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Claudia's 68
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:12 pm    Post subject: Claudia's 68 Reply with quote

I had been half-ass looking for my wife a Ghia for about a year when this one popped up in the classifieds.

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It was close (90 miles) and it appeared to be in decent shape body wise with no major rust issues, plus it was a running driving car. Since I'm knee deep in rust repair on a '62 beetle I was definately looking for a solid car. I contacted the owner (Hi Grace) and made an appointment to go see it on Labor Day. I had every intention of bringing it back with me but my wife reminded me that I had sold my pickup that had the hitch on it so I was able to leave a deposit and pick it up the following Saturday.

Here are a few pics that came from the ad and one that the owner sent me in an e-mail.

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From the ad you could tell it has some issues in the rear quarter and battery tray areas. The engine is in the right group of numbers to be the original. Overall it was what I was looking for. I went and looked at it and made the deal. Here are some additional pics I took.

starting at the passenger side front and going clockwise
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Here is a closeup of the rear quarter and some other areas that will be needing some attention

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Along with the bad a few pleasent surprises

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Some more issues

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Overall it ran fine (forgot my compression tester Rolling Eyes ), steering was tight, brakes needed adjustment, it was a little hard to get it in gear and shifting was tight, and finally it suffers some of usual wiring problems of a 41 year old car. Nothing major just a bunch of little small things.

Things that I'm going to do right away:
Move the fuel filter out of the engine compartment
Pan halfs both sides
Battery tray
Change gas tank, currently using older beetle model
Replace speedo
Add door spears and front emblem
General maintenence, tune up, brakes, etc.
Any electrical to get it driving as soon as possible

Long range plans:
Repair quarter panel
Replace all weather stripping
Interior
Eventually repaint original color

The idea is to not have it out of commission for long periods of time. I already have one of those and don't need another.


Here are a few other pics that I took.

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Since I'm new to Ghia's I have a lot of reading to do and I'm sure I'll have tons of questions. Any suggestions on parts suppliers or anything that jumps out in the pics that need immediate attention just let me know.

Since most of the weather stripping needs to be replaced I spent most of Sunday making room for it in the garage. So as of Sunday night this is how it sets.

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Last edited by John Miller on Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:27 am; edited 1 time in total
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70 140
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, that quarter really got messed up. Otherwise the rest of the car looks good. You might even get a shine out of that paint with some buffing.
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AndrewStapp
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

70 140 wrote:
Wow, that quarter really got messed up. Otherwise the rest of the car looks good. You might even get a shine out of that paint with some buffing.


I have done some body work and trust me, the rear quarter is goning to be a mofo. Other than that, not to bad, pans will be pretty easy, and the rest of the metal work should be a pice of cake if you are doing rust repair on a Beetle you will have plenty of practice. Big question for me is, how much did you get it for? Looks like you have a solid start for a real nice car. Congrats.
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Lair
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I considered taking a look at that car. Seemed like a decent deal.
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks everyone.


Lair wrote:
I considered taking a look at that car. Seemed like a decent deal.

I'm glad you decided not to. Laughing


The paint should buff out nicely. As far as the quarter goes eventually I'll try to see if I can straighten it, if not I'll just cut it out and weld in a new one. The only other thing I thought of to put on my short list is to upgrade the seat belts. I'm thinking of putting retractable ones in. Until I can do some research anyone know any good sources?
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70 140
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't waste any time trying to reshape that quarter. It might have had a chance when it was originally dented, but whoever previously tried to bang it out totaled it. The good part is, the area you need isn't usually rusted out - I can think of a few sitting in fields that could give up that chunk.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't even bother with those floors now. Fix the battery rust, and you should be good to go for years to come, or at least until your 62 is finished.
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popason
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Jim nice to see you finally posted that car on here.
I had a good visit with you Sunday. Like I said before I have
a decent looking panel on this old parts car I have .
If you come and cut it out its yours. See ya around and if
you need anything give me a shout. Very Happy
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

popason wrote:
Hey Jim nice to see you finally posted that car on here.
I had a good visit with you Sunday. Like I said before I have
a decent looking panel on this old parts car I have .
If you come and cut it out its yours. See ya around and if
you need anything give me a shout. Very Happy


Thanks Dave, I'll do that one weekend soon.



Floors will be an easy fix. I'm thinking a couple of weekends to knock them out. Since I just took the heater channels out of the 62 I really don't think a few weekends delay will matter much.
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jmillers62 wrote:
popason wrote:
Hey John nice to see you finally posted that car on here.
I had a good visit with you Sunday. Like I said before I have
a decent looking panel on this old parts car I have .
If you come and cut it out its yours. See ya around and if
you need anything give me a shout. Very Happy


Thanks Dave, I'll do that one weekend soon.



That turned out to be today. Very Happy

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There are some issues on the bottom with rust and some previous attempts at repairs but I think the area that I need should , for the most part, be solid.

I had called Dave to see when I could come and cut out that quarter. It turns out he was free today so I loaded up my tools and went after it. While cutting it out he mentioned that he had just about finished picking it clean and that he would soon cut it up and haul it off. So since I was there with sawzall in hand we went ahead and cut it up.

I had spent all morning going over the car to see what all I need to fix, what to start looking for and what to go ahead and buy. The list is quite long but at least I can mark one off. The only things that I need that might be a little difficult to locate are a correct gas tank & speedo. Everything else so far seems to be readily available in repo or new.

To my surprise most of the electrical works. The only thing that I could find wrong was the reverse lights didn't work. That was a huge relief since I hate to mess with electrical.

My immediate concerns now are the hard shifting problem and I have a small fuel leak in the engine compartment somewhere around the carb. The gears grind when shifting into reverse and it takes significant effort to put it into first and to shift from first to second. I'm hoping all it needs is a simple clutch adjustment and maybe a slight tweek at the shifter.

I'm going to start searching for other possibilites so if anyone can think of something else to try in the meantime I'm all ears.
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popason
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks again for helping me chop the old yellow rust bucket.
It is so much less of an eyesore now. Jim and I looked the parts car over and there a few panels that are salvageable.I should be able to get them off
the remains before it goes to the scrapper.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jmillers62 wrote:
My immediate concerns now are the hard shifting problem. . .


Try replacing the shift hanger bushing and then replace the fluid with Redline 75/w90.

That stuff's magic.
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lair wrote:
jmillers62 wrote:
My immediate concerns now are the hard shifting problem. . .


Try replacing the shift hanger bushing and then replace the fluid with Redline 75/w90.

That stuff's magic.


Thanks. Dave had already suggested the bushing. I've never changed one but he has.
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clausfb
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Depending how far you want to go on the restoration, you might want to check the rockers when you do the pans and the quarter panel. The rockers on the Ghia are a bit different than on a beetle and even that the outside looks good, the inside could be full of surprises.
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For right now the plan is to get it reliable enough to drive anytime/anywhere and do little things as we go. Once the beetle is done it will probably be torn down for a repaint and major redo.
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rick_shew81
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Let me know if you need any help. I will be back in KY on OCT 21st.
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

rick_shew81 wrote:
Let me know if you need any help. I will be back in KY on OCT 21st.


Let me know when you get back I want to see that new paint job.

I had already planned on having you and Dave come over to the house and help me pick over the whole car to make a list of things to start looking for.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First order of business this morning was to install the nose emblem that came in the mail a few days ago.

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One of the mounting holes had been bondo'ed over. Nothing a phillips screwdriver and a hammer couldn't take care of. Then came the task of figuring out the warning light. First I had to find out which light it was, generator or oil pressure. The wiring diagram shows it as the generator and the owners manual shows that the oil pressure light is in that posistion. I pulled the oil pressure wire off while the engine was running and the light stayed on, so generator it is.

After opening my cheap ($2.99) Harbor Freight multi-meter and reading the instructions I felt reasonably confident I wouldn't kill myself of catch anything on fire. At this point I should mention that I hate to mess with wiring. I don't understand it and the few times I've dealt with it before resulted in some burnt up electronics and a small fire. Hell, I've sold cars because of wiring issues but I had decised that I was going to learn. So with my trustee multi-meter I was ready.

I had done a search ( Shocked ) and found a couple of tutorials on checking a generator to see if it's charging. And sure enough it wasn't. It turns out that I've got worn brushes. Is that something that I can change or do I need to have an electric motor place do it? If I can do it where would I be able to buy the brushes?

Next I decided to start cutting up this piece to see what all I could salvage out or it.

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It had been repaired (rather poorly) in the past so I was going to cut it down to the good parts to see what I had.

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There was a combination of pop rivets, pan head sheet metal screws, spot welds & self taping bugle head screws. The reason for the screws was that out of the 30-40 spot welds only about 6 of them had enough penetration to hold.

Here is the piece after it was cut down.

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You can see where the two pieces were overlapped. I was surprised that the metal was in such good shape. I was expecting a lot more damage.
Since I had it all trimmed up I though I would just place it on the body to see if it would cover most of the damage. Here is a closeup of the damaged quarter and with the piece in rough place.

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It covers up almost all the damaged area. A little clean up and some more trimming and it will be ready for whenever I decide to start cutting.

After the generator and quarter panel work I had to take a little break and do my weekend chores of mowing mine and the neighbors yard. He had a heart attack a few weeks ago so I'm helping him out a little. He helps me out by pulling up a chair while I'm in the garage working on the car and giving me advice. Laughing

After mowing it was back to the garage.

jmillers62 wrote:
My immediate concerns now are the hard shifting problem. . .


Now comes the part that I had been putting off, the hard shifting. The thing I had been dreading doing the most turns out to be the simplest fix of the day. I had imagined having to replace the shifter coupling, endless adjustments to the shifter and finally nothing working and having to replace the transmission.(Can you tell I was dreading trying to find out what was wrong?). After getting it up on jack stands and getting the wheel off the total repair time was less than 5 minutes. It's amazing what a properly adjusted clutch will do for you.

Also while I had it on the jack stands and the wheel off I noticed that from the center of the wheel arch back there was another repair that had to be addressed. The was barely a finger clearence between the wheel well and tire. SO it looks like I'll be searching for another patch panel.

I took it up the road of the subdivision to test it out and it shifted easily with no grinding. Tomorrow I think I'll work on the reverse lights and maybe start adjusting the brakes.
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John Miller
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Started off this morning trying to get the rest of the electrical issues figured out after a productive day yesterday. I first installed the horn that came in the mail a few days ago and decided to start tracing wires to see if I could get it to work. Spent about a half hour with no luck.

Next I checked all the lights and found the both the marker lights on the passenger side did not work, but the brake lights and turn signals did. After about an hour of looking things weren't looking good but then I found that on the rear light housing the wiring clip was loose. Once I took it all apart and cleaned everything up it worked. When I checked the front it was working also.

Then I moved to the turn signal indicator in the speedo. I have a wire connected to the back of the speedo that was just cut off. I have a copy of the wiring diagram and was trying to find out where it was suppose to plug into when Dave showed up. So we both started looking. It became evident while working on the car that the wiring diagram listed on here was not the same as the car wiring. There were evidently some changes made for the 68 model year. But finally between the both of us we got it working.

I had told him that I ordered the bushings last night so he started to show me how to change them since I had never done it. While removing one it crumbled into dust. That could be a good reason while it wasn't working. So we decided to go ahead and remove the generator. After a 30 minute detour to retrieve a screw that I dropped into the generator it was finished.

Next was the reverse lights. Dave found a blown fuse but that wasn't the problem. While underneath checking the switch on the transmission I found that one of the wires had come loose. And of course it was the top one. After finally getting into a posistion that I could finally push the wire on the contact they worked.

While it was still on jack stands we decided to adjust the brakes. Dave adjusted the emergancy brake for me.

I think that was everything. Overall a very productive weekend. Not a whole lot picture wise today but a bunch of little things that needed to be done. The only thing that currently doesn't work on the car (beside the generator that Dave tore up Laughing ) is the horn. While working on the car today we made a huge list of things that need to be bought to get this thing ready for the road. Insurance should be ready the first of the week, have to get VIN inspected by sheriff, transfer title and license after that. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be able to drive it around the block.

Next things on the to do list is checking out the brake system, getting the generator charging properly and doing an oil chage/tune up/valve adjustment. If I can get the parts in here on time that might be my next weekends projects.
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AndrewStapp
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds like fun, I've been doing alot of the same stuff "fixing hacked wiring" this weekend. Got all my dummy lights working and found a hacked wire keeping my parking light from working on the drivers side. So I can feel your pain. Off to get it inspected on my lunch tomorrow.

Good luck!!

Andrew
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