Hi all.

I've been a member here for a while but generally haven't had a lot of time to post (I run a lot of websites and so usually my web time is taken up with these). Recently I've been trying to get the project finished off, so I've been spending a bit of time on the web and also visiting the VW shows here in Adelaide. I thought it was about time to introduce myself and my ride and maybe get into the local VW scene a bit more.

About me...

I moved here from the UK a few years back and brought my Type 34 project with me, I've been building it for the past 11/12/13 or so years (I've had it so long I can't actually remember when I got it). It's now about 80% complete.

I've been a classic car nut for as long as I can remember, and a VW nut for almost as long. I've owned a few Ghias, a '71 Westphalia and a show winning '65 Splitty.



My Project...

The car is a sunroof Type 34 Ghia, The theme is a restocustomcal (For want of a better explaination). The mechanicals are based on a Type 4 turbo engine with EFI, Porsche 915 box and Porsche 944 brakes + rear suspension.



The body is basically stock but with some subtle changes here and there. The interior will be pretty much the same - basically stock with a few subtle mods + a few period accessories.

I'm hoping to get it all finished off within next 3 months.

To see more pics or read more info on my project you can visit my site - http://www.t-34.co.uk If you have a Type 34 Ghia you might also be interested in The Type 34 Registry - http://www.type34.org/

Cheers.

Mick.

very very nice. what are those alloys?

Not bad, you certainly don't see many Type 34s around here.

Hi Mate, good to see some pics of what we have been talking about.
We should catch up soon for a beer.
Heath

Noice T34, great read on the build web site too.

we had 3 in row at the Jamboree last week. Bring it to the DoVW in November and lets see how many we can get in the one place.

[ Edited on 30-3-2007 by Grey 57 ]

Sweeeeeeet. Looks like it won't be too long.

f--n awesome

How did you go with the Regency Park lads?

I've not got around to calling them yet as I've been flat out with work this week - I'm gonna call them on monday. Had a good chat with Turbo54 and so have a better understanding of the whole process now.

Nice to see man, where in England? I used to live in warlingham surrey, just outside of croydon...south east of london....best place in the world here...alot of us take it for granted...........
I have a ghia project as well, takes alot of time and patience...I had built a splitty as well, and being patient and making sure it goes together takes alot of dedication...keep at it man! love the colour and choice of style of the resto...cheers zsolt brisvagus..

Hi Mick,
Great looking car mate.
I`m in Adelaide too, moved from the UK (Cheshire) about 6 years ago.
Where abouts are you?? I`m up in the Hills.
Be great to see yourself and your car at one of the shows in Glenelg one day mate!
Cheers
Graham.
Here`s my daily driver, one owner `65..................

[ Edited on 30-3-2007 by 57 Chook Shed ]

rims look like polished porsche space saver wheels

Nice work T-34, i am doing the same thing less the turbo to my 66 bug, who did your heads Lenn hoffman or LAP? Also what is your triiger wheel off? Cheers Damo.

I'm now just outside of the city at Mile End, but originally from Romford back in the UK.

The engine was built by Stateside Tuning back in the UK. The heads are his own creation - rewelded ports, cnc machined out to 48 * 38 and then hand finished.

In the pic above, you can just make out the welding required on the inside of the manifolds to give it enough material to be able to match port them. Here's a few more pics of the heads



The heads were also welded up for a fith head stud conversion but this wasn't used in the end as I'm now running a set of nickies



The exhaust portss are a pretty poor design on type 4 heads, they are normally square - this is so that the exhaust stub pipes can be fitted in between the push rod tubes. These have been welded and then machined out to 911 style ports. The only problem with doing this is that you have to remove the push rod tubes + push rods + obviously the rocker assembly to be able to fit the stub pipes.



Here you can see the valves - 48mm + 38mm. You can go bigger if you use aftermarket heads, Scat do a 40 * 50, and other companies like Remmele have their own type 4 heads, but this is as big as I could go with basing the heads on a stock casting.

I'm sure Jim (the guy who runs stateside) ships worldwide, but be prepared as these things arn't cheap (especially with the exchange rate as it is at the moment).

The trigger wheel is from DTA in the UK, they make the EFI unit I'm using. I modifed the trigger wheel and machined the pulley so that I could bolt the trigger wheel to the front of it - here's a link to DTA's site http://www.dtafast.co.uk/accessories/accessories.htm
The wheel is a 36/2 - they're not expensive and are the same diameter as a VW pulley.

Made a little progress since this last post, mostly been flat out at work though, hopefully I should be clear of the project at work within the next few weeks so can get back into finishing the Ghia.

Spoke to the guy at Regency, he was real helpful, I will arrange for him to come and view the car in a few weeks time. I explained everything about the build to him and so far nothng seems too left field for him.

I finished my Porsche front brake conversion, this uses 944 turbo front hubs and calipers. Here's a pic (please excuse the state of everything - it all has to come off again to get cleaned + painted)



I have also been rebuilding the 915 gearbox that I have, I was originally going to entrust this to the professionals but decided to do it myself. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Here's a shot of the exploded first gear synchro that I had to replace.



I have also sourced some more parts, namely the master cylinder and the 911 cooling fan.



I still need to source the correct shroud for my engine, the way the 911 fan conversion has been set up on my engine is that the top of the case is fly cut with a 260mm diameter curve to allow the fan to sit directly on top of the case. This allows the belt to track properly and also sits the fan down as low as possible giving the maximum possible clearance above the completed engine. Only problem is - I cannot source one of these types of shrouds here in Oz. Looks like I will have to get one flown over from the UK.

Also had some more chroming and polishing done, I have already picked up the chroming - the polishing should be ready next week. I have had all of the aluminium trim strips in the interior straightened + polished as I was hopeful to get the interior re-trimmed, I took it all to a trimmers for a quote - that was some 4 weeks back - I still haven't even received the quote, Maybe I should try somewhere else..... anyone recommend a good trimmers here in Adelaide?

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Looking good Mick, thanks for the info on the heads i asked about a while ago very impressive, if only i had the skills to do my own head work. I also got the 944 turbo brakes they make the car look hot, not to mention will help us pull up quick too. Bummer about 911 shroud though mate. Cheers Damo.

Looking great Mick. Can you post up some details on the 944 brake conversion. I have late Type 3 discs on mine currently but want to upgrade some time to 944.

Good to see another Big Block about to hit the streets.I have just had the seats from my Oval recovered in leather at Exactfit carpets at Newton.The quality of the stitching is first class-just a few small things that I don't like which has to do with the interpretation of what I was asking for.Bit hard when I'm 400k's away and trying to do it all over the phone.He was the 3rd place I tried to get the job done-1st one wouldn't quote even after he had the seats for 3 months and then suddenly lost the 2 back ones when I had somebody go there to retrieve everything.First class XXXkwit.Try Richard Holzl from Vforce in Sydney for a shroud-got an idea he is doing something.

[ Edited on 28-4-2007 by nbturbo ]

Nice work mate - good to see yet another type IV engine build in progress!

Hey mate, try Libra motor trimmers, south road accross from Mitsubishi. They do a top job, as they did on Dave's Diamond green oval at the show I met you at. Looking great, which engineer did you end up using? Doug
Heath

Yeah, ended up speaking to Doug - thanks for the info there - turns out that he was a lecturer at my work colleagues uni way back when he used to study - my colleague recons Dougs a pretty laid back guy too.

I'll give Libra a go. I got a quote from Sewfine for leather covers + panels but would rather get someone local to do the whole job, mostly as I'm scared of same situation as nbturbo - would hate to pay good money for something not exactly as expected - and an interior's a pretty hard thing to sort out from the other side of the world.

I will also look up vforce regarding the shroud, I know I can always get one from the UK, but then that comes with UK prices too so it would be good to get one locally.

Grey 57 - There is a basic 'how to' on my site for the 944 brake conversion, it also includes the drawings / 3D CAD models for the adaptors - if you want any more info shoot me a mail or post in the forum on my site, it's pretty easy to do. Just a quick question tho..... I thought you had a 911 motor in the rear of your Ghia?? or am I confusing your car with someone elses?? How do the Type 3 discs hold up with the extra power?

Ummm..love them razors ..will be followig this post

Cheers for the info on the brackets - will try to sort some out next week.

Have you ever removed the alternator / fan from your 911 motor? I have now got a complete 911 fan for mine and want to get it polished but can't seem to work out how to dismantle it.

Hey Mick,
Dont forget to let me know about the polishing guy, even if it does take his time.
Also if you go and check out Libra's give me a call and come up, i'm only 10mins from there.
Heath

Quote:

Originally posted by T-34 Cheers for the info on the brackets - will try to sort some out next week. Have you ever removed the alternator / fan from your 911 motor? I have now got a complete 911 fan for mine and want to get it polished but can't seem to work out how to dismantle it.

Cool, thanks for the pics, they're a great help, love the site too - they have diagrams for EVERYTHING

Heath, I haven't forgotten about the details for the straightening guy, I asked the chromers again this week, I just never seem to manage to get the info from him, maybe he doesn't want to let on?!

Talking of which...

...I just picked up some more parts this week - all of the aluminium trim from the door cappings, aluminium screen surrounds, roof gutter trim and quarter window trim. They straightened them all in house - he has taken another guy on down there who does this for him - it might be worth taking the parts you need done to him and seeing what he can do.

That said - I will ask him again this week for this info when I go down there with the fan. (if I can get the fan off )

Mick.

Heath, The fan is stripped - I'll pop in there on Monday.

Grey, I have another question that you may be able to help with, or perhaps anyone who has fitted a 911 fan.

Looking at the wiring diagram for a 911, the alternator connects to a 'control box' (see item number 3 HERE) is this control box needed to make the alternator function properly - ie like some kind of regulator or rectifier, or can I connect the alternator up normally?

From the diagram it is hard to work out exactly what the control box is - I'm guessing that it is not needed but I want to make sure.

Also the connections appear to be as follows -

Red / White - 12v Charge / Main output to battery
Brown - 0v / Earth
Red - Dashboard 'charging' light

Any help, greatly appreciated as always.

Mick.

Hi Mick, how old is your fan housing and alternator. Might pay to have a chat to the swan guys about macthing up your alternator with the regulator if required. Yes it is a regulator. Pretty sure its just the early stuff that used a reg. Mine (72 2.4T) does have a reg.

I think the fan is an old one - you're probably right about it needing a regulator. I might see about getting another alternator, I don't really want to have to use a regulator if I can get away with it.