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russelltatedotcom
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2020
Posts: 160
Location: Sydney
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 Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 8:43 pm Post subject: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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This is a continuation of an earlier post I made "Pull apart rear view mirror"https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9466973&highlight=#9466973
I am restoring a 66 Ghia couple and the interior light was corroded as hell 
Instead of buying a replacement unit I thought i'd see if could make a half decent job myself just cleaning up what I had.
The make or break when starting this project was getting the glass out.
If I broke the glass or damaged the metal rim trying to remove it, the restoration would have stopped right there.
Luckily I had an old dental tool called a "bone scraper" which I used to slide down the side of the glass at one end and gentle prise the glass out. That worked out OK so it was game on...
The glass I knew could be re-silvered here in Sydney for about US$70 at a specialist glass centre, so I sent that out to be fixed. There was a kit available in the US called "Angel Gilding" that allows you to resolver glass your self, but the kit was 200 bucks + so I gave that a miss.
To start off I drilled out the retaining pin at the top of the shaft (corroded in place) and pulled the mirror assembly apart. As I did that I dropped the plastic lens for the light and that broke into 4 pieces , so I had to fix that first using a bent paper clip and some epoxy. To blend in the cracks from the repair I lightly sanded both sides of the join and spray painted around the edge to match the finish of the original...
That seemed to hold together OK, so I had a good look at the state of all the parts. It seems the surface corrosion on all metal parts was not only making a bumpy surface but also making pitted holes in the surface. The shaft itself seemed to be the least affected so I rubbed back the surface on that with 120 grit sandpaper on a small stick, then used 400 grit and polish compound on a Dremel...
The back of the mirror had lots of deep holes so I methodically worked up and down the length cutting into the surface to get rid of the black holes using a Dremel 60 grit sanding wheel using circular movements. I used 120 grit on a sanding block to clean up the finish and circled in red that still had scratch marks from the Dremel wheel, I then progressed to 400 grit on a block...
The main body was worse, the holes were really deep! I used the same method as before as before but worked on each section as a plane so I did not make the surface all lumpy and bumpy...
Below, I've just finished the front section at one end and then I moved onto the curved section, all the time working the Dremel all over the plane and cutting down to remove the holes..
Working through to 400 grit paper again, I decided that the finish was looking OK and I'd just polish the steel rather than chrome it. The mirror back would not polish up well with Dremel polishing compound i just kept turning black so I polished it with Brasso and sprayed a Polyurethane finish to keep the lustre.
This pic shows the first attempt with the polish and some scratches and marks still showing, so I went back to 400 then 600 paper before polish again...
I swapped from the red polishing compound to a white finishing compound (with brand mops and brushes) to give the surface a nice bright finish, then also sprayed with a polyurethane spray to preserve the finish. I filed down a small bolt to back in as retaining pin when re-assembling. The fit was very snug so I'll just use a small spot of epoxy to hold it in place..
The plastic lens is considerable weaker after being broken so I removed one of the retaining ball joints from one end to ease the pressure when removing and inserting into the main housing. If it's too loose when fully installed I'll figure out a way to pack it slightly to make a firmer grip....
Just waiting now for the glass to come back now and re-insert into the mirror housing, I'm not sure if friction alone will hold it back in place (I'll press back the flared edges as best as I can by hand) but if not I may use some glue, but want to be careful it's not something that will damage the mirror silvering...
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bnam
Samba Member
Joined: July 02, 2006
Posts: 2936
Location: El Dorado Hills CA/ Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:02 am Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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Great work!! Will try to get inspired by this and improve my mirror assy.
Do you have a pic of the bonescraper? How do you plan to get the glass back in? Just press it in?
_________________
1971 1302LS Convertible (RHD) owned since '74
Click to view image
1965 Karmann Ghia Coupe - under restoration
1966 Fiat 1500 Cabrio (with 1600 Twin cam)
1952 Citroen TA 11BL |
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russelltatedotcom
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2020
Posts: 160
Location: Sydney
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rbsurfguy
Samba Member
Joined: August 10, 2008
Posts: 1757
Location: Fairfax, Northern Virginia Formerly Huntington Beach, SoCal
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 4:20 am Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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Great write up, Sticky for sure!!!
Jeff
_________________
1971 Ghia convertible (Body off rebuild)
2019 VW Atlas 4Motion
2012 Passat-Sold
See my build on The Samba at:
Jeff's 71 Vert Restoration/Reassembly http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight= |
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Era Vulgaris
Samba Member
Joined: August 22, 2012
Posts: 1677
Location: Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:35 am Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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Wow, that looks amazing.
Seeing this I'm gonna give it a go on mine. I was planning to buy the KGPR repro, but maybe I'll save $250!
_________________
Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD
Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue |
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TRS63
Samba Member
Joined: December 17, 2017
Posts: 999
Location: Stuttgart - Germany
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sputnick60
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 22, 2007
Posts: 3916
Location: In Molinya Orbit
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Steelz21
Samba Member
Joined: January 09, 2017
Posts: 130
Location: Ontario canada
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 5:55 pm Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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It’s all about the details.
Nice work and attention to detail. |
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russelltatedotcom
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2020
Posts: 160
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 11:00 pm Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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The glass came back today and re-inserted the glass gentle from one end (the same way I took it out, then press fitted the metal rim over the glass as hard as I could with my fingers.
I did think about a short tap with a rubber mallet, but erred on the side of caution (don't think it will eavesdrop out.
I've sprayed the polished metal with a polyurethane to keep the lustre sealed so I think i'm done.
Poor man's workaround I know (total cost US$75) but the money I saved on a repro can go towards bodywork bills!
New glass
Re-inserted:
Before and after:
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sputnick60
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 22, 2007
Posts: 3916
Location: In Molinya Orbit
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russelltatedotcom
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2020
Posts: 160
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 3:43 am Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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Yes I could see that working, gently, gently does it....  |
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Canghia
Samba Member
Joined: June 27, 2017
Posts: 70
Location: Toronto Ontario
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| Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 8:38 am Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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| I think I lost a small bb that is a part of the light switch. Has anyone been able to replace the bb and repair the switch. |
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russelltatedotcom
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2020
Posts: 160
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:23 pm Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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KidGhia2020 wrote: Could I ask if you could tell me in detail the materials you used? So far I see
1. Dental bone scraper.
2. Dremel 60 grit wheel
3. 120/400/600 grit sandpaper
4. Sanding bloc...aka sponge
Was there anything else I forgot? Also a picture would be highly appreciated of everything used so I can be accurate in achieving similar results as you did. Thank you for your time, effort, and skills, Anibal.
I think you had everything listed correctly KidGhia2020. After 600 grit. I used a felt polishing disc on the dremel and some polishing rouge to get a dull finish with no scratches ... and then a fresh Dremel polishing mop with some auto polish paste (We have Autosol in Australia) to bring out the shine.
regards Russell |
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Tom K.
Samba Member
Joined: March 10, 2005
Posts: 1604
Location: Central Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:11 pm Post subject: Re: Ghia Interior light restoration |
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Curious about something. I am in the process of sourcing this mirror for my '65. I see a few Samba listings for the light assembly and metal support piece. But the mirror lens itself and its housing - the part that attached to the ball on the end of the support - seems to always be missing. Is my experience correct? Is the mirror and it's housing the more difficult section to find? Or perhaps other VW rear view mirrors (from the Beetle maybe) fit on the same sized ball? Thanks if you happen to know.
_________________
'91 Vanagon Westfalia
'70 Beetle Convertible
'71 Super Beetle Semi-Automatic: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=714131&highlight=
'65 Ghia: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=762478&highlight= |
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