Mikey's Ghia Thread...

[Mikey]

I saw those. Very good work, just not for me. I'd rather try something like this, here is John Kelly's website so you can get an idea of the shape I'm going for http://www.ghiaspecialties.com/

This is a link right to the Ghia pictures.
http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/communit...=9980109614663
They're a little more subtle than the lip flare ccain is doing. Also, I really don't want to change the shape of the rear fender opening. I want to leave it like it is. It's not pefectly round.

There is something that needs adding to Tim's shop. A cd player. He only has a Radio/casset/record player. I'm surprised it doesn't have an 8-track on it. I just listen to the radio. He said I can add a updated radio, I just don't have one.

[wrenchnride247]

That ghia specialties site is cool. That dudes "got skills" . Have you thought about doing something like he did on the rear, but cut your fender on the side of the ridge closer to the body. Then you could maybe add a 1" strip or so to your fender to give you more room under there, and still keep the stock arch. Could save you some extra work. Just an idea of course.

[Mikey]

Yeah, John Kelly has some mad skills.

Tim's nephew had the same idea. I think bettween cutting it off, and welding it on. It would end up being more work. I doubt I'd be able to make the welds look like anything either. And when I weld it, the metal is going to pull.

If I go with 7"s I will do to the rear what I'm doing to the front, after I cut the inner fender out. If I go with 9"s I'll make a new fender opening out of 3/8" square stock, then lay a new peice of sheetmetal on that and just make a whole new fender. I'll still have to shape it, but it'll be close and I can make the new fender almost any width. I'll need to at least gain about an inch from the middle of the fender forward, then a little more past that since the rear fenders turn in towards the rear of the car.

I won't be beating myself to death now. I have a palm nailer, I'm going to stick a 3/8" stainless steel carriage bold in it and use it like an automatic hammer.

I also bought a new rear apron, the peice of metal above the stock exaust tips, so I'll be messing with that soon. I'm going to have to either reshape it, or fill in the exaust tip cut outs. I won't be needing those at all. That's the only one they sell though.

[wrenchnride247]

Show pic's of apron when finished, and fenders of course. Keep on hammer'n away at it

[Steve C]

Hi

A friend of mine had a Ghia in the 70s, it had the edges of Beetle fenders welded on to form flares, looked good then, but that was the 70s, when lots of things that look daggy now, looked great.

Steve

[Mikey]

I did some work on my rear apron today. I took a break from the front fender. I need to buy a few more tools I thought I could work without, but it didn't work.

I welded the apron together, along with the plates to bolt it to the rear of the car. Since I'm making it removeable. I snapped a picture right before I left the shop. The pictures seem to show up better at night. I just checked my camera. It's not there. Looks like I'll have to get one tomarrow.

This is just a little eye candy of what the apron looked like before I started cutting away for the Suby to fit, and how bad the old apron looks. I'm replacing the lower peice. The one with the BIG wave in it.

[Mikey]

I was out in the shop again today. 3 and a half hours I believe. I got a lot of little things done. I just noticed I jump around a lot from one thing to the next. Oh well, today I jumped from place to place on the car tieing up loose ends. Sorta speak.
This is the picture I thought I had last night.

Another top view.


I also did a little work on my front fender. Since the weld was in the way, I decided to cut the seam in half. This basicly just shows the fact that I cut it. My shot bag kinda fell apart. So I couldn't continue. I think this is going to be the way to go. I'll just keep stretching and see where it goes from here.

Oh yeah, I'm not pulling on the fender that much for the picture. I did a little stretching before the bag gave up, and it moved away from the other peice.