Project car T34 Karmann Ghia a.k.a Rustbucket

Started by 80 Vert, January 28, 2012, 08:29:00 PM

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80 Vert

Well, seeing as so many want me to post this up here goes.
Started pulling this car apart last week being carefull not to ruin any of the near impossible to get trim and moldings but this morning was time to brace the body before separating it from the chassis.

The bracing is more of a precaution as I'll be putting it in a rotisserie for all the rust repairs so I don't want anything weird to happen to the door gaps when big sections of the sills and pillars are cut away.
With the body hanging in a rotisserie from its bumper mounts all the stress would go into the roof and pillars, seeing as the rear pillars are pretty shot the bracing will stop any movement there.
Anyway rather than groveling on the ground I just lifted the front in the air to be able to work underneath unbolting the body from the floor, quite handy that overhead crane  ;D

Body unbolted and all other stuff disconnected it still wouldn't budge so another good look found 4 remaining bolts still attached  ::)
With those out it was a simple case of up up and away!  >:D


With the chassis rolled out from underneath I could start pulling that apart, pretty much removed everything off the chassis and pulled the motor out and front end off also.
Its nearly at its bare bones with only the rear subframe and gearbox left to come out.

These give an idea of where I'm heading, preffered option right now is the cream with black roof and red interior, the green I also like which is a 50's Beetle colour..........................

2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

bigbumper

Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one John

FWIW cream definitely gets my vote

BB

The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

ranton-inc


80 Vert

Nah, probably a nice fuel injected stroker 2L
2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

ranton-inc


rambo_005

Cream pic looks awesome... can't wait to see this progress - Type 34s are awesome! 8)

M M

Bought not built.

Pinkmaggit

This is sure to be another standout car when it's finished. Can't wait to see what it'll look like in the end.


80 Vert

Thought I'd better start on making that rotisserie today as the body of the car has been in the way most of the week  ::)..............old rusty cars.............. ::)

Felt that the best and quickest way would be to use a couple of engine stands and seeing as I already had one I just bought a 2nd used one locally.
Started out making the mounts that bolt on the bumper mounts in the body, mainly tried to use scrap steel that we already had at work so it was a case of whatever works.
Figuring out where the center of gravity was on the body became a bit of a guessing game so after deciding how high to make the stands I cut up one of the engine stands and lengthened it by about 200mm and also widened it between the wheels to make it more stable.
That worked out pretty well and with the body hanging level in the gantry crane I could then measure up the back of the car and make the stand for that end.

With the 2nd stand done I dropped it down on the ground but it became evident pretty quickly I'd need to tie the stands together to stop them splaying out.
Some simple furniture tube bolted between the stands sorted that problem out pretty quick.
The great thing is that when this is done I can then use this stand for the Convertible and all I need to change is where it bolts to the body

Its certainly not going to win any awards but I didn't feel like spending all day making this thing so rough and ready it is!!
Balance is perfect, spins over very nice and at no time does it want to suddenly drop away from you so that's pretty cool.
Will be miles easier to work on the lower half of the body this way.

2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

BB

The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

the phantom

with the glass out there's something very Lancia Fulvia about that roof!

Land Transport New Zealand, taking the fun out of driving since August 2008

spooln

77 CS1 Fiat Spider. 78 Mk1 Scirocco. 83 Mk1 GTI. 12 Abarth 595C Competizione. 18 Golf R. 20 Kodiaq vRS

brian

I like the look of those Fulvias.
There is a brown one which trundles up and down my street from time to time
Škoda Fabia 1.0 TSI Race Blue

dubstar

Are you going to get it dipped or just cut out rust the old fashioned way?
"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."

80 Vert

I'm going to sandblast it myself in sections, cut the rust out- make any repairs then re blast and prime it.
2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

80 Vert

Been thinking all week where to start.................I guess it was a little overwhelming looking at the scale of repairs to be done!
In any case I thought replacing the panel above the transmission would be a decent place to start so in order to get at it properly the parcel shelf needed to come out so I got to work drilling spot welds out.

Ended up having to drill through all 3 skins to be able to release the parcel tray but after a few hours work it came away relatively cleanly.
That panel is in decent shape, just have to make a new box section that runs along the front of it as the ends have rusted off.

The little shelf below that was also heavily rusted so I took that out as well and will have to make a new one of those.
With both trays out of the way its easy enough to get at the main panel above the transmission so that will have to come out next, chipped off all the old sealer so I can find all the spotwelds.

Before that panel comes out I'll first get to work making a new panel, pretty much will have to be made in 2 pieces at least but I'll be able to join them somewhere.
Side panels also need quite a few repairs but these are also easy to get at now with the parcel tray out of the way.
All of this probably doesn't make much sense to most of you but this is what 50yo cars look like  ;D
Rust, rust and some more rust........... :( Rotisserie comes into its own here...


2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

spooln

77 CS1 Fiat Spider. 78 Mk1 Scirocco. 83 Mk1 GTI. 12 Abarth 595C Competizione. 18 Golf R. 20 Kodiaq vRS

80 Vert

2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration