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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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 Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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| TheFop wrote: |
Great to see an update and the plating looks great, how dd the jack go, I assume its not all stuck together?
Have a great Christmas and I'll hopefully catch you in the near future. |
Hey Dean, you should bring Chris over at some stage.
With the jack I took the filthy rusty thing apart then plated it so that was pretty easy.
Looking at it today though I'm not sure if I have the right jack for this car as it doesn't seem to fit.......??...
Managed half a day on it today and got the latches on the deck lid which I've wanted to finish for some time but a few of the parts were not plated yet.
Everything opens and closes now which is just another little step forward, the window regulators were quite rusty / seized and plating them has removed most of it when they were acid dipped but they were still quite difficult to wind up and down so I used some WD40 to get them freed up then grease / oil lube on all the joints which has done wonders for them.
Did a dry fit on both doors to figure out all the fastners and sort out the best chrome pieces I have.
Unfortunately I'm at a stop with the doors again until I find a solution to the vent glass seals, I thought I had it figured out with a 68 on Beetle convertible seal which I cut / joined to fit the frame.
It looked pretty decent but it's just too thick to work, not going to work good enough for me to be happy with.
Back to the drawing board........
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TheFop
Samba Member
Joined: February 03, 2014
Posts: 302
Location: Auckland - New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds good, when are you back at the workshop? I'll bring Chris and my new Ghia in for a visit.
_________________
Rusty 61 RHD Karmann Ghia Coupe - Resto in progress....slowly
Stock 69 LHD Karmann Ghia Coupe - Driver
67 New Zealand Spec Beetle - Being rebuilt
63 New Zealand Spec Beetle - Going Baja!
86 T25 Westfalia - Family Fun car |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Dean I'll be here tomorrow and Saturday, i'll pm you my number.
Attacked a few small bits today since the door vent seals have stopped progress on the doors.
I glued the rear pop out glass to the frame with a 2 part epoxy which seemed like a good idea at the time since I had no window urethane left.
These cars are quite fiddly to put together and everything seems to take an age to get right.
KGP&R supplied me with some new Type 1 Ghia pop out latches which I was told were partly the same as T34 but they are actually a bit shorter when assembled with the pieces you re use from the T34 latch.
I'd bought new pillar latch brackets but one of them broke in half when latched which I think was due to the fact the whole latch was a little shorter than it should be, putting a little too much pressure on it.
Lucky for me I have 1 good original pillar bracket left which just needs to be chromed but another annoying delay none the less.
Everyone is shut now over here for Summer vacation so more waiting is in order, still there's plenty to carry on with.
While I was away the barrel nuts arrived for the scripts which also were not quite what I wanted, the sizes they quote are not correct and in fact are 3.4mm on the outside which is no big deal to enlarge the holes a little but the inside hole is also too small needing to be drilled out to 2mm.
That said they do look ok when installed and hold the scripts very well.
Its been a very long time since these were on the car as when I got it the badges were safely tucked away in a box.
Couldn't resist this shot, cool lines.
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Bobnotch
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2003
Posts: 22431
Location: Kimball, Mi
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Looking good John. Yes, these cars are a little fiddly to go back together. I know mine gave me more headaches than I really wanted to deal with. A regular T-3 is definietly a lot easier. 
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120
| Tram wrote: |
| "Friends are God's way of apologizing for relatives." |
| Tram wrote: |
| People keep confusing "restored" and "restroyed". |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Ok, HEADLIGHTS........these have been a problem for a while and here's my solution at last.
My car obviously has had someone " playing " with it over the years and had fitted sealed beams to semi sealed rings making any form of adjustment impossible.
Due to the unobtanium nature of T34 lights plus the complexity of us being RHD making them rarer than rocking horse poo I decided to look at what could be done.
I had 7" Bosch and Hella H4 lights to look at already form my various Superbeetle's as well as MK1 Golf but of course in VW's infinite wisdom they used a 6.5" light on the T34.
Both the Bosch and Hella are a true 7" on the glass lens so they were never going to work, after looking at a bunch of options I came across a Wagner 7" H4 halogen (RHD Part#7019SS) but in actual fact the glass lens itself is very very close to being a 6.5" making it perfect for the T34 and this is where the fun begins.........this is the as bought light
Of course they were never going to work as is but parts of it would be perfect like the H4 RHD glass lens so I carefully went about cutting the lights apart separating the lens from the reflector and then realizing I could modify the reflector as well to make them in to a semi sealed type of deal.
With the glass lens off I flattened out the rest of the reflector rim and cleaned off all of the urethane.
The rim would end up being big enough that once folded over I could install the rubber adjustment bushes from a donor set of T3 lights.
I made a curved piece of steel and welded it to the bench to help hammer the edge back over but on the 2'nd one I do I'll first shrink the edge which will make it a lot easier and neater.
I also used the adjusters and adjustment holder ring from the T3 light but due to this being for a 7" lens a piece must be cut out of it to make it smaller which will then fit the new H4 lens and will then also fit in the headlight bowl of the body.
The next bit is quite tricky lining everything up and making sure things are the right way around, once I was happy with that I marked out the reflector rim and drilled the holes for the rubber adjuster holders.
Trial fit the new parts in the existing T34 adjuster ring and things start to look positive.
The factory clips hold the glass lens and adjustment ring to the T34 outer ring just as intended but enabling me to have H4 halogens in RHD with normal adjustment also eliminating the hassle of converting my turn signals to having park lights added as the "new" reflector has already got a park bulb in it.
Still a bit of faffing around to make it all work 100% but this is certainly going to solve my headlight problems in one hit and of course the same thing can be done for LHD as well if you are stuck with incomplete lights like I was.
last thing today was a quick mock up in the car confirming that it will work and one more to make for the other side, of course the best part of all of this is the cost.............about 60 bucks in parts for lights which should work pretty darn good.
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TheFop
Samba Member
Joined: February 03, 2014
Posts: 302
Location: Auckland - New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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Well done, fantastic result! it was great to see you the other day, Chris is still beaming about seeing Lotus White in the flesh.
_________________
Rusty 61 RHD Karmann Ghia Coupe - Resto in progress....slowly
Stock 69 LHD Karmann Ghia Coupe - Driver
67 New Zealand Spec Beetle - Being rebuilt
63 New Zealand Spec Beetle - Going Baja!
86 T25 Westfalia - Family Fun car |
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t3kg
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2006
Posts: 2712
Location: Los Angeles
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bobnorman
Samba Newfoundlander
Joined: August 09, 2010
Posts: 1389
Location: Newfoundland
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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Nice ingenuity, very resourceful. Glad to see you back at it, this has been my favourite build thread over the years. 
_________________
Air does not freeze. Air does not boil.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807 |
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ataraxia
Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010
Posts: 4504
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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I admire the attention to detail you're putting into this car.
An absolutely stunning example.
I may use this in the future:
| racoguy wrote: |
| ...rarer than rocking horse poo |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| bobnorman wrote: |
| Nice ingenuity, very resourceful. Glad to see you back at it, this has been my favourite build thread over the years. |
Wow has it been years already? surely not....... 
| ataraxia wrote: |
I admire the attention to detail you're putting into this car.
An absolutely stunning example.
I may use this in the future:
| racoguy wrote: |
| ...rarer than rocking horse poo |
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Be my guest, its one of my favorites along with "there's a hole where everything was" |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| TheFop wrote: |
| Well done, fantastic result! it was great to see you the other day, Chris is still beaming about seeing Lotus White in the flesh. |
Same here, push him along for a black roof!! |
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Bobnotch
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2003
Posts: 22431
Location: Kimball, Mi
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| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| t3kg wrote: |
| Nice work! My car came with the same improvised headlight situation as yours -- sealed beams held in place with a non-sealed beam ring and no possibility of adjustment. I was able to locate a complete pair euro headlights back when that could be done without taking out a loan. I like your solution. Looks great. |
Agreed very nice solution.  In my case, I didn't quite have enough parts of either style to make a complete set, but I had more parts of the SB 13 set up, than the non sealed beam version, so I went that route on mine. It still took me a while to track down all of the parts though.
I do have to ask John, do you have all of the fog light bits? Just asking as I didn't either, and improvised them into driving lights.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120
| Tram wrote: |
| "Friends are God's way of apologizing for relatives." |
| Tram wrote: |
| People keep confusing "restored" and "restroyed". |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Bobnotch wrote: |
| t3kg wrote: |
| Nice work! My car came with the same improvised headlight situation as yours -- sealed beams held in place with a non-sealed beam ring and no possibility of adjustment. I was able to locate a complete pair euro headlights back when that could be done without taking out a loan. I like your solution. Looks great. |
Agreed very nice solution. In my case, I didn't quite have enough parts of either style to make a complete set, but I had more parts of the SB 13 set up, than the non sealed beam version, so I went that route on mine. It still took me a while to track down all of the parts though.
I do have to ask John, do you have all of the fog light bits? Just asking as I didn't either, and improvised them into driving lights. |
Yes, thankfully.
Complete but rusty of course, outer rings have been chromed and reflectors going in for re silvering in the new year. |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:02 am Post subject: |
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Everything seems to get in the way of progress these days and really staring to wonder if this thing will ever get finished but at last had some time for the Ghia today, not much visible progress but it's another step closer.
I literally spent hours trying to fit the seals between the body and headlight ring before finally giving up and gluing them on the rings with superglue, not my preferred choice but it will have to suffice as they are a right mongrel to get sitting right.
Assembled the left headlight as well and trial fitted it, still have the wiring to finish but within reason that should be it for the lights.
Now that everyone is back from holidays I'll get another lot of parts off to the chromer which includes all of the fog light parts.
Pretty much forgotten how the doors went together so that's what I sussed out this afternoon, fitted the vent frame, regulator and door glass to see how it would all work out.
Not 100% happy with the fit of the door glass but I've adjusted it as best as I can so I'm just gonna have to live with it.
Have come to realise that nothing is perfect in this world, especially when dealing with old cars.
Not many people seem to share their knowledge on T34's so you just have to figure it out as you go which gets quite frustrating at times.
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t3kg
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2006
Posts: 2712
Location: Los Angeles
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squaretobehip
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 3695
Location: San Jose, CA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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That's a really cool steering wheel.
_________________
1963 Notchback - Ruby Red
1963 Squareback - Pearl White
1965 Squareback - Baltic Blue
Follow ISP West on:
Facebook - www.facebook.com/ispwest
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Clatter
Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2003
Posts: 7549
Location: Santa Cruz
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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| racoguy wrote: |
| Everything seems to get in the way of progress these days and really staring to wonder if this thing will ever get finished but at last had some time for the Ghia today, not much visible progress but it's another step closer. |
Dag.
That's my story these days for sure.
This all is so much harder than you would ever know sometimes.
That's why so VERY few of these cars are really done all the way, and done well.
Chin Up!
| racoguy wrote: |
Not 100% happy with the fit of the door glass but I've adjusted it as best as I can so I'm just gonna have to live with it.
Have come to realise that nothing is perfect in this world, especially when dealing with old cars.
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Also have to remember that the fit and finish of these wasn't all that great from the factory.
These were economy cars.
Love your buld.
Thanks for sharing, even if it is just small details.
Will be posting some of my little/feeble progress now, too.
As looking at yours, instead of mine, I can see that these little things help and count!
_________________
Bus Motor Build
What’s That Noise?!? |
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Bobnotch
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2003
Posts: 22431
Location: Kimball, Mi
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| t3kg wrote: |
It's looking really great John.
| racoguy wrote: |
| Not many people seem to share their knowledge on T34's so you just have to figure it out as you go which gets quite frustrating at times. |
They can't share knowledge they don't have. Anyone who chooses to restore a Type 34 is pretty much on their own. I think at this point you, Bob Heydt and Greg Skinner are the three restorers who have gone the deepest and documented their experiences the most thoroughly. The rest of us are learning from you. |
Yup, that's why I did that thread on my T-34 here on the Samba, and tried to document as much as I possibly could.  I only say that, as I kept running into the same issue as you're running into now John. Nobody would share any info, mainly because nobody had gotten that far into their own resto.  Seriously, if you look at those who are redoing a T-34, you'll see that right now you're about 7 to 10 years ahead of any of them.  This is because normally, you're "supposed to" take 3 to 5 years to find the right body shop, then another 3 years getting it painted, before you can even start the reassembly process.  Since you're like me, metal fab isn't a problem, so we were that much further along in the process.  Painting it yourself, just moved you another step along, and each time you DID work on it, progressed it even further. As it stands, you're at the "12 year point in your resto", while only having 2 to 3 actual years into it. So you're doing great. However, most of your chassis work is done as well, which means you're actually closer to the "15 year point". I know it sounds crazy to think like that, but that's how most type 34 owners look at their restorations.
All that said, If you don't already have a Blue Bentley, I'd get one. I only say that, as it covers the type 34 body in the back of it. That's what helped me get thru most of the assembly work.
Tram helped me with my door seal issue, as I ran into a problem that you're going to find yourself getting into soon enough, and that's the upper door seal. The very early cars (61-62) used 1 style of upper door seal, while the 63 thru 65 cars used a different seal from that one, and 66 thru 69 used a seal that is more commonly found (thru ISP). The problem is, that the late seal doesn't work on the early cars. I ran into it, as have others like Jack (on here), as have others on T-34 World. Those seals were made by Simon Kelley, and are the only thing offered for T-34s. But they don't work on the early ones. Simon didn't know that, and when brought to his attention, said that IF he had a good set of samples, he could try and do them. But, that was 4 years ago, and nothing has ever happened with them. But, the problem with the late seals, is that they don't seal.  You're also lucky IF the glass will roll up to the top with them in place. Really unacceptible if you live in a damp climate, or are out driving in the rain. I documented what I did to fix mine in my thread (all pics were loaded to the Samba, so the pic links SHOULD be good), so I'm not going to add it here.
And while I have basically finished my T-34, I'll let either Greg or Lee, or Thom, add anything they want to add, as those guys SHOULD be somewhere close to where you are on the doors and such.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120
| Tram wrote: |
| "Friends are God's way of apologizing for relatives." |
| Tram wrote: |
| People keep confusing "restored" and "restroyed". |
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Bobnotch
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2003
Posts: 22431
Location: Kimball, Mi
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Clatter wrote: |
| racoguy wrote: |
Not 100% happy with the fit of the door glass but I've adjusted it as best as I can so I'm just gonna have to live with it.
Have come to realise that nothing is perfect in this world, especially when dealing with old cars.
|
Also have to remember that the fit and finish of these wasn't all that great from the factory.
These were economy cars.
Love your buld.
Thanks for sharing, even if it is just small details.
Will be posting some of my little/feeble progress now, too.
As looking at yours, instead of mine, I can see that these little things help and count!
|
Well, yes and no. The T-34 was completely a hand built car, and all gaps and fittings were adjusted there, at the time of the build (think coachbuilt). It's been said that you can't really swap body parts from 1 t-34 to another because of this. I do know I spent some time getting the front clip of mine adjusted for Russ, when I put it on for him.Lots of adjusting, just to get the hood right.
The Fast, Notch and Square were true production cars, and the gaps were what they were, although VW had a good quality control set on the cars themselves (versus Detroit's cars). The gaps were at least consistant, with excellent build quality (good materials).
I think I said it during my T-34 build, that doing a Notch would be 10 times easier than doing a T-34. A Fastback would be easier than a Notch, especially since you can rob a Square for some of the parts.
And Steve, YES, I do have a Fastback sitting here, it's my wife's car.
Just my take on it.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120
| Tram wrote: |
| "Friends are God's way of apologizing for relatives." |
| Tram wrote: |
| People keep confusing "restored" and "restroyed". |
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| Back to top |
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racoguy
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2010
Posts: 687
Location: new zealand
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Bobnotch wrote: |
| t3kg wrote: |
It's looking really great John.
| racoguy wrote: |
| Not many people seem to share their knowledge on T34's so you just have to figure it out as you go which gets quite frustrating at times. |
They can't share knowledge they don't have. Anyone who chooses to restore a Type 34 is pretty much on their own. I think at this point you, Bob Heydt and Greg Skinner are the three restorers who have gone the deepest and documented their experiences the most thoroughly. The rest of us are learning from you. |
Yup, that's why I did that thread on my T-34 here on the Samba, and tried to document as much as I possibly could. I only say that, as I kept running into the same issue as you're running into now John. Nobody would share any info, mainly because nobody had gotten that far into their own resto. Seriously, if you look at those who are redoing a T-34, you'll see that right now you're about 7 to 10 years ahead of any of them. This is because normally, you're "supposed to" take 3 to 5 years to find the right body shop, then another 3 years getting it painted, before you can even start the reassembly process. Since you're like me, metal fab isn't a problem, so we were that much further along in the process. Painting it yourself, just moved you another step along, and each time you DID work on it, progressed it even further. As it stands, you're at the "12 year point in your resto", while only having 2 to 3 actual years into it. So you're doing great. However, most of your chassis work is done as well, which means you're actually closer to the "15 year point". I know it sounds crazy to think like that, but that's how most type 34 owners look at their restorations.
All that said, If you don't already have a Blue Bentley, I'd get one. I only say that, as it covers the type 34 body in the back of it. That's what helped me get thru most of the assembly work.
Tram helped me with my door seal issue, as I ran into a problem that you're going to find yourself getting into soon enough, and that's the upper door seal. The very early cars (61-62) used 1 style of upper door seal, while the 63 thru 65 cars used a different seal from that one, and 66 thru 69 used a seal that is more commonly found (thru ISP). The problem is, that the late seal doesn't work on the early cars. I ran into it, as have others like Jack (on here), as have others on T-34 World. Those seals were made by Simon Kelley, and are the only thing offered for T-34s. But they don't work on the early ones. Simon didn't know that, and when brought to his attention, said that IF he had a good set of samples, he could try and do them. But, that was 4 years ago, and nothing has ever happened with them. But, the problem with the late seals, is that they don't seal. You're also lucky IF the glass will roll up to the top with them in place. Really unacceptible if you live in a damp climate, or are out driving in the rain. I documented what I did to fix mine in my thread (all pics were loaded to the Samba, so the pic links SHOULD be good), so I'm not going to add it here.
And while I have basically finished my T-34, I'll let either Greg or Lee, or Thom, add anything they want to add, as those guys SHOULD be somewhere close to where you are on the doors and such. |
I remember you talking about this Bob but when trial fitting my driver door together yesterday those seals seem to work fine and seal along the top edge unless I'm missing something.
Maybe my glass is rolled up higher than normal? don't know.
I don't see how a different seal would make any difference when all the glass is the same?? |
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