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Tue Feb 23, 2016 9:32 pm

Hi Rich,

I spoke to the guys from APV-S. Their products are ADR compliant which satisfies the main point for getting them. The only downside is a limited number of colours. Fine if you want black or grey but the other colours are not nice

So looking a bit wider and found HEMCO also make ADR compliant seatbelts and have a wider range of webbing colours. I spoke to them too and exchanged the relative dimensions for the anchor positions. I'm going for a custom set in navy blue to match the colour theme.

The only missing point was the length of the stalk. That was a bit tricky because my seats are still under wraps and not installed. You've kindly provided the length that shown to work and now I can place the order.

Thanks for helping out!

Nicholas

Tue Feb 23, 2016 11:58 pm

No worries Nicholas glad to help

motorhead364 wrote: Hey Rich quick question. How did you get the front trunk lid to sit so nic?. Mine sits way high with the rubber and and it refuses to get any lower. My seal is from KGPR.

I am pretty sure my rubber was from CIP1 dont know if its the same as KGPR but I was told it was German. Its pretty soft, had chalky powder all over it and the glue joins really stood out, which is apparently how you tell its German. The front hood springs also tend to pull the lid down at the bottom of their stroke and the latch pulls down the front, so if you dont them on it may sit up a bit. But it does sound like the rubber.

Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:18 am

Springs are on and I've got the front adjusted to sit flat but it sits way high in the rear. This rubbers pretty hard. I may try the German seal and see what happened. This one came in the body "rubber kit".

Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:42 pm

Sensational Rich ! Congratulations on a beautiful Ghia. Look forward to seeing on the roads around Sydney. The ear to ear grin you get from driving these stunning vehicles is just fantastic. It’s such a buzz to see the smiles on people’s faces as you drive on by. Enjoy a truly beautiful Karmann Ghia. Love the number plate !!

Fri Feb 26, 2016 5:19 am

Thanks Restonubie, Its funny, the first couple of times I drove it I was so nervous I didn't really enjoy it the way I had hoped to. I guess owning the car so long you sometimes think it will never be finished or something is going to happen to prevent you from finishing. But now I am coming to the realisation that its done, its mine and I can drive this beautiful car. I cant wait to get it out this weekend. Its amazing the number of thumbs up you get from everyone. As someone who stopped me to talk said, these cars really standout. I will definitely be getting out and about in Sydney especially when the gearbox is fixed.

Fri Feb 26, 2016 6:13 am

Hey Rich I see you're online. What time of day is it over there? I just got up to get ready for work. My wife LOVES your car btw. I showed her your thread and she went front to back on it last night. Now she's really on my rear end to get it painted. Gonna drive it to a couple shops in the next couple weeks and get some quotes

Fri Feb 26, 2016 6:15 am

I found some photos of the day I bought and picked up the ghia. Late April 1997 complete with 1980's dechroming.

And the day I got it registered, 20th Feb 2016

I took the ghia to work this week and on the way I stopped in at Wollongong harbour to take some pics that weren't in my driveway. Car hasn't been washed or polished yet, but still looks good, I reckon.

It was such a nice morning I struggled not to keep driving down the coast

Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:21 am

Stance looks great... and love that silver!

What else do you have planned for it?

Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:25 am

All of your hard work really shows....beautiful Ghia you have there! =D>

Fri Feb 26, 2016 12:41 pm

Just stunning. That Colour is absolutely perfect. Has me re-thinking mine. I love hearing about the reaction from others to the car, keep 'em coming. I'm sure there's a bunch of us living vicariously through you.

Fri Feb 26, 2016 1:58 pm

There is little I can add to all the comments about how great the car looks save for this; I can't quite articulate why, but the car looks more Jaguar/Porsche/Mercedes than VW, and I say that as a high compliment. It looks classy, distinguished, and fit to star as a "Bond" car.

Enjoy it.

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:00 pm

motorhead364 wrote: Hey Rich I see you're online. What time of day is it over there? I just got up to get ready for work. My wife LOVES your car btw. I showed her your thread and she went front to back on it last night. Now she's really on my rear end to get it painted. Gonna drive it to a couple shops in the next couple weeks and get some quotes

Hey Dustin, I must have just missed your post, it was just after 12am Saturday morning here when you posted, so I was ready bed. Great your wife like my car tell her thanks and its good having that family support when you are spending all those $$. I asked a couple of shops but alot said that because they focus on mainly insurance work that mine would be last priority and specialty shops here are really $$. So I ended up getting a friend of my brother inlaw to do it. He was a spray painter by trade, had access to a booth and did it on the side. There are one to two tiny inperfections if you go over the paint close up, but a much better job than I could have done and its in 2-pack paint. I think you will be happy with getting a professional to do the top.

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:11 pm

Rich

From someone who has only recently got his own Ghia on the road:

Your car is beautiful and I like the way you have kept the lines simple and uncluttered. No mirrors on the doors, no reversing (back-up) lights, no towel rail bumpers. The silver paint adds to the less-is-more theme. The ride height front and rear seems to me to be perfect - and I'll see next week whether `I've been able to achieve the same.

If not my car's twin, at least its sibling. If not a sibling, a cousin in another country.

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:24 pm

bhartwell59 wrote: Stance looks great... and love that silver!

What else do you have planned for it?

Thanks bhartwell59, Initial plans are to enjoy it as is. But on the TO DO list are:
- Get the gear box fixed, should have a replacement in a month
- Run the motor in so I can open it up and see what it will do.
- Patch the side gaurd where I moved the side mirror to the correct position.
- Get a wheel alignment, Have done a home job with strings etc, but it understeers alot, not sure if its the positive camber of the dropped spindles.
- Get the car on the dyno to tune the carbs properly. Luck Ive got one less than 5kms from where I live.
- Replce the rear seat strap, current one broke just before my blueslip inspection and its only 3 years old and never been in the sun.

PeteSC wrote: All of your hard work really shows....beautiful Ghia you have there! =D>
Evil_Fiz wrote: There is little I can add to all the comments about how great the car looks save for this; I can't quite articulate why, but the car looks more Jaguar/Porsche/Mercedes than VW, and I say that as a high compliment. It looks classy, distinguished, and fit to star as a "Bond" car.

Enjoy it.
Thanks PeteSC, Evil Fz

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:44 pm

Lovely car :-) really lovely. The colour/wheels/interior/stance is spot on you must be very chuffed !

Interesting to see that a gearbox rebuild is first on the cards, exactly the same for me when I got my car on the road. In fact it's something I'm doing right now!

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:56 pm

bobnorman wrote: Just stunning. That Colour is absolutely perfect. Has me re-thinking mine. I love hearing about the reaction from others to the car, keep 'em coming. I'm sure there's a bunch of us living vicariously through you.

Thanks Bob, yes its interesting the reaction you get especially as most people dont know what it is. They dont see what we see, they see an old looking sports car. I think my most memorable reaction was from my next door neighbour. She is an older woman who only recently saw the ghia when I had it out the front being sound tested by the engineer. She was across the street waiting for a bus, and my wife said she was looking over with her jaw open.

Later that week talking to her she asked if I had won the lottery. I asked what do you mean and she said "that car!!. I told my kids, well hes done it, that Richard, he's won the lottery, he's gone and bought himself a fancy sports car". She thought the engineer was delivering it to me. After I told her I have been building it, she said"must be worth a bit" and then she said"When I saw, it I though that must be a $100,000 dollar car right there". I laughed and told her roughly what they sell for, but it made my day. I still smile when I think of that conversation.

Sun Feb 28, 2016 4:31 am

kiwighia68 wrote: Rich

From someone who has only recently got his own Ghia on the road:

Your car is beautiful and I like the way you have kept the lines simple and uncluttered. No mirrors on the doors, no reversing (back-up) lights, no towel rail bumpers. The silver paint adds to the less-is-more theme. The ride height front and rear seems to me to be perfect - and I'll see next week whether `I've been able to achieve the same.

If not my car's twin, at least its sibling. If not a sibling, a cousin in another country.

Thanks Chris, I love what you did with yours as well. Im sure with the adjustable beam and dropped spindles you will get the right height. I was alot lower at the front but had to keep coming up until The tyres didnt scrub with two passengers at full lock. I am happy with the final height and can confidently go in and out of driveways without scraping.

BTW I think by geography our ghias are cuzzes if not bro's :D

carl4x4 wrote: Lovely car :-) really lovely.
Interesting to see that a gearbox rebuild is first on the cards

Thanks Carl, yes I am really happy with how it turned out especially the interior. The gear box rebuild is not by choice. I had my beetle box rebuilt an on the first drive noticed a loud howl coming from the ring gear so it needs to be fixed. In hindsight I probably should have done what you did and just put in an old box to trial ratios before getting it done properly. Im now tossing up whether to change from a 4.125 to a 3.875 as Ive got a good spare. I will be interested to see your feedback in your thread on the 3.875 Ring gear with 0.89 4th

Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:36 am

Have been trying to get the ghia out as much as I can, but still managed only 300 miles in the past few weeks. Have mostly done the short tourist drives that we have a lot of around here. So even though there's always plenty of house maintenance. Bugger fixing the retaining wall its time to cruise.

A bit of country and coast driving down south

Took my brother for a drive up the northern coastal villages and we stopped for a beer at one of the pubs. A lot of people comment on the car which is really nice, but in a lot of cases its obvious they have no idea what they are looking at

Bought myself a fire extinguisher for some peace of mind, for now its in the box behind the front seat, but where does everyone usually mount these?

This weekend will be the last weekend I will be driving it before I take out the gear box to get it fixed. I have decided on going with the 3.88 R&P for some slightly taller gearing. Pulled apart a bug L model gearbox I had, and it looked good, so hopefully not to long before I can get it back in and get it all run in properly. Cant wait to get it out tomorrow morning.

Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:04 pm

Ghia looks fantastic!

Funny you mention the extinguisher, I bought one for my bug 10 years ago and that's still where it lives as I couldn't bear to put a mounting bracket up front for it. Would like to see what everyone has come up with for their ghias.

Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:08 pm

Got my fire extinguisher in front mounted under the dash.

You'll want to get to it PDQ!