10# nitrous bottle... Sure, you can have it for $300, my son left it for the summer, he has another car so I guess he doesn't want it. "Hey Peter, I just made you $300" "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo" The carborator was worth more than they got for the car.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:44 am

I'd tell you, but Everett Barnes does not have enough bandwidth.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:39 am

My bride and I were going to drive the California coast for our honeymoon. I wanted to check the oil before we left, so I open the door, popped the rear deck latch, then closed and locked the door. I put my keys down next to the battery, checked the oil, and closed the rear deck lid. Opppps.....locked my ONLY car key in the engine compartment.

2. We moved to Detroit for a short while. We pulled a U-Haul from California to Detroit with our Ghia. Pulled it fine, but couldn't even slow down going down hill with that trailer pushing from behind. Scarey ride going thru the Utah canyons......Wahoooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:19 am

Tried to convert my '74 Coupe into a '69 Cabrio:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/File0001.jpg

And stuffed a V-6 into the engine compartment:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/File0003.jpg

WTF

? ! ? ! ? !

Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:32 am

This one's easy...

I laid in front of the rear passenger side wheel and gapped the starter to the solenoid with a screwdriver to get the engine to turn over while a friend turned the key to start the engine.

Wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't an auto-stick and if she wasn't sitting in the passenger seat and didn't lean on the stick as she reached across to turn the key.

Ended up with asphalt on (in) one side of my face, tire tread on the other, a bald spot that was a bit larger than the day before, bent up sunglasses and people staring at me through the windows of the diner and from those pumping gas at the service station.

Also have something to remember about Jacksonville, Fla. I suppose that there are a few other people that have something to remember about Jacksonville, Fla. also.

I brought the Ghia back to Pittsburgh and left the girl in Florida.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:39 am

1. I timed my ghia and apparently forgot to tighten the distributor down all the way. After about a week, the rotor came loose and the car flat out died in 4th. I was in the middle of a busy 6-lane road during rush hour.. and by middle, I mean broken down in the middle turn lane.

2. Didn't buy the signal light relay until days after

Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:44 am

EdW wrote: I'd tell you, but Everett Barnes does not have enough bandwidth.

Hear, Hear! But it all added up to a car nobody else could drive or steal. That's not all bad.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:45 am

Ozzie wrote: EdW wrote: I'd tell you, but Everett Barnes does not have enough bandwidth.

Hear, Hear! But it all added up to a car nobody else could drive or steal. That's not all bad.

The original post asked about the dumbest thing you ever did, not dumbest thing you ever did to a Ghia.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:51 am

Icy wrote: Ozzie wrote: EdW wrote: I'd tell you, but Everett Barnes does not have enough bandwidth.

Hear, Hear! But it all added up to a car nobody else could drive or steal. That's not all bad.

The original post asked about the dumbest thing you ever did, not dumbest thing you ever did to a Ghia.

OK, marry my X wife.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:02 am

Ozzie wrote: Icy wrote: Ozzie wrote: EdW wrote: I'd tell you, but Everett Barnes does not have enough bandwidth.

Hear, Hear! But it all added up to a car nobody else could drive or steal. That's not all bad.

The original post asked about the dumbest thing you ever did, not dumbest thing you ever did to a Ghia.

OK, marry my X wife.

Actually, I was wrong. The title says, "Dumbest thing you ever did", while inside the post he adds, "... to your KG."

Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:04 am

I'm not taking it back.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:05 am

Ozzie wrote: I'm not taking it back.

I woudn't take my ex back either :lol:

Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:39 pm

:( Buying a Ghia here in the rust zone (Mississippi) without doing a pan inspection! Luckily, I have a friend who does body work. :)