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TiefGarage VW Karmann Ghia '68

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  • TiefGarage VW Karmann Ghia '68

    Hello stanceworks reader,

    about a year ago I was here, building a VW Passat 32b with my friends.

    Times gone by and now it is time do something fresh.

    I went to the states for vacation, and fell in love with an old german beauty.
    It's an Karmann Ghia Coupe. This car is more often to be seen in the US than in Germany.
    Here with the Krauts nearly nobody drives one. If you see one, you are in the museum or at a very rare vintage car meet.

    The moment I heard the lovely sound of the VW boxer engine, I created a huge need for the car.

    Somewhen later back in Germany that idea did not want to go away. You know? The incepetion thing. That thought to drive a Ghia through sunset in my beautiful region ,the OreMountains, was there and needs to be satisfied.

    I looked through a lot classified ads, till i found an "export" model dated late 68 in Frankfurt Germany. Car was said to be in a condition, where a restauration could be worthfully.

    Without any doubt I went there and bought that thing.










    I looked like this, was in driving state, could brake better, but well..now it is here. Time to get hands dirty.















    As I never owned an aircooled Volkwagen, I did not know how to seperate the baseplate. Until now. Learning by doing.
    Was not very hard and did it on some easy sunday morning.







    Good friend helped me with welding some kind of stand under it.





    Baseplate looks very used:





    Transmission seems to be ok:



    Engine as well:



    Front axle is good, but will be replaced from ball joint to link pin. Why? Later on that.



    I did not know what's under the paint. So i decided to torture it by some glass bead blasting:



    That went pretty fail. The blasting by the company was very good. They are said to be one of the best in Germany. Greets to Strahlwerk Deluxe.

    But the car showed its real face. She is no hot virgin. She is an abused old hooker.
    The rear fenders are gone. The tops where held together with about 20kg of filling compound.
    Shame on the guys who did that.













    So at the moment I am looking for fenders for the rear car.

    If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

    Updates will arive soon. They will show some news on axles and motorwork.

    Bye Tommy
    Last edited by wcstein; 02-28-2017, 02:19 PM.

  • #2
    axle arrived

    Bagged front axle arrived. It is a used one but shows no obvious traces of use.



    Should be able to drop the ghia to the limit. Which is by the way : highes priority.
    I am aiming for the slammed look.

    Axle : Dogback Beam Performance 4'' narrowed

    Comment


    • #3
      im so excited for this!

      Instagram: @half_lung

      Comment


      • #4
        axle parts arrived #2

        Today was good.
        The postman surprised me with a package of axle parts.

        It included :
        • dropped spindles
        • torsion arms
        • the link between them( i do not know the english word for)






        Screws, bolts and everything to tighten it together are included.

        Due to my inducement to build a very reliable car I will give those parts for blasting and powder coating.
        Hope they get back as like new and give them a second life.

        Comment


        • #5
          some engine work

          When I got the car, about a good year ago, the engine worked well.



          But as you could see in earlier posts about the paint work, I was kind of sceptical.
          I took the decision to have a look into it.

          I've never done it earlier. With huge excitement I took off screw by screw. Removed the aircooling system, the oilcooler, the oilpump, the fuel pump and ignition stuff.

          Pulled off the heads, cylinders and pistons. I let the rods sit on the crankshaft.

          So actually the case should open now. It did not. It felt like glued together.
          After some rattle here and shaking there ,it finally opened.









          On the first sight all parts look well. The crancshaft's bearing shells show some scratches
          but now that the case is open they will be replaced like all other bearings.

          Crankshaft and camshaft look in good condition. So I will go with the crankshaft as it is but replace the camshaft with a Schleicher one. This will add a little more power and a little more sound. More engine tuning is set back a year from now.

          Pistons and cylinders will be replaced next two weeks. I hope to see you there.

          Comment


          • #6
            Looks awesome! I have a 62 that I'm building myself right now. What are your plans with the engine?

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by thatbeetleguy View Post
              Looks awesome! I have a 62 that I'm building myself right now. What are your plans with the engine?
              Thanks.
              I will just replace all wear parts with new ones. The camshaft is replaced by a Schleicher one. That's it for engine tuning in 2017. I would like to build 2.0+ litre motor in 2018, but this season it will just stay stock except the camshaft.

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              • #8
                parts packed for blasting and powder coating

                Hi,

                after some morning snowboard action I put some parts onto a pallet.

                All axle parts will be blasted and powder coated.
                Engine and gearbox just receive a dry ice blast.





                The bearings in front of the axletubes went off very hardly. I wanted to use my own pullers but they did not grip well.
                So I visited a good friend who helped me out with some nice big pullers and a hot acetylene oxigen mixture.
                That helped the bearings to slip off.

                Next step will be motor assembly. I will start immediatly when it arrives from blasting.

                Comment


                • #9
                  bad fenders

                  As you might know from upper posts : the rear fenders are gone.
                  So what to do? Buy new ones from someone who hoards them for unfair prices?

                  Nope. Let's get a full rear car in good condition and prep it up for the Ghia.
                  My coachbuilder found one in central Germany and we decided to buy it.

                  So the thing which is shown in the next pictures will be the replacement for my old rotten fenders.









                  From the beginning I was not satisfied with pumping fuel through the fender.
                  I liked the look of the lowlights with gas filling under the front hood way more.
                  So I decided to let the gas port be cleaned:



                  This weekend I am going to measure all bearings for the engine.
                  So after that, I will order the engine parts and show the rebuild process.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    very excited to see where this goes!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Accuair vu4 clean

                      Time ago I had an Audi A3 bagged and slammed to ground by an Accuair System.

                      I want to use the solenoid unit with the Ghia and so thought it would be better to clean things up.

                      While looking into the air holes I saw rusty coating from former wet air.
                      Could only be good to get the system clean. So, let's go:


                      Full solenoid unit


                      Cover and magnets removed


                      Valves have some custom mounting. Tried to open with pliers - just tried...
                      So to get out the valves I built a tool myself. Just went into DIY market and bought a long 11mm nut. Cut off edges and grinded some sharp tooths into it.
                      Tool opened the valves safely.


                      Everything is apart. Now I clean everything and put it together with a little spatter of oil.

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                      • #12
                        Accuair VU4 was successfully put together.

                        Now it is time to get hands on engine.
                        I wanted to start with preparing the crankshaft. The gears for cam and ignition wont come off,
                        so I need a puller.

                        I found one in local mechanical store, and will try to use it on weekend.



                        US imported crankshaft gear puller. Hope this will help me with removing the gears.

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                        • #13
                          rear axle arrived

                          Postman rang again.
                          He brought a huge package with a decent weight.

                          So let's look what we got:

                          Rear suspension and dropplates from Aircooled Suspension :


                          Rear suspension frame and parts


                          I was very surprised by how short the rear shocks are.

                          Engine parts are on the way but did not land yet. Let's hope they arrive soon.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Can't wait to see this on the floor!
                            IG: @sebastienaudeon
                            1974 Porsche 911S

                            Originally posted by TRaNz
                            *pats Sebs head*
                            there there.
                            keep calm, go mash your face on a car window.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Found a small piece of fun from early days and want to share it with you.



                              It features me cutting off the seat slides.

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