And here is the steal of the month:

Two dizzys 4 Two bucks. Not bad at all!

We had a great day, and even had our picture taken by the local newspaper (don’t know if we made it in though).

I finished all the painting and put the spring plates back on. (that was fun) I will be working on putting the front end together soon. I will also be sending the tranny off for rebuild (yes, I know, the king DIY guy is caving!) I have begun the rebuild, starting with the brake system.

I ran the front to rear line first and plugged it into the rear T:

I then added the two rear lines.

I then moved to the front lines and added the master cylinder:

I took the old brake switch off the old cylinder (and odds are good that it will be dead).

Since I needed to work on the front end, but am awaiting parts, I chose to work on some other projects:

Steering box, Pedal cluster, Dizzy

Anyway, I will be buying a 66 beetle in a few days. Got a great deal! Pray that I can keep focused on my Ghia!

LESSON FOR THIS BLOG: Liquid wrench is my new friend. I was having trouble while disassembling the pedal cluster, and liquid wrench saved the day!

Ok, so my daughter and I started painting away on all the front and rear end parts that I had disassembled and coated with the MS rust preventer…

I noticed this paint was quite a bit thinner than the rust preventer, thus I had quite a bit left over. I decided to go ahead and paint the pan…

It was HOT outside today too. I was soaked in sweat just from standing there painting!

This stuff is pretty cool. Once it dried (took a few hours), it was glossy shiny! Not to mention it feels like plastic to the touch. I will probably do a second coat on the bottom here to help preserve the pan.

Once I get the bottom done, it’s time to flip again!

Getting close to reassembly. BTW I did purchase a new master cylinder, brake lines, and link pins. I had the king pins checked and they are nice and tight… So now you know why I am a happy camper. It looks nice, reassembly is near, and I know it will be well worth the effort!

Until next time! Der VolksGeck

After going through several 3M wheels, I got the pans and chassis all scrapped down to bar metal. I slapped on the masterseries paint. I did the top side first, then flipped it and did the bottom… (oh, and in case you were wondering, I DID scrap off ALL that black pan shipping paint before I laid down the masterseries)

The weather got REALLY weird in July. It rained almost the ENTIRE month! (I live in Texas. Rain is not that common) Anyway, after a while, things dried up and the HEAT hit.( I hate August). Well, It’s September and showing signs of coolness!

So, I managed to get everything double coated (including the front beam and rear torsion plates). After I got everything top notch, I realized I had not put on the seat rails. OOPS. So I pulled out the old pans (yes, I kept them) and hacked the rails off and got them ready. One rail really need to be replaced, so I think I may just bolt these to the pan for now and buy some new ones soon.
I purchased some chassis coat black from the Masterseries folks, so I guess that’s what is next! Sorry I am slim on the photos. It has been one crazy summer.
Well, keep checkin’ back. The weather’s a changin, and I am gettin ready to work!

I opted NOT to send the chassis to the blaster, as I didn’t have the funds, and I couldn’t find anyone around that would only blast it. They all wanted to powdercoat it. While PC would be nice, it’s definitely not in my budget.

So, after trying a few different tools, I finally got the 3M paint/rust stripper wheel at wal-mart, and put it on my trusty Dewalt drill. It worked wonderfully! It took a while, but it pulled the paint and rust from the last 20+ years off quickly.

But, let me back up. I first had started on the rear frame horns, trying to remove the oil and dirt grime. Someone mentioned that I use gas to break down the oil mess, so I got me a scrubsponge and scrubbed it with the gas, and that worked great. As an extra bonus, the paint that was on it came off as well! So, anytime you need to remove the oily dirt mess, use GAS!

Ok, so I tried the gas treatment on the chassis tunnel, but for some reason it didn’t work on the chassis, so that’s when I turned to the 3M stripper wheel.

I also used the wheel on the frame head as well, but the sharp edges tore the wheel up pretty good…

Well. I only got the frame horns, most of the head and the side of the tunnel done. Shined up nice! Anyway, here is the 3M wheel after the work…

Ok, so I am going to try to finish this side this week. I am going to paint it, then flip it over to do the other side…

Oh, BTW, I bought an engine a few months back, to replace the old 1300 that was in it. Here are the pics of the new and old engines:

Until next time!

Volkswatson

I used a modified version of the BugMe video pan replacement, so this will look familiar to some. I first of all I ground all the temp paint off the new pans AND around the lip of the chassis so the weld would have something to “stick” to. The pans were fitted into place, and I did have to trim off a little in places to get the pans to fit just right. Also had to hammer down some areas to get it to sit flush. Speaking of sitting flush, the best tool to get those pans down on that lip tight are “clecos”, sometimes called temp rivets. I got a bag of 20 off ebay for less than $20. Simple to use, and very effective. You drill a small hole through the pan and the chassis lip, then press it into the hole with a hand tool. Then release the handle and the cleco draws the two pieces of metal together. Cool stuff.

As you can see, I spot welded the pan in place on the outer edge. I had also drilled small holes in the pan before it was layed on the lip and did spot welds along the lip as well. I had actually started with the holes in the pans, spot welding along, but found that the welds were not sticking well, or burning through the sheetmetal, so I went with the outer edge spotwelds also…

To each his own, whatever will stay the best and last, you choose.

Ok, once the clecos were removed, I ground all the slag off, and put some Masterseries Silver along the bare metal to keep the rust at bay. I also made sure it got in the cleco holes and as much as possible in the seam.

I realized I needed to do the underside as well, so I removed the whole front end (four bolts in front, removed brake lines). This allowed me to prop up the front so I could get under it to paint…

Don’t laugh. It looks a lot scarier than it was. The E-brake was on, wheels chocked, not to mention the thing wasn’t that heavy. Heck I picked it up with one hand.

So, I got the top and bottom all painted up, and I will add some seam sealer as soon as the MasterSeries is dry. Once that is done, I will take off the backend and take the pan to the blasters. I want to get that temp paint off cause.. well, it’s junk. I want these pans to last, so once they are clean, I am going to master series the whole thing, then go from there!

What did I learn during this?

1. Take your time on the fitting, if the pans not good and snug, you’re inviting rust!

2. Be sure to cover the bare metal, otherwise you will start out with a rust bucket!

3. MasterSeries Paint is not for the faint of heart. Use gloves. I didn’t and I will be wearing it for a week. I tried several solvents and nothing worked except a long soak in the dish water. This stuff is pretty good. I am going to do two coats when the pan is all ready.

Oh, one last thing. I DID try to remove the backend already, but got stuck on an axle nut. I broke my breaker bar right off, AND a ratchet, so I gave up until I can get the right tools.

As always, feel free to drop me a note. I will be glad to answer any questions. I encourage feedback, so gimme a buzz..

Until Next time!

Der VolksWatson Geck

]]> http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/11/21/pan-resto-continues/feed/ http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/21/ghia-pan-replacement-first-steps/ http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/21/ghia-pan-replacement-first-steps/#comments Sun, 22 Oct 2006 04:43:45 +0000 volkswatson 63 Resto how-to http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/21/ghia-pan-replacement-first-steps/ Today the weather was unbelieveable and I had some time to drag out the chassis, so I did a little work, and I had a lotta help! I figured out the best way to clean the 40+ years of crud off—Slave Labor!!!

After it got dark, I got going on my floor pan replacement…

In case you have never done a body off pan replacement, join the club. This is my first one. A few things I learned so far: Get a good hefty compressor, a sawsall, an air chisel, some vice grips and an angle grinder. These will help you with old crusty pan removal. I wish I had gotten some pics before the cutout, but I didn’t. I cut out the old pans around the inside with the sawsall, leaving about an inch all around.

Why? because the pan sits on a “lip” that runs all the way around.

see? Ok, once I got the old crusty pans out, I next had to remove the leftover trim that sat on the lip. This is where it got interesting. Once I got a piece of the scrap pulled up, I took the air chisel to the spot welds holding the old pan in, and used the vice grips to grab hold of the the scrap. Now, there is a technique to this that is hard to describe, but here it goes: As you pull with great force on the scrap, chisel away directly under where the scrap meets the lip. Don’t yank too hard on the scrap or it will tear off, just apply enough pressure to pull it loose and let the air chisel do it’s thing…
You will be left with a bunch of old spot welds and some scrap full of holes, but it will be clean!

Ok, next I got my angle grinder and sent the spots wells into flying sparks of madness. (um , I ground them down to the pan lip) Why? So that the new pan will be able to sit down flush so dirt, water, snow, cold air, and other junk can’t get in between.

Make sense? Now it’s a great time to fit in your new pan and admire how great it is looking. ( and to test fit the pan)

So that’s where I am right now. I will start the other side asap, and see if I can get the rest of the pics to fill in the gaps. From here we will start working on fitting and then tack welding them in!!!

Until next time!

Der VolksWatson

]]> http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/21/ghia-pan-replacement-first-steps/feed/ http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/02/der-volkswatson-geck/ http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/02/der-volkswatson-geck/#comments Tue, 03 Oct 2006 05:04:42 +0000 volkswatson 63 Resto how-to http://www.volksblog.com/volkswatson/2006/10/02/der-volkswatson-geck/ Greetings all! I am a new 63 Karmann Ghia owner (but had a 73 superbug for years) and am doing a complete restoration. I began really getting into it in July and August, splitting the Body from the chassis. I have tried to start a resto before, but failed because I lacked focus. This time around I came up with a plan, and am sticking to it well. I am going to start with a firm foundation (chassis), and work my way up to the body.

So, as I mentioned, I have the car split, and the old pans are cut out. I am in the process of cleaning the extra lip of metal off so I can weld the new pans in. Once that is done, it is going to be blasted and painted…

I am really excited to see this site. I hope that I may shed some insight and encouragement on those who find my ramblings. The best advice I can offer right now for anyone looking to do any kind of restoration is: BE PATIENT. Unless you have more money and time than sense, it will take you many hours and plenty of change. In the long run, you will be satisfied with a job well done!

I currently have no digital camera, but as soon as I get one, I will post my progress…

God bless you all! Thanks for listening to a serious VolkNut.

VolksWatson

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