My Karmann Ghia AutoStick

[davebuckholts]

Okay, I'm pulling the engine and of all of the 5000 sockets I have, No 12 pt 8mm.  It's amazing.  So I have only the torque convertor bolts and the engine mounting bolts and it's out.  Some pics....
The Ghia.....



Torque converter bolt...


Interior.....



Polished turtlebacks...

[68autobug]

A Very nice Karmann made Ghia...

Wow, those wheels...

I love em...  very nice... $$$$$$

are they in the VW stud pattern??

I haven't seen any of those in Australia....

I also haven't seen those torque converter bolts with the multi hex head...
all My 68 ones are hex heads.. and they do get rounded... [not by Me]

LEE

[Bookwus]

Hiya Lee,

..... haven't seen those torque converter bolts with the multi hex head...
all My 68 ones are hex heads.. and they do get rounded..

I see both sorts of TC bolts up here in the States.  The ones on my 70 Bug were of the multi-hex type.  But I have a set of hex headed bolts also.  I'm thinking that the bolts being offered for sale nowadays are hex heads.

[davebuckholts]

Thanks Lee.  The wheels are Superior Turtlebacks that a PO had polished.  Very nice looking wheels polished.  They are the standard 4 bolt VW pattern.
I haven't gotten much done over the holidays, when I was supposed to get it all done.   
I have the engine ready to drop out, but haven't had ant help the last few days and I'm not going to attempt it by myself.  I only have the 2 upper bolts holding the engine in left to remove and it'll drop out.  I have a floor jack under it now to keep the weight off of the bolts.
I have gotten the front end adjusted as far up as teh narrowed, adjustable beam will allow.  No shock towers on the front beam.....  I also took the front pads out and coated the backsides of them with some anti-squeal.  The thing was making some awful squealing.  Hopefully that will stop all that noise!
I have re-indexed the driver's side springplate up one outer notch to bring the assend up some too.  The car was just too low for me.  What shocks are folks running on the rear of a lowered Ghia?  Same as a lowered bug I suppose?
I sanded the AKJ (Air Kooled Junk... PO doings) off of the front fender also.  The car needs to be resprayed as there is cracking going on all over, but it is presentable enough.  Maybe in the future when I get some extra cash I'll get it resprayed.  As of now I'm just going to get it all tightened up and drive the mess out of it!


Dave

[davebuckholts]

Well I got the Ghia back together and I'm a bit frustrated.....
It runs great, shifts great, stops great, LEAKS great......

I replaced the TC seal, peened it also, but it's leaking.  I replaced the oil cooler seals, it's still leaking.  I drove it to work today (40 miles) and there is a decent sized (4"-6")puddle of trans fluid under the car and there is oil weeping from the oil cooler.  I'm just not up for another round of engine pulling.  Think it will fix itself??

The rear shocks I got for it were too short so still no shocks on the rear.  None on the front either but the narrowed beam doesn't have shock towers.  Rides okay, but I'm sure it will be better when I put the rear shocks on it.   

I don't have the time to mess with it anymore this week.  I have to get my wife's bus ready for the show in Daytona this weekend.  I was hoping to drive it down there and put it in the For Sale section Sunday.  I'm just not a ghia guy.  Plus my single cab needs some metal work and paint.

I'll post up some detailed pics of the car and what not later this week. 

Dave

 

[Sidco7]

It runs great, shifts great, stops great, LEAKS great......

LOL! I think everyone hears you on that..

Just a thought, did you check for cracks between the bolts on the bell housing under the pressure plate?

I was cleaning up mine and noticed a small crack in the bell housing between two of the bolts that hold the "one way clutch support" (item 2 in fig 8-2 in the Bentley)
At first thought, I was going to just leave it, but I think I will do a little pressure test just to see if that crack leads to the ATF passage.

Just thinking out loud here.

Have to agree with the others .. .  nice wheels!

Good luck.
Sid