Project car T34 Karmann Ghia a.k.a Rustbucket

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

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5-pot

?The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.? - Thucydides (Ancient Greek historian and author, 460-404bc)

- 1990 Coupe quattro - R.I.P.
- 1988 90 quattro project... Sold
- 2005 Golf 2.0 TDI

BB

Oh man working with that rotisserie must be sooo sweet.
You make it look easy John ;)
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

the phantom

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

80 Vert

Wow a couple of weeks have gone by already, not much more has happened to the car but I have been busy organising my tools so that the serious work can begin so this update is more about that.
Got rid of a workbench that we don't use and brought the guilotine and folder over from the other shop so that they are more within reach.
Got a cheapo bead roller a while back so I set to work reinforcing the main frame and adding an electric drive to it, did that with a 30:1 worm / roller and a variable speed drill.
The drill I have isn't really powerfull enough at ultra low speed so I'm looking around for something with more punch.

The concept works extremely well but the drill is the weak part, begins to get a tad hot and smoking  ;D
Also cut down a trolley I had to mount the bead roller and english wheel on, keeps things tidy and stops them walking around the floor.
Last thing Saturday I started making the roller profiles to be able to roll the ridges for the new panel above the transmission.
Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be fabricating some panels!

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

ritmo

Now that is awesome..... flag Auckland move to Wellington. ;D

80 Vert

What a great day working on the Ghia!
Sorted out the bead roller problem with an 1100watt Ryobi grunter from Bunnings, seems to handle things quite nicely.
Time had come to start on making the replacement panel for under the rear seat.
Last week I made the appropriate shape dies in the lathe for the deep grooves that are in that panel, after running a couple of test pieces I soon realized it distorts the rest of the panel quite badly when bead rolling such a wide deep groove.

The solution turned out to be quite easy, by pre stretching the area where the groove goes in the english wheel it raises / stretches the metal thus keeping the sheet more flat when rolling the groove.
Unfortunately the throat on my cheapo bead roller isn't deep enough to make the panel in one piece so I decided to make it in 3 pieces, started out with the center panel and marked out the center groove and once this was rolled I pressed the ends with a press tool I made to final shape the ends of the rolled groove.
Worked outwards from there and to finish off folded the front and rear lips to end up with the below



Once that was made I set to work making the new legs to support it, those were easy enough in the press brake.

The end pieces were quite challenging also and kinda glad I made the separate as it also allows me to fine tune the total length of the finished panel.
Some templates of the wheelhouses helped a lot as the old panel was soo badly rusted that I couldn't copy them.
Few trial fits with the cardboard I marked it out on sheetmetal, rolled the groove, bent up the edges and offered it up in the car which looks pretty good so far and seems to fit really nice.


Last job for the day was to punch the holes of the body bolts to go through and attach on of the side pieces after some careful measuring in the car.
I'm super stoked how this came out considering I've never used a bead roller, possibilities seem endless  :P
Next will be the big panel above the gearbox, I can already see that will be a big headache and most probably will be done in 3 sections also.
Its funny how you quickly reach the limitations of machines you buy..............never quite big enough  ;D

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

coons


mark2 golf

89 mk2 1.8t
97 mk3 gti 1.8t
90 190e 2.6
17 Amarok v6
09 golf gti

80 Vert

#28
The big panel is beginning to take shape but man is it a lot of work!
Been trying to do an hour or so after work each day and started out by making a couple of test pieces as shown before which went well so filled with confidence I started marking out the main panel and rolling the beads 
Where the bead stops and starts it just distorts the panel like crazy but all that went away once I pressed the radiused parts, lucky that the whole panel fits in the press otherwise that would be another thing to figure out  ;D


With one radius done I'll be able to hopefully press the other side on Friday, the top part of the panel near the engine bay has these oblong holes for the body bolts to go through which also have a stepped edge as well so again a simple press tool for that looks like it will work going by the test piece I did earlier.

Managed to finish off pressing the other side of the beads on Friday night which helped to straighten out the lower portion of the panel.
Made steady progress on the car yesterday chipping away at the trans panel, got the oblong holes pressed first and then started to cut out the old trans panel which seemed to take forever  :(
Maybe I was just too eager to get the new one fitted haha!

With the old one gone and left with a big hole where everything was I cleaned up all the flanges where the new one is going to live.
Looking at it further I figured it would be much easier if the rear bulkhead came out too and since it was already unpicked from the lower rear windshield edge and also from the trans panel it just left the sides to drill off so I just did that and removed it.
The other bonus is that I can sandblast and prime it before it goes back in.

Now for the tricky part, folding the weld edges up on the new panel!  8) 
Took some measurements in a few places and made a cardboard template which was transfered and marked out, measured again to double check and started to fold the lip with a hammer & dolly.

Dropped the panel in and was surprised how well it fitted, secured it in place with a bunch of screws for now.
Finished the day with this...................will take it out again to final trim to size and hopefully sandblast the whole area next weekend
Once everything is sandblasted and epoxied the new stuff can begin to be welded in place for good.


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

sifty

crapballs dude... I'm so impressed.  :o What is your 'day job'?

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

BB

That's pretty good work there John for a water blaster repair man ;)
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

spooln

Wow!!!!

Ps ever thought of making a 24v v6 waterblaster?
77 CS1 Fiat Spider. 78 Mk1 Scirocco. 83 Mk1 GTI. 12 Abarth 595C Competizione. 18 Golf R. 20 Kodiaq vRS

the phantom

I commend you for your patience John, I'd have thrown a lot of spanners before getting to that stage, probably cut myself on the metal edges and hit the panel with a hammer!
Land Transport New Zealand, taking the fun out of driving since August 2008

80 Vert

Ohh don't you worry about cuts!! have plenty of those..................surprisingly though I haven't sworn once so far making these panels which isn't like me at all  ;D
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

Quote from: 80 Vert on March 11, 2012, 02:55:57 PM
Ohh don't you worry about cuts!! have plenty of those..................surprisingly though I haven't sworn once so far making these panels which isn't like me at all  ;D

Nice work

are you using the same machine for Folding?

kiwihigh

Top work! look forward to watching this thread mature  8)
BUILT not bought

80 Vert

Quote from: ranton-inc on March 11, 2012, 04:45:35 PM
Nice work

are you using the same machine for Folding?

Thats the plan once I make the dies but for now I use a folder where I can and a hammer & dolly where I can't.
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

DubMan

as a guy that love to work with metal ......i got all squidgy in my pants looking at those peices being formed........nice one buddy! that Vdub is going to be better than new when you are done with it!

BB

Quote from: 80 Vert on March 11, 2012, 02:55:57 PM
Ohh don't you worry about cuts!! have plenty of those..................surprisingly though I haven't sworn once so far making these panels which isn't like me at all  ;D

That's nice to hear I'm not the only one who dissolves into cursing around cars sometimes >:D
I'm way better than I was when I was younger tho.
My mate put his tool through a few windscreens but I never did.
I threw a coil spring once tho and it nearly hit my brother in the head :-[
That pretty much cured the worst of it, the look on his face.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?