TheSamba.com :: View topic - December 58 Ghia cabriolet lifetime restoration project

Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:18 pm

Was finally able to make it back down to the body shop and do some more work on the Ghia. The areas to be welded back together are treated with metal prep and are as good as the are going to get.

Here is the driver side lower section all ready to go.

I cleaned all the pan bolts and tapped the holes to clean out any rust and media, then put them all back. I was also able to put the doors back on. This week the Danny should be aligning the doors and welding braces on the inside to keep the car from flexing. If all goes well he should have new rocker skins installed and possibly the forward sections welded back up. Hopefully I will have some updated photos in a week or two. If all goes well my pile of scrap metal might start looking like a Ghia :D

Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:43 pm

I went to the body shop today to check out the progress Danny has made on the car. He is still cleaning the rockers and mocking up a few parts, but the body is all bolted to the pan and the doors are hung. He welded in some adjustable braces and got the door gaps dialed in. He had to weld a bracket to the left side door pillar to pull the panel forward, but over all it is slowly starting to come together. I should be able to get some good shots of the rockers in a week or two when I can move the car out and get back far enough to get some good shots. They still need a little more work before the outer skin gets welded on, but they are cleaning up nicely.

Here is the small bracket he fabbed up and welded to the hinge pillar. He used this to pull the panel back into shape and get the door gap in line. Notice the nice welds, ooooh. :D

He has worked the lead a little to get the door gaps right. The doors are sprung just a little high so when he releases the tension from the inner braces they will drop right into place and be flush with the top of the door jamb.

The lower fender is a little warped, but this will be corrected when the lower panel gets welded back in place.

Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:13 pm

Wow, really come a long way ( i just looked at your starter pics). I would be getting excited!

Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:08 pm

Went back to the Gab-Fab body shop today and Dany didn't dissapoint. He repaired the inner section of the inner fender well and fabbed up an outer piece to replace the rusted out section. It looks absolutely amazing and the repair panel is spot on!

here is the section before Danny welded in the inner panel

here is the section with the inner panel welded in place

this is the outer metal Danny fabbed up

here is the back side of the panel

here is the fabbed panel in place. The fit is perfect! I can't believe Danny made this section from scratch.

Danny also reworked the left side repro lower door pillar panel. He didn't like the indentation on the bottom and he wanted it more like the original panel. I love his attention to detail and his drive to do the job right.

The panel in question is on the left and the NOS panel is on the right. Notice the indent on the repro panel while the other one is rounded without the indent.

here is the repro panel after Danny did his magic, no more indent and it looks just like the NOS panel.

here is the back view. All this work for a piece that will never be seen.

Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:34 pm

I got a call from Danny last week and he wants all the front end sheet metal so he can start to set up the front end. After a little thought I decided to transfer the original body number panel to my donor panel. After a lot of hours drilling and grinding spot welds I got both panels ready to be joined together. Unfortunately, the hole for the brake resevoir has been ripped and will need to be repaired, but at least I will retain the original body number with the car.

Here is the donor panel after I removed it from the extra front clip I had in the back yard.

There is a big difference between the late 59 donor panel (the one on top) and my December 58 panel. Since the 59 panel is so different I couldn't just cut out the body number and weld it in, the whole panel needs to be replaced.

Here is the panel removed from my 58 Ghia.

Here is a closed up of the carnage. I don't know why this was hacked so badly.

Here is a close up of the under side.

Here is the donor panel with the panel removed.

Here is the back side. Danny will have to do some straightening but the two pieces fit together nicely and he should have no problem welding them together.

Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:40 pm

Danny completed a little more work on the Ghia this past weekend. I also picked up an almost perfect rear decklid this weekend at the Sacramento Bug-O-Rama. There is one shallow dent on top, other than that it is straight as an arrow.

Here is what it looked like before...

This section is all welded back together.

Here is a shot of the inside. There is still a little bit more grinding to do, but it is almost done.

Here is this section after the first body guy "fixed" it...

Here it is after Danny fixed it right.

Here is the new decklid. Looks like a 58 or 59 decklid with only one respray over the OG paint. Not much better than the other one I had, but the difference will pay off since Danny won't have to do as much body work to make it straight.

Wed Sep 07, 2011 12:49 am

Looking good Loren 8)

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:03 pm

Loren wrote:
Here is the new decklid. Looks like a 58 or 59 decklid with only one respray over the OG paint. Not much better than the other one I had, but the difference will pay off since Danny won't have to do as much body work to make it straight.

Hi Loren

The large logo was used untill 1962. If you want to see if you have a 1958/1959 decklid, you have to look to the pressions in the inside of the decklid.

Patrick

Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:14 pm

Do you have any images of the differences?

Sun Dec 18, 2011 9:42 pm

Danny has had more pressing projects to work on so I don't have any updates on the body work, but I have picked up a few parts for the restoration.

I sourced a rebuilt date coded 9P starter and regulator for my engine. I bought these from RickC here on the Samba and the quality of his restoration work is amazing.

Here is the regulator. He rebuilt it using solid state electronics.

Here is the side of the regulator with the 9P date code. Rick even had the base and original hardware cad plated.

Here is the rebuilt starter.

Rick even rebuilt the original solenoid. I don't like the bolts holding it together and if I can find and NOS solenoid with a screw terminal I will replace it, but none the less I an extremely happy with the quality of the rebuild.

Here is the date code.

I still need to find a 9P generator, but I still have plenty of time :D especially at the rate I am going.

I also got the front spindles rebuilt by Jon (aka HazetGuy) and he did an amazing job.

Sun Dec 18, 2011 9:50 pm

I also decided to put 356b brakes on the Ghia. Danny found a nice set of front brakes and rebuilt them for me. His attention to detail is great! He had all the original hardware cad plated, rebuilt the pistons with new stainless steel cylinders and found ATE rubber covers for the bleeder valves. Now all I have to do is find a set of rear brakes and have them rebuilt.

Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:02 pm

Inspiring stuff Loren, keep it coming!

Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:43 am

MMM nice brakes 8)

Sat Dec 24, 2011 11:51 am

Merry Christmas to all! Looking forward to more updates in the following year.

Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:52 am

I got a call last week from Danny and he finished the rockers on the 58! Unfortunately, he didn't call me in time to take shots of the inside of the rockers before he welded the outer skins on :( I went down yesterday to take a look at the results and do a little work on the car. I pulled the doors off, stripped the paint off the outside and metal prepped them. Danny is going to work out the dents in the next few weeks and get them ready to fit back on the car. Here are some pics of the rockers:

The reproduction rocker skins I bought from KGPR were a bit of a hastle to fit. According to Danny the curve was too shallow and he had to tighted the curve to get the radius right. We only replaced the skin from the doors forward as the rear sections were rust free. Danny also complained about the rounded edges of the reproduction skin vs. the original rocker's crisp edges

Here is where the new skin was welded. The small globs of metal in the second picture are drops of lead that fell into the crack while he was welding the rocker skin. These will be removed later.

Here is the passenger side. He had to make a new end for the wiring tube as the original one was too rusty to save.

Here is the driver side. It still needs a little more work, but it is coming along nicely.

Next weekend I plan on stripping the paint off the rockers, metal prepping the back half of the car and removing the undercoating from the inside of the quarter panels. Once this is done Danny is going to tackle the back of the car. Slowly my little 58 is coming back to life!

Sun Feb 05, 2012 4:15 pm

Nice work Loren. Looks like your on a roll now,
Paul

Sat Feb 11, 2012 7:00 pm

I went back and did a little work on the car today. I cleaned the paint off the driver side rocker and metal prepped the back half of the car. I also installed the driver side door (last weekend I removed the paint from the outside of both doors and metal prepped them). Slowly it's starting to look more like a car!

Here is a before shot of the rear quarter panel.

Here it is after being metal prepped.

Maybe next weekend I can get back and metal prep the passenger side and scrape the undercoating from the inside of the rear quarter panels.

Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:06 am

Hi Loren
After following this thread, I just noticed today that your body number is 325 built in Dec 58. Mine is 9 away - 316 - Dec 58 Coupe must of left the factory same day - 18th December ?
Car certainly getting there & being correctly done .

Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:25 pm

I went down to the shop today and finished the passenger side quarter panel and fit the door. I also scraped the underocating from inside the quarter panels, what fun :roll: Now it is up to Danny to start smoothing out the doors and rear quarter panels.

From this angle the car looks really good!

Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:46 am

This car is looking amazing..if only Danny would make some left and right lower rear quarters :wink: