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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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 Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:52 pm Post subject: AZ NEWB....partial 66 restore |
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hello everyone. im new to posting but not new to the site, ive been searching for another vehicle for the last 10 years. my first car was 69 bug, did a quick redo (paint, seals, and interior) and then sold it and been looking for a ghia ever since (needed money). so finally i had the opportunity to purchase a ghia. i am picking it up on sat and pictures and info will follow. so with all this said ill be asking questions and doing my best with limited skills. thanks for all the info on here and cant wait to get started.
Bill
Lake Havasu City, AZ
Last edited by havadub on Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:59 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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mountainkowboy
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Joined: April 06, 2008
Posts: 951
Location: Socal
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome.........and we LOVE pics.
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Chuck in Socal
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71 Super Convertible...DD
78 Honda CB750K
06 Honda CR-V (wifes)
63 IH Scout 80 "Beater" |
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ScottDoonan
Samba Member
Joined: August 04, 2005
Posts: 546
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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Congratulations, welcome aboard.
_________________
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 |
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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| today i am going to put the tires on (been sitting on blocks for years) and will get pictures and all its glory. from what ive been told is that it was redone about 20 years ago so prepare to be jealous of dry weather exposure for 20 years haha. the PO has owned it and had it registered in 1973 so with that being said i will be the 3rd owner (my understanding). ill ask more questions today if the redid the motor too or if its original but odometer says just under 34000 miles. a few pics will come tonight but many more on sat. |
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c21darrel
Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009
Posts: 8211
Location: San Dimas
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ScottDoonan
Samba Member
Joined: August 04, 2005
Posts: 546
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:09 am Post subject: |
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Sounds awesome. Hope it will be in as good of shape as the gem I found. All mine needed was paint, and reassembly.
_________________
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 |
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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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| c21darrel wrote: |
Tease. 
A really good tease would tell us more about it like what year and that it is rust free, original paint and cost $250.  |
ok so ill start with this....its in pretty good shape but havent checked it over 100% because when i looked at it on sat it was 110*F out and the car has been stored outside so it was too hot to lay on the ground and look under and the metal was too hot to really touch ha. here those are normal summer temps and we really only get about 1-2" of rain a year so there shouldnt be much rust besides surface rust. there are a few dents in areas and looked like some bondo was used and is cracking now but interior is solid besides the headliner. the sun/heat out here is pretty rough on paint and the more i think about it it was prob covered because there isnt much of any paint fade. pictures will be posted in about 4 hours (meeting up in 3 hours)....i paid $2500 for it and its a 1966 |
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c21darrel
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Joined: January 22, 2009
Posts: 8211
Location: San Dimas
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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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so went and checked out the car and put the tires on....well theres a bit more rust than i thought but not as much as some ive seen on here. learned a few things today...PO bought it off original owner (not sure about the motor yet), found out when they did the restoration they filled the bumper spots (weld?/bondo?). it was covered for a few so the rust is minimal but im expecting the worse and hoping for the best.
question: where can i locate the paint code? how can i tell if its original motor?
so with all that here are a few pictures.
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carl4x4
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Joined: March 20, 2012
Posts: 679
Location: United Kingdom
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KGCoupe
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2005
Posts: 3580
Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:37 am Post subject: |
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| havadub wrote: |
so went and checked out the car and put the tires on....well theres a bit more rust than i thought but not as much as some ive seen on here. learned a few things today...PO bought it off original owner (not sure about the motor yet), found out when they did the restoration they filled the bumper spots (weld?/bondo?). it was covered for a few so the rust is minimal but im expecting the worse and hoping for the best.
question: where can i locate the paint code? how can i tell if its original motor?
so with all that here are a few pictures.
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It looks like they filled in more than just the bumper mounting holes - they also appear to have filled in all the side trim holes and all the dash trim holes as well.
The 1966 Karmann Ghia model year had a unique dash trim that I believe is pretty damn hard to find these days if it doesn't come with the car.
As far as I know, the best way to find out the original paint color and whether or not the engine currently in the car is original is to order the "birth certificate" from the VW archives.
While they won't tell you outright what the original engine serial number is, if you supply them with the serial number from the engine currently in the car then they will either confirm or deny whether it is the correct one.
You can find how to order your Ghia's birth certificate HERE.
Others can comment on this to verify whether my opinion is correct, but I don't think that the term "matching numbers car" really has the same meaning and importance as it would for say an American muscle car.
With those types of cars, there were often several trim level options and several engines and transmissions to choose from when ordering the car new.
As the particular combination of trim level, engine choice and other options is key to determining the particular value of an individual muscle car (and those individual values can cover a rather wide range), the factory documentation would be key to providing proof of what an individual car's potential value could be.
There were no such choices for the Karmann Ghia (with the exception of a couple very rare trim packages such as the Sport Ghia, and those with either the pigail or teak interiors), so pretty much all Ghias officially imported into a particular country would have come over in the same configuration,
Therefore, any one particular Ghia from a given model year should have close to the same value as any other Ghia from that same model year and in similar condition.
Most all of the other options available (such as radio, air conditioning, etc.) were dealer installed items, so who's to say whether or not any particular Ghia would be "correct" with or without them.
Additionally, from what I have read it seems like the VW engines were more often simply swapped out when a major problem arose as opposed to repairing or rebuilding the "original" engine.
I would guess that makes the chances of finding a Ghia today that still has the same engine it was delivered with less likely than say finding an old American car with the "original" engine.
Having said all that, from the few pictures so far it looks like your new Ghia is pretty clean.
As carl4x4 said, that OG 80s paint scheme and (tweed?) interior is pretty sweet.
Congratulations on your purchase!
Enjoy. |
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KGCoupe
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2005
Posts: 3580
Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:54 am Post subject: |
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| ScottDoonan wrote: |
| Sounds awesome. Hope it will be in as good of shape as the gem I found. All mine needed was paint, and reassembly. |
 Yeah, riiiiiiiigggghhhhtttt! |
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ScottDoonan
Samba Member
Joined: August 04, 2005
Posts: 546
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:14 am Post subject: |
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Well looks pretty good, you should be stoked. A lot of times the sellers description & actual condition of car don't match up, or are simply flat out lie. As they say a picture is worth a 1000 words. With these cars a media blasting would be a novel. Look forward to seeing the progress.
_________________
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 |
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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks guys. As of right now the big plan is to get it starting and stopping, along with major repairs, the body work and little things cone later. I will be picking it up tomorrow morning and then the fun starts, a good cleaning before I do anything, as you see about 15lbs of sand in it. I was curious about the motor because I was thinking if it is original than a complete overhaul might be needed. The more I looked at the motor I don't think it's the original, unless they made a dualport 1300/1500. How can I tell if it's a 1300 or 1500? After a good cleaning tomorrow I will post more pictures and show you the bad spots of rust. Thanks guys but as much as I watch everyone else turn there's into gorgeous cars mine is going to take awhile longer than those, time and money, also I'm not very mechanically inclined but learning along the way. I have some friends that weld and hopefully they can help me out if anything is that bad. Thanks again and more tomorrow. |
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c21darrel
Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009
Posts: 8211
Location: San Dimas
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:45 am Post subject: |
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Cool! Looks like a late 80's early 90's Cal Looker 
| Quote: |
| 15lbs of sand in it |
Interesting way to lower, we used to just use a select-a-drop or pull some torsion bars.
Hard to see if its dual port from the pic, I dont believe there were 1300 dual port heads. No way to tell what current engine size is w/o disassembly to check bore and stroke size. Looks like the right air filter for a 1300 but im not 100% on that. As was mentioned they filled in the 66 only dash trim holes, you could look on the inside of the dash to see if its bondo or weld. Hub caps in back look like correct 66 flat ones. That looks like a bug radio faceplate, wrong for a ghia. Interesting dash top too.
Theres going to be some bondo behind the passenger front tire as they nixed the ghia badge and indent. Have fun you will become much more mechanically inclined over the next few years, write a lot of checks or abandon it 
Good Luck!!
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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! |
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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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| thanks on the engine info. as it sits it is a dual port but thats all i know, another question, i have a sandrail/buggy that i just put a fresh dual port 1600 in with dollorto 40 carb on it (i would put this carb on it), should i just do a motor swap and worry about this motor later or put time and money into this one to get going and keep it in the ghia? hopefully after tom i can get a bit more info on the body damage/repairs/changes. whats a good way to get the rear windows open, the lever seems stuck but i dont want to press to hard and break the window. does it just hinge and pop or is there a part that tightens/loosens before it opens? thanks |
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havadub
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2014
Posts: 22
Location: Lake Havasu City, AZ
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:26 am Post subject: |
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so i was too impatient and last night and decided to go pick it up...did a good vacuum on it and a few other little things. i was thinking of repairing the motor that is in it but have now decided to swap the motor with the one from my sandrail thats already running.
my question is, whats the easiest way to pull the motor from the ghia and put the new one in?
whats a good way to rinse the gas tank (has some sand in it)?
thanks guys more pictures later. |
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CiderGuy
Samba Member
Joined: December 23, 2013
Posts: 1351
Location: Bucks County, Pa
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:51 am Post subject: |
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| havadub wrote: |
my question is, whats the easiest way to pull the motor from the ghia and put the new one in?
whats a good way to rinse the gas tank (has some sand in it)?
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To the best of my knowledge there is only one way to remove and replace the motor. You drop the motor from the bottom of the raised on jack stands car. I bought a transmission jack from Harbor Freight just to do that. Their transmission jack lowers to below 8 inches and raised up to 30 inches. |
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Altema
Samba Member
Joined: June 20, 2010
Posts: 2904
Location: Lower Michigan
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:32 am Post subject: |
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| ScottDoonan wrote: |
| All mine needed was paint, and reassembly. |
I choked on my coffee Scott! |
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kingkarmann
Samba Member
Joined: November 05, 2003
Posts: 4111
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:49 am Post subject: |
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For $250. I nominate you for Ghia score of the year!!
Looks pretty nice😎
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