Karmann Ghia, And theres more.

Well in between working on my bay, undertaking various other chores & not getting damp, wet and Muddy along with a large commodity of others, i have found time to make some serious head way on the Karmann in my workshop. last time i done an entry on my blogg regarding this little beauty, the wing was pretty much ready to weld up, thus leaving just the door to put back on and then tackle the head light on the passengers side, HHHMMM this is one area that may prove to be tricky, as these front ends are assembled from a number of sections and welded together, my concerns were that by cutting around to much at once may have an effect of causing some distortion in the panel.

This being the case i opted for removing the rot and replacing with new metal in sections, with the assumption this would alleviate the issue, my assumptions were in this instants correct, as the pictures that will obviously follow will show.

The car is now in a position that the front now looks like a Ghia, the whole of the front is in place and welded up and some finishing works done to the welds, the are around the fresh air vent to the drivers side had quite a large area of thin metal and the cuts to the new panels very poor, so i had to put in a new section of plate ti finish the front. then i turned my attention to the passengers wing head light area as mentioned above.

Pictures below of the works not too many.



The section that was missing now replaced.



I stitched the panels together where they met and then stitch welded the panels together where they did not till they gap had started to stretch my abilities with the welder, this mainly due to the extremely this sheet i was working with in places and the size of gap needing to be filled, big gaps meen lots of weld, this equals copiace amounts of heat, thus causing unwanted distortion in panels.



This is the section i mentioned, cut the thin sheet out and put some new steel in.



This is the section i made up.to go in the front.



Plate in place, trial fit prior to welding in place.



Now welded up and gone over with a polishing disc to clean it up, at this point take a look at the head light area, this wing has been or should i say i think this has come of an American Ghia due to the insertion of a head light ring, as usual with USA VW'S the lights are different, Just a hunch.



In this one you can see the ring has been removed and now has been suitably altered to take a European light bowl.



Right then i cut away the crap and stitch in the new, Darren the owner has already purchased the light repair panels, although the drivers side was nor required but came in handy for measurements to rebuild the passengers.



Now it is starting to resemble a proper ghia.



Next section i cut out was the area to the side.



Right then this panel curves in a number of different directions, and as it took a lot of time to get right i forgot to take pictures until this point, i get involved and forget, remember when welding panels and sheet move around short welds in different areas helps disperse the heat and stop distortion allow period of cooling between welds.



next piece removed.



Next piece put back, you get the picture.



And i have managed to keep the thing in shape.



Next step is to put the last couple of plates in and clean it all up, should look pukka me thinks.

Just one final note, i do this for a number of reasons, it proves that with a little knowledge, a little time and effort, you can achieve a lot, this to me is what true enthusiasts do.

Once again thanks for looking.