10. Karmann Ghia Restoration - Reconstruction Surgery

It's time for some serious reconstruction of the bodywork on my 1971 VW Karmann Ghia convertible. So far I have been stripping and cutting into the old bodywork just to see what faces me and, as you saw from my previous blog, it's pretty bad. Most of the problems have been caused by an accident that the car had some time in its past and a very poor repair that was done to put it right, that allowed water to get inside the bodywork. The car is currently at my friends workshop (Unit Two Services, Ilkeston, Derbyshire) and I've been up there, with my friend Colin, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday trying to make progress whilst not trying to hamper Colin's business, which has to carry on at the same time.

So the first decision is to attack the left sill, which was exposed on the last blog.Cutting the old sill away revealed the complexity of the metalwork that makes it up. Because this car is a convertible, all of the strength, that stops this car bending in the middle, is built into the sills and in the case of my car, that strength is gone.

Colin decided that it would be a good idea to make the new parts out of thicker metal, to give the sill extra strength. This diagram shows the make up of the sill. The RED line shows the inner Heater Tunnel, a very complex shape and the backbone  of the sill. Colin made a new one out of 2mm steel, complete with the captive nuts to allow the body to bolt to it. The BLUE line shows the back of the heater tunnel. This was made with 1.5mm steel and is welded to the heater tunnel. Next comes the GREEN line. This is the strengthening Beam, also welded to the heater tunnel and then finally the PURPLE line, which is the outer sill itself and the bit that you see on the surface, which I have already bought as a replacement panel.

Here you can see the completed heater tunnel, ready for fitting to the car. As you can see, it's not just a straight piece of metal as it has to include the oval connection tube for the heater pipe and a cut-out at the front for the heater vent. You can also spot a piece of perforated oval tubing, at the side of the heater tunnel. This was for repairing the "Y" shaped tube that joins the heater tunnel to the heater pipe coming from the engine under the back seat.

On this next picture you can see the new heater tunnel in place with the new connecting "Y" shaped oval heater tube in place. This heater tube is wrapped with wadding to seal it and the purpose of the perforation is sound deadening, to prevent the sound of the engine fan transmitting into the car. It is "Y" shaped because it also branches off to provide a hot air outlet under the back seat and has an actuation flap inside it.

Now with the heater tunnel bolted into place, it's time to make and fit the back of the heater tunnel. This is a simple "U" shape and is welded directly onto the back of the heater tunnel. As each part is added the sill becomes stronger and stronger.

 




So here's Colin setting about making the next part, the Strengthening Beam. As you can see, he's a bit better equipped than me for making parts like this and with an industrial guillotine and folding press, he can make short work of producing a new part.








Once made the new strengthening beam can be welded into place, covering the heater tunnel back plate and forming a third level of strengthening.

So finally the new outer sill can be added and spot welded into place. The fixing of all of these new panels required the rebuilding of the rear inner wing and the front door pillar to give the new parts something to fix to at the ends. These repairs just required flat pieces of metal being welded in and then beaten into shape. They can then be trimmed off as finished panels are added.

Now it's time to address the rear quarter panel and this involves adding new parts to the inner rear wing to support it. To my surprise Colin not only cut the new inner wing panels but also curved them to follow the shape of the wing. As I watch this man work, I become more and more aware that the level of skill required for this work is way above my capability. But it's really interesting to watch and I'm learning something new every day.

The new rear quarter panel can now be offered into place and cut into the old bodywork to fit correctly. Only as you add these panels does the car actually resume its original shape. The accident, that damaged the left side of the car had pushed the side of the car in by about 1cm. Pulling the original body out to fit the new panels puts the original rounded shape back in again.

It's time to turn our attention to the back quarter panel. Now whilst I have got a replacement panel, there was nothing substantial to fix it to, as the inner wing and box section had rotted away. This boxed in rear section is very important and needs to be strong because, not only does it support the outer bodywork panel, it also provides all of the strength for the rear bumper mounting. So, true to form, Colin set about reconstructing the rear box section with new steel to both the inner wing and the bumper support.

Now the new back quarter panel can be clamped in place and the new wheel arch clamped over too, to see how it all fits.

As you can see it fits beautifully and the car really looks how it should at last.

Here you can see the panels finally spotted into place. Now comes the full welding along all of the seams and then the sanding down of the welds to create a smooth panel.


Well that's it for the bodywork for this episode but I did have one more event that was a bit of a step backwards and one bit of progress.

The backward step was that I had sent off my gearbox for aqua-blasting. I had hoped that, as the gearbox worked perfectly, I could simply clean it and not strip it. When it returned it was lovely and clean but I did notice some gritty deposits in the bell housing etc. So I decided to take the differential side plate off one side, just to check that none of this grit had got into the inside of the gearbox.  Bad news! The bearings were full of grit as was the rest of the differential, so it was reasonable to expect that it had also got inside the gearbox proper. So I've had to send it off for a complete strip with all new bearings and seals.

The progress was with the engine. The dairy tubes, that I had been waiting for, finally arrived and I was finally able to take the whole engine up to Colin's to have the heater pipes made. By cutting the tubes at different angles, Colin was able to make the twisted tubes needed to connect the heater boxes to the fan housing tubes.








The fitting of these tubes finally allowed the heater pipes to be fitted  and the engine to be completed and it is now off the stand and got 4.5 pints of mineral oil in it.

I've now got the long wait, before it can be fitted in the car and see if it actually goes!!

You can contact me on hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

Copyright 14.04.18 all rights reserved.

My Other Blogs:
1961 BSA A10 Super Rocket Motorcycle:
http://60sclassicmotorbikes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/before.html

1961 Ariel Arrow Super Sport Motorcycle :
http://60sclassicmotorbikes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/1961-aerial-golden-arrow-restoration.html

Miniature Land Rover Defender:
http://miniaturelandrover.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/1-miniature-land-rover-defender-idea.html?view=timeslide

Motorcycle Trailers / Caravans:
http://motorcycletrailersandcaravans.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/1-motorcycle-trailers-problem.html