Well, where to begin.

Not sure if anyone recalls me starting a similar thread a few months ago after purchasing a partially restored ghia.

Unfotunately life got in the way -as it tends to- many circumstances changed and the poor girl had to get put on the sidelines again for a little bit.

When I last left you guys I (from memory) had just completed an IRS conversion (to compliment the previous owners change to balljoint front end) and was about to paint the 'pan.

After getting home from the UK and EU a couple of weeks ago I decided to rip into the resto with full force to make up for lost time.
I disassembled the 'pan (had been put together to keep weather tight & save space) loaded it onto a trailer and took it over to my mate Ryan's body shop.
He graciously let me take up a corner of the shop for a few days whilst I frantically ground, brushed, srubbed and sanded it back to a uniform surface to then be etch primed, seam sealed, body deadened (in certain areas) and hit with a coat of matte chassis black.
and no the black and white filter wasnt intentional
The previous owner had fortunately done rust repairs MANY moons ago so the pan is now solid as all hell, saving me heaps of work! Any cancer that was in the pan has been cut out using sections from brand new beetle inserts (since ghia sides werent available at the time), lots of time, measuring, jigging and prep has obviously gone into making sure the beetle pan ribbing lines up with the solid sections that remain of the original ghia pan and only minimal welding evidence (left for strength reasons) remains.

Better shots in colour and sunlight are on the way...

[ Edited on 9-10-2007 by Cam ]

Seats have been the biggest headache thus far.

I have std ghia seats, but unfortunately no runners on the pan! Many forum postings and head scratching lead to minimal options. This coupled with my preference for seats with a highbacks and bolstering left me a little torn.

I headed down to Revolution Racegear to sus out what is available in the aftermarket that would give me modern levels of comfort and safety, be relatively easily approved by the powers that be and still be sensitive to the era of the car.
We were only able to find one seat in the Cobra range that I was drawn to, but still not entirely happy with the style...
Ideally I wanted tombstone seats (similar to an early 911) that would recline and flip forward to access the rear seat area.
The guys were really helpful and gave me heaps of info to keep in mind... I ended up grabbing a couple of universal sliders to mock up and continued on the hunt.

I ended up finding these SAAS seats on ebay and only 20 mins away from home. They will definately get a retrim but were spot on with regards to style & function...

Started on the welding again today...

The heater channels have all been done by the previous owner and this is just beyond the A pillar.
Initially it appeared to be the topside skin (had already been cut out & patterned for a replacement piece of tin to go in by P.O) but on closer inspection there were some pin holes in the bottom section too. I decided to not short cut it and get rid of cancer properly...
:duh
After many hours of measuring, templating with cardboard, etc... I finally had a replacement piece made up with the original 13mm body bolt tacked back into place ready to be fitted up.

This is a bitch of a job, not only does it mean welding upside down but the shape of the channel at this point (just after the A pillar) means that there is not only a curve running along the car lengthways, but a right angle bend going down just on the lip of the lower piece so as it can meet the top skin of the channel, mate, create a double skin and hang over the inside ledge of the 'pan....
Not to mention that the bolts themselves kind of dip down towards the ground, so you have to get the piece tacked in and then fiddle with the alignment - hence it looking malaligned partway though.

Lots of f*&^ing around but got all the bends, shapes, etc... and all welded in. Welds were abit fish batter-ish on the underside so I did most of them again - still not the prettiest but have all penetrated, are sealed and solid. Plus, I'm sure you'll all agree that atleast its all done and shaped properly now.


Shall take better pics tomorrow :-D

[ Edited on 10-10-2007 by Cam ]

Looking good Cam

Though you aussie's should be grateful for the lack of rust you have to deal with... as you saw on your recent Northern Hemispherical trip dude!

Take it easy mate.

Vyper

blah, blah, rust, rust...

Seems like it's all I heard from you guys whilst I was over there

Quote:

Originally posted by Vyper Less whinging more welding Death bunny!!

Good luck with the resto, thank god my KG was rock solid when I imported it from Nevada.

Worth every ounce of sweat and welders burn when she's finally done.

Thanks Peter, I keep telling myself that & just focusing on one secton at a time. It's rock solid overall, just a few annoying spots need work. Plus I'm a perfectionist - if it's already stripped may as well do it all properly rather than just quickly getting it together.

Back to it:

Been really sick over the last few weeks, now that I'm better it's straight back into it
Decided to drag it out of the carport and after much discussion figured out a way to get her up on her side.
This will make all the stripping back, prepping & painting of the underside MUCH easier.

Speaking of which:

Here is under the fuel tank after one round of buffing back with a wire wheel.
I have brushed on a coat of rust converter/de-oxidizer for the moment and left the lower (spare wheel well) section As Is to show how it used to look. Will finish it up when I'm done with the inner guard (see below)

Under the guards, also after one hit of the wire wheel on the angle grinder (you can see the repair sections done by previous owner)
Took forever to do and only 1/2 way through, but it's necessary if I wanted to get rid of all the surface rust & tar based sound deadner.

In the process, uncovered some suprises which otherwise would of remained well hidden:


After another round with the grinder, drill and dremel fitted with respective sized wire wheels and a coating of rust converter/de-oxidizer

Hacked out the rusted section of the fresh air duct have got to clean up the edges with a dremel still, but it atleast gave me access to get in there with said tool & a couple of wire wheels. Cleaned off all the surface rust and treated with... guess what


Got a quality control officer keeping tabs

in my opinion there is no such thing as an easy kg resto, they are always bogged up and full of nasty surprises, just keep battling on