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TwinkyZulu
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2011
Posts: 129
Location: Texas
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 Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 8:00 pm Post subject: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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Heres how i moved the battery in my 65 Ghia to underneath the back seat.
I have a 1965 Ghia with a rebuilt 1600 and converted to 12V
I found a battery that fit at NAPA Auto parts, its slightly under 6 3/4 inches tall with side posts, its the shortest full sized battery i could find and it doesn't seem to hit the underside if the seat.
NAPA sells the wires that that screw to the battery as well, buy both of them.
.....and whatever you need to solder two battery cables together((
It does not seam to hit the bottom of the seat, it also sits super snug in between the heater pipe and the cable...
...there is absolutely no wiggling or shaking of the battery in any direction, (dare i say its perfect)
The part number for the battery is 75101 at NAPA.
(Sorry for all you other people outside of the US)
The Next step was two splice the old Battery cable along with the wire going to the Voltage Regulator together, and solder them to the new Battery cable that will go to the battery
(The positive battery cable you get at NAPA is slightly bigger than the battery cable on the Ghia, so it shouldn't be an issue to splice the two into one.)
(I flipped the Red wire around and cut off the part that should have gone to the battery in order to drill a smaller hole in the fire wall...)
Next is two drill a hole in the fire wall and feed the wire thru.
I drilled the hole right above where the existing wiring harness goes thru the fire wall.
Soldering old battery cable along with the positive battery cable i bought at Napa turned out to be the perfect length to run down behind the door panel to the battery.
( I have a 65 Ghia with a 1600 12v engine ) different years moved some wires around and moved the battery from one side of the engine bay to the other, so you might have to experiment with different ways to rout your wiring.
The Ground cable i just bolted to one of the body bolts and tucked the rest of the wire away.
At some point i will fix a tie down for the battery, but until then i am confident that it will stay where its at...
...Under the seat. |
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70 140
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Joined: September 22, 2002
Posts: 8471
Location: Ontario Canada
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| Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 4:52 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| At a bare minimum put a ratchet strap around the battery - there should be space between the floor pan and the rear seat base to slide one through. The last thing you want is to get in an accident and have a 20 lb brick loose inside the car. |
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TwinkyZulu
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Joined: September 10, 2011
Posts: 129
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 5:38 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| It is on my list, along with putting a rubber grommet in the hole in the fire wall and tidying everything up. |
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kingkarmann
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Joined: November 05, 2003
Posts: 4111
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| Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:31 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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Nice work 
I wonder if the original designers wanted the battery located under the seat as with the Beetle? Its so much cleaner IMO.
_________________
"Depression is a malfunction of the instrument we use to determine reality.”
Mike Gerson
What is your "Bespoke Reality"? |
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swavananda
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Joined: February 14, 2009
Posts: 889
Location: Can o' Scruz
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| Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:06 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| kingkarmann wrote: |
Nice work
I wonder if the original designers wanted the battery located under the seat as with the Beetle? Its so much cleaner IMO. |
Well at least the Ghia doesn't have metal seat springs to arc the battery and cause a fire ( yes that happens  ) |
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TwinkyZulu
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2011
Posts: 129
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:11 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| swavananda wrote: |
Well at least the Ghia doesn't have metal seat springs to arc the battery and cause a fire ( yes that happens ) |
It doesn’t matter anyway with this battery, I wanted one with side posts so that they wouldn’t hit the seat. |
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sputnick60
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Joined: July 22, 2007
Posts: 3916
Location: In Molinya Orbit
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runamoc 
Samba Member
Joined: June 19, 2006
Posts: 5601
Location: 37.5N 77.1W
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:31 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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I put the battery under the rear seat also. I used a conduit fitting called a strain relief. The yellow thing under it is a sealing washer. The ground bolt has a hole drilled in it the size of #12 wire for the starter solenoid.
_________________
Daily driver: '69 Baja owned 44 yrs - Plan B: '81 Rabbit Diesel LS Deluxe - Plan C: '72 Ghia
Yard Art: 2 Sandrails
Outback: '69 Ghia - '68,'69,'70,'72 Beetle - '84 Scirocco, GTI - Pair of '02 Golfs-
VW Wiring = It's just wires |
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Max Welton
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Joined: May 19, 2003
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Location: Black Forest, CO
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KGCoupe
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Joined: July 01, 2005
Posts: 3580
Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:58 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| kingkarmann wrote: |
Nice work
I wonder if the original designers wanted the battery located under the seat as with the Beetle? Its so much cleaner IMO. |
You know - I've never really thought about it, but that's indeed a very good point.
It does seem odd that the Karmann Ghia was not originally designed to have the battery mounted under the rear seat where the Beetle had it, and later where it was placed in the Squareback, the Notchback, the Fastback, and even the Thing.
Perhaps that is because the Karmann Ghia design was not originally penned by the Volkswagen designers/engineers.
VW seems to have simply accepted the Karmann Ghia design exactly as presented to them (a pretty large assumption on my part, perhaps - I'm really just guessing about that) without making little tweaks here and there to bring it more completely in line with their other product designs.
As I think that point through a bit more completely, though, I realize the only other Volkswagen products in production back in the early 1950s were the Beetle and the Type II in all of its different variations.
Of those, it was only the Beetle that had the battery mounted under the rear seat so I guess that really hadn't yet become a regular hallmark of Volkswagen design. |
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rcooled
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Joined: September 20, 2008
Posts: 2506
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:37 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| KGCoupe wrote: |
| It does seem odd that the Karmann Ghia was not originally designed to have the battery mounted under the rear seat where the Beetle had it... |
The only reason the Beetle had the battery under the rear seat was because there was no room for it in the engine compartment. If there was, it would be there. Shorter, more direct wiring that way and a bit less cost per vehicle.
_________________
'63 Ragtop (current)
'65 Ghia coupe (totaled)
'67 Ghia convertible (current)
'69.5 Ghia convertible and
'62, '63, '65, '69 Bugs (all long gone) |
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TwinkyZulu
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Joined: September 10, 2011
Posts: 129
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:44 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| KGCoupe wrote: |
| kingkarmann wrote: |
Nice work
I wonder if the original designers wanted the battery located under the seat as with the Beetle? Its so much cleaner IMO. |
You know - I've never really thought about it, but that's indeed a very good point.
It does seem odd that the Karmann Ghia was not originally designed to have the battery mounted under the rear seat where the Beetle had it, and later where it was placed in the Squareback, the Notchback, the Fastback, and even the Thing.
Perhaps that is because the Karmann Ghia design was not originally penned by the Volkswagen designers/engineers.
VW seems to have simply accepted the Karmann Ghia design exactly as presented to them (a pretty large assumption on my part, perhaps - I'm really just guessing about that) without making little tweaks here and there to bring it more completely in line with their other product designs.
As I think that point through a bit more completely, though, I realize the only other Volkswagen products in production back in the early 1950s were the Beetle and the Type II in all of its different variations.
Of those, it was only the Beetle that had the battery mounted under the rear seat so I guess that really hadn't yet become a regular hallmark of Volkswagen design. |
Im guessing that they couldn't find a battery that fit. I only found one.
Back in the day there weren't as many companies and factories pumping things out, so there would have been fewer sized batteries to choose from in the first place. ..I don't think one would fit if it had not been for the side posts.
It is more practical to have the battery in the engine compartment.
at some point i want to add a Positive Lug somewhere on the fire wall just incase i need to jump start the car
It is also a VW, not a Ferrari a Porsche or a Mercedes. If the Karmann Ghia was more than a nice looking VW they probably would have gone through the effort to hide the battery. |
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rcooled
Samba Member
Joined: September 20, 2008
Posts: 2506
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:07 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| TwinkyZulu wrote: |
| I'm guessing that they couldn't find a battery that fit. I only found one. |
For future reference, an Odyssey PC925 sealed dry-cell battery fits very nicely under the Ghia's back seat. No fumes or leaks to worry about either.
_________________
'63 Ragtop (current)
'65 Ghia coupe (totaled)
'67 Ghia convertible (current)
'69.5 Ghia convertible and
'62, '63, '65, '69 Bugs (all long gone) |
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anthracitedub
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Joined: June 20, 2007
Posts: 3241
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:17 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| I’ve got a 6v optima laying on its side in mine. Rather small in there with lots of room to spare. |
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Mellow Yellow 74
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Joined: October 14, 2014
Posts: 1615
Location: Sydney, Australia
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:48 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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Where does the battery cable go when you mount it under the rear seat?
Some people seem to have the cable go backwards toward the engine using the existing hole:
Others seem to have the cable go down to the starter motor using a new hole:
Why the difference?
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1962 Karmann Ghia
1974 Deluxe Microbus
1985 Caravelle (Vanagon) |
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runamoc
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Joined: June 19, 2006
Posts: 5601
Location: 37.5N 77.1W
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:15 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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I used an existing hole and drilled a hole. Battery cable passes thru an existing hole to the starter using a strain relief conduit fitting (waterproof) Then I drilled a hole for the ground connection. First I drilled a hole the diameter of a 10ga wire thru the center of the bolt for the starter wire. A little RTV on the wire makes it waterproof also.
_________________
Daily driver: '69 Baja owned 44 yrs - Plan B: '81 Rabbit Diesel LS Deluxe - Plan C: '72 Ghia
Yard Art: 2 Sandrails
Outback: '69 Ghia - '68,'69,'70,'72 Beetle - '84 Scirocco, GTI - Pair of '02 Golfs-
VW Wiring = It's just wires |
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xzener
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Joined: June 03, 2006
Posts: 1777
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:22 am Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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Here is mine...
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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>! |
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runamoc
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Joined: June 19, 2006
Posts: 5601
Location: 37.5N 77.1W
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:01 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| xzener wrote: |
Here is mine...
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I would think connected first to the frame...but connected to the body is good too.
_________________
Daily driver: '69 Baja owned 44 yrs - Plan B: '81 Rabbit Diesel LS Deluxe - Plan C: '72 Ghia
Yard Art: 2 Sandrails
Outback: '69 Ghia - '68,'69,'70,'72 Beetle - '84 Scirocco, GTI - Pair of '02 Golfs-
VW Wiring = It's just wires |
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xzener
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Joined: June 03, 2006
Posts: 1777
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:20 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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I sanded down to bare metal on the body mount, and used a wire brush to clean the treads... It's a solid ground front to rear.
_________________
My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>! |
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runamoc
Samba Member
Joined: June 19, 2006
Posts: 5601
Location: 37.5N 77.1W
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:43 pm Post subject: Re: Relocating Karmann Ghia Battery under Back Seat |
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| xzener wrote: |
| I sanded down to bare metal on the body mount, and used a wire brush to clean the treads... It's a solid ground front to rear. |
Isn't there a rubber gasket between the frame and body there? The Germans didn't connect the neg. of a battery to the body first. It was either a stud on the frame or straight to the engine like Karmann did. That being said, yours works, it's your car and it looks good.
_________________
Daily driver: '69 Baja owned 44 yrs - Plan B: '81 Rabbit Diesel LS Deluxe - Plan C: '72 Ghia
Yard Art: 2 Sandrails
Outback: '69 Ghia - '68,'69,'70,'72 Beetle - '84 Scirocco, GTI - Pair of '02 Golfs-
VW Wiring = It's just wires |
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