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Onceler Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2010 Posts: 1646 Location: Indiana
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 9:22 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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Yeah that's pretty crusty even for my location. You might want to hang on to it though until after you get the new body, just in case there's some parts, dimensions, or reference you might need on the new one. Good luck! _________________ 1972 Karmann Ghia |
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:01 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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After a few hours of finagling yesterday we were able to get the Ghia loaded. There are a few suspect spots namely where the nose looks to have been replaced with a clip, but overall the body and chassis are in FAR better shape than the '70. I thought the VIN had been removed from the chassis but its there under some rust, and the numbers even match.
The worst spots are the nose as mentioned before, the drivers side rocker behind the front wheel and the fresh air ducts are completely gone. There are some holes on the drivers side roof column, and around the windshield rubber. I may actually be able to use some pieces from the '70 to replace the bad spots. There is no luggage tray in the back, so I may end up using the one from the '70.
Turns out theSamba member I bought this from bought it from the son or daughter of the original owner. It was their high school car that took them to prom and everywhere in between. There are a few cool "period" mods such as the SunPro tach and EMPI shifter. There's also 2 pretty cool wheels which I believe are late super beetle or Porsche, I'm not 100% sure. I would like to track down 2 more for a complete set. I was told that the seats are one year only, and I'm hoping someone here can provide some more info. Enough talk, here are some pics.
_________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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c21darrel Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009 Posts: 8206 Location: San Dimas
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:21 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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The VIN is 148 305721 which appears from the chart here on the Samba to be a manufacture date of Aug 1967, the start of the '68 model year. So you are correct Darrel. I mistakenly though it was a '69. _________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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c21darrel Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009 Posts: 8206 Location: San Dimas
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:26 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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c21darrel wrote: |
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I don't think that its a 68 gas tank, but do you care? |
Not much, lol. Next step is to apply for a bonded title for the '68, seeing as how this car isn't IRS and therefore my options are now limited for swapping the body onto the '70 pan. I am assuming since its not an IRS the body wouldn't be a direct swap? _________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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c21darrel Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009 Posts: 8206 Location: San Dimas
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kiwighia68 Samba Member
Joined: October 20, 2013 Posts: 2867 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:38 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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c21darrel wrote: |
Congrats on the purchase of a 1968 Ghia. Seats are as you said one year only (1968) ...for a reason. Ask Kiwi. :wink:
I can make out 148XXXXXX on the rear wishbone. Finger tab for gas flap is 68. 68 front heater vent location. Swing axle is 68. Unique gas tank mod is all previous owner. :D Its still crusty but much better than your other body. |
I've been wondering about the "reason". Better than pre-68, worse than after 68? I installed Porsche seats - narrower, lower and more comfortable too. The Ghia '68s are sitting (the pun is entirely accidental, I swear!) in my shed. _________________ Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015 |
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Onceler Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2010 Posts: 1646 Location: Indiana
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Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 9:43 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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advCo wrote: |
c21darrel wrote: |
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I don't think that its a 68 gas tank, but do you care? |
Not much, lol. Next step is to apply for a bonded title for the '68, seeing as how this car isn't IRS and therefore my options are now limited for swapping the body onto the '70 pan. I am assuming since its not an IRS the body wouldn't be a direct swap? |
I believe the bodies are the same between the SA and irs pans, shouldn't be a problem swapping the body _________________ 1972 Karmann Ghia |
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:47 am Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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Onceler wrote: |
I believe the bodies are the same between the SA and irs pans, shouldn't be a problem swapping the body |
That is great news. After some research I found that you are correct, the only mounts that may need modification are the two in the rear wheel wells. I will take measurements when I get the body off the '70.
If so I will likely be putting the '68 body on the '70 pan to go with the title. _________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:59 am Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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Since all of the drums on both cars have been REALLY stuck on there from shoe to drum corrosion, I decided to fabricate a quick tool to pull the drum off the spline. I put a piece of 1/4" steel scrap between the bolt and the spline as not to mar the spline. It works great with one person driving the bolt in with the impact and another tapping around the drum with a heavy hammer.
The angle should be heavier gauge steel to resist flex but this was what I had.
I had a buddy down for the weekend and we made some good progress. We pulled the motor out of the '70 without too much issue. I'll need to fab up some kind of engine stand (or buy the HF one) before I get started there.
With the lump out of the '70 it went outside and the '68 came in. Our math equation here will be 1+1=1
I took inspiration from Samba member BellaGhia and made a body dolly out of some 4x4 PT lumber, some scrap steel for support brackets and HF Pneumatic casters. I decided to make the uprights 2' tall rather than 1' in the original design since I need to do some work on the interior and rockers, so the higher the better. It was a bit of a pain to get up there, I used a floor jack and a bunch of blocks to jack it up (a bit sketchy, but got it up there no problem )
As I stated in the above post, I may end up putting this body onto the '70 pan to get the IRS suspension and a less crusty transmission, but I have a bit more research to do there and still need to get the body off the '70 to see how everything looks under there. _________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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c21darrel Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009 Posts: 8206 Location: San Dimas
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Rome Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004 Posts: 9602 Location: Pearl River, NY
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:58 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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advCo, I was also undertaking a precarious body removal over 30 years ago. My friend helping me take the surprisingly solid chassis off a badly rusted '70 parts Ghia, to use on my '64 Ghia body. Jackstands on top of cinder blocks, supporting a plank!
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c21darrel Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009 Posts: 8206 Location: San Dimas
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kiwighia68 Samba Member
Joined: October 20, 2013 Posts: 2867 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:43 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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Rome wrote: |
advCo, I was also undertaking a precarious body removal over 30 years ago. My friend helping me take the surprisingly solid chassis off a badly rusted '70 parts Ghia, to use on my '64 Ghia body. Jackstands on top of cinder blocks, supporting a plank! :shock: :oops:
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What the heck! A Ghia only weighs 900 kg or so. Enough so scrape your shins, but no more.
Just be careful, or you'll be on the next episode of Seconds from Disaster. _________________ Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015 |
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Basketcase Samba Member
Joined: August 10, 2011 Posts: 636 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:50 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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I used to use cinder blocks under cars.....till I saw one crumble.... _________________ '72 Karmann Ghia Coupe (the Boss's) |
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:44 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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First - some progress. With a little bit of work (and a big prybar), I was able to get the seat locking brackets free on the '68 pan. Put a healthy amount of kroil on the seat rails, and used a wooden block and heavy hammer to free the seats up and eventually tap them off. Then out came the pan.
I started harvesting necessary parts from the donor body. I managed to find all the spot welds and perform a fairly clean removal of the back seat support and heat exchanges. The perforated section on the main heater channel feed was rusted out on one side, so I'll have to fabricate something there.
Next, some good news and bad news...
Bad news first . I knew there was some rot on the windscreen and rear window channels. After popping the windows out of the donor body, I worked up the nerve to see what the damage was on the '68. What I found was not good. I'm not sure if this is from leaky/dried out seals or what, but just about the entire channel has rusted away. The rear window is just as bad.
Now for the good news. The channels on the '70 are in great shape. There's some pitting on some of the sheet metal, but overall both front and back are solid. This is by far the biggest and most daunting task as far as the body repairs go.
I want to get the '70 body cut up and off the frame, so I planned out where I want to cut and replace on the '68 body. For the front, I may use about 1" of dash, and keep that bottom seam spot welded together. For the rear, I want to keep the luggage tray spot welded to the channel and install it as one piece.
I think it will be pretty manageable to replace the two channels in this fashion. To those more knowledgeable than me, does this method make any sense at all? Or, am I better off replacing the whole roof, windscreens included? I had thought of this option, but it seems like a whole lot of work. I guess I'm not sure of the best method to tackle this. _________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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Onceler Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2010 Posts: 1646 Location: Indiana
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:55 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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Did both of these bodies spend their life in Texas? I'm surprised, always thought Texas cars were pretty rust free _________________ 1972 Karmann Ghia |
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70 140 Samba Member
Joined: September 22, 2002 Posts: 8471 Location: Ontario Canada
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:11 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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Onceler wrote: |
Did both of these bodies spend their life in Texas? I'm surprised, always thought Texas cars were pretty rust free |
I can't believe that rear shelf |
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advCo Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2017 Posts: 373 Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:52 pm Post subject: Re: advCo's '70 Ghia Project Log - Brace yourself |
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The '70 (yellow) came from Kentucky. The '68 is from Texas as far as I know. _________________ "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett |
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