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Fun with my 71 Ghia project
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:05 am    Post subject: Fun with my 71 Ghia project Reply with quote

OK so I've decided to start an official build log for my 71 Ghia. While I have a lot of respect for purist Ghia builds, this will not be one of them and I ask that if you do not appreciate the style to keep trolling somewhere else as I will not be arguing or defending why I like the things I do. Very Happy

Long story short about how I got the Ghia is the original owner bought it new and after a few years gave it to his son the fire fighter, the fire fighter after a few years sold it to my Dad, my Dad gave it to me so I could give it to my son eventually. That is all the history I have on it. That's my Chrysler and white "Taco" (Toyota Tacoma) tool box in the background. Out of all the cars I have had the Chrysler 300 is the only car I have left completely stock.

This is what it looked like when I got it.
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The body over all looks pretty straight.
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I did notice that it had two different headlight trim rings.
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From various clues I noticed that it had been repainted at some point.
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For some reason this is considered an "Antique" here in Florida Shocked
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That bumper looks sad doesn't it?
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The more I looked at it the more I liked the lines on it. Although I have had the car fever since I was 14 when I got my first engine block to screw around with (a Corvette 327) I have never worked on a VW. I've built ground pounding high hp Chevy street machines, 4X4s with 3 1/2 foot suspension lifts and a lowered supercharged thunderbird and now I will attempt this Ghia the only way I know how "My way" Rolling Eyes

I started the build a while ago and I am just catching up now to place it al here. Hope all you enjoy it as much as I am.
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motorhead364
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good lookin car. Can't wait to see what you do with it.
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I'm still in the middle of it now but I decided to get it all in one place before it becomes an impossible task to do and when the car is finished it will be fun to look back though it.
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Jesse
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So the decision was already made prior to buying the car that this was going to be a "Fun" project so there was never an expectation of it being considered a stock restoration or tame minded build. While keeping in mind that it had to be tasteful from a street rod mentality not like some transformed monstrous abortions (but hilarious) that I have seen from time to time on the internet.

So I started the easiest part. The tear down! Any monkey can tare stuff apart so I did it. And I started finding signs of what I expected to see on a 40+ year old car...
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Opened the hood and seen what 44 year old factory wiring looks like. Shocked
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Took out the gas tank and hmmmm.
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Popped off the rear lid and seemed all stock.
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All the metal under the battery had been eaten away by battery acid.
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And below that.
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Exhaust was a goner but the holes kind of made it sound nice Laughing
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The holes were everywhere.
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Jesse
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c21darrel
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What the hell are you doing? not stock? are you crazy? Wink

Are you going to do body on? or bodyoff? Looks like a nice car to start with! Do you have much rust to deal with?
Carry on.
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

c21darrel wrote:
What the hell are you doing? not stock? are you crazy? Wink

Are you going to do body on? or bodyoff? Looks like a nice car to start with! Do you have much rust to deal with?
Carry on.


Not only body-off but every nut and bolt off. I left it naked and afraid! Laughing
You will see everything I found and what I did with it. I'll post them as I can up to were I am with it today.
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I started stripping the paint off in sections using jelly paint stripper, a sander and a wire wheel for the BONDO.
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Working on a small section at a time will keep you from being overwhelmed.
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So far no damage on these big sections were found.
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The rear lid and hood were ok.
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Between both head light buckets and the driver's side fender it looked like they used to park it with out the need of brakes!
I don't know if it was worse from the original damage or from the way they tried to fix it. Evil or Very Mad
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The rockers were goners. They had welded a new skin on top of the rotting panels.
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The passenger door corner had been fixed a half dozen half assed ways.
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More sheet metal welded on top of rotted panels.
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Gladly, that was the extent of the damage to the body. Everything below both doors was cut out and replaced.
Here it is with a rub down to keep the rust bunnies away Wink
I'll post more as I'm able to.
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c21darrel
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice stripping. Bummer the rockers are rusted away, heater channels toast too?
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I removed about 10 pounds and years of packed mud cakes out of them. I didn't know there were different channels there. I found out when I was ordering parts and panels that the entire inside channel was missing. I welded a support on the inside of the door opening and all the channels were completely cut out and replaced. Same with the bottom rear section, the door corner and the light buckets.
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So at this point, I decided I will do what ever I could to best prep the body for the shop.
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I started with a torch and a fan to pull out the dents.
I used a brass rod with flux to fill in the holes from the dent puller they had used.
And finished it with a set of hammers and dolly.
The antenna hole will be welded closed before paint.
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A little better now...
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I cut out all the battery acid rot and the rear apron from what looked like it had gotten kicked in the ass at some point.
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Got some parts in and started mocking up the repair and then I started thinking that it would suck working on the front of this engine through that port hole so I changed it up a little.
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I mocked up some pieces and...
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I decided to make the center section as a bolt in so it could be removed.
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Top view
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And from the bottom. The back section is welded in but the whole top section is now removable though a set of stainless steel allen bolts.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I decided to make the center section as a bolt in so it could be removed

Nice! thats the way they did buses, would have been a good way to do type 1's too!!
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

c21darrel wrote:
Quote:
I decided to make the center section as a bolt in so it could be removed

Nice! thats the way they did buses, would have been a good way to do type 1's too!!


I think I will really appreciate it when the new engine is in it.
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Jesse
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Finnaly a color choice. Not cheap but candy is never cheap. I decided on Sunset Orange Pearl Candy with an of-white-cream top.
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Two Gallons of this.
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Some reducer.
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This stuff is like magic, literally.
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On flat.
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And on a body line. The pictures don't really show what it really looks like. Think kind of a translucent coat of orange glass over golden drange flakes underneath.

BTW, there is some orange pearl flake mixed in the three coats of candy from Paint with Pearl folks. Sunset Orange Pearl Candy is a made up name these were mixed in various mixes minutes prior to a few test shots to see which mix had the right character over at the body shop.
Also these shots were not polished and heavy with "Orange Peel"! Laughing
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57BLITZ
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's gonna look AWESOME!!!!

(BTW . . . That is NOT a stock color! LOL!)
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

57BLITZ wrote:
That's gonna look AWESOME!!!!

Thanks, my personal favorite! ha ha
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Jesse
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I knew the engine was semi-toasted. It had that blue smoke puff every cold start. There is no way I would trust that motor and I had other plans for what was going to be going there anyways. The only thing I couldn't find was the pull start. Joking!!! Laughing
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Seems like some VW dealer was the last one that knew what they were doing to this car.
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Everything all stock and heavily coated in crap!
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I bet all those missing crap chips are in the muffler.
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Piston tops were just as bad.

So this motor is scrap. Eventually I talked to Roy at Mofoco and he is putting together a sweet 2180. More on that later...
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I welded up my antenna hole too. Now i dont know where to put one and im afraid to drill a hole Rolling Eyes

What is your plan with that?
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I will be mostly using a solid state hard drive connected to the USB port of the head unit or satellite radio or Pandora. The satellite radio antenna has the FM and AM antenna built in but I rarely listen to either of them. It looks like a small oval hockey puck and that I plan on placing in the center of the rear deck in between the rear fill speakers.

You can find antennas that look like a thin strip of scotch tape that is placed along the top of the windshield and tuck the cable up in the pillar from the head unit. There are even some that you can hide under the dash pad.
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things to do while waiting for parts to ship...
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Received all the parts to assemble the front beam.
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Setup for front air ride.
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Went through the box, adjusted and lubed.
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Replaced pans, sprayed undercoating, added sound deadener and started assembly of front and rear suspension.
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Started mockup for pedals.
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Received the trans.
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Prepped more parts.
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Finish mockup for rear suspension.

Right now waiting for machine shop to shorten the rear drive axles by an inch, Engine long block and all parts to finish the top end and finishing the mid-mount for the transaxle.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice work so far!

Could I recommend these as a substitute for your rear apron fasteners? It's what I am using for my removable rear apron -

Button Head Allen screws -
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bnc
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