My first Ghia project

[TRS63]

[DaveB9]

"Life is too short to drive boring cars "

This is definitely true! Sometimes it seems quite short for building interesting ones as well! But I have finally made a start, thanks in part to some pushing from a friend who came to help.

The first job was to hang the panels, as the car came back with the hood and engine lid off and the doors only temporarily hung. The hood was on the garage floor, wrapped in a duvet, so that had to go on first before I trod on it! I managed to get a hood seal from Rudiger Huber and as others have said, it was spot on: properly shaped, soft, with cut outs for the drain holes. I put the drain tubes in first, which took a bit of wrestling, then we masked around the seal channel and used some Wurth contact adhesive:

We fitted up the hinges, then the catches and latch plate, these having been chromed, and then opened the first of the little blue boxes to fit the NOS locking hood pull. I reckon VW made a few too many of these, as I have seen two others come up for sale in the past few years, but this one came at a good price from Loren.

[DaveB9]

Next up we removed the doors one at a time and did all the jobs that needed to be done before they could be properly hung: applying sound deadening inside each door, fitting the lower trim strips using stud plates, sealing washers and locknuts (the front ones are behind the hinge and very tricky to get nuts on when the door is on), fitting the sill plates (the front screws are hidden when the door is on), the side carpets (easier to get them in place before the sill plates), the rollers for the door check straps and the NOS interior light switches in the A-pillars. I had pulled a piece of welding wire through as I removed the wiring and then used this to pull the new wires down into the A-pillars to the light switches, which worked well.

The door seals were also put on while the doors were off. I used Vewib ones and they fitted really well, nice soft grey rubber and cut outs for the drain holes along the bottom. Getting the little ball into the hole at the top was a bit of a job, but they went in the end.

We squirted some clear wax over the back of the A-pillar while we had the chance.

the only downer was that the new check straps immediately disintegrated. They were WCM, but looked like they had been in the packs for a long time. I got some KGPR ones and they went in fine.

[DaveB9]

More masking and contact adhesive for the A-pillar seals. It is really hard to know where exactly the line for these should be, so I just looked at lots of pictures of other cars online. I followed the VW Leaks manual to position the bottom section at a 45 degree angle.

[DaveB9]

In that last photo you'll notice the ignition switch, but not sitting properly. The hole is very tight and the paint meant it would not sit as far through as it should. This meant the horrible task of filing fresh paint. I masked the surrounding area and went carefully with a fine curved file, only going in one direction, into the dash. It was sweaty palm stuff, but came out well with no scratches to the dash.

[DaveB9]

Next up, the two seals in the engine bay. The one above the gearbox was NOS, the horizontal one Vewib, which again was good. I remembered doing this job 30 years ago on my Beetle and how awful it was, so I set aside a whole afternoon and a large dose of patience. With some red silicon rubber grease, it wasn't too bad. 3 hours and they were both done, with no damage to paint, using only plastic tools. I then cleaned out the threads in the captive nuts in the valance and those I welded into the firewall ages back and attached the breather box and rear catch, which I had chromed. The two rubber drain vents were also fitted in the valance, these again came from Rudiger.

The engine lid was fitted next, starting with the brackets for the gas struts. The ones on the car attach with flat headed bolts that are hidden under the engine lid seal. Unfortunately Rudiger is no longer offering a shaped engine lid seal, and this seal is definitely repro quality. When I get the catch on we'll see whether it holds the bottom of the lid proud.

I had the gas struts painted to get rid of the ugly lettering and match the black to L41.

[Marcdeb]

Moving along at a much faster pace than I seem to manage. I have a 71 that should have been done 2 years ago, but then a 2nd Ghia landed in my garage. Your paint looks great. You'll have quite a beauty when it's done.
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Marc
68 Karmann Ghia Cabrio Autostick
71 Karmann Ghia Cabrio

Previously Owned:
2011 VW EOS Hard Top Conv
2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Conv
2003 Saab 9-3 SE Conv
2001 Saab 9-3 Conv
1998 BMW 3 Series Conv
1997 Saab 900 Conv
1997 Mazda Miata

68 Ghia Vert Survivor with 22,350 miles: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768107&highlight=
71 Ghia Vert Restoration: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726710&postorder=asc

[DaveB9]

Thanks Marcdeb! 2 Ghias? I'm finding one quite enough thanks!

Working around freshly painted panels is scary and I am finding that the black colour makes everything more difficult - working in confined spaces like under the dash or in the rear luggage area, I just can't see what I am doing!

[WestyMeg]

Looking good! Keep up the great work!

Quick question on the Dynamat. It's been about 20 years since I last worked with it, but I remember it worked very well for my Caprice. I would love to do some sound deadening in my Ghia, but I'm really afraid of adding weight to it. Is Dynamat thinner/lighter than it used to be?

Also, can Dynamat be used on the inside (cabin side) of the firewall or is heat an issue?

Thanks in advance!
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Why is the rum gone?!

1968 Karmann Ghia-some fancy white
1985 Westfalia-some crap brown
1971 Opel GT-hubby's first car
1974 914-mostly rust colored
2007 Cayman S-Sapphire Blue (so pretty!)

[DaveB9]

Thanks WestyMeg!

I doubt Dynamat has got any lighter and it certainly does add some weight, but having carried the two boxes of it that I am using (and there will be some left), I don't think the extra weight will be all that significant.

It certainly adheres well and moulds to complex shapes well - perhaps the thing I like least about it is the bright, logo covered finish. In fact I need to check whether the insides of the rear quarters are visible from above when the convertible hood is down, in which case I will cover it with something plainer. I have seen others on here use a Wurth equivalent which was plain black and is bound to also be good quality.

As for the inside of the firewall, I don't think you'll have any problems with excess heat coming through there unless something is badly wrong with the engine cooling! I have now Dynamatted that area myself - I'll pop some photos up shortly.

[DaveB9]

I finished getting the last of the body to pan bolts in, having to file the hole in one washer slightly to get it to sit right in the channel under the rear seat. While I was there I Dynamatted that area, and the insides of the rear quarters.

I found a 2Kg CO2 fire extinguisher that will just fit behind the rear seat, but needed to drill the holes for the frame, so I used a tool I bought ages ago, a right angle drill attachment to get in the rear luggage area and mount the frame:

[DaveB9]

I then glued in the original style jute sound deadening over the Dynamat:

I then tried up the rear wheelarch carpet pieces from the Newton square weave kit. The fit at the front was good, with plenty to go under the main luggage area piece, but at the back there was a strangely shaped flap that I couldn't really work out. After trying a few different positions I emailed them to see whether these pieces are the right shape and if so how they should be attached:

Hopefully I will hear back this week, but any thoughts in the meantime appreciated!