Ben's '63 Ghia project (with lots of pics!)

[Big Bill]

Great thread, I too usually buy a project and finish it to MY liking. Then after a year or so it goes on the chopping block to make room for the next project. I have found myself lurking/salivating in the Ghia forum way too much the last month or so.

[Mellow Yellow 74]

I just went through your whole thread (well the pictures anyway). You did a great job and I hope mine turns out this good!
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1962 Karmann Ghia
1974 Deluxe Microbus
1985 Caravelle (Vanagon)

[John Moxon]

Sorry to see it go Ben.

A big thanks for your input over the years, I think it safe to say everyone has enjoyed and been inspired by you trials and tribulations...they will live on in our Restorations sticky. Don't be a stranger to the Ghia Forum...experience like yours is invaluable.

Don't be put off selling overseas...they're not always complicated. I bought on a Wednesday, paid on Thursday (electronic bank transfer), car collected and in a dockside warehouse ready for shipping on the Saturday. Finding a good shipping agent is the secret...they do all the complicated stuff.
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John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[kiwighia68]

"But, I have found that the puzzle and problem-solving aspects of it all is what appeals to me more than actually owning/driving the car once it's "done."

The story of my life, Ben. One of my mates used to say, "To Chris a car is not a mode of transport but a project."

Sad to see your beautiful car go, but like a child that grows up and leaves the house, it now becomes someone else's love.
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Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[ernstben]

It was a bittersweet day yesterday: the Ghia left for her new home as part of a wedding business in Beirut, Lebanon.

I had a blast with the project and was definitely torn as I watched her leave on the back of the car hauler. But, I have found that the puzzle and problem-solving aspects of it all is what appeals to me more than actually owning/driving the car once it's "done." I kept having the itch to work on something new, but the $ and garage space to do so was tied up.

So, many, many thanks to everyone who's helped me along the way. Without this site, I never would have been able to do this. On to the next project!

(As an aside, I always wondered why people put "WILL NOT SHIP OVERSEAS" and stuff like that in their ads. Why limit the group of potential purchasers for your car? Well, now that I've done it, I can absolutely understand. The time period between the first email from the buyer to the day the car left my garage was around 2 months. There was the natural mutual distrust involved with exchanging large(ish) sums of money, language barriers, banking regulations, escrow services, import laws, shipping details, timezone calculations, professional inspections, constant fear of scams... heck, I'd even throw in cultural incongruences. The courier he hired got into an accident on his way to meet me at the bank and the car hauler got pulled over 10 miles from my house and detained by the cops. It just goes on and on. And in my situation, everything eventually worked out. I can't imagine the hassle of a situation where things go south. Mostly, it's a huge relief to have the whole situation behind me.)
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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[ernstben]

Long time, no update! I've crossed over 3000 miles in the Ghia since it's been driveable. I still am tweaking things here and there as I go; headlight aiming, front end adjusting, squeak and rattle finding, etc.

Took a couple cell phone photos at the Michigan Vintage Volkswagen Festival a couple weekends back:

One thing that has bugged me since I put it together has been the passenger side fresh air control cable. For those who have never worked with one, it is a solid metal tube with a stiff wire inside that snakes its way behind the dash from the driver's left knee to just behind the passenger wheel well.

The wire in mine just wouldn't slide freely no matter how much lubrication I put down it or how many 100's of times I cycled it. I think it has too many little tiny bends in it to work well anymore:

(straight, white line for reference)

So, I bought a cheap-o bike brake cable:

Drilled a hole in the little rod on the lever:

Ran the cable through the hole and crimped an aluminum piece on the other side to hold it:

Cut it to the right length and viola:

I had set the tension on the rods to be extremely loose when I was fiddling with it before because it was so stiff. Now things operate so smoothly that I need to take it all apart again to give it a little more resistance so it will stay where you set it.

Incidentally, the car is up for sale. I'm ready to take on another project and the wife says one hobby car at a time!
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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[scottkrough]

Ben te car looks great as always...
I know what you mean about it only happens when people are staring at te car.. had a wire come off the starter and athough it took less than 2 mins to fix it sure was embarrassing..
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Scott

Check out our 63' Ghia Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=519643

[ernstben]

[257488]

Ben, What an accomplishment! I find it hard to believe that this is your
first restoration project. Beautiful work!
I learned very quickly how difficult it is to achieve results similar to yours.
Enjoy the ride!

[kdcaul]

Hi Ben,

Glad to hear no damage to your car.Could you please post some pics/information as to how you changed your iginition switch with the beetle switch?

Thanks,
Kevin

[mountainkowboy]

[djway3474]

What joy and AirCooled can bring

[Basketcase]

yeah it's wamzing how many people "just happen" to be standing around when something embarresing happens. One shing star though, you were able to drive away under your opwn power, and not on the back of a roll back. I've seen that several times at shows.
beautiful car.
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'72 Karmann Ghia Coupe (the Boss's)

[ernstben]

I drove the Ghia to work recently and everything was fairly uneventful until I went to start it up to drive home. While a few coworkers watched (because people always seem to be around in hordes when the car breaks down... ), I turned the key to the "start" position and within seconds was surrounded by a thick cloud of acrid smoke which was pouring out of the ignition switch hole around the key.

I bailed out of the car and let it air out before hotwiring the thing to get it home. Which it turns out, is a somewhat alarmingly easy task. Here's the aftermath:

I bought and gutted a similar vintage Beetle ignition and we're back in business. I've never had that happen before and it was kind of fun to see how simple the whole system is.

I've got the thing running TONS better than before. The new distributor and a fuel pressure regulator seem to have done the trick. Various summer driving pictures:

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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[ernstben]

[kingkarmann]

You did have the vacuum hooked to the canister?

[ernstben]

I've driven the Ghia already a bit this summer. Took it for a quick bath a month or so ago:

Replaced a really, really worn out wiper shaft:

Ever since I got the thing going, I've just not been able to get it to run correctly. I set the timing, ran through the carb synch steps numerous times, and tweaked just about everything possible.

Still, the thing hated to start cold, ran rough until it warmed up, had a noticeable stumble during acceleration, and I could never really get the idle speed pinned down. I'd set it at 900 rpms and take it for a spin. Pull into the garage, and it's 1200... or 600. Aggravating.

I called up Jeff at the Kaddy Shack, and he suggested that I might have a bad distributor. Couldn't be the case, could it? It's brand new! I bought an old beat-up SVDA from a local guy and popped it in to check, and lo and behold, I think it might have solved the problem. Hurray for fixing it, but -1000 points to me for feeding the spm (shitty parts monster).

Distributor in question:

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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[kingkarmann]

Necessity is the mother of invention

[ernstben]

A little bit of an update:

As pre-63 Ghia owners might already know, the little fibrous mounting board for the contacts in the front turn signals doesn't age well. In my case, one had succumbed to its age early on in the restoration and was replaced with the then-available replacements from KGPR. The other one was in ok shape and I thought it might last. It didn't. And just my luck; KGPR has ceased producing them. Time to make a new one then!

I had asked my engineer father and brother if they could come up with a replacement piece of plastic or something from their respective high-tech workplaces, but neither were able to come up with something (mostly because they'd get wrapped up in calculating tolerances or some other nerdy thing at work and forget). After snooping around the farm and my apartment for something that would work, I found a perfect candidate: a cheesy plastic ruler.

So, here's the new with part of the old:

And in situ:

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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[ernstben]

Thanks for the kind words everyone and I'm glad to hear that this thread has helped out others.

Just as soon as this winter decides to give up, I'll be out in the garage taking care of some of the last little tweaks. Really excited to put some serious mileage on her this summer!
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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project