iichels 1967 VW Karmann Ghia 1500 Coupé

[iichel]

I'm now the age of 30, but I'm afraid the midlife crisis is coming sooner than expected
No fancy BCMs, no VCDS, not even an OBD socket. Just good old mechanics and rust haha!

Mods planned:
- OEM luggage rack (bought)
- Dual Weber 36mm IDF carburetors (bought)
- Third brake light
- White wall tires

[benzinkopf]

damn its only a dream to me. no its not midlife crisis. its pure passions

[ciclo]

Nice car with only 15,935 km!
It seems to be very well cared for.

Congratulations Michel! I hope you enjoy it and share this beautiful adventure with us.

[iichel]

damn its only a dream to me. no its not midlife crisis. its pure passions

Thank you Amir, I can honestly say I fell in love again

Nice car with only 15,935 km!
It seems to be very well cared for.

Congratulations Michel! I hope you enjoy it and share this beautiful adventure with us.

Thank you Fernando. The car is over 50 years old and it shows. Have a look at the engine bay, all the way on the left. There is one of these:



I think there is plenty of room for improvement but mostly enjoyment.
There is no high-tech electronics on this car. There shouldn't be. So this is OK.
Just keeping it nice and original for the occasional touring around.

[dcgumis]

nice classic

[iichel]

Matching merchandise

[iichel]

Made some photo's today of the little Karmann. There are two types of Karmann Ghia, the Type 14 (like mine) and the Type 34. The Type 34 is based on the newer Type 4 chassis and is a bit larger. It's like the Golf Mk6 and Mk7. The 14 is called 'Der kleinen Karmann' in German, the little Karmann Ghia.











Of course there are some small things that I need to do:
- Driver side windows (front and rear) don't fully close
- Radio doesn't work
- The rear axle needs to be lowered a little bit
- White walls
- Center the steering wheel
- Small things like the boot opening cable needs a wire end, some new screws for the front indicator lenses

[ciclo]

Really nice your new Toy/Jewel.
Thank you very much for the explanation of the difference between chassis (I took a look at the wikipedia about the 14 and 34).

Please Michel be very meticulous with the repairs and adjustments of the different parts that need your intervention.
I suppose some parts will be very difficult to find, but I think they will be worth it even if they are relatively expensive.

... and please show us images of the wear of the parts and all those things that for some reason or another seem interesting to you to tell/show us ...

[iichel]

Thank you for your kind words Ferando. I think we both reached a point with our 6R's that there is nothing left to do.
So it's funny to see those parallels. You have your focus on the Golf of your wife while I'm working on the small Karmann

I'll be very careful and I think we both suffer from the 'OEM virus' I'd rather buy a used OEM part and pay double the price of a new imitation part.
My wallet really does not like this car at all

I'll be happy to take you through the process of modification, restoration and admiration of the car, no problem!

[iichel]

Little by little, the car is getting better and better.

Some small things done today:
- Tightened the windscreen wipers, they were flopping all over the windscreen
- Inflated the spare wheel, since its air pressure powers the windscreen washers
- Inflated all the other wheels as well
- Cleaned the fitting of the left side reverse light, now they both work again at proper brightness
- Cleaned the fitting of the right brake light
- Re-fitted some rubbers
- Replaced the front right indicator from a Bau15d to Bau15s (dual to single filament bulb) to fix the (mechanical) hyperflash
- Tightened the lever for hot air (the heating is done by blowing air over the exhaust and blow it into the interior)

Added to the to do list:
- Replace tail cluster bulbs and reverse lights with LEDs (all Bau15s)
- Make one of the reverse lights a rear fog light + LED (Bau15s)
- Ordered Hella 3rd brake light (fog light) + LED
- Ordered EU spec (amber indicator lens) tail lights
- Clean the interior
- Fix the radio
- Add a tire iron
- Somehow make the interior mirror dimmable
- Replace the brake light switch
- Replace the right side door contact switch

Earlier on the to do list:
- White walls
- Mount the luggage carrier
- Third brake light
- Dual Weber 36 IDF carbs

[ciclo]

Well done, these are tasks that must be done, you clearly have done a good inspection of your jewel.

It is nice/pleasant to see the technical solutions used in those times, thank you very much for informing us in detail.

---
(I look at everything, even the bike in the garage .. thanks Michel)

[iichel]

(I look at everything, even the bike in the garage .. thanks Michel)

Might have been slightly on purpose

[iichel]

Repaired the door switch on the passenger side.

I love how simple the technique is. Just clean it and put it back. When the switch is pressed, it opens the contact.
It is the same principle we have in the Polo 6R. A permanent plus goes to the light, and the GND contact is 'opened' when the door is closed. Switched ground. Still the same after 60 years.

https://streamable.com/fr3bvd

https://streamable.com/6f89b3

Current to do list:
- Replace tail cluster bulbs and reverse lights with LEDs (all Bau15s)
- Make one of the reverse lights a rear fog light + LED (Bau15s)
- Mount Hella 3rd brake light (fog light) + LED
- Mount EU spec (amber indicator lens) tail lights
- Add a switch for the fog light(s) on the dashboard
- Clean the interior
- Fix the radio
- Add a tire iron Done, added a 19mm socket + breaker bar
- Somehow make the interior mirror dimmable
- Replace the brake light switch
- Replace the right side door contact switch Done, cleaned it instead of replacing it.
- White walls
- Mount the luggage carrier
- Dual Weber 36 IDF carbs

[iichel]

So my Ghia needs to be perfect and that includes a working clock.

The clock, a VDO Kienzle clock, has an internal fuse and in mine it was broken.
Furthermore, the outside of the clock, that is also the GND, was very corroded and was making a bad contact.
I re-soldered the fuse and cleaned the outside. The result is a working clock!





EU spec tail lights are installed:



Added to the to-do list:
- Replace one instrument light bulb

Current to do list:
- Replace tail cluster bulbs and reverse lights with LEDs (all Bau15s)
- Make one of the reverse lights a rear fog light + LED (Bau15s)
- Mount Hella 3rd brake light (fog light) + LED
- Mount EU spec (amber indicator lens) tail lights
- Add a switch for the fog light(s) on the dashboard
- Clean the interior
- Fix the radio
- Fix the clock
- Somehow make the interior mirror dimmable
- Replace the brake light switch
- White walls
- Mount the luggage carrier
- Dual Weber 36 IDF carbs

[iichel]

So, what's happening.......

The car has been in the garage mostly since my last post. The engine has had some issues where the fuel pump died and now the valves leak some compression.
It's all a matter of set-up and due to COVID, it's all a bit slow.

I had a couple of days to do some stuff on the car now and here is the result of an extra fuse box (OEM VW 1965 Käfer), 4 relays and another 4-fuse fuse box (OEM 6R fuse box).

Fuel pump relay is a relay that will only be powered when the engine is running.
As the name suggests, it might power the electric fuel pump but I'll also use it for the rear window heater and heated seats.
RWH is the rear window heater relay, just to take some load off the other connections
58 supply relay is the relay supplying power to the fog lights
supply relay is an extra relay just in case I'd like to add another relay somewhere.