1966 Ghia coupe restoration

[Marcdeb]

Looks really sharp. I noticed your antenna is on the right side as my 68 has it. My 71 has it on the left and prior to getting my 68, I had only seen antennas on the the left side. Interesting that dealers were not following the same procedures!
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Marc
68 Karmann Ghia Cabrio Autostick
71 Karmann Ghia Cabrio

Previously Owned:
2011 VW EOS Hard Top Conv
2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Conv
2003 Saab 9-3 SE Conv
2001 Saab 9-3 Conv
1998 BMW 3 Series Conv
1997 Saab 900 Conv
1997 Mazda Miata

68 Ghia Vert Survivor with 22,350 miles: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768107&highlight=
71 Ghia Vert Restoration: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726710&postorder=asc

[Era Vulgaris]

[Marcdeb]

[Disc]

If you have an retracktable antenna (as you do), it's easier to reach from the driver side and not always you have an passenger to do that for you.
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The glory never gets old, just need new paint.
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Nick

[sputnick60]

There is a route from the trunk to the left side inner guard that isn't present on the right side. An extra hole is for the antenna cable and grommet. it's tucked up in the corner. I discovered the hard way after putting a hole in the right fender for the antenna before paint that later I had to add a hole for the antenna after paint.

Nicholas
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'66 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet...
'65 Porsche 356C Coupe...
2005 Mecedes Benz C180 Kompressor Estate
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Marcdeb]

[Era Vulgaris]

[sputnick60]

[Era Vulgaris]

I meant to post these pics a while back of the side trim install with the MG Midget clips. They're not actually clips, but stud plates. The side trim I bought was from KGPR, and the plates were not a direct fit into the trim. I had to use a bench grinder and reduce their width slightly and add an angle profile. I'm not sure if other brands of side trim would require that as well. I admit this step was a bit fiddly and annoying having to trim so many of these.

Here you can see a modified one next to an unmodified one

I bought the stud plates from Rimmer Brothers in the UK
https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-AHA9447?srsltid=Afm...7KSItDCgQ2
They don't actually come with the nut that's pictured, but that doesn't matter because you'll want to buy M5 locknuts anyway so they don't come loose. I also used an M5 rubber washer on the inside of the body panels as a seal.

The studs are smaller than the side trim holes, which means you need to make sure the trim pieces are straight in line with one another before you fully tighten the locknuts down. This took me quite a bit of time making sure that each trim line was straight and that the two were parallel.
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Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD

Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue

[Era Vulgaris]

Finally got my tires mounted on the factory '66 wheels. So cool seeing the calipers through the slots!

_________________
Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD

Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue

[Era Vulgaris]

I was getting ready to install the gas tank, and had the thought I should first check the tunnel fuel line. I hit it with compressed air and to my massive dismay nothing came out the other end. I'm kicking myself for not thinking to check this while I had the body off. I don't know how I completely overlooked this. But I picked up 25' of stainless 1/4" tubing and am going to have to replace the tunnel fuel line with the body on. I've read a bunch of threads on it, and have a good idea how to approach it. Wish me luck, cuz I'm gonna need it.
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Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD

Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue

[Marcdeb]

I can understand how realizing the situation must have been quite disappointing but we've seen your skills and I suspect you will get though this successfully. Look forward to reading about it.

Your wheels look good and I have to say again that your paint is a near perfect match to one year only L50F Regatta Blue. Looks amazing.
_________________
Marc
68 Karmann Ghia Cabrio Autostick
71 Karmann Ghia Cabrio

Previously Owned:
2011 VW EOS Hard Top Conv
2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Conv
2003 Saab 9-3 SE Conv
2001 Saab 9-3 Conv
1998 BMW 3 Series Conv
1997 Saab 900 Conv
1997 Mazda Miata

68 Ghia Vert Survivor with 22,350 miles: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768107&highlight=
71 Ghia Vert Restoration: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726710&postorder=asc

[Era Vulgaris]

[DaveB9]

That is really frustrating! Any use trying to clear it with a piece of welding wire or something similar? If you can dislodge whatever is in there it might then blow out with compressed air and then you could flush it repeatedly.

I have installed a new fuel line through the tunnel on my Beetle years ago with the body on. I gave up when it got to trying to get it down the framehorn and so at the back I started the flexible hose next to the gearshift coupler and out next to the clutch cable conduit. It has been like that for 25 + years, with regular changes of the flexible hose. But I was young and impatient - I suspect if you do install the new one you will manage better!

[Era Vulgaris]

[KarmannGreg]

I have a '66 coupe I am in the process of restoring. I will start a thread when I am ready to start working on it every day. I took this car apart over 8 years ago, and now the bodywork is finished and ready to go back together, but I am overwhelmed with where to start. I just binge-read your entire thread and I just had a make a few comments. For one, you are doing a fantastic job. I love that you are keeping your '66 mostly stock, which I plan to do as well -- I just love the uniqueness of this one-model-year car, so I see no reason to deviate.

You have me motivated to clear my garage, get my boxes of parts out of storage, and get to crackin. I will be using your thread as a guide to the order of reassembly. I appreciate all of your updates, tips and tricks and lessons learned as I will be stumbling through these same things. I can't wait to see the finished product and see how you like driving it (sound deadening, anything you would do differently, etc.).

I never got to drive my car. I bought it at an auction and had it towed home. It was supposedly in running order and just had a dead battery -- yeah right. I pulled the transmission cover and discovered about an inch of sludge so i knew a tear-down was imminent. I am 6'4", so I hope I fit in this thing when I am done!!!

Anyway, just wanted to say high, congratulate you on the quality of your work, and wish you the best of luck getting across the finish line!

[Era Vulgaris]

[McFunzeepants]

Sorry to bump back to this post-
- I'm wondering if you had the same problem with PTT's front bumper Euro over riders as Kiwighia68 had?
The over riders weren't aligned forward but had a 'Squint' to them? He ended up grinding them to achieve forward alignment.

Your front bumper looks really good, I'm hoping they finally fixed this problem at the factory.
Did you have the same experience?

[Era Vulgaris]

[Era Vulgaris]

Ok, I finally got my hard fuel line replaced. I'm going to preface this by saying, if your Ghia needs its hard fuel line replaced, do yourself a favor and just send it to the crusher. I'm kidding of course, but only just. This was by far one of the worst jobs I've ever had to do on any car I've ever owned. You're pushing a metal line through a tunnel full of obstacles that you can't see, and you have to feed it around a bend and then maneuver it out of a very small hole through which grabbing it is frustratingly difficult.

This took me something like 15 hrs over the course of several days. But with the amount of swearing, yelling, and sweating that I did...it felt like 2 or 3 times that.

First I cut the ends off the old fuel line and pushed the stubs into the tunnel and out of the way, leaving it mostly in place in the tunnel.

I used stainless 1/4" fuel line and sheathed it in 5mm braided fuel hose for protection. This I fed in through the front of the tunnel.

From the rear I fed string trimmer line in, which I grabbed from the inspection port where the shift coupler is under the rear seat. I had to disconnect the shift rod and remove the coupler to make room to get my hands in there.

I had intended to really document this in detail, but once the difficulty became apparent, any desire to do that went out the window.

So basically what I did was to feed the line in from the front until it got to the inspection port at the rear. That alone took several hours of pulling the line out and then back in, avoiding obstacles while trying to keep the line straight. Once I eventually had the line back at the inspection port, I duct taped the trimmer line to the end of the fuel line.
Then it took a ton of work pulling the line back and forth over and over and over and over, shaping it using extra long needle nose pliers through the port under the rear seat, using guess and test to find the right sequence of bends that would allow it to travel down the frame horn and out of the hole. This is what took many hours over several days. Not just shaping the line from a distance with surrogate metal appendages (the needle nose pliers), but shaping it so that the end had a bend that could be pulled from the frame horn without the whole thing getting caught on the ebrake and old fuel line.
After what seemed like an eternity I managed to get it out once I finally got it into the correct position, then using the trimmer line to lift and needle nose pliers to slowly pull it out (this was insanely difficult with the stiffness of the stainless line). Once I had enough length out of the rear, I cut the extra off the front, ran the line further in from the front, and then worked the front end of the line up through the hole in the front of the tunnel.
I still need to secure it. I have both metal and plastic zip ties for this, and I'm going to do my best to secure it to the old line through all the available openings in the tunnel using extra long pliers as forceps to tighten the zips. But the job is now 95% done. What an absolute nightmare of a job that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Seriously, I hope none of ya'll ever have to do this.

Here is the shiny new line sticking out of both ends of the tunnel.

_________________
Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD

Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue