Chris' 68 Ghia Build Log - From the Woods back to the Street

[cseay1]

After years of building hot rods, street rods, and customs, I decided that I wanted to do something different. My dad was into VW's and Porsches, so growing up I was around them alot. One thing I always wanted was a Karmann Ghia. So this is what I found. Not far from the house, the price was right, but it had been sitting in the woods for 15 years. Needless to say it is ROTTED from the bottom up. But I drug it home, cleaned it up, and got it running and yard driveable.

This is kind of a back-burner project for me, so not sure how long it will take to make it street worthy, but I will be posting pictures here from time to time.

[cseay1]

Here's what it looked like as found ..

[cseay1]

... and no I am not disheartened at all by the fact that a lot of the Ghia's on this forums that were considered "parts cars" and canibalized and crushed were in WAY better shape than this one

[cseay1]

After getting it cleaned up and yard driveable, the first thing I want to do before I blow it apart and pull the body off the pan to start rust repair is to get it sitting just right ..

I wanted to run big and little chrome steelies, but ran into a bit of a road block once I started looking at what’s currently available ..

The 5.5" Mangels made in Brazil are discontinued and no longer being produced. They had a backspace of 4". Looks great with the deep offset when run on the rear, but don't fit on long axle cars without short axle swap or body mod.

The 5.5" Chinese wheels sold by cip1 and the like are 4.75" backspace. Consensus seems they will fit the long axle cars but don't have that nice deep look.

The 5.5" wheels sold by Moore Parts Source in Anaheim CA have a 4.25" backspace, pretty close to the old Mangels .. but they are out of them, have been for a while, and not sure when they are getting more ..

I've decided rather than just deal with the current crop of cheap chinese chromies in offsets I'm not happy with, I'm going to get what I want but do it in steps ..

First on the front I bought a pair of OEM VW Mexico 15x4.5 silver painted rims. I'm going to put these on the front with 165/60R15 tires, then tailor my front drop & narrow to get the fit and look just right.

Second on the rear I am going to buy a pair of US Wheel White Spoke 15x6 dune buggy rims with 195/65R15 tires to use as a baseline for mock up. Then I am going to do a short axle swap, lower, then recheck my clearance. Once I figure out how much I need to adjust the offset for clearance but still have a deep dish look, I will order another pair of the OEM VW Mexico 15x4.5 rims, then have them sent out and re-hooped to 15x6 with my custom backspace.

Then after I run it for a while and am happy with it, I will send the rims out for a triple plate show quality chrome.

[cseay1]

Here's what changing from the old 165R15 (basically 165/80R15) to the 165/60R15 did .. dropped it 1-1/16" at fender and 1-3/4" at the bumper

Still looks like a four wheel drive, though.

[cseay1]

Here are the dimensions on the OEM VW Mexico 15x4.5 ET34 rim

34mm positive offset, 4.08858" backspace

I got these rims from KGPR/Airhead part number 601-025.

I took measurements and made a reference drawing here:

[cseay1]

Here are the specs on the Continental ContiPro Contact P165/60R15

They say minimum approved rim width is 5", but they fit on the 4.5" just fine

Rim Width: 5-6.5"
Measured Rim: 5.5"
Section Width: 7.4"
Tread Width: 6"
Diameter: 22.8"

[cseay1]

Just to see where I'm starting at I threw the 15x6 dune buggy rims with good used 195/65R15 tires on the back with the car as-is with the original long axles .. needless to say the tires stick out of the fenders a little .. from inside of the quarter panel lip to the outside of the sidewall a full 1.75"

If what I have been reading is correct I should expect the short axle conversion to bring it in about 1.25" .. plus as it sits now up high in the rear the positive camber is pushing the sidewalls out further than they would be at zero or slight negative camber. I'm pretty sure I am going to have to adjust the backspacing on the rim inwards a bit.

[cseay1]

Here are the dimensions on the 15x6 dune buggy rim:

7mm positive offset, 3.756" backspace

I got these rims from US Wheel part number 70-5630P

I took measurements and made a reference drawing here:

[cseay1]

Here are the specs on the P195/65R15:

Rim Width: 5.5-7"
Measured Rim: 6"
Section Width: 7.9"
Tread Width: 7" (a full inch wider than the fronts)
Diameter: 25.2" (2.4" taller than the fronts/1.2" effective difference)

[das skiver]

Hey!
Congrats on your find.
My hat's off to you and your project!
Thanks for the great detail and time you've invested in these first posts...
I'll follow along with great interest.

thanks.

[cseay1]

[cseay1]

I got a pair of CB Performance 2.5" dropped spindles. These things are beautiful, almost like works of art. It's almost a shame no one will ever get to see them. I like that they are USA made, and CB takes enough pride in them to cast their name on them

Here's the original spindle still in place after removing the caliper, rotor, and dust shield.

[cseay1]

Having seen a few different ways people use to spread the torsion arms to get the spindle out, I chose to do it this way. Easy as pie, the upper ball joint just slid right out of the arm. The lower one needed a little persuasion with the pickle fork.

The new spindles are machined for the later style (5/68-on) big tie rod ends which have M12x1.5 threads. My Ghia had the early style (to-4/68 ) small tie rod ends which have M10x1.0 threads.

Both tie rods use the same size thread in the sleeve. My sleeves were so crusty that it took a lot of heating, penetrant, and colorful language to both get the old ones out and the new ones in. Honestly, the tie rod swap was the hardest part of the whole job. If I did it again, I would get complete new assemblies with inners outers and sleeves (probably still will do that before this thing gets back on the road).

[cseay1]

Here is the new spindle in place .

A quick coat of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer will keep it from rusting during the build stage.

[cseay1]

.. as I went to put the brake rotors back on I discovered that the CB spindles also use the later A15 inner bearing that has a 1.142" i.d. versus the early style A4 inner bearing that has a 1.0625" i.d. .. the outer bearings are the same for early and late both being A1, and the wheel seals are the same as well.

[cseay1]

And the huge tire to fender gap is now gone .. no more mistaking this Ghia for a four wheel drive

[cseay1]

Here's how she sits now ..

.. just need to do something about that rear

[cseay1]

the combination of shorter tires and dropped spindles netted a total drop of of 3-9/16" at the fender

[cseay1]

Although CB said their spindles move the wheels out 1/4" on both sides (adding 1/2" to total track width) there still seems to be plenty of clearance between the front wheels and the fender.

Nonetheless, I think a 2" narrowed beam would give it a little better look. I need a beam anyway, as mine is rotted in the uprights that connect the upper and lower tubes. I was thinking about the CB 2" narrow beam with adjusters, and matching 2" narrow sway bar.