1969..US import Karmann Ghia resto

decided to hang the headliner today ........

So i bought a good few packs of these for clipping it in place while the glue sets.....


Cleaned up the 4 rods that hold the headliner in place.....

from RIGHT to left....longest rod then 2nd longest and finally on the left 2 the same size.........
order of fitting the rods......



After fitting the 4 rods to headliner i then hung it all in place....

once in this position i spotted a problem.....
in the next pic i am pointing to the problem.....the rods fit thru a looped material bit on the part of the headliner you wont see..ie the the bit that faces the roof........which stop the headliner moving any further......see pic below


so.to solve the problem i had to carefully snip the material where the rod goes thru......


Here ^^^^^^ you can see........the rod....the material where the rod goes thru and which ive snipped and also the bracket which holds the rod........for now i am using the middle position for all 4 rods on both sides of the car.....

Next pic shows the difference AFTER  ive carefully snipped......



This final pic shows headliner after ive done all snipping and front and rear are held in place with some of the clips from pic 1.........


i am just awaiting delivery of some proper upholstery glue which is the brushable kind rather than spray glue...
the spray glue dont hold the headliner to well due to weight..
i will post a pic of it once it arrives......

I will glue the front first........once dried i will then do the rear.....then sides.....
and once it has all dried i will use a hairdryer to help smooth it all out.the hairdryer will soften the glue letting me move the headliner.....well it works in theory:lol:

From this...........


to this after re-fitting steering column........



and really getting there now......knee pads dash top and steering wheel fitted............



Still a long way to go yet,but it is really starting to take shape now.......
And it is nice to finally see the picture i had in my head,way back when i first started this,finally coming to reality:D

not managing to get much done at the mo due to recovering from my knee op,but have managed to do some small bits.
needed to finish off my door cards after re-trim so the kitchen became my trim room:D


door handles before and after.....for those in black n white,the old is at the top:incheek:
next shot show the behind....glue and staples seem to be doing the trick so far....
 


and after a bit of a struggle,fitted to the door card.....


just waiting for the other handle to dry out and i will then fit it to the door card...
only other bits ive managed to do is clean up my rear lights and fit new seals....

making some slow progress........both door cards now have the door handles on.............

Dash bits added.....ie clocks n trim n glovebox....


my chrome bezels on the speedo etc are not very good so i am on the look out for some good condition ones to replace them with...(if you have any for sale drop me a PM;))

bonnet seal placed....


and floorpan de-greased,hoovered out and cleaned ready for sound proofing......


i will add details of the sound proofing when it arrives......


still got the headliner to finish,but, i am not physically able to get into awkward positions at the moment so that is having to wait until my knee eases off...

My soundproofing arrived this morning,so i steamed into get it down on the floor...
Before i start updating tho, if you are looking into doing this,then there are LOADS of products you can use varying in price and there are lots of opinions on the subject...to be honest i sort of got fed up reading about it and in the end i opted for this stuff..........
Silent Coat ...i ended up getting it off ebay as it had free postage..which was good cos this stuff weighs a fucking LOT....i got two packs containing 20 pieces in each pack....£79.99 is what i paid.



This is what it looks like out of the pack...just pull the white backing off and stick it down...........


The stuff is really easy to lay down,cuts easy. I also had the wife's hair dryer to heat it up being as it was cold outside.....
Here's the floor done...........

ONE PACK was enough to cover............The floor under rear parcel shelf(in front of the engine firewall) and put in one piece each side of where my rear door cards will fit...
hopefully tomorrow i can get onto fitting the carpet set into the rear of the car...

If you have NEVER fitted the carpets to a ghia before,like myself,then BE PREPARED.........it IS an arse of a job !!!!!!!!
Ive been going TWO days(ish) so be prepared for it to take a while,you will NOT do this in a couple of hours............


Any how,my progress so far..................
I spent most of yesterday and this morning trying to get the rear arch carpets to fit.............i gave up......unless you have a steamer to steam and then stretch and pull them,you are in for a hard time....
So, mine got thrown out of the car.............


ONLY because i was lucky enough to have this stuff in my garage.....

My son bought this a few years ago but never used it....i was always gonna bin it but for some reason i didnt.....THANK FUCK .....because...
It only matches my new carpet set:lol:
sooooo,


Yes yes i know......i'm a jammy bastard:D

As you can see up there^^^^ i fitted the main rear carpet too..

Next up the tunnel...........


I then moved onto sorting out my rear seat back rest....this needs the carpet fitting to it aswell.......
take note....when you fit this piece it overlaps from the seat back and then lines up with the rear carpet

i also rested in my rear door card just to see how it will look ^^^^^
and from the other side..............


You will need to make sure you have some STRONG adhesive/glue for the fitting.........
and a tip for first timers............brush on your glue to the area AND the carpet...........then leave it for a few minutes air rest then stick down the piece of carpet......
giving it an air rest gives the glue chance to work and you will find it sticks quicker............( i was waiting approx 5 mins)
thats me for today....hopefully progress some more tomorrow

Bit more progress made today.......altho it dont look like much:lol:
Both heater channel carpets fitted...and arm rest areas of the back seat screwed down...


then dropped in my back seat to start seeing how its gonna looksee...


aaaaand ive a problem or two.....
1. Due to my lack of knowledge of ghia's i dont know what is supposed to fit between where the back seat rest meets the bit you sit on....a nice dirty gap.....
2. I dont know how my back seat is supposed to be held in the up right position.......
so a bit of research is needed,unless any of you folk can help me????

Any how next up,the bit of carpet im dreading.....
and its the bit ive rested in front of the back seat area.......
 
i feel this will take  a good bit of glue,patience and some screws....and even maybe the odd swear word to help it along:lol:

and this is how it looks with the rear carpets fitted along with the rear seat..........

ive decided im gonna use some of the material i used on the arches,to do the sides of the rear seat area.....hopefully it should tie it in nicely........
i'm hoping to have it all done n dusted tomorrow....fingers crosssed:D

Back on it today and managed to get a good bit done,even with a hangover:o

Needed to get this piece glued on...the grey bit leaning against the back seat area.....


so out came da glue and g cramps and anything i else i could use to cramp the carpet in place......


Also i decided to re-trim the edge of the seat area......the bit in red above g cramp.....


which then left it all looking like so,

Next up i moved onto the heater channel front ends (the heater channel carpet comes in two bits) then the front arches and then the front bulk head and finally all carpet mats......leaving it like this............






So, ALL carpets in and glued.....altho i still need to sort that area between the 2 parts of the back seat......

I have already fitted my front seats but im not happy with a couple of bits on the mechanism for moving the seats up n down the rail,so i will whi[p em off tomorrow and fix and then re-fit and get pics with seats fitted and the car outside(if its dry)

hopefully will get the seat belts started tomorrow.....

aaand finally ive stripped the front of the headliner off again as im not happy with how it had gone in and was adjusting...so square one with that........

*EDIT*....just remembered,ive still rear door cards to finish fitting too

Tis a glorious day up here today so i decided to push the ol girl outside and work in the SUNSHINE

front seats were first on the list today.....so me n the mrs got em in...

and some more pics from a few different angles...





Next up was fitment of the seat belts......


and then the nostrils and front badge.....



mmmmm gotta go lower yet on the front........

So after all this hard work i better try it for size...........

especially considering this would not only be the first time i have sat in MY ghia BUT the first i have EVER sat in ANY ghia:lol:

It better fecking fit me:eek:



PERFEK :D


Altho the offest of the pedals and steering feels more pronounced than in a bug......not that it bothers me......

I'm just chuffed to have finally sat in the feckin thing:D

im awaiting a large order of seals etc so it has held me up on the pop out fitting front......how ever i have been making good steady progress...

Rear window/trim fitted.......this was a pain of a job,did it on my own in about 2 hours......you are supposed to fit the seal and trim to the glass and then fit all at once...didnt work for me as the trim and seal are aftermarket and the trim was forced out when i fitted it all to the car,so i had to fit trim afterwards......still not happy with the fit so it may come out again........


Next up ffront screen....an absolute piece of piss to put in...same technique as for rear screen......literally it was in,in under 20 mins


Next up the bonnet............the wife gave me a hand with this.....


Engine lid........


A few more of the car....




Back end of the car is full wired up and lights fitted...
Im having brand new headlight looms made so hope to get them in end of next week...
Soon as i get my order of seals in...door glass will go in,then i will gap the doors.......pop out will get finished....
and then its front end wiring........

Ride height and suspension to set.......

so. i am getting REALLY close now to finishing:D:D

And i gotta say,i absolutely love the look and the way she has turned out...ive really fallen for the cherry red...

6 (or was it 7:mad:) days to get my pop out seals and windows in......feckin what a nightmare of a job to do.....in and out in and out,but i got there......just


Also ive been doing those little crappy jobs that seem to take for ever to get done......so rather than bore the crap out of you all,i shall just punt a load of pics up for you to looksee at......

Managed to get the car further up the driveway so i could get some decent pics from different angles for the first time.....last time she sat on this bit of the drive was 16 months ago when i had her delivered...

If you fancy a read then the full thread with some very usefull tips in it is here...http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=754014


I also had to do a full engine strip as it had got full of water !!!! all running sweet now tho:D


MOT 8 am in the morning.............fingers crossed sh goes thru ok:eek:

Good luck for tomorrow mate. by the way what was the carpet trick you was told of for blocking down?

looks great mate

We az MOT :D:D:D

NO advisories and straight thru...so,see ya at Action peeps 

looks fucking ace.

oilyT wrote:
looks fucking ace.

Thanks matey 


i will try n dig out that carpet info for you from my main thread......id not forgotten,just too hyper at the mo and enjoying the feeling of MOT 

fantastic

Nice work Mario - looking forward to seeing this at Action.

that looks awesome!

weardybeardy wrote:Nice work Mario - looking forward to seeing this at Action.

Cheers matey:D

i am looking forward to seeing everyone at Action.......along with the ghia of course:D