Updated 30/12/05

The build finally started at the beginning of march 2005 leaving me 3 weeks to complete the car before the first event.  Other than the lack of time, money was a big issue and i needed to spend as little as possible preparing the car.  The car was stripped of everything unboltable and everything cleaned, repaired or replaced.

Spent 2 hours digging it out of the garage

Tried to get the doors to line up, well at least open and shut with out whacking on the body but couldn't adjust them enough.  The door pilars need repositioning from previous repairs.

Finally got the ghia moved over to Paul's garage and started stripping it down.

Started to chop off the excess metal from the front end and tidy up a few patches ready for welding.

Starting form the rear, the valance was removed to make engine work and removal easier.  The original 1200cc gearbox was swapped for a later 1500cc box which was cleaned and painted before fitting.  All the rear end brakes were replaced and the drums skimmed.

The front beam was replaced with a new adjustable one from big boys toys.  The front disc brake set up that had been fitted previously was binned in favour of standard drum set up as i wanted to run the wide 5 stud pattern wheels.  As with the rear, all brake parts at the front were replaced.

The body ended up being one big head ache.  Several patches had to be welded onto the front inner wings and bulkhead to replace the rotten metal that had been removed.  Both front door pilars need welding repairs and adjustment to make the doors fit well enough to open and close.  But the worst job had to be the flip front.  It was a knightmare to get it sitting right and in the end it was just cut about until it was somewhere near right.

 

Above pic is how she looking on the 19 of march just one week before the easter thunderball!!  Still needing a massive amount of work to be ready it turned into a very long week.

The car was roughly rubbed down and aerosoled in satin black inside and out, she looks rough but its better than red oxide.  Hopefully this will be changed later for something a bit more interesting but it'll do for now.  The front flexi hose mounts had to extended as for some reason they were way too short and the wheels couldn't turn lock to lock.

Gradually we got everything back together only to find the geabox i had been given was locking up when trying to turn each wheel.  We got the box back swapped with another secondhand one the wednesday before the big day.  The engine was bolted up and given a quick service ready for action.  Last on the list was the wiring loom which i made and fitted thursday night around midnight.

So after 3 weeks solid work, quite a lot more money than i had budgeted for and far more problems than i could have ever expected it was virtually ready to go, even if the engine hadn't been run properly!!  I finally gave in at 4pm on the friday, packed everything away and headed for sant pod.  I had to leave a few last minute jobs for when i arrived at the track.

June 05

After breaking the diff at big bang I had another 1500 gearbox donated to me, which was fitted the week before the power nationals.  Read the race report to see the problems we had.  Also this was the point I gain my sponsor/crew - Duke Kustom and Speedshop. Once that meeting was over I was lent at set of sprintstar wheels and a set of weber 40 idf's.  The wheels were cleaned and painted up, I fitted a gearbox brace and urethane mounts to stpo it jumping all over the place and fitted the carbs but they were not setup as we ran out time again before bug jam.

26/11/05

After a break at the end of the season its back to work now.  First up is to get the roll cage fitted.  I've bought a Ron Lummus cage from VW Speedshop and the ghia is going up north next weekend to have it fitted so I needed to get the front and rear bulkheads removed to make it an easier fitment.

Unfortunatly it didn't go to plan as when I removed the front, which has been cut from the lower dash forwards, I found the heater channels are rotten.  But due to time this will have to be repaired when I get the car back.

I've cut out the boot floor and rear bulkhead, but again this has revealed more rot in the wheel tubs and inner wings.

A bit crude but the main rot has been chopped out for now.  In the end I'll remove the wheel tubs completely and make the whole back end removable.

30/12/05

Picked up the ghia from Aircooled Performance yesterday, nice 15 hour round trip in the snow!  I've added a few pics below to show off the Ron Lummus cromolly 8 point cage.  As i've have a fibreglass front end I needed to get extra bars run down to the beam for front end protection, these are made from cds tubing to allow me to mount brakcets for the fuel cell.  I'm really pleased with the results.

Above is a pic of the main cage.  You can see the extra supports running down to the tunnel.

Above shows the framehorn bars, they've been split and have 4 bolt fixings so that the body can still be removed from the pan.  Below shows the front bars running down to the beam, also fitted using bolt on connections

While the cage was being fitted I bought a 2 inch narrowed beam from VW Speedshop and that was also fitted by Aircooled Performance.

15/01/06

Went to start work on the front end today and found the roof had come down inmy workshop.  Had to spend the day shifting everything to mates workshops so the landlady can get someone in to repair it.  Not happy!