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  #76  
Old May 8th 2006, 23:53
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Keep chipping away at it Mikey. It will come together.
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  #77  
Old June 15th 2006, 03:38
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My humble beginings. Updates soon...

I also have a Photobucket account, so I can post pictures like this.
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  #78  
Old July 11th 2006, 03:53
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Update!

I have an update. It took me a little longer than expected. Life gets in the way sometimes.

First I tried drop spindles with a standard beam. Pushed the wheels out and wasn't really low enough. Even though I had no weight in it. So I tried a 2inch narrowed beam with adjusters and drop spindles. I could get the perfect hight, but the steering radius was a joke. I had almost none. I had to do something else. Awhile back I found a guy named John Kelly. He made weld on flares for the Ghia. Nice looking flares, but a lot of cheddar. (money) Almost $1,200! Fat Cheddar! When I found a dvd he made, I didn't think I could do it. But I'm out of options. So I bought the dvd. I love it. I just wish he did more on the Ghia. His method is to stretch the metal. I'm hoping to widden the front by at least an inch and a half. That would be a lot better for turning radius. I put the stock beam back in it with stock spindles. The drop are going to be machined for the 993 brakes. Here are a few pictures of what little work I've done on it. I've already bought a palm nailer, the hammer is killing my arm already. And I have a few more tools (toys) coming to help with the fender shapeing. Right now it measures about 1/2-3/4inch widder than it was when I started. I made marks to I measure the same spot each time. The only major snag I've run into is the friggin' seam in both fenders. I hate it. There is no way around it. I can just TRY to work with it. They did a terrible job. In about 10 minutes I beat out most of the low spots they just filled with putty. I'm using a leather bag full of sand and a ballpen hammer, then a hammer and dolly to flatten out the bumps in the metal. I already know the fender will have some putty in it, but there isn't much I can do especialy around that seam. I thought about welding a new fender on it. But after I get over the heart attack of the cost. It would be a ton of work. Not sure if it would really be worth it. I'll just keep my seams and work with them.





The rear is a whole differant story. It's not even the same book. I'm going to have to do some major head scratching on that one. The problem isn't the fender really, it's the inner fender. I have to almost cut it all out. Work out the fender like I'm doing the front, and put the inner fender back in. It's going to be some crazy fab. And I'll be lucky if I make it look like anything. If I had a set of 9"s I'd just take a peice of 3/8" square stock and make a new wheel opening with that, then lay a peice of new sheet metal on that to make the fender. Then shape it like I'm shaping the front. Then I can widden the fender any amount. With either metod I'll have to do some crazy work with the inner fender. The cost of a Ghia I guess.

I did some other work before the fenders. I realized a while back that the cost of sun visors for a '64 and earlier are crazy money. They attach to the rear view mirror. Over $100. Way too much. So I just bought some visors for a '65 and newer I decided to just make those fit. Luckily Tim had a roof clip, for what ever reason I have no clue, off a '68 or '69 Ghia he use to own. With all the metal work I've been doing on Tim's '47 I decided I'd section in the header peice for the sun visors. Just cut the old peice out and cut the new peice long. Then trim it to fit. And it'll be covered by headliner. So it won't be obvious. See picture below... I didn't realize it until I got home and downloaded it off my camera but it didn't turn out so good. I should have used the flash. But trust me, that header has been replaced.

And I replaced the original battery tray in the engine compartment. It was just a big hole. My first body man, what a joke, cut it out with intentions of replacing the metal. See picture below...

On a personal note: I won't be making any more trips to the great white north. My girlfriend and I broke up. Oh well, now I can go crazy on my vw. I don't like the fact I won't get to meet up with Lanner again and maybe some of the BAG guys.

Comments? Questions? About the project. Always glad to recieve either or both.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Header (Small).jpg (38.6 KB, 76 views)
File Type: jpg Battery tray (Small).jpg (31.7 KB, 73 views)
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  #79  
Old July 11th 2006, 12:43
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Mikey, why don't you just make your own flares to weld on? I'm sure you've seen what ccain is doing in the paint and body section. Get out the cardboard and start cuttin' patterns to try. Then go to town with the metal (insert slipknot into CD player here) You can do it
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  #80  
Old July 11th 2006, 14:49
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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.
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  #81  
Old July 11th 2006, 21:58
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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.
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  #82  
Old July 11th 2006, 23:13
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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.
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  #83  
Old July 12th 2006, 11:38
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Show pic's of apron when finished, and fenders of course. Keep on hammer'n away at it
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  #84  
Old July 12th 2006, 19:58
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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
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  #85  
Old July 26th 2006, 01:33
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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.

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  #86  
Old July 27th 2006, 00:08
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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.
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  #87  
Old July 27th 2006, 00:14
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All my pictures wouldn't fit, sooo... another post.

I decided a few weeks ago to shorten my oil pan. That's about the time I started on it. I didn't know exactly what I wanted, I just knew I wanted it shorter. So I started cutting, I ended up getting myself in a bind. I started cutting before I had a real plan. Big mistake! I managed to weld it back together and add a bottom to it. It doesn't leak but it's not very pretty. The weld in the middle going all around it, shouldn't be there. and wouldn't if I had planned it out. Also, it doesn't leak. I tested it.

Pictures!
This is the bottom of the block. I got it all nice and clean before I realized I need a new O-ring for the pick up. You can also see in this picture the shortened oil pick up tube will mount in the stock location. I also need to change the flywheel. I didn't have the touque specs when I put the plate on, so I'll change it later.

This is the beautiful oil pan on the engine.

Another picture of my beautiful oil pan, along side is the oil pick up. I had to shorten it too.


I'll be out in the shop again tomarrow. Not sure if they'll be much pictures worthy things going on.

In the last picture you can see Tim's old race car. It made the paper after it was rolled a few times at the track. Next to it, a picture of Army Armstrong's old drag bug. Makin' Bacon' Just a few tid bits of info.

Comments and/or suggestions are always welcome.
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Last edited by Mikey; July 27th 2006 at 00:18.
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  #88  
Old July 28th 2006, 01:52
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I stuck the engine back in today. I wanted to get a good look at it in with the rear apron on. It looks good. I don't really like the way removeable aprons fit. They never seem to fit right. I guess that's the price I have to pay to have it removeable.



Today, I also finished my oil pan. I got 2 O-rings and sealed the pan with some silicone (sp?). Tomarrow I'm going to either work on the front fender or spend some more time in the engine compartment. I keep forgetting to install my Kafer Cup brace before I install the engine. To get an idea of where the exhust will have to go, and the water lines. Maybe throw an axle in that side just to see where everthing is going. It's not going to have a lot of space on the driver's side next to the tranny.

Yeah, comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcome.
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  #89  
Old July 28th 2006, 03:51
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Keep the pics coming Mikey

Did you do a test to see if the silicone will withstand hot oil and not peel off? Any idea how much you cut the sump by and do you have some pics of it installed in the car to see relative ground clearances? Did you shorten the pick-up by the same amount or reduce it a bit so it stays as deep as possible?

Rich
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  #90  
Old July 28th 2006, 12:12
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Thanks.

I didn't test the silicone. It's a gasket type of silicone. I figured it would work. I believe I cut the sump down an inch and a half maybe two. I'll snap a picture or two today of it mounted. The exhaust and oil filter are the lowest points now. Yeah I shortened the pick up the same amount. I didn't want to throw it off a bunch from stock. If you try to make it as deep as possible. There is a slight possiblity that it won't pick up enough oil because it's too close to the bottom of the oil pan.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ricola
Keep the pics coming Mikey

Did you do a test to see if the silicone will withstand hot oil and not peel off? Any idea how much you cut the sump by and do you have some pics of it installed in the car to see relative ground clearances? Did you shorten the pick-up by the same amount or reduce it a bit so it stays as deep as possible?

Rich
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