Adventures with a 1971 Karmann Ghia convertible

[craigolio1]

Project 3: holes in floor pans

I need to jack the car up and get under it with a wire wheel to see what the extent of the holes are. Upon initial inspection they look to be small. The thinking right now is I'll be able to use a few welded patches, or portions of repair panels welded in. There are no plans to remove the body and replace the entire pans at this time.

Update Oct 27, 2025

I jacked the car up today and took a wire wheel to the pans.

The driver’s side has a bunch of holes in various places and could use a whole new pan, but it’s good at the edges where it connects to the body/chassis.

The passenger side is in great shape from the front to under the seat. From there back it’s got a bunch of holes but again, the sides and connection points are all good.

I’ll discuss it with Don but I’m thinking I buy a whole driver’s pan and a half passenger pan and cut them in as patches, possibly using the sides right to the pan bolts. I definitely don’t want to take the body off. That’s a massive project.

Update Oct 30,2025

Don and I got under the car and had a look at the holes. They are all very small, but they are numerous. The driver side has them around the indent where the seat mounts, up front where your feet rest, and at the very back. The passenger side is all around the indent where the seat mounts.

We looked at the various repair panels that are available and Don decided we may as well do both pans. All of the points were they attach to the vehicle are in great shape so Don plans to cut in the pans as big repair patches. To me it seems like a lot of work… but then I haven't been welding for 50 years. I guess it’s less work than removing the body. I know purists will say remove the body but honestly I have no interest in doing that huge of a project and Don has the knowledge and skills to get me though this so I’m following his lead on this.

This project will commence in the spring. In the mean time the seats are out, and I’ll work on removing the tar boards and seat rails.

Update Dec 16,2025.

New floor pans arrived!!!! That is all.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 4. seats not moving

The seat rails in this car are pretty rusty and the driver's seat doesn't move. The first day I had the car I shot the rails with deep creep and now the lever mechanism works so there's progress here! Ultimately I think I'll keep these seats, but I'd definitely like to not have my knees NOT touch the steering wheel.

Update Nov. 1, 2025

The seats are out! The passenger side came out with little effort. My son held the lever and I pushed with my feet.

The driver side required more gumption. The mechanism underneath was bent. I ended up pulling up the left side fingers with a pry bar and tapping a flat head screw driver in place to hold them there. Then with the help of my son again, out it came.

Here he is with his kill.

Now to figure out what’s what. The passenger seat is in good working order. The lever actuates the fingers on both sides and the seat folds forward using the lever on the side.

The drivers side does neither of these things, and here’s why….

The metal fingers on the right side of the seat are all bent. I was able to straighten them with a hammer and vice grips.

Additionally while the lever moved after the fingers were straight, it didn’t move the fingers on the other side. I figured out that it was because this tab was bent up.

Again I was able to bend it down with vice grips

The cross bar was also bent but I was able to fix that with my bare hands. Argh. With that done, the lever now moves the fingers on both sides quite smoothly.

Next I had to sort out why the seat back wouldn’t fold forward. The lever works but the thing at the bottom doesn’t lift the hook.

Turns out it’s because of two reasons. First it was bent. It should look like this:

But instead it looks like this.

I decided to take the seat back off to further assess. The green arrow in the above pic is pointing to this:

It’s bent, and the top of the loop is supposed to be closed and have a little flat piece on the end which pushes the hook off of the rod so the seat can fold.

I was able to bend it back so it’s flat and the lever moves smoothly, but I’ll have to figure out what to do about the missing part. I have a seat from the doner car with its workings intact. One option is to try to remove the whole lever assembly. I’m not sure if that can be done with the upholstery on? The other option is to cut the portion I need off, and weld it on. That might actually be easier. More research is required.

Update Dec 15, 2025

Alright. I was over at Don’s today and we tackled the seats.

The goal today was to turn this:

Into this:

Don found some scrap rectangular tubing and cut a piece to match the fit and profile using the good seat as a reference.

Here’s the end result:

The seat now folds forward and the mech moves very smoothly.

Next we moved on to the track mechanism on the bottom of the driver’s seat.

The issue was that the fingers on the mech on the lever side of the seat were bent, which I fixed a bit of earlier, but it still wasn’t great. I got it moving, but it wasn’t pulling the fingers out on the left side of the seat very well.

Upon deeper investigation here’s what I discovered:

The tab with the hole that holds the cross over rod, on the lever side, had been replaced by something that was messily welded on, and not in the right spot.

These are pics that include the fixes.

Here’s the replacement part that was welded on. It’s a bit too low.

Compare to the other side:

Also the welds were quite large. Which prevented the mech from fully rotating to disengage the non lever side.

This photo shows the big weld, and also some grinding we did to clearance it.

To sum up the fixes we did to the tracks themselves, they were bent so that the fingers were all aligned, and the ground the previous welds a bit so that the lever would move the fingers through the full range of rotation.

You’ve probably noticed the cross over rod is new as well. I think the previous attempt to get the not lever side fingers to disengage was to shorten the cross over rod so that they were permanently pulled out more. I don’t have a pic but the the evidence was in how the end of the rod was bent.

Now that we had the mech working properly, we removed that old rod and made a new one out of welding rod. It’s about 1/4” longer. Now the mech works just as it should, which the handle rotating to the max of its range and both sets of fingers pulling out well clear of where they need to.

Here’s a pic of the new cross over rod installed.

And with that both the passenger and driver seats are working great! I plan to do some clean up of the mech including removing chipped paint and degreasing/re-lubing them, but from a repair standpoint, this project is complete.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 5. audio system

The ultimate plan here is to install some subwoofers, and four speakers. Back in the day I was really into car stereos. After high school I went to college and became a certified car stereo installer. The 90’s was what many feel was the golden age of car audio and I was right into it. I worked with an installer for a short time before I got into sales. My friends and I all had an interest and I had awesome stereos in all of my vehicles right up until about 10 years ago when I removed it all from my mini-van, sold it, and bought carbon fibre wheels for my bike… and a vacation for the family.

I’d like to build an homage to what 16 year old Craig dreamed about installing in the car when he should have been paying attention in English class. I still have some gear tucked away. This includes four vintage pioneer 8” subwoofers which are still basically new. The thought of using these as the corner stone of a retro themed system is really fun.

Here’s an internet photo for reference.

The original thought was to cram all four of them in the car because well… why not…. But the current mood has me thinking maybe two of them. Then I can keep two as spares. While they are basically new, they are also almost 30 years old. Who knows how long they’ll survive? I’d be willing to have the foam surrounds replaced if needed, but there’s nothing wrong with having a couple of spares.

I’ll power these with a selection of classic retro amps. I used to run all HiFonics VIII amps and LOVED them, but there were so many great brands back in the day. Maybe some Precision Power art series or Phoenix Gold M series amps? Who knows. We’ll have to see what happens.

I’ll use a modern head unit and front/ rear speakers. I know that being an old convertible is not concussive to great sound quality but I still want to do this just for the fun of it.

First and foremost, I just need some basic tunes. The car has a pair of speakers in the kick panels and two loose 6x9s in boxes in the rear so this will do for now.

The car came with a JVC head unit which the previous owner said is not working. It was largely painted orange on the rear by a very excited painter. I'm envisioning the Swedish Chef (the Muppet - not a real one for those who aren't familiar - no offense intended toward any actual Swedish Chef's here.)


I went routing through the bin of random stuff I still have in the garage, and wouldn't you know it... I found an Alpine CD head unit from back in the day, IN THE BOX! I guess I completely forgot I had this when I sold everything. Even though it's doing nothing, an Alpine doing nothing makes me much happier than an orange JVC doing nothing, so in it went. Unfortunately, I've realized I don't have the keys to remove it.... so that will be a fun challenge later. Thankfully I have access to the back!

Looking through the manual, I see that the CD changer input can be changed to an aux in by making some menu changes and adding a cable. This is perfect. Now I'll be able to connect my phone

Edit: Oct 2025

And after 15 years or so in storage… it still works!

It’s no longer doing nothing. I now have tunes from the front speakers.

Update Nov 8, 2025.

I’ve been thinking about what to do for the subwoofers. Initially I thought I’d put them behind the rear window (when the top is folded down). A Ghia in Car Stereo Review Magazine was the inspiration for this idea.

The fellow had put two JL Audio 10” subs behind there. I measured what volume I could achieve back there and I landed at about 1cuft. Great for a pair of ‘90’s JL 10s, which needed .5cuft each…. But my pioneer 8s are not cut from the same cloth as the JLs. The manufacturer spec recommends .75cuft each in a ported enclosure. So two behind the glass wasn’t going to work.

I started eyeing the area which is the “back seat”. Now my car doesn’t have a back seat. It has a flat panel which is what you put an over night bag or something. If you remove that and measure the space left behind you get….

The top rectangle portion up to the floor level is roughly 4x16x34 inches (accounting for the thickness of the enclosure materia) up to level with the area under the back window. This yields 2176 cu in, or 1.26cu ft.

The bucket on each side of the wishbone is roughly 6x14x13, again accounting for any enclosure material. This yields 1092 cu in or .63cu Ft.

So if I used the one empty bucket and that top rectangle up to the floor level, I’d have a total of 3268 cu in, or 1.9cuft. Perfect.

I used to love building stealthy fibre glass enclosures and it’s fun to include something that’s not flat. So I’m thinking I angle the two subs to match the angle of the seats, and put one centered behind each seat kind of like this:

There would be contoured curves that would blend the positioning into the rear shelf and fit with the nice curves of the car. It would be cool cause it’s not flat, fun to build, and still allow me to put a suit case back there without crushing the subs. It will also be small enough and light enough that I could lift it out to access the battery as needed. I could run some cables back to the engine compartment and mount a poss and neg lug back there in case I ever need to test it or jump start it or something.

The idea is still bouncing around in my skull but that’s where I’m leaning right now.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

complete.

Project 6. wheel and tire upgrade/fitment

A while back I bought Sprintstars from CIP1, and had them fitted with the cheapest rubber I could find. I chose the size based on what I read in the wheel/tire/suspension thread... but as many know, not all Ghias are alike. This is why I went with the cheapest rubber... figuring these won't be the last tires I buy.

The day Don and I fixed the electrical, we also test fit the wheels and tires.

I absolutely love the look so they will go on the car... just not now.

The rear fits fairly well. I can fit my hand between the fender lip and the tire. I think I'll be able to roll the fender lip and make them work. They are currently a 185/65/R15. The wheels it came with have 165s so I can always swap to the narrower tires.

The fronts are another story. The current tires on the stock rims are 135R. The front is lowered with drop spindles, which many know pushes the wheels out about a 1/2"(?). The right tire rubs at full lock. The left doesn't... but I've noticed that it's camber is off.. which will need to be fixed... so lets say that it rubs too.

My new wheels are 5" wide, have an offset that favours the beetle (from what I understand most of the after market wheels are made for beetles and Ghias need a deeper offset?) They also have 175/60/15. So I'm running a wider tire, on a wider wheel, with less offset than I need. The test fit barely had room for a finger. Don says let’s test it before I start ordering parts, which I'll do. I can't put the 135R on my 5" rims (according to the web.. max 4.5"). I can get a 145R tire which apparently has the same tread width, but that doesn't help the fact that the tire is still farther out than stock. Do I spend $300 just to try a different tire that I'm pretty sure will rub anyway? Perhaps someone in the GTA is replacing their 145Rs and I can save you the recycling fee? I foresee buying a 2" narrowed beam with adjusters on it in the future.

Update Oct 27,2025

While I had the car jacked up to wire wheel the pans, I put the back wheels on and they tuck right in there on both sides. I took it for a test drive in some hard turns and bumps and there was no rubbing so they are good to go. Later this week Don and I are going to see how rolling the front fender lips goes but I don’t think there’s anyway the 175s will go in with out rubbing. I’m currently looking for a garbage set of 145 to try as my research indicates I can’t put my 135s on the 5” wheels.

Update: October 30, 2025

Today big progress was made on the wheels and tires.

I bought a fender roller on Amazon knowing it would not fit the wheel pattern. Don said not to worry and we could modify it. We cut out the slots to accommodate the larger wheel pattern, and we had to shorten the main arm because my car is lowered.

Rolling the front fenders was a success. We were able to get the lips flat, without flaring the fenders themselves or damaging them any more than the tires rubbing already had.

The right side has a little piece of filler(?) that cracked and moved a bit. It was already cracked before but hadn’t popped out. It’s still attached. I’ll remove it, sand, refill, and blend it with my airbrush.

The left side there was no damage.

Unfortunately my 175s still rubbed…. Bad… worse than the 135s, but I was pretty sure that would happen. The good news? When I put my 135s back on there is now no rubbing at all so improvements were made. I’m optimistic that a set of 145s will give me what I need.

On the rear I had put the 185s on. I thought they were fine but on the way to Don’s I was hearing a bit of squeaking and smelling rubber. This was confirmed, haha.

Instead of getting out the hammer we decided to try to use the fender roller, but after Don’s mods to make it fit the front…. It was to short! So we welded it back on, but very little material was inside the sleeve and it was bending. Don had some square tubing that was perfect telescopic for which strengthened the whole thing . The fit was a bit more snug now (from hammering the smaller tubing inside) and nothing was bending.

The end result was perfect.

After a few minutes of rolling the inner tub of the wheel well there was at least 1cm more clearance.

Now there’s no squeaking and no smoke… and I’m very happy with the look.

Now to find some cheap 145s to test.

Craig

Update: Nov 12, 2025

I had no luck finding throw away 145s so I brought my front wheels to my tire guy and had him swap the existing 135 onto the new wheel. I only did one wheel until I was sure they would fit properly.

Initially I had some reservations about putting a 135 tire on the 5” wide rim. Some of the web searching I did said it’s to wide of a rim. But, after searching wheel and tire thread here and seeing several instances of people putting 135s on 5” rims I decided to go for it.

The fit is great. Here the new set up on the driver’s side.

Hard right:

Hard left:

There appears to be lots of room so I suspect I’ll have no rubbing when I test drive it in the spring.

I couldn’t test fit it in the passenger side as it’s too close to my garage wall and I have 3” of snow. If there’s rubbing it will be on that side. The driver’s side has a touch of negative camber (which I’d like to fix) where as the passenger side appears more neutral so has a bit less clearance. The passenger side is where most of the running was with the 135s, prior to rolling the fenders. I’m optimistic though.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 7. Door improvement

This post will focus on making improvements to the doors. I’d like to replace the glass in the drivers door as there is a chip, install the rubber scrapers, make sure the anti-rattle grommets are in there, and properly install the door cards as they are not well fitted.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 8. Model B2 gas heater testing / installation, and heated seats?

This car has had the heater boxes removed, and all levers/controls removed from the interior. It also has headers. From what I understand the heat in these cars never really worked anyway, and I don't want to rot my heater channels. This won't be an issue for most of the season that I'm driving this car.

That said, I acquired it in the fall and it's cold ripping along with the top down! For me and my wife to properly enjoy this car we neat some heat.

The doner car is a Canadian car and came with the gas heater option. It was one of the first things I removed and packed up. I pulled it out of the crawl space and gave it a once over. My unqualified opinion is that it's in pretty good shape. I'm going to investigate installing it. I'll do any restoration and testing on the bench before i commit to cutting holes.

The heater is a model B2. Looks like I have the non-recirculating version.

I found an excellent guide to it's operation here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/eberspacher.php

Here’s another good one with a gentleman explains how to test and install one.

https://www.type2.com/library/heating/b2ht.htm

If I can get this working safely I'll be really pleased. I think the concept of it is so cool. I might airbrush a custom paint job on it and give it German Luftwaffe markings or something fun like that.... minus any distasteful symbols.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 9: dome light doesn’t work.

So this turned out to be an easy one. I pulled the dome light off of the ceiling and tested the contacts. The left should be power and the right should be grounded when the switch is in the left (door position). I had power on the right and no ground.

I popped the housing off the ceiling and checked all the switch contacts for continuity. They all worked but I sanded them anyway. Checked the bulb and it had continuity which means the filament was good. I gave its contacts a quick sand as well.

Then I unscrewed the rear view mirror base from the ceiling the reveal the wiring. Turns out they were reversed. I confirmed which one had power and connected it to the correct position on the left, and connected the one that should be ground to the right. When the switch is set to the always on position, it grounds with a tab on the dome light that contacts the back of the rear view mirror base when installed. So when I snapped the light housing back in, it worked!!

This left an absence of ground on the door contacts to solve. I unscrewed the drivers side contact and confirmed continuity with the wire, so the issue had to be related to the door switch. The door switch it self was corroded and there was paint where the switch housing is supposed to make contact with the door jam. You get contact through the screw as well but more is always better. So I cleaned up all of those spots with sand paper or a wire wheel.

It worked!!

I did the same treatment on the passenger side. Both door contacts got a shot of dielectric grease spray as well to prevent corrosion coming back.

Nothing like a one evening project!
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Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Hey all. Nothing really new. I just reorganized the thread so that interested people can find things faster. Each project is now its own post that will be updated, instead of one giant post that you have to surf through.

Have a great weekend!

Craig.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 10: Electrical oddities:

This car has got ALOT of things about the electrical that show up seemingly everytime I touch something. It all works… or appears to… but much of isn’t factory and in a lot of cases isn’t well done…. And is definitely not documented.

If I fix it, and it isn’t related to something else I’m doing, I’ll include it here.

10.1 Main power to fuse panel is not fused.

I was measuring volume for a subwoofer under the back “seat”. This car had the battery moved to underneath the back seat on the passenger side. I noticed a big red wire coming off the battery that’s not fused. Looks to be an 8awg.

This car had some questionable stereo wiring and I figured this wire was the main amplifier wire. I disconnected it and then, as I do when I touch anything electrical on this car, I turned on the ignition to see if it would start. Nothing. Clearly this wire is important, haha. Turns out it’s the main feed to the fuse panel and likely other things.

A quick Look at the electrical diagram in the Bentley book shows it goes to the voltage regulator and then onto the main fuse panel… or at least it would in a factory wired car… but remember the battery was moved to under the back seat so who know what the previous owner did. Also the factory wire was not fused.

Again, we know it all works so I’m not too concerned about that, buuuut an unprotected, unfused wire disappearing into a metal tunnel? That freaks me out. At least I have a fire extinguisher….

… but I’d rather it be my last line of defence and not my first. So I’ll add a fuse to this wire in the near future, lest it become a fuse itself. A bit of research says a 30A to 40A should be fine and modern best practice would be to fuse it.

A trip to the old car audio wiring box yielded two options. An 8awg fuse holder with a cover and a 40A blade fuse, or giant screw together one for 4awg with a 30A glass fuse. In this case I think I’ll use the 8awg holder with the 40A.

Edit:

Here’s a much better choice.

A 60A fuse gives me a buffer and is still plenty less than this wire can handle. So I won’t be at risk of loosing everything electrical while driving should there be a perfect storm of maximum current draw. And I won’t have to splice wires as I can just cut the existing wire and insert this fuse holder.

10.2 The battery is not vented to the exterior

This car has had the battery moved to under the back seat. It’s a standard lead acid battery and when it’s installed on the interior of the car it needs to be vented to the exterior as these batteries can off gas. During charging they release Hydrogen gas, which is extremely flammable (look up videos of the Hindenburg disaster), and if over charged can release Sulpher Dioxide, which has a rotten egg odour.

This car is not exactly sealed up tight so it’s not critical to do right away. I have plans to replace it with an AGM battery which doesn’t require venting and will also be better suited to my plans for the audio system.



10.3 The headlights work intermittently

While playing with the instrument lighting, I noticed that sometimes my headlights don’t work. Hitting the high beam switch on and then off again seemed to bring them to life. Now that no longer works. The high beams work fine so the relay is getting power, it’s just not turning the head lights on when you switch back. Sounds like a relay issue and I think I have one in the doner car. More on this when it’s not so cold.

Update Jan 5, 2026

I had a few minutes out in the garage yesterday to play with the head lights.

This is the type of relay I have:

This relay is different from most other relays in that it’s a “latching relay”. Typical relays actuate only when power is applied, and then reset when it’s removed so you’d need a toggle switch or something like that to activate it in a permanent state.

A latching relay only needs a momentary contact to actuate it. It latches in its actuated state. In the case of this relay, that momentary contact is provided by a negative signal from the high beam switch. The relay’s qresting state is in the low beam position, or pin 56a. When you pull the high beam switch it provides momentary contact to the coil and the relay latches in the high beam state, or pin F. When you pull the high beam switch again, the momentary contact resets the relay. So on that note, if you are replacing the relay you’ll need to replace it with another one of the same type if you want it to work through the high beam switch.

Here is a wiring diagram from elsewhere on The Samba:

Trouble shooting:

As I mentioned above, the high beams work so I must be getting power to the relay. I confirmed this by clipping the NEG lead of my multi-meter to ground and checking for 12v POS on terminal 56.

Next I unplugged the wires on terminals F and 56a. I then tested the relay by putting the Pos lead on each terminal. F had 12v when the high beams are activated and 56a had 12v when switched back to low beam.

This tells me the relay is working fine, and the problem is down stream in the head light circuit. Just for fun though I swapped the 56a and F wires on the relay. If the issue switches terminals the problem is downstream. If it stays in the same terminal the issue is the relay. The headlights still didn’t work and the high beams now worked on terminal 56a. For sure the relay works and the issue is down stream. It could be a lose or corroded connector, a broken wire, a blown fuse…. Well just keep working our way through the circuit until we find what it is.

The next device down stream is the fuse panel. The types of fuses these cars use are notorious for developing corrosion and losing conductivity through the flimsy spring contacts. Mine was made worse by being covered in paint. I had previously sanded each one, but just to be sure I gave them all a twist. Did not fix the issue and none were blown so it’s not the fuses or spring contacts.

Next I checked the wire between the relay and the fuse panel. It was clean on the relay as I had unplugged and plugged it in a few times and could see shiny scratches in the copper. Moving to the back of the fuse panel, I felt the connector and it seemed secure and had a good grip on the terminal. I unplugged and plugged it back in, head lights work.

So the issue was a connection problem where the headlight wire connects to the fuse block. Previously the car had been painted and none of this was masked. It could have been this, or it could have just been a 55 year old connection that corroded. It works now but adds fuel to my wanting to do a major refresh on the wiring under the hood. Remove and clean every connection. Replace the fuse panel. Find out why I have a couple of random relays here that are not stock. Etc. But those are projects for another day. For now, I have head lights again!
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 11: Random things that don’t need there own post.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[ghiamanjc]

On the homemade LED lights.... There is no need to DIY that and I'd be concerned that you start a dash fire with that hot bare wire.

I bought these for my 74 KG Convertible and they work just great.

https://www.amazon.ca/WLJH-Extremely-Dashboard-Ins...&psc=1

Thanks for the inspiration to get me going on my To Do list.
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[craigolio1]

[kingkarmann]

Good to see the fender rolling exercise worked without an issue.
Looks great

[craigolio1]

[craigolio1]

[craigolio1]

I’ve been doing some research and trying to learn more about the engine in my car. The number on the case is U0470992.

Thanks to other Samba members, and the resource pages here, I’ve learned:

-from user Glenn:
Type 3 converted to upright with dual port heads and a generator. 74 intake with EGR fitting, 34PICT carb and 009 distributor.


I’m glad it’s a 1600 dual port. If I ever want to do any performance mods this would be a good block to start with.

At some point I really want to upgrade it to a dual carb set up. Primarily because I love the look of it. Beyond that and an alternator swap, I don’t plan to do any major engine upgrades on this car for now. But down the road it’s always been a dream to do a 1776.

The engine from the doner car is an H code which means likely a 1500 single port. From what I read it’s not a desirable block to build out as it has smaller oil passage ways. That said, I understand that it is commonly rebuilt as a 1600 dual port, as 1500 single port heads are hard to find, or 1600 are the same price. Something like that.

It would be nice to have a spare engine and I’ve always wanted to rebuild one so at some point I think I’ll likely take a crack at rebuilding the 1500 to a 1600 dual port. Maybe on that engine I’ll do the dual carb set up.

The way I see it, if I can do that, then maybe I can put it in the car and move forward with a performance rebuild on the original 1600.

So many options and fun things to research. For now I’m very happy to have learned a bit about the existing engine.

Another user pointed out that my plastic fuel filter is located near my distributor. Moving this has been on my list of things to do, and today I procured some 3/16” fuel line!
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Project 12: relocate fuel filter to underneath the car.

I had this in my head as something to take care of eventually, but a reply to an engine question in another thread, where a fellow Samba user reminded me of the risk, prompted to me get this done before I drive the car again in the spring.

Currently it’s located beside the distributor.

The fuel lines appear to be in decent shape. I do a see a crack in the end of the one feeding the filter. They’ll all get replaced anyway.

I had a hard time finding 5.5mm fuel line locally and don’t feel like ordering it from CIP1 right now. A trip to visit Joe (Joe runs West End Cycle in Caledon Village and is an awesome dude and excellent motorcycle mechanic - www.westendcycle.ca) yielded a meter of 3/16” hose. Thanks Joe!

Call me lame but I think it’s cool that the hose has an orange stripe.

Next up I need to fashion a bracket to hold the filter.

On the subject of fuel filters…. How often do I need to change it? Is this a yearly thing? Is there a reason CIP1 sells them in a 10 pack?

https://www.cip1.ca/c13-9100-mann/

These filters are for a 1/4” ID line. Online I’ve read that 1/4” line is too large and at risk of slipping off. While I did get 3/16 fuel line…. I can’t find 3/16” filters.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this contradiction.

Have a great day everyone!!

Craig

Update: Feb 23, 2025

I tried the “3/16” fuel line I bought out on an old factory metal fuel filter and it was a loose fit. I think it’s probably 1/4”. Doesn’t seem like a big deal but I want a tighter fit, so I’ve order some correct 5.5mm fuel line.

While I await that, I’m working on the mounting bracket. There are a couple of nice options available in the classifieds here, but once I pay shipping, exchange, and tariffs… they get pretty expensive. Other than nice looks and convenience there is anything particularly special about them so I looked for a DIY option. I found this YouTube video which struck me as perfect as I had almost everything in the garage.

https://youtu.be/f8W45EfePVU?si=mDHrrLNbOdLRy681

I ordered the conduit clamp from Amazon. In the video he uses a 1”. I measured my filter and felt a 1 1/4” would fit better.

https://www.amazon.ca/Hubbell-2055-15-Hanger-Conduit-2-Inch/dp/B00NLOJ5YE

I ended up using a larger L bracket to properly align my assembly with the fuel line. I also used Nylock nuts on mine and shot the assembly with rubberized undercoat so it would weather better.

Here’s what I ended up with.

Ready to go in the car once the fuel line and a new filter arrives.

Update: Dec 10, 2025

Part came this week!

First I applied a hose clamp at the fuel tank and where the fuel line changes to hard line at the fire wall

Here’s my son installing the other clamp.

I removed the existing fuel line and installed the bracket I made.

With the filter in the clamp, the alignment was very close. Initially it was off by about 1/4” but with a bit of bending of the bracket and moving the fuel line outward a touch, it was perfect.

The previous owner had about 2” of fuel line over the factory hard line, and two clamps. I used German 5mm fuel line and the fit was REALLY tight. I know the factory didn’t use hose clamps on the lines but I opted to since I have them, and when I switch to a dual carb set up I’ll likely install an electric fuel pump at the tank, therefor this end will be under pressure.

Moving to the engine compartment, it was nice to see that someone has previously put a threaded fitting on the carb. I’ve read that the original press fit part can come out.

Here I used some quarter inch line as it was a very snug fit on the 1/4” fitting, it was slightly less secure on the fuel pump but I didn’t want to stretch the 5mm line onto the 1/4” fitting. Hose clamps made it very secure.

And that’s it. The car starts. There’s no leaks. I think I’m done here.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[craigolio1]

Some parts came in the mail and I was finally able to finish relocating the fuel filter. Not terribly exciting but for those who are interested in the project it’s on this page above this reply.

For those of that have it… enjoy the snow!! For those who don’t…. I’m not talking to you right now.

Craig.
_________________
Located in the Toronto area.

1971 Ghia Convertible

Join me on my Karmann Ghia journey.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10441921#10441921

[kingkarmann]

Nice work
Creative and smart solution to relocate the fuel filter.

We had snow.

[craigolio1]