So Cal 68 Ghia build

[c21darrel]

Thought it was about time I attempted to do a build thread on my Ghia. I had owned a 66 coupe and 67 vert in the 80's, coupe was stolen and replaced by the drop top and then a 71 914...but it just wasnt the same as the 66 I had put years of time, $$, and effort into. So my bro in law buys a 65 barnfind bug and i reluctantly went to a VW swap with him. The VW in my blood was rekindled and a ghia search was started. I was looking for another 66 but couldnt find the right candidate. A guy responded to my craigslist wanted ad. Said he had a 68 sitting in his back yard for over 20 years. I went to look and it appeared solid and fairly complete but he wanted too much and I was walking away from this one. He kept sweetening the deal with a 1600 sitting in the yard, a set of AEW porsche fuchs and a handful of other items til I accepted. After selling all the extras he threw in I paid $200 for the car and thought i was doing pretty good.
Plan was to do a quick prep and paint and build a nice little 1776 and be driving in 6 months. Sound familiar? I started the clean out and first thing my foot went through the rusted out pan. Thats when a body off resto became the new plan. This how it looked the day I dragged it home, 3 years ago...

[/img]

[c21darrel]

After I got the carpet out...

Seat rails looked bad but i salvaged them.

[c21darrel]

After welding in the replacement pan sections it was time to clean and protect. I borrowed a Harbor freight sandblaster from the BiL and after hours and hours of blast, sweep, screen...blast,sweep, screen...
Thats a really stupid job when its 90* outside. I researched all the popular rust treatments like Por-15...and bought 2 quarts of Masterseries from Chuck here on TS. This is what it looked like and I was moving right along.

[c21darrel]

Next I stripped the body of everything including paint.
While working on the package tray i noticed someone at Karmann decided to sign my car in grease pencil or something before paint. Anyone seen something like this on any other ghias??

[flyboat]

Nice work so far keep us posted
_________________
79 super Vert
62 Ragtop Bug
66 tintop Westy
Porsche 914
09 Z06 Vette track car

[das skiver]

I noticed a signature on my tray too.
My guess is that the car passed inspection at that point anyway!

[snookerdude]

ahhh, pictures of hours of someone's life. and to think you could have spent that time shooting pool or doing internet games or something else productive and worthwhile. way to go!!!! keep e'm coming.

[berliner]

On my '64,it says Zee Blau,German for Sea Blue,the colour of the car.It was painted over,so it must have been instructions for the painters.
_________________
I'm part of the problem.

[c21darrel]

Thats really interesting that others also have the writing on the parcel shelf, who is going to translate this cool stuff?
At this point I had purchased a Hobart Handler 140 mig welder but the metalwork my car needed was beyond my skill level and I hired 2 friends that have a small parttime private shop nearby. Andrew, the guy that did all the metalwork is really good and reasonable, he was annoyed with me whenever i suggested a shortcut. Thats the kind of guy you want working on your stuff. The problem with my team was that they were parttime and each had a "real" job. I figured maybe 2 months for them to weld in repair panels i was sourcing and finish the rough bodywork and I would get it back to block sand. Well, as what i have learned always happens... it takes a lot longer than expected and costs more. Anyone else learn this RULE? I need to include that i did decide to make changes while they had the car in their shop. I wanted a metal dash and to get the key off the steering column for a more vintage look. I bought a front 67 clip and this $150 purchase supplied much of my repair panels. I drilled out all the spot welds and used the full dash, parts of the front fenders and headlight pieces. I used the lower dogleg sections, the hood release tube, and a few other small parts i needed. I deleted the outside fuel fill and got a early gas tank. Of course this also changes the release from in the glove box to under the steering wheel on drivers side and it pulls from the other side so i had to get 67 and older front clasp. So just to warn others, whenever you change something you are now going custom and may be making 2,3,4 other changes too, so be careful because it all adds up $$. So, anyways about 10-11 months later i get my car back heavily primed. First w/ PPG DP-40 direct to metal primer then they bumped out all dents as much as they could and skim coat of filler where needed. I am pretty happy they used very little filler and spent much time w/ hammer and dollys. Then they hit it with about 3/4 gallon of PPG K-36 primer so I could start the blocking. Heres some pics of my repairs.

[c21darrel]

I always like pictures, so i am gonna continue to add so all can see the extent of the rust in this "dry California car".

[c21darrel]

And the finished repair.

[c21darrel]

More changes because I switched to the earlier gas tank... Very little filler on this project... More pics of the 67 dash now welded in place...

[c21darrel]

More rust repairs...headlight bucket, interior of both wheel wells, and under the back seat all needed some love.

[c21darrel]

I checked my dates and it looks like I finally brought it home in Sept 2010. So, back in my garage where i would spend the next year blocksanding, doing tons of little repairs, minor welding, and waiting and waiting for my friend to come shoot more primer so i could block it again. Eventually I bought a used Devilbiss spraygun and did the balance of my priming on my own. I really should have bought a couple spray guns much earlier because I could have cut this stage by eaisly 50% and learned much more quickly. I even picked up one of those harbor frieght cheap HVLP gravity feed sprayers and its been great for Masterseries and primer.

[c21darrel]

Some may have wondered why theres a rather large hole in my cars roof. I had a Britax ragtop sunroof in my 66 Ghia and I happened to come across a NOS that Chris Morrice in Oakland had for sale. I thought it was a great price and picked it up...and cut a hole in my car.

[sputnick60]

I love the level of detail and attention you are giving this car. Don't worry about the slow progress. Detail and attention require time.

Nicholas
_________________
'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!

[_Pascal_]

[c21darrel]

Thanks, I learn something new all the time...so color was penciled on the package shelf...for me Pine or Cypress green is correct. I was never sure which one.
Im shrinking more pics, will make another update soon...trying to get you guys to the current condition.

[c21darrel]

So I have the car back and have been instructed by my painting mentor to start blocking. I am a big swap meet fan and have bought tons of stuff, especially at the Pomona swap which is every other month. I'll share more of my finds later...But i did find something i really needed, a block sander at the swap for $5 bucks. First i sanded with 100 grit to find high and low spots and then make the needed adjustmet. I bought a 7 piece dolly and hammer set at harbor freight...i know, i know, cheap tools but for me a handful of their inventory really worked for me. After finishing many, many little imperfections I was ready for more K-36 and more block sanding sessions. This is where I made another mistake... waiting, sometimes over a week for my friend to come over and spray the primer. Eventually I scored a Devilbiss siphon sprayer at Pomona for $10, at first it had a pulsating issue but i took it apart, cleaned and put it back together and the pulsating was gone. Now I could spray the primer and no more waiting around. Next was blocking w/ 220 grit paper and it was really starting to look good. The 220 again showed more small areas that needed attention. After the 220, I started blocking w/ 400. My plan is to paint with PPG Concept, single stage paint, no BCCC. I am going to paint it 2-tone, the bottom will be an vintage looking light green somewhere between Agave, Migionette and Turkis. The top was to be off white/ beige...til I changed my mind again and decided on black.
Now it appears that this all only took a few weeks, it didnt. I spent almost every single weekend for at least 10 hours each day and evenings after work for the 8-9 months the entire blocking process took me. I swore off women and parties for the duration...ok not really but i had my priorities straight. I have nice neighbors that offered many well wishes with the project or a "when are you going to be done?" day after day, week after week and month after month.
Since this was my first paint job there was lots of learning on the job, First i screwed myself with quantities of material like primer. K-36 is $180/gal and thats what i bought first. When i got low I thought i'll just get anothr qt. @$57/qt plus the hardner and reducer to finish. Well, 3 more qts plus hardner later i was done. Shoulda just bought 2 gallons originally and saved some coin. Each stage...100,220,400 I basically did twice. I would do the whole car including engine, front trunk area and inside wheel wells and spare tire area, then lay down more blocking primer and do it a second time. Since I was a rookie I just didnt trust myself that it was good enough to move forward. All doors, hood and deck lid were removed and also got 100/220/400 double treatment. I used about 2/3 gallon of filler and another close to 1/2 gallon of light filler, 1/3 of it hardened on my mixing board and I sanded off another 66% so only about 1% is on the car. Here are a couple pics right around the 400 grit process. I have it high sided becaise I have a pet peeve about cars not being preped and painted all over including under the rockers so i made sure mine were complete.

[rcooled]