12. Karmann Ghia Restoration - Side Two

It's time to look at the second side of my 1971 Karmann Ghia Convertible. I was full of hope for this right side as the paintwork showed very little signs of rust and the accident damage that was discovered on the left side of the car did not extend to the right side. Just maybe the right side would be much easier to do than the left. 

Closer inspection showed just a little rust bubbling on the sill and at the bottom of the front and rear quarters, and so it was with great confidence that the task of replacing the right had sill began. 

Colin, of Unit Two Services, Ilkeston, Nottingham, (who's workshop I am still occupying) set about the sill with an angle grinder to see what secrets hid beneath. It was not good news! The strengthening beam had rotted away along with the bottom of the "A" pillar and the rear inner wing. The decision was made to cut away the bottom of the front wing and the bottom of the rear quarter panel and see how far the rot had gone..








The more we cut away, the worse it got. 











Until our hopes of an easy restoration on the right hand side disappeared. Not only was the strengthening beam rotten but also the back of the heater tunnel and the heater tunnel itself.













Until the only decision had to be that another full reconstruction had to be done on this side as well. So everything was cut away, back to the chassis itself and reconstruction had to commence again.

At last a stroke of luck! When Colin made the heater tunnel for the left side, he also made another blank one for the right side, just in case. Now we had got to use it. So the holes were cut in it for the front heater vent and the oval hole for the heater tube under the rear seat. The replacement tunnel was then fitted into place and marked, through the floor pan, for the fixing plates and captive nuts. The new heater tunnel could then be bolted into place along with a new rear inner wing end plate and front "A" pillar end plate.


At the same time the repaired perforated rear heater tube had to be fiddled into place, because once the heater tunnel is bolted in you can no longer fit this tube. Once the tunnel is bolted in, the tube can be welded to the tunnel and to it's mating tube at the other end.

Now once the heater tunnel was back in place, the back of the tunnel and the new strengthening beam could be welded in and the car was now regaining some of its strength.











Now, at last, the new sill could be fitted and welded into place.













It was now time to turn our attention to the "A" pillar. Behind the lower hinge is a shaped box section that adds strength to the bottom of the pillar. This prevents the car bending at the crucial place, where the vertical pillar meets the sill and also supports the door. You would never see this unless you cut away the bottom of the front wing to reveal it. Care had to be taken when rebuilding this to ensure that it was both strong and did not hit the inside of the new bottom wing outer panel.

 The new bottom wing panel could now be fitted. Care was taken to cut this new panel in below the indentation for the Karmann Ghia badge as I still have this badge and want to refit it once the car is painted.


So there it is we are nearly there with the right side. Just the rear  inner wing to construct and a new rear quarter panel to fit and then, at last, we can move onto the rear of the car.

You can contact me on hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

Copyright 14.01.19 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

11. Karmann Ghia Restoration - Moving Forwards

It's hard to believe, looking at this early picture of my 1971 VW Karmann Ghia Convertible, that the left side front wing area could hold so many problems. But what was hiding under the surface was about to reveal itself.

On the last blog the rear of the left side had been reconstructed and it was now time to move forward to the left side front wing. After removing the front wheel the first thing that became apparent was a suspicious looking metal plate that had been welded to the inner wing. This plate, measuring about 75mm tall and 200mm long, reached from the back of the "A" pillar and stretched in towards the centre of the car. It was decided to remove the plate and take a look at what it was hiding. The answer was "Nothing", literally. No inner wing, no back to the heater channel, no inner heater channel, no floor to the heater channel. Nothing was left in there and all that was giving the appearance of a heater channel on the inside of the car was rust held together with paint and carpet glue.  This was serious. The front section of the heater channel (which carries no heat as it is redirected up to the dashboard before this section) provided strengthening support for the "A" pillar and the chassis. 

So there was no choice but to cut it all out and start another reconstruction. To do this the bottom section of the front wing had to be cut away along with the front corner of the floor pan and, of course the rotten remains of the inner heater channel. The remains of the heater channel were retained to allow it to be copied and maybe salvage a small part of the curved section.

Now a new floor of the heater channel could be made and welded into place. 

Closely followed by new side plates and a new inner wing back plate. 

 On this picture you can see the cut-out section of the floor pan just offered back into place to make sure it still fits. Although it will never go back as I've already bought a complete new floor pan for the left side. Whilst in place, the holes for the bolts that hold the floor pan to the bottom of this new heater channel floor plate could also be marked, ready for drilling and the fitting of new captive nuts.

 Now for the hard bit, the reconstruction of the curved section of the heater channel. As I mentioned on previous blogs, my car is currently at my friends business, Unit 2 Services, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, and Colin, who owns the business is pretty good with sheet metal, but I didn't realise ho good until now.  Colin salvaged the usable curved section of the heater channel and grafted in a new corner section. The next problem was to cut a 50mm round hole in the new top plate. Now neither of us had a 50mm cutter so Colin drew a circle on the plate and then proceeded to cut a perfectly round hole with a hammer and chisel. I could not believe it, but there it was perfect. 

The next stage was even more amazing. We now needed a 49mm tube to fit through the hole with a flange on the bottom.  Colin had some 2" tube that was slightly too big. So first he beat a 5mm 90 degree flange around one end of the tube. Then, using "Pi" he calculated the circumference of the existing tube and the circumference of the tube required and took one from the other to calculate how much metal to cut out of the tube, which was about 5mm. He then cut the 5mm out of the side of the tube. Now all that was left was to close up the gap in the tube. But that would leave a oval tube. The next bit amazed me. Colin beat the flange (not the tube) with the wedge end of an engineering hammer and slowly the tube shrank closing up the gap and leaving a perfectly round tube. Wow!!  

Finally the new section was welded in, closely followed by the new bottom outer wing section.

Well you would think that the problems under the front left wing were now over, but they weren't.

Another problem was lurking at the front and this was the fresh air intake box.  The grills, on the front on the Karmann Ghia, allow fresh air to be directed up to the dashboard. 



This is done via ducting boxes under the front wings  and, true to form, the one on the left side was rotten. The rotten areas had to be cut out and new sections fabricated. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the repaired air box. but I'm sure you can visualise it, and it is now solid and back in place.

Well things are going to jump forward at this point, as Colin decided to go into work over the August Bank Holiday and do some work on his own and to my surprise, when I turned up the following Wednesday, the car had turned around on the lift and was now facing the other way for the first time in a year, and it had gained the following.

Two Headlight sections

And a new Spare wheel well . He had also patched all of the small holes around the air intakes and the edge of the bonnet (hood). 

By the way, all of the "black" that you can see appearing on the repaired sections of the car is rust proofing treatment.

So this is an enormous jump forward and we will soon be moving onto the right side of the car  and a look at the other sill.

Finally the gearbox has come back from being overhauled and looks great.

You can contact me on hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

Copyright 30.08.18 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

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

9. Karmann Ghia Restoration - Bodywork Begins

I'm under no illusions how bad the bodywork is on my 1971 Karmann Ghia Convertible. It's Bad!  I mentioned, in a previous blog, that the car has now been transported to my friends workshop (Unit Two Services at Ilkeston, Derbyshire), and we have at last started the slow and laborious work of trying to make a concours car out of a rusty wreck.

These, so far, are the new panels that I have bought. From the top:
1. Bottom of wheel well
2. Left headlamp surround
3. Left headlamp bowl
4. Right headlamp surround
5. Right headlamp bowl
6. Right front floor pan
7. Left replacement sill
8. Left Rear wing front lower section
9. Right replacement sill
10. Right Rear wing front lower section
11. Left rear wheel arch
12. Left Rear wing back lower section
13. Engine tray left panel
14. Engine tray right panel
15. Engine tray rear panel
16. Rear valance.

As you can see it's quite a list and I think there will be more. The next job is to offer each new piece into place and mark around it with a felt tip pen. This shows where the body has got to be cut. It is then a case of sanding away all of the paint and filler (which is considerable) until bare metal is revealed. This is a very lengthy process and fills the workshop full of clouds of dust.

This sanding process has revealed the true extent of the accident damage that this car has received with a previous owner. If you look carefully at this picture of the left rear wing, you can see two rows of holes running along the body. This is where the bodywork has been pulled out with a slide hammer, to try and pull it back into place. Every one of these holes will need to be welded up, sanded and beaten back into place.

You may also notice how high up the wing I have had to sand, a long way from the new panel felt tip lines. This is because of the amount of filler that was used in order to try and get this panel back into shape.If you look at the bottom left of the picture you can see the thick filler still on the part that's got to be cut out.

The next job was to cut the headlight bowls out so that Colin could get his arm inside the front wing to start panel beating the dozens of dents that were hiding under the paint.

So here is Colin hard at work panel beating the wing back to the shape it really should be.

And here is a good comparison. The right section of the wing is now beaten and the left front section is yet to be done. This takes a very long time and requires skills way above my level.







The next and biggest problem is the sills. Because this car is a convertible, there is no strength provided by a steel roof. Consequently the sill have internal strengthening to stop the car sagging in the middle. On my car the sills are rotten so when I lift the car on the hoist the door jams widen and when I put it back on its wheels they close up again. Before we can cut the old sills away, the car must jacked up at different heights on all four corners until the door jams are perfect. The doors then had to be removed and bracing fitted to hold that position whilst we cut the rotten sills away. This was done by making steel plates to bolt onto the door hinge mountings and the seat belt mountings and then welding 6 heavy metal tubes to the plates in a criss-cross pattern.

 Now, at last, we can cut away the sill and the bottom quarter panel and take a first look at the true extent of the damage. And it's not good. The long horizontal plate that you can see with holes along it is the strengthening plate, that should run from wheel arch to wheel arch. As you can see it has rotted away. Also virtually totally missing is the back of the heater tunnel box section, which also adds strength. All of this will have to be fabricated from new steel and welded in place before I attempt to remove the body from the chassis.





Finally, we were just looking at the back of the car and Colin noticed that the left rear light appeared to be on a slant, tucking in at the bottom. Investigation revealed that the accident had pushed the back of the car in and forward and this had pulled the bottom of the rear left wing inwards. To prove this we cut the rear engine tray and rear valance in half. It immediately sprung outward at the bottom and the rear light was now vertical. It's a good job that we are replacing those rear panels anyway.


So that's where we are. The car is fully braced and the level of work required is still growing.

More next time as the car goes under the cutter for major surgery.

You can contact me on hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

Copyright 14.02.18 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