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Sun May 29, 2011 3:28 pm

Rome wrote: Excellent that you are using a profile gauge for the nose prow's correct shape. Do you have an undamaged nose for reference?
:D ya I left it in the pic to see if anyone will notice. The donor 74 body nose is in a good shape so I have been using it as a reference and I am almost done with nose after 2 days of working on it "almost".

Sat Jun 04, 2011 7:07 pm

Found out an hour ago that what I have been referring to as a 74 donor body is actually a 72, not that it really matter but it sure adds to the fun of working on old cars. :wink:

Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:14 pm

Progress have been slow but steady, I am really hoping to finish bodyworks next week and shoot the color week after (maybe : ( ) anyhow

Three weekends ago I was driving back from a fishing trip when a 1960 something Ghia caught my eyes, the car was in a fenced junkyard so I wasn’t able to get a closer look. Needless to say I have been trying in vain to get hold of the owner until this morning, talked to him to see if he have any parts I would be interested in and he wasn’t sure of what he have so I drove there to find 4 ghias and boatload of other VWs, below is what I brought back from the toy store yay :D

Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:32 am

I've never heard of a "profile gauge" do you make that yourself? Congrats on the finding yourself a toy store.
Not an expert on seats but, I think those may be late (70-74) seats? I believe the seat rails on 68 will work up to 69 seats. Measure your rails on the pan and on the seats. Good Luck.

Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:57 am

c21darrel wrote: I've never heard of a "profile gauge" do you make that yourself? Congrats on the finding yourself a toy store.
Not an expert on seats but, I think those may be late (70-74) seats? I believe the seat rails on 68 will work up to 69 seats. Measure your rails on the pan and on the seats. Good Luck.

Here is a link for one from Eastwood, I bought mine a while back from Harbor freight I believe I paid $5 for it but it is shorter in length than the one Eastwood sells

http://www.eastwood.com/10in-adjustable-profile-gauge.html?

The seats came out of a 69 or at least that what I figured out from the VIN# ( I don't trust what owners tell me anymore) Didn't 69 had the separate headrest or it was one piece?

Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:23 pm

thanks for the profile info!
I only know that one year only 68 seats had the incorporated headrest, IMO, ugly.
69 seat,

looks like you are good!

Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:57 am

:x Still in the bodywork phase, got the seat tracks, seat belt mounting welded this weekend and getting very close on completing the dash. I went with the clean dash and grafted the gauges section from the 72 because my 72 donor’s gauges are in an excellent condition and I will be using the harness from it anyway.

Still can’t decide on color, first I was loving Trout blue but now I am thinking two tones any inputs? I am not going cal look so I will have all the chrome back on the car and I really want a color that will show it heck maybe I should go black

Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:02 pm

A few days ago I was about to write you that the '69+ seats won't fit your '68 tracks, IF the tracks would've still been welded to the original pans. But since you had sliced them off and are able to reposition them, you did well. Did you slide the tracks onto the seats, and then set them onto the new pans to mark the locations?

2-tone paint scheme would still look reasonably correct, though I don;t think VW offered 2-tones for the US market anymore that year. But as you've researched, 2-tones were still offered on non-US markets. I'm glad you'll be keeping the original chrome and the side moldings.

How about looking up a Ghia sales brochure from the early to mid '60's (see the "Archives" section here on Samba) to see what two-tone combos were offered, and pick one of those?

Your dash gauge graft turned out really well!

Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:04 am

Thanks Rome, yep the seat tracks was a bit of surprise but I recovered quickly. I mounted the tracks on the seat then had them positioned where I wanted them inside the car and with some acrobatic positions I was able to spot weld the tracks before taking the seats back out to finish the job. Thanks for the. archive tip I keep forgetting about the great wealth of info there, my heart is set on two tone with the top being white I guess I just need to make a choice in the body color. The dash job wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and I had to do something with all the holes the PO left behind. Getting close but not there yet :D

Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:42 am

Still in the body work/paint process and NOT loving every min of it : ( however I am very happy with the results thus far, last time I posted I was going back and forth on what color miss ghia is going to be and that battle is over with the selection of Azzurro vega, so updates (that I can remember)

Raptor Bed Liner the engine firewall, floor pans and behind the dash and front area
Bodywork on the body is complete, color and clear is done and in the process of cutting and buffing

I love the color and it seems appropriate to 1960s period. More to come soon hopefully

Sam

Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:31 pm

Two hours of wet sanding, polishing and glazing the roof. I am pretty sure I had a big stupid smile as I was taking the shot below

Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:21 am

It have been a while since I posted any updates so I am due for one, slow progress because of the usual work/life obligations however I hit a milestone yesterday and I had some good news that I wanted to share.

After 4 failed attempts in installing the back glass, I finally got it installed last night. Big deal for me since I replaced the roof and at least now I know I got the back measurement correct next is the windshield, hopefully tonight wish me luck.

Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:30 am

That looks to be a really tidy, professional job.

Front screen should be a piece of p*** for you. :wink:

Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:40 am

John Moxon wrote: That looks to be a really tidy, professional job.

Front screen should be a piece of p*** for you. :wink:

LOL, Thanks John. I will post pics if everything goes well tonight, if not I will be swearing and kicking somewhere.

Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:23 am

karghia74 wrote: John Moxon wrote: That looks to be a really tidy, professional job.

Front screen should be a piece of p*** for you. :wink:

LOL, Thanks John. I will post pics if everything goes well tonight, if not I will be swearing and kicking somewhere.

Make sure you've read the "How To" stickies. :wink:

Mon Aug 08, 2011 5:01 pm

And the front is done yay :D

Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:25 am

Great...no kicking, screaming or swearing...no bloody raw fingers?? :lol:

Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:59 am

Better get hoppin' if you're going to drive it to the Columbus show this weekend! :D

Your work looks great. Keep it up!!

WHere are you in Cincinnati? I'm up in Fairfield and have quite a bit of Ghia experience. Restored both a 67 and a 68 in my garage at home.

If you haven't done it already, since I'm late respinding to your post... hang on to the old original wiring harness from the 72 parts car. You can strip the loom and use the wiring for anything you want to add to your car in the future, and all your wiring will be factory color coded. I did it with my 67 when I added type 3 side turn lights to it, and was able to keep the factory color codes for the next guy to trace down any problems. Check out my gallery and you can see my old Ghia's.

Sat Oct 15, 2011 7:37 pm

ovalboy wrote: Better get hoppin' if you're going to drive it to the Columbus show this weekend! :D

Your work looks great. Keep it up!!

WHere are you in Cincinnati? I'm up in Fairfield and have quite a bit of Ghia experience. Restored both a 67 and a 68 in my garage at home.

Thanks ovalboy, I live south of Dayton 45 min or so from Cinncinati.

It feels like forever since I visited the site and I owe you guys some updates.

So far paint is completed ( note to self first and last time to paint a whole car)

Electrical is 95%, I ended up making my own harness but I followed the factory color code. The remaining 5%is for the additional vdo oil, volt, temp and tach gauges.

Brakes, replaced master cylinder and brake lines. Bleeding the lines wasn't fun but I have solid brakes now.

So many other odds and ends including fuel hoses, door weather strip, engine shroud ......

Today was the first engine start from 5+ plus months :lol:
video
http://youtu.be/4aaZ01jt7X4

Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:47 pm

The engine is flat out dieing on acceleration, 009 distributor with 34 pict carb. I checked the usual suspects but no luck. Any ideas?