My old school VeeDub

[Gutling]

1972 Karmann Ghia
1600cc DP engine, 4spd
Runs and drives good, leaks oil but don't know from where yet. Going to strip/clean the interior today. Going to replace the headliner/visors with the black ones, all the interior carpet/panels switching to black too. Going to replace the dash with a wood grain one. Clock don't work, neither does the odometer and the speedo barely works. Got to fix all that, possibly just buy a new wire harness for the car depending on if this one is chopped up or rigged a lot. Planning on getting it painted a dark cherry red. Shaving a lot off, the trim, door handles, antenna, w/s squirter, etc. Either going to have this engine rebuilt a little bigger, or buy a scat engine. The front and rear brakes I am switching out with Airkewld's kit. Wilwood calipers, ss lines, and switches the lug pattern to 5x130mm. Also using a set of their custom wheels for that pattern, 17x7. Going with their air ride suspension kit, 4" narrowed beam up front to fit larger wheels, 2" dropped spindles, air shocks front, bags w/ shocks in back. Should ride better than factory and look awesome. So tell me what you think. I know a lot of people would say blasphemy, just restore it. But I am not a restore it kind of guy, I want it to be something I like and enjoy and will want to drive everyday.
*pics are further down*

[quickdodge®]

I love it. That car is so awesome. I bet it will look good when you get done with it. It sounds to me like you're going to do a partial restore with just some upgraded parts. That's not bad.

Only thing that will look like ass will be 17" wheels. I cringe at thinking of 16s on there. 15" would be the max and would probably look like a beast. 17 is just too big.

But it's you and all, so do you. I love the car, though. Props. Later, QD.

[SEAN]

would love to have one of those...car looks great!

[Gutling]

Got the engine pulled, and stripped down. Cleaning/degreasing/fixing lots of little things. I am going to eventually replace the engine with a built one, so did not strip it all the way down. Just trying to stop most of the oil leaks and tune it up to run good. Also cleaning the engine bay while its out and re-wiring it all to really clean it up. So the mechanical will be done after this, then going to start getting all the window/door seals and getting ready to replace the pans and get it painted.

[EP3sAreFun]

... is that thing air cooled!?

i see what looks like Rad hoses in that one pic, but with the fins and all what is that sucker?

[puregroove]

beautiful car...

[Farrow2005]

... is that thing air cooled!?

i see what looks like Rad hoses in that one pic, but with the fins and all what is that sucker?

tell me your just playing dumb...

i have so many super beetle storys!

[rbwdriven]

Like I always said when owning my 68 beetle, hey can you check the radiator fluid. Rad is sitting in the front. Person opens hood.

[Gutling]

lol yeah its air cooled. to be fair though beetles eventually did get watercooled. those two black tubes (what i think you were referrering to) just direct fresh air into the heater boxes which pumps it up into the cab for the heat. I got a new muffler and heater boxes coming for it, as soon as they get here I can get it back together and in the car.

[Gutling]

*Update*
Rehosting my first pics b/c I changed photobucket around. These first few were how I got it.









Now for work in progress:
Engine is pulled, replacing all the gaskets/seals and cleaning it all off. Was going to paint it but I have read its not good for it being air cooled the paint retains heat. It is a 1600cc dual port. I am converting it to a alternator. I am still waiting on new exhaust, alternator, and a few other things before I can put it back together and back in car.






I removed the tarboard, and started cleaning the trunk. When I get the car painted I am going to have all the misc holes welded in and the trunk and under the hood painted black. So I just cleaned as much as I could in the meantime. The wiring was a mess, and I needed to rewire a lot anyway for converting to the alternator so I pulled the harness. I completely rewired the rear, making my own wiring schematic for future reference lol. I loomed everything and tried to make it look as nice as I could, which I think it looks tooons better than it did. No rats nest, no wires not going to nothing. Just nice clean connections. Once I get the engine in I got a few things to finish but need to make sure the lengths are good. I got a big wire loom going over all three little ones where it goes into the car, but did not get a pic of it yet.








Last little tidbit was I installed urethane shift coupler and a new shift rod bushing, along with a Bugpack quick shift kit. Holy crap, it was all like $10 and it feels awesome. Its no longer like rowing a boat when shifting, its nice, short, precises. Each gear feels tight, and you know where you are at. One of the best mods I have ever done, ever. lol I am replacing the transmission mounts with urethane too but they are not in yet. (Just in case you were wondering, there are no engine mounts, it bolts only to the transmission.




So thats where I am at right now, waiting on my last two orders to come in and should be up and running again. Also got some trim and the bumpers removed, getting ready for paint. I got to get all the seals still (windows/doors/lights) and the headliner, b/c you have to have the windshield out to do the headliner. I love working on this thing, it is seriously the easiest thing I have ever worked on. Toke like 20 minutes to drop the engine, and that was the most time consuming thing I have done so far. Everything else has been a breeze, even rewiring half the car lol.

[vinayak]

replace the front gearbox mount if you have not already. it is a pain to do with the motor in. if my beetle still had the rear apron it would have been imposable to replace

[Gutling]

I am, planning on replacing all of them before I hook the motor back up. What year is your beetle? My dad has a '72 super I have done all the work on, I like it but think I like the Ghia better

[vinayak]

its a 70. here a few pics http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...t/my%20beetle/

[Gutling]

UPS came by today with some boxes, woot. Also got all my engine tin primered, I will try to get it painted tommorow. Painted some of the engine parts flat black, the tin will be gloss black. The new muffler is ceramic coated so no work needed there, but the heater boxes I am going to spray so I don't have to worry about rust later. Also got the alternator, fuel pump, and a ton of little things I have been needing.

[EP3sAreFun]

freakin' awsome.

this looks like a REAL cool project.

looks to be coming along nicely

[OneSlow5pt0]

nice man,these are one my fav cars.

[Gutling]

Got a bit more done today. All the tin and the pulley painted, and they looks brand new. I am glad I did that. Got the alternator and fan mounted in the shroud. Also went ahead and pulled one of the heads and the cylinders off to replace the gaskets. Toke like 10 minutes lol. And a size comparison, a average hammer is bigger than the head. The tubes are the pushrod tubes, they run under the cylinders. One of the pushrods gots a nice groove in it, but it will ride fine till I replace the engine. Its all so simple, I wish I lived back in the 50s I would have loved to have been a vw mechanic.

[Gutling]

Engine about 75% assembled, heater boxes are drying from paint so tommorow I will install the exhaust. Waiting on last box of stuff and I can finish the engine and put it back in the car. Also got a shot of the engine loom, and the new seals. Starting to wrap up, and imo the engine looks tooooons better than it did before.
Before carb and intake manifold

After carb and intake manifold

[Gutling]

I was bored so decided to update my wiring schematic for it, since I removed the diagnostic port and a ton of wires, plus wired up the alternator. I made sure to have all the wire colors right and how they ran, that way if I ever sold it it would save someone the hassle of doing what I had to do, plus if I ever need to fix something and forgot how it all goes.

Original

Mine

[Gutling]

Engine is in and car runs. Crunk right up to my delight, and has been 0 problems. I dug through the stockpile of vw wheels and tires and got the four best rims and 4 best tires put on it, and hauling all the others off to the scrapyard (they are junk, rusted, bent, etc) However now that the engine runs great, the turn signals quit working. The hazard still works, and all four physically work, but the turn signal switch doesnt. Pulled out the clock (its where all the idiot lights are) and cleaned all the contacts, also found out that the two turn signal bulbs were the only two that did work lol, all 7 others are burned out. So putting all new bulbs in, plus upgraded from the weak sos 1.2watts to a mighty 2.3watts. they are a ton brighter. I would have a before and after, but none of them worked for a before Sad. Also whipped out the soldering iron, and I now have a functioning 1972 vdo quartz clock, woot. lol so one of the gauges works now. I got to pull the speedometer and clean it up next, quite sure those bulbs are gone too. I am hoping the wiring itself is good, and just the terminals are corroded/not good connection.

So on day two of dash electrical. Got speedometer cleaned and working 100%. Also got defroster relay installed and it working. I am waiting on advance to get the rest of my bulbs in and I can finish the clock/idiot lights. I have to replace the two front turn signal assemblys, they were full of dried mud and so corroded I could not remove the bulbs from their sockets. So after that all the lights/electrical should be fully working.

Last two shots before install


Installed, yay. No air filter yet, the one I had hit the deck lid when I closed it, have to get a slim one. Good comparo shot of engine before, and then after.

[PURP]

nice, man

[vinayak]

I do not know if the Gia is like the Beetle but there is a black box relay located around the speedo in the trunk of my Beetle. It is what controls the flashers and turns. There are two relays in the box. Sometimes one goes bad be it the turns or the flashers. I had the turns go bad in mine and finding a new replacement was imposable cause they are no longer made. I have found there is a replacement though with some wire modifying required. I tried it out and it worked but it turned out I had a short in one of the wires so I switched back to the box.

[Gutling]

Thanks, I will take a look at the relay. The hazard switch works though, and all the lights blink. But the turn signal lever does nothing. I am thinking it might be the turn signal lever.

[Brian*]

Damn, congrats on haveing a car I have always wanted!!

[Gutling]

Thanks for the comments. Since its running great washed it today after removing what was left of the trim on the sides. It cleaned up better than I though. (dont mind first pic looks pink, im not a photo wizard lol)

[Big_Dave]

One of the coolest build threads I've seen. Subscribed. Aircooled VWs are fun. I've always like Karmann Ghias. I used to have a VW thing. It was my first car back in 1986. We just bought a 1972 VW squareback, This has got me excited to get started on it. Keep us posted as you do more stuff!

[yogi08]

badass man

[XanRules]

looks beautiful - I'd love to help. I said in someone else's thread, I love shit like this.
Also, I'll be very disappointed if you do a typical VW thing and stretch the tires, roll the fenders, and slam it 1" off the ground with 100000 degrees of negative camber.


Keep us posted, looks beautiful.

[Gutling]

So I been busy rebuild a friends camaro engine last couple of weeks so have not had much time to work on it. Some of my Flat 4 parts came in, Wolfsburg shift knob, e-brake handle and window cranks. Still waiting on the dash knobs and dash. Starting to gather parts to get it painted as well. I am going to paint the wheels on it here in a week or two, semi-gloss black and leave the chrome caps on it. I want new wheels, but need them for the new bolt pattern the new brakes will be lol so this is a cheap way to have it look decent until I get there. Also going to get it a little lower soon, 2" front and back.

[AlliRae]

wow... looks awesome. I wish I had time and money to do this to my datsun