Saving Emiko: 68 RHD Restoration in New Zealand

[kiwighia68]

[kiwighia68]

I’ve been neglecting Emiko a bit while working on the car and against a deadline for another project.

Excerpt from the novel, saving Emiko-

De Villiers had 275 kilometres to ponder what to do about Vaishna Veerasinghe. He needed to wrest control of the operation back from her. It struck him that he didn’t know what had become of the bag of money they had seized from the drug dealer’s house. When they had set off for Auckland, Emiko had declined his request that she should come and sit in the front seat. De Villiers wanted to question her about her abduction and detention, but she told him she preferred to sit with her daughter at the back, where the two of them sat quietly during the three and a half hour drive. It was raining and De Villiers drove with extra care. He didn’t want to be stopped by an over-zealous cop and have to show his driver’s licence or police ID.

De Villiers slowed down and was about to turn into his driveway when he saw the police car parked obliquely across the road from his house. It was an unmarked white Holden, with the dead give-away of multiple radio aerials on the roof.
He drove past the house and further along, past the school, to Bucklands Beach. There, situated on the Tamaki estuary, was a good motel. He stopped in front of the reception office and turned to Emiko. ‘I’m going to book you in here and will come back in an hour or so with my wife. She can take you shopping for clothes and whatever else you need. And then we can sit down and work out what you want us to do to help you get back to your parents.’
Emiko nodded and unclipped her seatbelt.

De Villiers parked the rental car at the top of the Murvale reserve and slowly made his way along the walking track to the back of his neighbour’s house. There was a reminder of his bullet wounds in every step on the uneven surface. And then he had to climb over the gate between his neighbour’s house and the reserve. He walked into his house through the back door.
Detective Inspector Leighton-Jones and a woman De Villiers had not seen before were sitting in the lounge with his wife. Emma stood up and embraced him.
‘Where have you been?’ she asked and kissed him again and again.
De Villiers took his time to survey the situation. ‘Confidential, official police business,’ he told Emma, with the emphasis on confidential. He made a joke of it. ‘And if I told you, I would have to kill you.’
Leighton-Jones stood and extended his hand. ‘And I suppose you’re also here on official police business,’ De Villiers said and shook hands.
‘Right in one,’ Leighton-Jones said.
I’ll leave you to it, then,’ Emma said and left the room. ‘Be quick,’ she said to the visitors. ‘I haven’t seen my husband for more than a week.’

Leighton-Jones didn’t beat about the bush. ‘We want the money,’ he said. ‘And we want it now.’
The lie came easily to De Villiers. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘The money you took from the meth house we had under surveillance in New Plymouth.’ Leighton-Jones watched De Villiers very closely and leaned forward. ‘And don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.’
‘No need to pretend,’ De Villiers said. ‘Because I have no idea where whatever money you’re talking about is or could be.’
Leighton-Jones jumped up from his chair and advanced on De Villiers. But for the pain in his legs De Villiers would have jumped up too to meet the threat. Leighton-Jones waived his finger under De Villiers’ nose. ‘Don’t threaten me,’ De Villiers said before Leighton-Jones could speak. ‘You’ll get hurt.’
Leighton-Jones scratched his head.
A motorbike roared into the driveway. The sound was unmistakably that of a BMW 1200 GS. De Villiers listened as the bike slowed down and proceeded down the shared driveway into his neighbour’s property.
Leighton-Jones sat down again. ‘I’m not leaving until we’ve sorted this out.’
Behind him, De Villiers saw, Vaishna Veerasinghe, dressed from head to toe in black, slink into the house.

‘I’m not interested in your operations in New Plymouth,’ De Villiers told Leighton-Jones. ‘I’m investigating a missing person case as part of an Interpol-driven investigation into people trafficking.’
‘So why were you watching the house we had under surveillance?’ Leighton-Jones demanded.
‘I was watching the comings and goings at a kindergarten in the same street,’ De Villiers said.
‘There was a woman with you,’ Leighton-Jones said. ‘A police-woman, I presume?’
There was a polite knock on the door and Vaishna stepped in. She was dressed in her sari again, and had the red dot of a married Indian woman on her forehead and gold jewellery on her wrists. She even had a gold pin in her nose.
De Villiers spoke quickly. ‘Yes, thank you Mrs Singh, we’ll have some tea now.’
He turned to Leighton-Jones. ‘Our housemaid,’ he said with a wave of his hand in Vaishna’s direction. ‘Doesn’t speak a work of English but understands simple commands.’
There was the merest hint of a smile on Vaishna’s face as she took the order. ‘One coffee, two tea,’ she confirmed and left the room.
De Villiers watched the sway of her hips as she walked away. There are as many facets to this woman, he thought, as there are colours in her sari.
And all of them trouble.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[jpjohns]

I didn't think about removing the bottom supports, I figured it would make it too flimsy. I would need mine to be sturdy so I can roll it out and back in the garage on a regular basis. We have a 2 car garage but with the motorcycles and now the engine stand we cant loose the space on a body sitting there.
_________________
-Jared

"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member)

[kiwighia68]

[jpjohns]

I think I can move those horizontal braces up higher to clear the chassis since I don't have the engine in... I may have to work on that 4th of July weekend.
_________________
-Jared

"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member)

[jpjohns]

I know its a bit off topic but I saw this on MSN and it made me think of you and your car.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/video/new-zealands-north-island-explored-in-timelapse/vi-AAbGqoJ
_________________
-Jared

"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member)

[kiwighia68]

[kiwighia68]

My wife came around to help on Friday. I worked on the engine bay rubber while she put some sound deadening down.

She reckons tamping the deadener down with a stockinged foot works better than with hands.

The product I used is from Wurth and costs about US$75 for four 1 metre by 50cm sheets (2 square metres). It works very well, and under a little coaxing with the heat gun readily sinks into the floor-pan's grooves. (And a little footwork, of course.) One side almost done:

I've been working on the electrics. Nothing seems to match the colour scheme on the diagram and I've had to clean some of these connectors too.

I'll admit to being sorely tempted to buy and use more modern connectors. But someone will notice and say, 'Hey, that looks good, but it just ain't right.'
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[Mellow Yellow 74]

[kiwighia68]

[kiwighia68]

We continued with the soundproofing this week. My wife started on the interior while I worked on the electrics.

I found a really cool place for the high stop light -a requirement for my car's registration in New Zealand - thanks to Nicholas (aka Sputnick).

I have a few paint touching-ups to do on the heater tubes under the back seat tomorrow before we can lift the body back onto the pan. I'll get the body-to-pan rubber down first thing though.

I need advice from the experts who follow my build, please. I have these trim pieces ready for the re-installation but I don't know what sealant, if any, to place between the trim and the body. Help please. (In the absence of advice, I'm going to use a colourless marine sealant.)

I think everyone in the workshop has reached the stage where they want to see the car in one piece, and with a bit of luck we'll get there on Tuesday. That would give me the month of July to finish the re-installation and registration. Optimist that I am, I want the car registered, insured and on the road by my birthday in August.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[CiderGuy]

[kiwighia68]

I did a whole heap of work the last 4 or 5 days. I put some more sound deadening in on the inside quarter panels. The difference in sound when you knock on the panel with a knuckle has gone from soprano to baritone. I used a Wurth product that comes in sheets of 60cm by 25cm (24" by 10") - if I recall correctly. It works quite easily into the gaps with a little help from the heat gun and the sheets are small enough to handle in tight spaces. Like here: (Not a good photo, I know, but I was so tired that my hand was shaking a bit. Aging is not for sissies.)

I used a different Wurth product on the floor-pan, on the engine's firewall (both sides), on the floor of the rear luggage compartment and the front kick panels. Like here:

I still have to do the section between the two front kick panels but will first put cavity wax through all those holes. I'm using another Wurth product for this.

Still on the subject of cavity wax: I'm going to crawl under the car to squirt cavity wax into the heater channels through the holes where the floor-pan screws enter the channels.

I also put some gauges in. I have a speedometer with 00000 miles on it! (I know the clock and fuel gauge are the other way around in the US. I figure my passenger will be more interested in the time than the levels in the fuel tank.)

The painter guy told me something interesting: he said that you can't quite appreciate the colour and quality of the paint until you have some glass, rubber and upholstery on. (And he's not overly impressed by my putting sound deadening over the areas where he has so fastidiously worked on the painting.)

I need a demister relay. Where to find: None in the Classifieds.

I'm not going to install the back-up (reverse) lights. I don't want to drill holes in my $650 stainless steel bumpers. The back-up lights were an after-thought and never looked good on the bumpers. And I don't need them anyway.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[c21darrel]

[Mellow Yellow 74]

[c21darrel]

Keep at it Chris!!
Put your glove box in before the speaker and wiper motor, its awkward working behind the dash.
_________________
GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[ScottDoonan]

Check into 3m and their product called strip caulk. It has a ton of uses, works great. Tradies over here call it, dumb dumb.

http://3mcollision.com/3m-strip-calk-08578-black.h...Caulk.html
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If you take time to do it, do it right and don't be so damn cheap.....🤙🏻

1959 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet (current restoration)
1965 Porsche 356 SC coupe
1967 Volkswagen Convertible Beetle
1969 Porsche 911E Targa 3.2 twin plug
2006 Porsche 987 Rüf 3400K Prototype #2 of 2

[kiwighia68]

[kiwighia68]

I spent the day yesterday finishing the sound deadening and prepared the body so that we may place it back on the chassis on Friday. We were short-handed yesterday - and don't have a hoist in the shed where I've been working.

A problem (potentially, at least) with the replacement integrated rockers, elbow piece and heater channels I got from Cip1 is that some of the nuts came away when we test fitted the body on the pan in order to line up the door gaps. So we had to replace them with rivet-nuts. I've glued the body to pan rubber on and it's all systems go for Friday.

I'll have to arrange insurance today as it will be a car tomorrow.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[jpjohns]

Woohoo!!!!
_________________
-Jared

"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member)