SubaGhia - '67 Karmann Ghia - EJ207 - Mendeola suspension

[crazy tarzan]

great job on prepping the trans. Hope mine turns out that good someday (when I finally get another ghia. . . ).

[KR250]

Finally, some more progress!

I took a week off of work just to try and get through a few more steps towards making a rolling pan again. I found a few threads on the Samba about building a dolly for the body and took similar dimensions to build it up underneath while raising the body with a series of blocks and floor jacks. Not something I'd recommend but allowed me to do everything by myself with no heavy lifting.

I first braced the doors with some 2X4's and metal strips, not pretty but it works and was cheap. Luckily there is no pressure on them after raising the body and the heater channels look to be free of rust.



I used 4x4's, some I had laying around from a deck/fence project that took priority over working on the car earlier in the month. I used 8' lengths for the lower sections and 6'5" for the width to allow wider tires when I eventually get to that point. The vertical pieces are 2' and allowed the pan to almost completely clear the body with the front suspension attached. I removed that and put it on dolly's a bit lower that allowed full clearance.





Separating the two required removing the steering linkage along with the heater lever wires and a tack weld in a small rust area. One bolt from underneath would not come loose so I had to cut it out.

Suspension removed, it's heavy but only required taking out 4 bolts.



Looks like someone had hacked in some new floor pan pieces.



And made some access cuts.... hmmm.





I fit the pan into the back of my Dad's truck to bring over to his shop to use the tig welder. We cut out the front webbing to allow clearance for the new A-arms. Also cleaning up the metal to prep for welding and eventually re-painting.





Vertical cuts made.



The cuts leave some large openings. We used a hammer to move these in as close as possible and then used welding rod to fill in the gaps. This will get cleaned up some more later.



The driver side had only 1 gap. Also, you can kind of see the lower section that was cut and welded to clear the front plate of the new bulkhead.



Will see how much further I can get with the rest of the week.

[Hegel]

Keep it up. I look forward to reading your updates. Gives me inspiration to see another Washingtonian working on their ghia.

[turboedbug]

Wheres Washington?

[Hegel]

hey hey check that out. more people from washington. wherabouts in wa are you located?

[KR250]

Anyone else in Seattle? I'd love to check out other projects/completed cars or get some advice on mine.

Made a little more progress today with my Dad installing the front suspension bulkhead assembly. Trimmed up some interference areas and trued up the centering to make sure it's all lined up with the pan. Spent some time figuring out all the main structural areas to weld. Still a bit to do along some clean up work, but it's starting to come together. Should have the front completed tomorrow. The IRS conversion will have to wait for more time and a few more parts for the jigs.









Found a few more rust areas, some small holes through the pan but those areas looks to be the worst of it. What's the best way to seal these up on the thin sheet metal?

[jhoefer]

Found a few more rust areas, some small holes through the pan but those areas looks to be the worst of it. What's the best way to seal these up on the thin sheet metal?

Given the depth of the pitting in the surrounding metal, I don't think patching those few holes will last. I'd just get new floorpans to weld in, even if you only use the front halves. I think you can get front 1/4 pieces for the ghia, but I don't think they include the raised edge around the perimeter. They could work if the perimeter is otherwise solid.

[turboedbug]

Puyallup. but I am in nevada working

[KR250]

Got the front plate welded on, spent some time making sure everything lined up correctly. The welds aren't perfect, but they'll hold. Still have a few more areas to finish up.





Also took a few shots through the tunnel to try and sort out trying to run radiator lines if possible. They may be able to fit with some work and cleaning things out.

From the front:



From the back:

[turboedbug]

Not sure if this would be an issue but might want to keep it in mind. If u run both coolant lines through tunnel it could be possible for the hot coolant line to re heat the cooled coolant. Just a thought

[RonW]

suspension bits look nice
i'll be interested in hearing if it gets warm in the cab with the tubes in there

[crazy tarzan]

The rad lines could be insulated--if that will fit in the tunnel along with everything else. I've also seen noted that 1.25" is more than big enough under the car--but not sure if you (or I would in my future plans) want something under the car.

What is the smallest diameter rad tubing you can use to to maintain proper flow?

More pics on the mendeola install, steering box (I'm curious to how each piece attaches to the pan etc.) as I'm thinking I'd like to go for that too. In front at least.

Awesome build, and enjoyed the blog as well!

[KR250]

The rad lines could be insulated--if that will fit in the tunnel along with everything else. I've also seen noted that 1.25" is more than big enough under the car--but not sure if you (or I would in my future plans) want something under the car.

That was my thought as well, the hot feed line (or both) could easily be insulated and doubt heat would be much of an issue. I was thinking of using aluminum hard line through the tunnel, probably the 1.25" diameter and use some type of brackets to mount the line inside the tunnel. I'll need to sort out some type of AN bulkhead fittings that can mate to the hard line and then to a flexible hose on both ends. Need to open up access further to get a better look, but I think it can all fit without interfering with the shift rod.

More pics on the mendeola install, steering box (I'm curious to how each piece attaches to the pan etc.) as I'm thinking I'd like to go for that too. In front at least.

It will be a little while before I can finish assembling the suspension, need both time and more parts! I won't be bolting any of the A arms or steering rack until the pan is completed, and that may or may not involve new pan halves at this point, along with creating new seat brackets. Once the pan is done and painted, then I'll work on making it a rolling chassis once again.

Basically you make the cuts to the pan, line up the the bulkhead, then the front plate slides in and sandwiches the the pan to the bulkhead. We welded at what looked like all the structural or stress areas. Kevin could probably detail it much better.

[crazy tarzan]

I would only insulate the hot line--well, even the cool line might bleed heat into the interior, so maybe both?
Use the brackets that have a rubber insulating bit if you can--keep vibrations out--or if the insulation can do the same thing?
I was also planning on keeping a/c with mine when I build it--but not sure if I would need to route to front or up into empty spaces by tranny for the a/c rad. which might end up necessitating lines underneath anyways since that would be a lot of stuff in the tunnel.

Just some side shots etc of the mendeola setup so far if your able--just trying to solidify in my brain how it relates to the pan, orientation, weld spots etc.

[KR250]

Here are a few more shots from the prior work.

Placing a few tack welds on the rear of the bulkhead where the steering rack mounts to. It'll be filled in with more welds, but is quite solid at the moment. Don't want any flex in the steering system. When the welds cool down the metal contracts slightly, so we tried to do small tack welds first before any larger beads to try and keep things lined up.


Some side shots as requested earlier. You can see how the front plate attaches and is sandwiched to the pan to position the front of the bulkhead. In this case, we welded in the main assembly first and trued it up to the pan, the horizontal angles all looked spot on. That may not be the correct approach though. I think we got the side all within a 1/16" or less which seems well within tolerance, and should be able to dial anything that is off with a good alignment. I did have to grind slightly to get the front plate lined up, attributing that to slight variations in the pan.