69 road race Ghia rebuild

[Ian Godfrey]

I've been hanging around this forum for years, learning and answering questions where I could. I've had Volkswagons all my life, a type 3 square back, some Kombis, and quite a few Beetles. As I got older, what I really wanted was a Karmann Ghia. I like track racing so that meant finding an IRS car as they are the best basis for good handling and a '69 as they are the lightest and prettiest of the late model cars. In the family already was an Australian delivered '69 which are swing axle and being very rare I wasn't about to cut it up. So I searched for a rust free LHD '69 to turn into my road race car. So this car was finished about 10 years ago but it had a lot of compromises: full interior, good sound installation, steel bumper bars and heavy seats. It was also bit of a show car, road car and a race car which as we all know you can't have all three.

Here is the car in Primer

The engine compartment (you can see the Koni shocks and the massive 27mm whiteline swaybar)

Finished car with no bumpers

After months of work.... with bumpers

And finally racing at Phillip Island

As I get time I'll show a few bits of the car as it was then that might be interesting, and the next stage in its life.....
COMPLETE REBUILD to race car!

[kurt912]

I like it. Looks like a former autostick too.
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1964 MG Midget MK1 Monte Carlo Replica
1969 Karmann Ghia Coupe
1972 Mercedes 250 Coupe

[halbug]

Looks sano clean - I like it allot

I know exactly what you mean with "can have it all three" - but I will keep trying to achieve

Please keep us informed on the build.

Cheers
halbug
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Stealth Ghia Transformation: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7226044&highlight=#7226044
My Berg5: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=730276&start=0

[c21darrel]

Excellent! How big are the rims and tires?
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GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
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[Ian Godfrey]

Darrel,
They are 6" on the front and 7" on the rear which is about the limit for a ghia without body work and trying to maintain a decent turning circle.
195/55 15 and 205/60 15 Dunlop R spec tyres which are quite fat.
I had the wheels made from VW centres.

[c21darrel]

Nice! That is a lot of meat on there! I knew you had something different going on. Sounds like you did a lot of planning.
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GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Ian Godfrey]

Bringing my thread back from the dead..... life, it's a tricky thing, fix a house, sell a house etc.
Anyway a few more details about the 1st incarnation of the car:
The suspension was basically VW, with 15% stiffer Sway Away front leaves, 28mm rear torsions (IRS), Whiteline racing sway bars and Koni adjustable shocks. The front beam had extra supports as well.
A 4 speed with superdiff and close 3-4 gears and a big motor:

This is the motor I dreamed about for decades, Berg 86 crank, carillo rods, Web 86B, SE heads, Nickie cylinders, 48 IDA's etc. I put a bit of time into anodising to make it look good as the car was a bit of a show car as well.

[Ian Godfrey]

I kept the interior pretty nice, most of the gauges are in the glove box. It's a Newton commercial carpet kit, they were great to deal with from OZ, a couple of floor panels didn't fit well, so I sent paper templates and they made new sections to my specs as well as my custom sections around the speaker enclosures and the pedals. The wheel is a local SAS and I kept a bud vase on the dash for giggles. One time I raced with a rose in it
It's a later column with the wiper stalk and I set up the column to be straight and straight ahead of me and used a double universal joint out of a T4 van to connect to the steering box. Unfortunately I also used a heap of sound deadening which weights a ton.

[Braukuche]

Looking good.
So how does it perform on the track compared to other makes?
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[TDCTDI]

28mm rear torsion bars & that huge rear sway bar must induce lots of oversteer. When combined with that engine, that must be a blast on the track. Lift off throttle in a corner, it rotates, a hair too much throttle, it pushes, way too much throttle, it rotates, when just right, that thing must stick like stink on a skunk. Definitely not for the inexperienced.


Interesting Porsche-esque toe board treatment for the pedal assembly.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Ian Godfrey]

Braukuche, my car is strong against 356's, MG's etc, but no match for early 911's. Things to improve in the upgrade:
better brakes, they fade
better gear ratios
more power
more safety
I'll detail the upgrades over the next while.
TCDTDI, I was surprised how well 28 bars on the rear worked, but I think the stiffer front leaves kept it in balance. In the upgrade I'm going softer in the rear, 26's, and softer sway bars. I'm looking for more compliance rather than just keeping it flat. The 205 dunlop R spec tyres on the back go a long way to make the car go where I point it, but I have spun of the track more than once.

[TDCTDI]

I too was really impressed with the larger rear bars (mine are 29mm), but due to the arenas that I find myself in, I am running with no sway bars at all.


I’d like to suggest a smaller rear sway bar (say, about half the size of the current one.). The larger torsion bars actually work the same way as the HUGE sway bar (but combining the two makes for a fairly loose rear end.). Since the car is lowered with larger meats, and depending on what track conditions are, limiting the amount of suspension compression might not be a bad idea, bottoming on a dip, especially in a corner, will cause many other issues.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Ian Godfrey]

Yep, the new plan for the rear is to replace 28mm torsions with 26mm and the 27mm sway bar with a 22mm bar.

[TDCTDI]

Try leaving the 28s & lose the rear sway bar, if it pushes too much, then try a smaller rear sway bar.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[bruehoyt]

[Ian Godfrey]

Bruehoyt, I'll let you know it was a lot of work to get that wheel onto the 'correct' side for Australia
Two things really drove the upgrades to my car, both about safety. At Phillip Island race track the main straight heads down hill a bit with a great view of the sea
https://www.snaplap.net/phillip-island-circuit/
My car gets up to 180 Kph (112Mph) by the end of the straight and it starts to get bad brake fade and I also started to think about my mortality if it ends up on its roof
so the first order of business was a decent roll cage. As I still want to keep it street registered it is a 1/2 cage with door bars rather than a full cage.

The main hoop bolts to the side shelf and there is a tube from under the shelf to the heater channel and doublers below the floor pan. The narrow bar goes back to the factory bolt holes in the torsion tube where a lot of Ghias have a bolt hole. The whole cage can be unbolted and taken out. To keep it registered the lap/sash seat belts were refitted to the cage and there is a harness bar for racing

the door bar is removable separate to the cage. I also added a Velo GT2 racing seat..... way lighter. I cut out the factory seat mounts and reinforced the floor for alloy mounts.

[simon varley]

hi Ian. The car looks great! where abouts in Victoria are you?

[Ian Godfrey]

Simon, I'm a NE Melbourne person, Rosanna.

[simon varley]

Not too far then. I only know of one other Ghia owner close. Are there more?

[Ian Godfrey]

Simon, there are quite a few KG's in Melbourne and country Victoria, a good way to make contact with other owners is through the Karmann Ghia Owners Club Australia
https://www.karmannghiaownersclubaustralia.com