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dont_panic
Samba Member
Joined: July 31, 2017
Posts: 14
Location: Orange, CA
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 Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:10 pm Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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I'm a newbie here to The Samba, and I'm a proud 69 Ghia coupe owner here in sunny California.
First I'd like to say what an enjoyable thread this has been to read. It has gotten me back to work on my car, which has been unused for several years. See your car is nostalgic for me as it is nearly identical to the one driven by my grandfather years ago. He had to sell it “under pressure” from grandma who didn’t think it was very safe. Too bad he bought a Dasher instead! Ugh. But that’s another story.
I wanted to offer my experience with the Bowden cables and the fan shroud flaps seen in an earlier post. Here in California, and in several other states in the union, we have to pass a bi-annual emissions inspection, which was performed by local repair shops licensed by the state. Typically that shop would do a cursory visual inspection, and then hook-up the machine to test the emissions. If you passed, you went on your way. Aircooled VW’s at that time had very minimal emissions-related components. For 1970, they included the throttle-positioner on the carburetor, the air-cleaner with thermostatically controlled flaps (via the Bowden cable), and a small rubber “boot” which attached to the bottom of the breather tube next to the generator stand, and in your case, the charcoal canister as well. I can’t remember what else, but those stick in my mind.
Thankfully, this testing no longer applies to vintage cars anymore (thank you Jay Leno). But back when the program started, they were looking at all vehicles from I believe 1968 onward. Below is a recount of the emissions hell I went through back then. I learned a great many things to get it to finally pass. And experienced mechanics also had a lot of advice, which I would like to pass on to you.
1) Throttle positioners had a bad habit of sticking, and sometimes in the full-open position. You could blame this on a weak return spring I suppose, or perhaps the little pushrod coming from the diaphragm was wonky, but invariably, these devices were so troublesome that almost everyone removed the throttle positioners from their carburetors. 20 years later on, when the emissions testing began, the positioners were required, otherwise your car was instantly labeled as “modified” and you received an automatic failure. However, these parts were no longer available from VW and nearly impossible to find. So the state Bureau of Automotive Repair actually allowed an exemption on this part. However, when you got the exemption, it forced you to go to the state inspection station, where they looked FOR EVERY POSSIBLE ITEM, even down to the little rubber boot I described above. Thus began the descent into hell.
2) Another item “discovered” by the state inspector was my missing thermostat for the fan shroud flaps. As my mechanic had told me, the bellows (thermostat) could fail in the closed position (flaps closed) sometimes. If this happened and the flaps stayed closed, you could very quickly overheat the engine. So much like the throttle positioner, owners disconnected the thermostat and opened the flaps and locked them in place, or removed the flaps completely from the fan shroud. Luckily, all I had to find was the missing bellows and Bowden cable.
So the moral of this story is, be careful that your throttle positioner works well and can't get stuck, or you could have a runaway. I think the more potentially destructive items are the fan shroud flaps getting stuck closed. Personally, I would not want to risk overheating my engine for the sake of some theoretical emissions saving during the brief cold-start period. I would lock these flaps open permanently.
Good luck.
Hans
P.S. What do you do for a living?
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dont_panic
1969 Karmann Ghia Coupe
2012 Audi A3 SportBack (daily driver) |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 12:52 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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Hi Hans, thanks for your post! Welcome to TheSamba!
I'm so glad you're enjoying the thread, and it's a double bonus if it's given you the incentive to get your Ghia on the road  ! I love to keep the thread going as a record of the work I've done in the car, and the adventures we have, and I recognise that we have a great original example, and can share all the little details!
Your info on the throttle positioner and the flaps is helpful, especially the (now historical!) detail about their common removal. I'm waiting for the opportunity to fit the cable and the oil bath flaps when the engine next comes out.
Sadly, for family and other reasons, I've not had the chance to catch up with the few Ghia jobs on my 'to do' list (or to post on TS!) but I'll get back to updates as soon as I can!
My other ongoing thread, about our Kombi travels, is also dormant at the moment, but you can check it out if you have a few hours spare!
Kombi adventures!
Take care, good luck, and keep posting!
Phil
_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:05 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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It's been a long time since I've been able to work on the Ghia, or post on the Samba, due to 'real life' getting in the way!
I decided I wanted to get the car through the Ministry of Transport (MOT) road worthiness test, before they start salting the roads for winter. There wasn't much I needed to do, mainly cleaning and connecting up the windscreen washers (which has an electric pump, triggered by a microswitch in the OG switch). It took longer than expected, thanks to me severing the water hose by over tightening the nipple lock at the bottom of the reservoir bottle! I've completed the stock look by capping the bottle with the hose and valve that connects to the spare tyre (EBay!) It's just cosmetic, as I don't want to risk flattening the spare tyre, and I don't need the pressure for my setup to work.
The front trunk is looking pretty good now; rewiring finished, breather hoses replaced, Jack installed, hood release in place (although I need to adjust it, as it doesn't always 'pop' the hood!) and everything clean and tidy.
Just needs to pass the MOT now!
_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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wcfvw69 
Samba Purist
Joined: June 10, 2004
Posts: 13389
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:22 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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Welcome back Neal!
Ghia's looking great.
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc
Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.
**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours** |
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paul_round
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2014
Posts: 502
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:20 pm Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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| Can't believe how neat your wiring looks now, well done! |
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bobnorman
Samba Newfoundlander
Joined: August 09, 2010
Posts: 1389
Location: Newfoundland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 1:14 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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Preparations for a 'Ghia day':
Drive to the lock-up
Take the dust cover off
Tools and fire extinguishers in the back
Reconnect battery
(Most important,) set the clock!
Oil light, gen light, check
Brake warning light, check
Couple of pumps of the pedal to set the choke
Start first time, yay!
Ready to go!...
A Samba member, Gareth, had messaged me to ask if he could see my Ghia. He's just bought one, and driven it home from the other end of the country, but it needs a little work and he wanted to check out some details. Always keen to 'show off', I set off to meet him at his friends house, over the hill from us.
First stop was a local church, amazingly decorated with crocheted poppies, as a memorial in remembrance of fallen soldiers for Armistice day.
Then, a short drive along the coast, and over the hill inland to follow his texted directions to a remote mill...
Unfortunately, I took a wrong turning up the wrong gravel track and ended up crossing a farmers field, abandoned tractors and burning piles of stubble before I could turn around, find mobile phone reception and speak to his friend, who got me out of trouble with the correct directions!
We then had a great chat, over cups of tea, inspecting the finer points of the car, him taking some reference photos, and then the two of us going for a spin to let him see how the car is running.
I think he is deciding what level to aim his new Ghia project at, so we agreed to stay in touch and hopefully I can give some helpful advice and tips along the way. Fingers crossed and good luck to Gareth!
More to follow...
_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 6:23 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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So far, so good.
I had also planned to meet a friend from Dublin at lunchtime, and we were going to have a nice relaxed bike ride or a walk along the coast. Unfortunately, there were literally gale force winds forecast for the whole afternoon, so I thought a driving tour of East Lothian would suit us better.
I had spent so long with Gareth though, that I had to drive at top speed to make sure I met Eamonn as he arrived on the train!
The wind didn't dampen our enthusiasm, and we ticked off a long list of sights that he had never seen; the coastal town of North Berwick, the islands in the FIrth of Forth, the harbour at Dunbar, the lighthouse at Barns Ness, the village pub at Garvald, the Garvald Inn (for lunch), the Lammermuir hills and finally, the county town of Haddington before I dropped him off at Longniddry train station!
The wind was doing its best to blow through every little crack in the convertible top, but we stayed toasty warm, despite the late autumn (very cool) weather.
_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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kiwighia68
Samba Member
Joined: October 20, 2013
Posts: 2875
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 9:58 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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Hey, I remember that Ghia! And a very special day being driven around Edinburgh in it.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015 |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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John Moxon
Samba Moderator
Joined: March 07, 2004
Posts: 13955
Location: Southampton U.K.
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kiwighia68
Samba Member
Joined: October 20, 2013
Posts: 2875
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 11:17 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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| mcdonaldneal wrote: |
| Ha! You probably recognise a few of the photo stops too Chris! Certainly blew away the cobwebs! |
I certainly do. What I remember best is the ambience. Scotland is a magic place and its ambience is reflected in your photos, Phil. I see it as a rugged place - land and sea alike - and its people strike me as rugged too. Rugged in the sense of being strong, resilient, innovative - in every endeavour - from literature to engineering to maintaining a national culture and identity. What's not to like?
I'll be back one day - to replicate a John Rebus trip up the west coast to the far north. On my bucket list.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015 |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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It's felt like a long winter here in Scotland. Poor weather and lots of non-VW activity to keep me busy. The weather has broken though and it's getting milder. So....
The Ghia bumpers are almost ready to go back on the car, after an extensive refurb, the one thing I had left to do was to zinc plate the bumper hardware.
Many of our VWs nuts and bolts were originally zinc plated to protect against corrosion, but that plating disappears over time and it thought these exposed nuts and bolts would benefit.
It's the first thing I've attempted with a new plating kit I have. I'm pretty pleased with the results. The first stage zinc plate had a nice good even finish. The final stage was a yellow 'passivate' dip, and there were a couple of things I didn't do quite correctly, so the yellow finish is a bit uneven. I know I'm on a learning curve though, and the bumper bolts are all pretty well hidden from view! 
The pics are of different sets of bolts, but you get the idea of 'before and after'.
_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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wcfvw69
Samba Purist
Joined: June 10, 2004
Posts: 13389
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:25 pm Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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Nice job Phil. You certainly added years to those bolts lifes by re-plating them in zinc.
As you're discovering, replating these parts is not easy. The more you do, the better you get at it. I watched several videos on youtube. Some had some good tips and others I thought were terrible. One guy has some good videos but sadly, he took them down.
Keep practicing, reading and experimenting with it!
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc
Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.
**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours** |
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2649
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 2:18 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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Hi there!
Anyone who's read this thread knows that I love a good road trip in the Ghia, and I love to post up some pictures. Partly to share with TheSamba community, partly for pleasure and partly so that I have a permanent record of everything I have done with the car (plug: post your pics to TheSamba gallery folks, and you will always be able to find them- until the apocalypse anyway!)
I know that you guys around the world like to see a few Scottish and English castles and some beautiful scenic views, and I was excited to be heading out on a golfing trip with my buddies to Northumberland, which is the far North-East of England, over the Scottish border. I had my new camera, fresh from a trip to Sri Lanka and I couldn't wait to get some pics on the thread. Uploaded them from camera to iPhone. Sent them to the gallery...
File. Size. Too. Large.
Who would have thought it would be so difficult to reduce the size of a few pictures, so that they would fly through the internet?
Well, the lovely folks at Apple inc. clearly don't like the idea of such sorcery and it has taken me two days to finally get the photos in a state where they can go into the gallery. E mailing, resizing on the computer and a couple of resizing apps didn't work, but I finally found an app that did work.
I'll post the tale of the trip soon (no peeking at the gallery please!) but I'll leave one pic here as a taster, so you can look forward to the rest!
_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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paul_round
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2014
Posts: 502
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 2:49 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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| Phil, If you're on a mac, the easiest way is to open with preview, then you can resize and lower the quality for export. No need for fancy apps! |
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KGCoupe
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2005
Posts: 3580
Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 8:37 am Post subject: Re: Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration |
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| mcdonaldneal wrote: |
Hi there!
Anyone who's read this thread knows that I love a good road trip in the Ghia, and I love to post up some pictures. Partly to share with TheSamba community, partly for pleasure and partly so that I have a permanent record of everything I have done with the car (plug: post your pics to TheSamba gallery folks, and you will always be able to find them- until the apocalypse anyway!)
I know that you guys around the world like to see a few Scottish and English castles and some beautiful scenic views, and I was excited to be heading out on a golfing trip with my buddies to Northumberland, which is the far North-East of England, over the Scottish border. I had my new camera, fresh from a trip to Sri Lanka and I couldn't wait to get some pics on the thread. Uploaded them from camera to iPhone. Sent them to the gallery...
File. Size. Too. Large.
Who would have thought it would be so difficult to reduce the size of a few pictures, so that they would fly through the internet?
Well, the lovely folks at Apple inc. clearly don't like the idea of such sorcery and it has taken me two days to finally get the photos in a state where they can go into the gallery. E mailing, resizing on the computer and a couple of resizing apps didn't work, but I finally found an app that did work.
I'll post the tale of the trip soon (no peeking at the gallery please!) but I'll leave one pic here as a taster, so you can look forward to the rest!
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 Let me guess, ... you're the type of guy that comes December 1st, you tell your young children "Your Christmas presents are all in the unlocked front hall closet so please don't go look in there until I can get them all wrapped and placed under the tree on Christmas morning.".
Well, thanks for the teaser pic anyway - it's beautiful, and it certainly leaves me wanting for more!
Please, please don't make us wait too terribly long to see the rest...
... too much popcorn makes me thirsty.
Hey - wait just one minute here ... Aren't you a distiller or some such kind of drink maker?
You're making us thirsty on purpose, aren't you?  |
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