made some progress today - Karmann Ghia

[mrvette]

Looking great, with a hard top it should be much more solid and much easier to cool with A/C. Living in FL that should be a must.

Man, you right on with that comment, got up this AM and walked out front looked across the street, think it was smoke in the air, it's not, it's humidity at 100% or better, looking down the street, think it was a swamp or forest fire, can't hardly see the houses....not a stitch of breeze either,

:ghost:

 

[MYBAD79]

Looking great, with a hard top it should be much more solid and much easier to cool with A/C. Living in FL that should be a must.

convertible is more fun and especially in Florida a lot of sun 'n fun..... but.... a real convertible "conversion" incl the original top bows and headliner would have cost too much .... just like a Corvette.... I needed the frame, bows and inner and outer top fabric.... besides....the AC compressor takes like what ? 6-8 HP ??? that is more than 10% of the engine output..... LOL

 

[BangkokDean]

Looking great, with a hard top it should be much more solid and much easier to cool with A/C. Living in FL that should be a must.

convertible is more fun and especially in Florida a lot of sun 'n fun..... but.... a real convertible "conversion" incl the original top bows and headliner would have cost too much .... just like a Corvette.... I needed the frame, bows and inner and outer top fabric.... besides....the AC compressor takes like what ? 6-8 HP ??? that is more than 10% of the engine output..... LOL

Do you plan on power windows?

 

[68/70Vette]

I remember in the early 60's you could get a Paxton supercharger for these VW engines.

I always wanted a Ghia, but at the time a VW was the best I could do. The Ghia's were pretty expensive. I think a reason was that there's was a lot of handlabor putting the bodies together....I think the body panels were joined with lead to look seamless.

There's probably a 1000 and one ways to get more power...building up the VW/Prosche engine, substituting anothe engine.

An acquaintance I sometimes work with started out with a Corvair engine in his bug, then he turbo charged, then he replaced the engine with a Honda Vortec 4 banger and turbo charged it. I forget how much psi he's running but its a lot. He has a Porsche transmission in it.

Since Corvairs could be ordered with AC, maybe a Corvair engine would be a convenient way to get AC.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

the Chev Volt has electric air conditioning - but I'm too lazy to google who manufactures it.... alternatively, you could use an inverter and a/c air conditioning - here's an example of that

http://www.grassrootsev.com/airconditioner.htm

draws 4 amps @ 120VAC

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Every tme I look at this car it reminds me of

 

[mrvette]

the Chev Volt has electric air conditioning - but I'm too lazy to google who manufactures it.... alternatively, you could use an inverter and a/c air conditioning - here's an example of that

http://www.grassrootsev.com/airconditioner.htm

draws 4 amps @ 120VAC

hehehe....I have a 1200 watt inverter to run a Fridge in the motor home....

and it carries over just fine on the road, CS144 alternator and marine battery....

:shocking:

 

[mrvette]

the Chev Volt has electric air conditioning - but I'm too lazy to google who manufactures it.... alternatively, you could use an inverter and a/c air conditioning - here's an example of that

http://www.grassrootsev.com/airconditioner.htm

draws 4 amps @ 120VAC

:shocking:I KNOW you laugh your ass off on this....but I have a 8000 BTU RAC out some old side panel of my motor home....mounted on slides and easy chute to keep the output separate from the suction on the chilly side....

the inverter won't run it, but in a camp ground, it will freeze hell outta the thing....but you see, I paid only 20 bux for the a/c unit, used of course but it had a blown electronic control panel....so I hook up a old household thermostat with a relay to run the a/c unit.....

Yeh, I know, I"m a cheeeeeeeep bastard.....


:1st::crap::beer:

 

[MYBAD79]

Every tme I look at this car it reminds me of

no linky to that site .... you mean this ???



:lol:

 

[MYBAD79]

AC?? nah..... first I have to get it to run...... paint is next on the schedule, then interior... then engine..... should be done by 2015 or so..... good thing the world didn't end this year ......

 

[mrvette]

AC?? nah..... first I have to get it to run...... paint is next on the schedule, then interior... then engine..... should be done by 2015 or so..... good thing the world didn't end this year ......

Year's not over, yet......:huh::clobbered:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

AC?? nah..... first I have to get it to run...... paint is next on the schedule, then interior... then engine..... should be done by 2015 or so..... good thing the world didn't end this year ......

with the A/C suggestion, I had a friend with a 4x4 Toyota SR5 pickup. He had bought a trailblazer light bar (popular in the 80s) with the full 21 or 42 lights.... so he puts in on his truck, is super careful with the wiring (it looked good). He turned on the lights and it immediately killed his battery. So fine, he fires his truck up so he can test the lights. It killed the motor. Needless to say, the peanut gallery was not kind to him (laughing to tears, intermixed with non-helpful comments)....

That mental picture came to mind when I suggested the AC for your car

 

[MYBAD79]

made a little progress... going to take he DA sander to the roof and spray some primer next.....

 

[MYBAD79]

ok, another update:


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the roof is welded in place, the yellow bondo is better than the grey/pink stuff..... I'm glad I did not have to use all THAT much......


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[MYBAD79]

entire driver side as well as passenger side is now in primer .....



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then I decided that "good enough" is not "good enough" and cut the rear apron and rear center engine deck out.....

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They still make good quality repro panels for these cars so I decided to cut out all that crap that was previously patched and repaired and replace it all.....

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[mrvette]

entire driver side as well as passenger side is now in primer .....

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then I decided that "good enough" is not "good enough" and cut the rear apron and rear center engine deck out.....

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They still make good quality repro panels for these cars so I decided to cut out all that crap that was previously patched and repaired and replace it all.....

Got bit by the whileimatit bug eh???:lol:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

that's a spendy bug to catch

looks nice, though

 

[MYBAD79]

that's a spendy bug to catch

looks nice, though

fortunately parts are cheaper than all the stuff I need for the '79..... well.... that said..... I am trying to get this VW back to close to original.... and that would be really expensive if I tried that with my Vette....

i just hope I can get it painted (for the second time) this winter.... this time it should be simple: plain jane red..... no pearl, no flakes , no bull.....just red.....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

that's a spendy bug to catch

my poor pun was ignored :trumpet:

 

[mrvette]

that's a spendy bug to catch

my poor pun was ignored :trumpet:

:lol:

I thought it was punny......:trumpet:

 

[MYBAD79]

these are two of my most valuable "helper" :



and:
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Both of these were on sale at Sears ($4 instead of $12) - I bought all discs they had
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And I made some progress..... ct the entire left battery support tray (new one is "on order") and cut out the rear apron .... (also "on order") .... hope to get the new pieces this week.....
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I also think this is now a very good time to remove the engine
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[JeffP1167]

Didn't Columbo drive one a them?

 

[mrvette]

Can a cam be built to make a LS engine run backwards??? there fore the thing being in the ass end, would make the car still run forward???

:fishing::smash::rofl:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Can a cam be built to make a LS engine run backwards??? there fore the thing being in the ass end, would make the car still run forward???

:fishing::smash::rofl:

easier to make a reverse rotation diff.... but sure, with enough money, anything is possible.

here's an example of that
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIxngbwE8jg[/ame]

and here's why

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-L9S_TDO9Y[/ame]

doesn't it sound amazing?

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Didn't Columbo drive one a them?

He drove a Peugeot

 

[1Michel]

He drove a Peugeot

Hey I read something about that not long ago.

http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/studiotour/transportationdept_columbo.shtml

 

[MYBAD79]

Welded in some new sheetmetal ....



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New floor (left side and center section) plus a new rear apron ...


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[SuperBuickGuy]

looks nice!

 

[MYBAD79]

looks nice!

Thanks

The sheet metal work went exceptionally well, these pieces fit like a glove - I buy all of this stuff from KGPR (Karmann Ghia Parts Restauration). Now I also need a new exhaust so that the tailpipes line up with the holes in the apron ..... Can't get myself to modify the new apron and hack it .... :lol:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

looks nice!

Thanks

The sheet metal work went exceptionally well, these pieces fit like a glove - I buy all of this stuff from KGPR (Karmann Ghia Parts Restauration). Now I also need a new exhaust so that the tailpipes line up with the holes in the apron ..... Can't get myself to modify the new apron and hack it .... :lol:

no matter how well engineered the part, I know I can screw it up