SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    Anyone here ever own a VW Karmann Ghia?
Page 1 2 3 
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Anyone here ever own a VW Karmann Ghia? Login/Join 
Member
Picture of Ripley
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I used Gene Berg cranks, cams, followers, flywheels, rods, billet piston/cylinder sets for performance engines.

The Mexican solid aluminum blocks set up for 1600fi were the best. 041 heads fly cut to fit the larger cylinders. VW used a shitty magnesium/aluminum blend that would beat out the mains.


Yep, going fi was going to be major. If I had just replaced the case and kept the carbed setup, even good samples of those were getting hard to find at the time.

So I bought a Tacoma I still drive today, never looked back. Smile




Set the controls for the heart of the Sun.
 
Posts: 8357 | Location: Flown-over country | Registered: December 25, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Something wild
is loose
Picture of Doc H.
posted Hide Post
A '67 model in college and loved it - baby blue; ultimately put over 100k miles on it, but you definitely need to be familiar with metric tools. Lots of 'em. And a parts supplier in the pipeline. An added bonus is that the gas tank is conveniently located between you, the electrical system and the front bumper. What's not to like? Smile



"And gentlemen in England now abed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day"
 
Posts: 2746 | Location: The Shire | Registered: October 22, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Imagination and focus
become reality
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by newtoSig765:
An advantage to buying the car would be that you could also justify buying a copy of this classic of literature, still available for around $25 - $29:


I've still got this in my bookcase. A classic!

I drove my friend's green KG on several occasions. It was nice!
 
Posts: 6631 | Location: Northwest Indiana | Registered: August 15, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Get Off My Lawn
Picture of oddball
posted Hide Post
My mother had one, a 1971 yellow hard top in great condition. It was her daily driver and she loved the car. She put lots of miles on it, and then sold it for 25% more than she paid for it.



"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965
 
Posts: 16722 | Location: Texas | Registered: May 13, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Ripley
posted Hide Post
Early Ghia just because --





Set the controls for the heart of the Sun.
 
Posts: 8357 | Location: Flown-over country | Registered: December 25, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
My first car a 66, my grandfather gave it to me for my 15th bday. It was a faded pale yellow and I must say I was not all that impressed but it beat the crap out of the 100cc yamaha that I had been riding to school and work for the previous year.
 
Posts: 1995 | Location: DFW Texas | Registered: March 13, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Not really from Vienna
Picture of arfmel
posted Hide Post
The thing that surprises me is the number of members who had Karmann Ghias. I didn’t see all that many of them as a youth, and didn’t know anybody else who drove one.

I had a lot of fun in mine, it was a great car with the top down. In hot weather with the top up, the glass rear window could be lowered on its hinges for more air flow. Which was good because there was no a/c. Because it was my “good car” it made round trips from Colorado Springs to Houston many times. And I drove it to the wedding in Austin where I met the girl who would become my beautiful, fume-hating bride.

Air cooled VWs require more frequent oil changes and valve checking/adjustments than most other vehicles. That didn’t bother me then because I enjoyed working on my cars. If I had to pay a mechanic to do the work I might not be that enthused about it, though. The shitty ethanol fuel we have today is bad on VW fuel pumps and carburetors in my experience. Which is the main reason my ‘66 Beetle stays in the barn all the time.

You don’t want a Ghia with a/c. The compressor blocks access to two of the cylinders and eats a noticeable amount of the meager supply of horsepower produced by the engine.
 
Posts: 26935 | Location: Jerkwater, Texas | Registered: January 30, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
posted Hide Post
Mine looked like this. Same color.




הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 30715 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Yew got a spider
on yo head
Picture of DoctorSolo
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I repaired them for a living back in the '80s to put myself through college.

Everything about them was stock VW, but the body which was manufactured in the Karmann conversion factory, where all convertibles were done.

They used ready to go running gear and just dropped the hand rolled, one piece bodies onto them. The rest of the cars were beetle parts, from the instruments, switches/knobs, electrical, door handles, door inserts and seats.

Before 1966 will have link pin front suspension and drum brakes and after will have the more reliable ball joints and disc brakes off the Type 3.

The engines went from 1200cc, 1300cc, 1500cc to 1600cc.

After 1967, it will have CV joint rear axles and a 12v electrical system. Also, when working on the engines, 6v systems have a 180mm flywheel and 12v has a 200mm flywheel. Starters are not interchangable. However, a 6v flywheel WILL fit in a 12v tranxale, but not vise versa. You can REALLY spin up an engine starting it with a 6v starter on A 12v system.

They make heads with hard valves and seats for unleaded fuel. They are dual intake port 041 heads. Dual intake systems were common after 1973.

Body rust/rot is extremely common as they never dipped the bodies back then, only applied primer and the dip applied to the beetles was ineffective to salt.

I have built these engines by the gross and restored more than I care to count.


This post is epic. The starter comment made me laugh.

I love cars. Always thought beetles were a flawed novelty.

Arfmel why would one be good in bad weather with a rear engine and ancient suspension?

Im not knocking it. Old cars are COOL

The Tacoma comment also made me laugh. Tacomas are the best! If you combined a honda civic, chevy s10, and a wrangler thats what you get. And nothing beats them for all-around runabout capability.
 
Posts: 5153 | Location: Colorado Springs | Registered: April 12, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Not really from Vienna
Picture of arfmel
posted Hide Post
I said the Beetle was my bad weather car, not the convertible Ghia, because it didn’t leak like the convertible. But I never got stuck in snow with the old Beetle-I had the old fashioned studded mud and snow tires on my winter wheels, and kept a set of cable chains in the trunk, which I don’t think I ever used except in the mountains when the law required them.

Ancient suspensions and rear engines work fine in snow if you know what you’re doing and aren’t in a race. Wink
 
Posts: 26935 | Location: Jerkwater, Texas | Registered: January 30, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Do not have sex in the KG... it will seriously cramp your back!


No quarter
.308/.223
 
Posts: 2085 | Location: Central Florida.  | Registered: March 04, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata Page 1 2 3  
 

SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    Anyone here ever own a VW Karmann Ghia?

© SIGforum 2024