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Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:25 pm

So I am finally able to pour money into the money pit that has been waiting patiently in my parents garage for over 5 years. I got released from work early and i rented truck and drove down to san diego to pick up my kg. Drove it home and now she sits in my single car garage waiting for me to restore her to her original beauty. This will be my first restoration/project, and even though I cant say im a car expert, i do work on my mk4 gti myself and am quite a quick learner. I know this will take some time, money, patience, but I am ready to finally get some work done on my kg. So far the plans are as follow, but I know it wont be so easy and that there are probably many steps I am missing.

1. strip down completely
2. evaluate body for rust
b. fix body issues
3. paint car
4. install complete wiring
5. install interior
6. buy/install engine
7. enjoy!

heres a few pictures i took with my phone.. i have more coming.. any ideas, advice, etc is extremely welcome..

Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:52 pm

Looks like fun. The only advice I can give you is to do your interior last. When I got my ghia, the engine needed work, and like a dummy, I put the door panels on first, I almost ruined them from getting in and out of the car dirty. I got that advice on this site. Keep us posted. Are you going to restore or cal look?

Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:18 pm

whats the cal look vs restore?

Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:13 pm

I too own a 73 ghia. It too has resided in my parents garage in San Diego for an extended period of time. I used it as a daily driver through college and then when I moved to L.A. Finally decide I needed to make a go at stopping the rust and fixing the body issues at least til I could manage a body off. So I stripped her down and went rust hunting. A year and a half later I am putting her back together. Most of the work I did favored preservation over proper restoration i.e. Welded in patches for the pan in lieu of replacement. I did not do a body off so some of the body work is temp. I will be hopefully driving it back up here in early December.
Let me know if you need a hand. Good luck.
X2 on saving interior for last...those tar boards can hide some ugliness.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:08 am

California Look usually means aftermarket rims, lowering, and other non factory items. good example here
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php/carno/74524
Restore is trying to make look like it rolled off the showroom floor.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:54 am

I'm 95% done with my 69 vert. It sat for a couple years and then took 4 years to finish. Go slow, but not quite as slow as I did. This was also my first attempt at restoring a car. One thing I learned early on is to ask for help. When it was time to cut the car in half to replace the rockers, I found someone who knew what they were doing. Here are some before and after shots of mine. Just keep reminding yourself of how beutiful it will be when you get done and that will get you through those frustrating times.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=aparrothead

Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:04 am

drehzahl7 wrote:

eh, '73 dash with '74 bumper tubes. :?:

Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:05 am

The "bumper tubes" actually started to appear
during the 1973 model year.
Some have them, some do not.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:12 am

Ghiaddict wrote: The "bumper tubes" actually started to appear
during the 1973 model year.
Some have them, some do not.

:? Looks to be like a 1972 - 1974 dash and 1972 - 1974 bumper tubes. What am I missing?

Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:08 am

Ghiaddict wrote: The "bumper tubes" actually started to appear
during the 1973 model year.
Some have them, some do not.

cool, so it's a late '73 than? *adds bit of info to all the useless bits of info in his head*

Gary, '74 has brake warning light under the radio with the seatbelt light, instead of over to the left side of the dash like this '73.

'74 dash
http://homepage.mac.com/macomber/Cars/Ghia2/Nint.jpg

Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:21 am

im learning a lot, thanks guys... as far as cal look vs stock, the only thing that wont be stock is the paint job, i want to paint it like this car i found online.. now, regarding bodywork, the body looks very straight, ill take more pics and post them soon, but i was thinking of doing all the prep work myself to save money at the body shop.. it seems like my kg was originally orange, then went to that green because the green paint flakes off at some parts and the orage is pretty much everywhere else.. so i figured i should sand the whole body down and get rid of any/all paint off the body.. it does look like there was at some point some nose damage, however it looks small and it looks like it was repaired properly with bondo.. who has done this before? is there a diy/how-to for this specific to the kg?

Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:28 am

aparrothead - u sir, have a beautiful car.. now, i really like the woodgrain dashboard, but from my little knowledge its only a plastic cover right? has anyone ever made a real wood dashboard? id really like to put a real one in there because i think it would be a nice touch.. would just have to give it good care so i doesnt crack i guess..

Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:32 am

This is the plastic wood grain piece that glues on the metal frame. I've never seen any with a real wood dash installed. Anyone heard of this?

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:04 am

aparrothead wrote: This is the plastic wood grain piece that glues on the metal frame. I've never seen any with a real wood dash installed. Anyone heard of this?

Yes, real wood dash face has been done.
I've seen pics on the interweb, maybe right here on the Samba. (?)
Don't have a link, but a good search should find them.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:23 am

drehzahl7 wrote: im learning a lot, thanks guys... as far as cal look vs stock, the only thing that wont be stock is the paint job, i want to paint it like this car i found online.. now, regarding bodywork, the body looks very straight, ill take more pics and post them soon, but i was thinking of doing all the prep work myself to save money at the body shop.. it seems like my kg was originally orange, then went to that green because the green paint flakes off at some parts and the orage is pretty much everywhere else.. so i figured i should sand the whole body down and get rid of any/all paint off the body.. it does look like there was at some point some nose damage, however it looks small and it looks like it was repaired properly with bondo.. who has done this before? is there a diy/how-to for this specific to the kg?

Repaired properly with bondo is not possible. Also, there is a thread here that details (with pictures) popping the nose back into shape without using filler. Use the Search and you'll find it.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:43 pm

hhmm... it apparently was drilled into and pulled/popped out and covered with bondo.. i dont think im gutsy enough to cut off the front end and replace it because it seems like the damage was minimal and doesnt warrant that much work.. i need to replace my digital camera because my current one didint make it thru my last deployment, i guess the sand really got into little cracks.. so until then, its crappy pics from my blackberry..

Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:10 am

Any updates?

Wed Jan 06, 2010 9:08 am

Nice pics. Its kinda funny to me since the 73 i'm restoring was originally dark green and somebody painted it red! Yours is the opposite.

Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:07 pm

oh yes gentleman... i am happy to report i am officially out of active duty! now on to the reserves for a few years...

that means i now have time to spend on my car.. first things first.. body... i have nearly striped her down and pulled out all wiring.. once i do that though, i want to take care of the body.. for some reason that seems to be the next logical step.. but i have a question, being my first project, i need help..
how far should i strip her down for body work? im going to take her to the hobby shop on base where i will sand her down and take her down to bare metal/aluminum.. then depending how much rust i find i guess ill fix that.. after that is done, i plan on getting her painted and being done with body work.. should i then do the wiring?? and when/how do i findout if i should do a off-pan work?
:roll: i need ALOT of advice! today i am going to pull her out of my garage and take alot of pictures for you guys.. should have them on by the end of the day..

Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:30 pm

As far as body off vs no body off.

I would first decide how much work other than body work do you need to do. What I mean is that fixing floor pans, redoing brakes and brake lines, new wheel bearings etc is easier with the body off. The body work is by far easier as well. With a hard top it is very easy to take the body off. A few bolts and lift. Putting on the body is even easier.

Convertibles have a larger problem with support and gaps and things like that but with the roof it is a little easier. Also, if you take pic's and if you ever choose to sell the car, people will appreciate your effort and having the body removed will make them feel that much better and most likely get you a few more bucks.

That being said, if you need floor pans and heater channels you might as well take the body off. If not, you can work around it.

I say take it off! I did, and overall it is probably quicker, but for sure easier.

Take care,

SAM