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Advice on bringing Ghia back to life

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kg1962 Slammed & Awesome Dubber

88 posts · joined Apr 2009 ·

#1000256
Hi All

I have a 64 MY Ghia, that has been in storage for the last 15 years

It has a straight clean body & is quite original
Someone swapped out the motor years ago, so it has a 1600cc
It still has 6V wiring & the battery is always running flat
I think there is an electrical problem

I want to upgrade the engine, put in disc brakes, rewire the car & get new carpets
Any tips or recommendations would be welcomed
Can anyone recommend any sources to do some reading on upgrades?

Cheers, KG

Bizarre Moderator The artist formerly known as blue74l

12,789 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#1000269
The tech articles at www.aircooled.net is always a good place to start
Futue te ipsum!!!

matberry Moderator Go hard or go home

8,114 posts · joined Mar 2006 ·

#1000274
My first suggestion is to not rewire, but convert to 12V if you want more reliable electrics. The 6V wiring is actually thicker and therefore heavier duty than 12V wiring. Plus any new wiring products/kits I've seen are of inferior quality than the original, repair, not replace.....
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE

karmann54 Officially Full-On Dubber

337 posts · joined Nov 2002 ·

#1000947
There is a lot of information to be found on the Ghia forum at the samba.

Carpet kits vary in price and quality a lot. The original square-weave carpets can still be found at places like bus n bug in Melbourne and trimtec in WA, but are at the upper end in pricing.
Newton commercial in the UK make a reportedly high quality kit similar to square-weave, and then there are any number of loop style carpet kits through most upholsterers. All depends how 'pure' you want to be.

As per Matt above, keep your original wiring unless it's a complete mess. If you don't have the original engine probably the simplest way to go is with a 12V alternator kit and a 1600+ engine with 200mm 12v flywheel. 6V system issues are usually the result of voltage drop from dirty/loose connections. A good 6V car is fine but everything has to be in good condition, there is no margin for error!

Disc brake kits : lots of cheaper ones around from Empi etc. Probably the better known high-end proprietary kits are CSP from Germany and Airkewled from the US. VVDS In Sydney also make an apparently good kit locally. I haven't used any of these myself, about to make that decision as I am finally starting the Resto of my '63 Ghia. At this point I am leaning toward the CSP kit from what I've read to date, but I don't think you'd have issues with any of those three. With any disc brake conversion on a Ghia, you need to be careful about track width, especially if your car is lowered and you have wider wheels. Need to think about wheel/tyre selection, height etc all together.

You are a bit closer than me to the end, at least your car is all in one piece!

kg1962 Slammed & Awesome Dubber

88 posts · joined Apr 2009 ·

#1000979
karmann54 wrote:There is a lot of information to be found on the Ghia forum at the samba.

Carpet kits vary in price and quality a lot. The original square-weave carpets can still be found at places like bus n bug in Melbourne and trimtec in WA, but are at the upper end in pricing.
Newton commercial in the UK make a reportedly high quality kit similar to square-weave, and then there are any number of loop style carpet kits through most upholsterers. All depends how 'pure' you want to be.

As per Matt above, keep your original wiring unless it's a complete mess. If you don't have the original engine probably the simplest way to go is with a 12V alternator kit and a 1600+ engine with 200mm 12v flywheel. 6V system issues are usually the result of voltage drop from dirty/loose connections. A good 6V car is fine but everything has to be in good condition, there is no margin for error!

Disc brake kits : lots of cheaper ones around from Empi etc. Probably the better known high-end proprietary kits are CSP from Germany and Airkewled from the US. VVDS In Sydney also make an apparently good kit locally. I haven't used any of these myself, about to make that decision as I am finally starting the Resto of my '63 Ghia. At this point I am leaning toward the CSP kit from what I've read to date, but I don't think you'd have issues with any of those three. With any disc brake conversion on a Ghia, you need to be careful about track width, especially if your car is lowered and you have wider wheels. Need to think about wheel/tyre selection, height etc all together.

You are a bit closer than me to the end, at least your car is all in one piece!
Thanks for the advice
I'm planning to dust of my car & make a start at it over the Christmas break
I'll post my thoughts & progress as I go

jiminy_cricket Casual Dubber

28 posts · joined Apr 2013 ·

#1001293
Hi there, I have just spent some considerable time and effort renovating my 63 ghia. It's currently in shop getting engine built and final interior work. I was lucky (worked hard enough and was patient) to find one with factory paint and original pan, engine and body.

But I did not go for concourse spec restore. I approached it more with an 'outlaw' style of resto. I personally prefer older cars that are modernised and personalised in character but that's just me. Of course all original parts - emgine, trans, radio, drums etc have been archived and nearly everything I have done is unbolt-able / reversible.

So I went CSP discs all round, wide 5 steel - the centres had to be cut and moved to maintain track width. Corbeau style speedster seats (awesome). New 4 speed bullet proof transaxle from Dave butler, 2.4 litre auto linea built by Brad McKernan restoration, all new rubbers, Koni shocks, drop spindles with adjustable beam, Kafer brace, mid mount trans brace, 12 volt using existing wiring, keyless entry, interior in charcoal / black / white (car is anthracite Gray), double DIN radio (KGs were built for these things - fitted sweetly), converted clock to tachometer, couple of extra gauges, new bonnet with fuel neck and cobra style filler protruding from bonnet (I couldn't touch my existing museum grade rust free bonnet!), plus a few other little touches. I am not sure what exhaust yet. Probably CSP Python.

I have collected all sorts of links to websites and suppliers. Got some good articles, and the AVD community here is great. Also joined the Qld VW drivers club and they are great too. Email me and I can forward you what I have. All the best, have fun, MD
Michael Derwin
63 Karmann Ghia

kg1962 Slammed & Awesome Dubber

88 posts · joined Apr 2009 ·

#1001477
jiminy_cricket wrote:Hi there, I have just spent some considerable time and effort renovating my 63 ghia. It's currently in shop getting engine built and final interior work. I was lucky (worked hard enough and was patient) to find one with factory paint and original pan, engine and body.

But I did not go for concourse spec restore. I approached it more with an 'outlaw' style of resto. I personally prefer older cars that are modernised and personalised in character but that's just me. Of course all original parts - emgine, trans, radio, drums etc have been archived and nearly everything I have done is unbolt-able / reversible.

So I went CSP discs all round, wide 5 steel - the centres had to be cut and moved to maintain track width. Corbeau style speedster seats (awesome). New 4 speed bullet proof transaxle from Dave butler, 2.4 litre auto linea built by Brad McKernan restoration, all new rubbers, Koni shocks, drop spindles with adjustable beam, Kafer brace, mid mount trans brace, 12 volt using existing wiring, keyless entry, interior in charcoal / black / white (car is anthracite Gray), double DIN radio (KGs were built for these things - fitted sweetly), converted clock to tachometer, couple of extra gauges, new bonnet with fuel neck and cobra style filler protruding from bonnet (I couldn't touch my existing museum grade rust free bonnet!), plus a few other little touches. I am not sure what exhaust yet. Probably CSP Python.

I have collected all sorts of links to websites and suppliers. Got some good articles, and the AVD community here is great. Also joined the Qld VW drivers club and they are great too. Email me and I can forward you what I have. All the best, have fun, MD
Thanks
Will send you a PM

kg1962 Slammed & Awesome Dubber

88 posts · joined Apr 2009 ·

#1001479
I had a look online to see who does VW restos
Does anyone know if BTC restorations are any good?

Uber Kafer Wolfsburg Wizard

414 posts · joined Nov 2009 ·

#1001843
karmann54 wrote:Disc brake kits : lots of cheaper ones around from Empi etc. Probably the better known high-end proprietary kits are CSP from Germany and Airkewled from the US.
from experience I can advise that the Airkewld disc brake kits are not 'high-end', their tolerances and quality are very hit & miss.

karmann54 Officially Full-On Dubber

337 posts · joined Nov 2002 ·

#1003038
Yeah I've done a little more research on the brake kits and will be going with the CSP kit for my ghia.