rebuildmyghia34

50 years old today!!

2011-11-20T13:02:00.001Z

It is 50 years today since my Type 34 rolled off the production line at the Karmann factory. Since leaving Germany it has lived in Denmark, South Africa and England. In August it went back to Germany as part of the 50 year celebrations. Lets hope it survives another 50 years.

November 2011 update

2011-11-05T20:45:00.004Z

I just got the speedo back from Speedy Cables. I had to send it to them as 50 miles from the end of our trip to Germany it started screaming like a banshee.

They have stripped it and serviced it using some parts from a spare unit I sent them and then fitted it with a new correct style chrome bezel. Looks great, only down side is they used the case from the spare unit and now my 9\61 stamped case is on the wrong unit - ah well its only me that knows!

They also made me up a new LHD speedo cable; the outer case had split and I wondered is water had got into the mechanism through that opening. The new cable has a hole for a split pin like later cars rather than a circlip but identical otherwise. I'll fit everything back together over the next weekend or so, should be ready in time for the cars 50th birthday on November 20th.

Belated September 2011 update

2011-10-11T20:48:00.003+01:00

After the trip to the 50th celebration in GMH I had a number of tasks to carry out on the car. The first was to replace the oil pressure switch on the oil cooler as it had been leaking in a big way; easily done.

Next was to cure the bake light switch on the master cylinder from being affected by rain water. On the drive around GMH water had got into the electrical connections leading to no brake lights. The early cars don't have a stone shield under the master cylinder and no rubber boot was fitted either to seal the master cylinder brake switch from the elements. I sourced a suitable type 4 one from VW Heritage and again solution achieved in about 2 minutes.

On the way over to GMH the drivers door window fell out of its end guide rail leading to it coming out of the window lifter mechanism and jamming half way down. I took the door apart and discovered that the captive nut on the lower adjuster for the window lifter at the doors trailing edge had sheared off. Some quick grinding and welding had it quickly re-attached.

A source of irritation has been a dent which has appeared in each door close to the door locks, so whilst the door was in pieces I thought I would do something about it and also the other door. I decided to call in a paintless dent removal company to tackle the problem. (I had no idea how these could have happened as the panel work was perfect when it left the body shop and I certainly haven't damaged them). After a couple of hours of trying they had to admit defeat - the centre of each dent appears to be a spot weld which fixes the re-inforcing plate behind each door handle\lock and they just couldn't improve\solve the problem. Again no idea why this problem should occur post completion of the car and it looks like live with it or repaint both doors.

Good news is it looks like I will now be able to keep the car so thanks to all those who expressed an interest in it.

Video of T34 cabriolet

2011-08-31T20:39:00.002+01:00

Here is a short video of the silver T34 cabriolet seen again at the old Karmann museum at the 50th celebrations of the Type 34. It is a 1961 body on a 1969 chassis\dash. Wonder how many other 'small' volume producers kept unused non series production bodies and turned them into working vehicles 8 years after their intended production date?

Video of the 1600 TC fastback prototype

2011-08-31T19:37:00.002+01:00

Here is a short video of the aborted T34 prototype developed in 1964 and never to enter production. Video taken at the old Karmann museum.
An interesting observation is that with its completion in September 1964 the TC appears to have been a year ahead of the existing coupe in terms of engine size which had a 1500 (1493) cc engine and was not increased to 1600cc until the 1966 model.

Video from old Karmann Museum of the Sartorelli 1959 Ghia prototype

2011-08-31T19:06:00.004+01:00

Here is a short walk around the Sartorelli 1959 Ghia protoype seen at the old Karmann museum during the 50th celebration of the T34 in 2011. Interestingly VW have it displayed as 1960 on the car.

The badge on the lip of the rear boot has disappeared I think since I last saw the car. Looking at the dashboard instruments it also looks to have a later 160KPH speedo fitted as well - wonder what the original looked like?

Toolkit

2011-08-30T16:52:00.005+01:00

I have made sure that our 62 is as close to original condition and specification as possible. One of the areas I have looked into is the toolkit. All of the early cars predominately had slotted screw heads rather than Phillips or Posidrive screw heads to fixtures and fittings.
This is reflected in the specification for the toolkit in the owners manual; it shows 1 screwdriver 0.85 and 1 screwdriver 0.5, both with black painted wooden handles. Recently I was looking for tools to go with my Mercedes 190SL as the toolkit is missing from it and saw a toolkit advertised as being for a 190SL on e-bay with really low bids. Not surprising as it consisted of half tools for 190SL and half for VW including the correct early screwdrivers for my car. I put a low bid in and secured the toolkit. Here is a photo of my toolkit showing the screwdrivers and also of the toolkit from Johannes Krassenbrink's early 62 as well.
Interesting observation is that my toolkit (middle photo) is made from the early small grain 62 seating material whilst Johannes one is made from the material used to line the boot\trunk areas. This probably backs up the idea that the toolkits were made from off cuts from any material available at the time. Strangely our 65 has a toolkit made from the material seen on door panels from low light T14s.

August update - safely to the celebrations in Georgemarienhuette and back

2011-08-30T16:24:00.004+01:00

Theresa and I drove both of our type 34s to the 50 years of the Type 34 celebration in Germany - I don't think there was any other husband and wife partnership doing this or indeed taking 2 cars from the same family. Our daughter joined us to show the depth of our obsession!
Well the 62 made it all the way without any major mechanical failure. I view this as a major achievement; it had only completed 300 miles before setting off on a 1200 mile return journey and had experienced a challenging life in its' attempts to get back fully on the road over the past 2 years. If I wondered why this car struggled to get back on the road I only had to look at the photos of the early stages of its' restoration and the pile of scrap it actually was - no mean feat to get the car to GMH in as original condition and to be the oldest car present as well was fantastic. The restoration was truly a huge task involving major transplants of pieces to bring it together.
To follow the same medical theme it did suffer from what I will call 'organ rejection' during its journey with a number of pieces being determined to drop off or become unglued along the way. All were quickly repositioned without major fuss.
It was great to travel to GMH with John & Lyn Figg and Mike & Astrid Kelly and fantastic to stop at Johannes Krassenbrink's in Altenberge and stay with him and Andrea there overnight before being lead by his outstanding 62 T34 to the showground at GMH via some great countryside. Thanks Johannes, your car was an inspiration to me during my own rebuild and looked outstanding.
I will cover off the event at GMH in some separate postings, absolutely fantastic event, even the rain and a fall whilst at the event, which lead me to crack a number of ribs, didn't deter me from keeping driving and enjoying the event. A huge well done to my wonderful wife Theresa for driving our 65 all the way to GMH and supporting me through the restoration and ensuring I continued with it as a panacea for a chronic ongoing illness.
So at this stage I am wondering whether to keep the blog going or draw it to a close as the car has now achieved my goal of getting to GMH - any views?
Due to a change in circumstances I may also have to consider selling the 62 - this is not definite yet and would be done only as a last resort. I would be looking for it to go to an exceptional home and at an appropriate price to reflect its' condition and early production date and my lack of desire to part with it. No customisers will be considered!

July Update

2011-07-21T21:41:00.003+01:00

The front torsion bars have now been successfully reset and the camber of the front wheels done at the same time. Handling and ride are much better.
Next up has been an unwilling heater control, it didn't want to turn the heat off and with a long trip to Germany approaching fast I thought I had better tackle it. It turned out that I hadn't positioned the plastic collar that the heater cable attaches to properly within the tube. Within the tube there is a locating pin and the split in the tube passes over it to keep it in the right place and allow it to move up and down; get it wrong and no adjustment is possible. What had happened was that the split at the bottom of the plastic collar had closed up stopping the locating pin being correctly positioned. I took a file to the split, opened it up and this allowed correct positioning and easy heater adjustment.
Finally on this batch of never ending adjustments I tackled the passenger door where the window would not go all the way down and the door lock mechanism wasn't working correctly. With the door panel stripped off it was easy to see the problem. The sound deadening material I had fitted to the inside of the door panel had dropped part way off and was blocking everything. With it stripped off all now functions OK.

Activity on the mechanics of the car

2011-07-07T17:12:00.006+01:00

The hand brake (emergency brake)was taking a few clicks more than normal to activate and I decided rather than just adjust the rear brake shoes that I would take off the drums and check inside. No major problems, the shoes were a little glazed in places which I carefully filed off whilst wearing a face mask so as not to breath in the dust as they are NOS with asbestos in them.
The rear hub seal on the drivers side had been weeping a little but this was being taken care of satisfactorily by the internal oil thrower; I will keep my eye on it.
I had been experiencing a clonking noise from the back of the car when cornering and when I jacked up the car to do the rear brakes I found a simple solution, it was the fire extinguisher kept under the back seat that was simply moving around - I like easy solutions.
I also took the car to have the wheel weights moved to the inside of the wheels and have the steering alignment and rear wheel alignment checked out and laser aligned. My trusty contact at GM Tyres in Buckingham soon has it sorted and said how much he enjoyed working on something different and something that was clean and not rusted up.
Of a more major nature was the ride height of the front end; during the rebuild the front axle was taken to pieces, both to clean and check for wear and also to correct the lopsided set up I had inherited it with; easy to do as there are more splines on of the torsion rods than the other rod.
With some miles on the car the front end now seems to have settled by about 1" or 2.5cm and gave the appearance of slight customisation - actually looked quite good! However I decided I better get it back to stock ride height. So I have now removed the shock absorbers, tie rods and brake drums\steering knuckles ready to adjust the torsion bar arms on Saturday morning.
To do this I have borrowed the correct VW tool number 261 from Mike Dempster and will set the arms back to the correct factory settings. I will also set the castor and camber angles back to proper settings using the same tool - I had got these right at the rebuild by just looking at the arrows on the bottom of the ball joints of my 65 and copying to the 62 - the laser alignments showed I had them set up within tolerance.
Whilst working on dismantling the front end I noticed that one of the retaining rings around the ball joint boot had disappeared - I have replaced with a plastic cable tie and will trim back and cover in grease so you can't see it.
Finally a poor starting issue was traced to the replacement terminal I had fixed to the main positive cable going to the battery. This was made of brass and was reacting badly with the battery terminal producing clumps of corrosion within days of fitting. I found a non brass one and fitted it and now no further problems.

Work on my 65 T344

2011-06-03T12:17:00.002+01:00

On the last couple of trips out both myself and Theresa noticed that the steering seemed rather vague. I stripped out the petrol tank and spare wheel well so that I could adjust the steering box. First I checked the oil level in the box - nearly empty! I topped it up with the correct EP90 oil and then adjusted both dimensions on the steering box. It is now back to the correct feeling\level of play.
The body work was restored in 1992 and unfortunately I now have a number of issues appearing. There is bubbling around each torsion bar hole, some small areas under the right hand rear bumper corner, bottom of the right hand door and bottom of the right hand front inner wing where it meets the front panel. All of this will have to wait until after the 50th celebration, not what I would have wanted but I would rather do it properly when time and cash permits than rush it.

UK celebration of 50 years of the Type 34

2011-05-10T18:27:00.005+01:00

Here is a link to some photos from our celebration last weekend of 50 years since the launch of the Type 34 (looks like you need to copy and paste) - we had a great time and some fantastic T34s came out to play.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16163315@N07/sets/72157626690969234/

Double celebration

2011-05-04T22:02:00.003+01:00

The 1962 managed to complete a 200Km return trip to the Stanford Hall meeting last meeting without any problems and on top of that to win the Type 1 & 3 Karmann Ghia class, so a double celebration.
We took the 1965 and it formed a small part of the 50 years of the type 3 celebration alongside the cars of Dee & Mike Shaw, Janet & Clive Richardson and Mark Poulton. We have a larger meeting coming up next weekend at Stratford\Gaydon - numbers won't be large, probably about 8 cars over the 2 days. More pictures after next weekend.

Visit to Dave Ball's

2011-04-30T21:51:00.002+01:00

As I have a bit of spare time on my hands at present I took a trip to see Dave and look at progress with his car. Those who have been reading my blog since the early days will recall that after completing a restoration of his car and driving it towards the VolksWorld show some years ago it caught fire on the motorway and suffered severe damage to the rear end, Dave escaped without injury.
He has been slowly getting the car back together, not easy as it is an automatic and whilst I was at Dave's we had fun refitting the rear bumper, various badges and rubbers which made the back end look more complete. There is still a way to go and Dave is juggling work on the car alonside restoring his 50's cabriolet and type 2. Dave showed me a very interesting chassis\make plate from a French supplied T34, here's a photo of it and the normal VIN plate from the same car.

Overriders for my 65

2011-04-30T21:43:00.002+01:00

I got the original aluminium overriders for my 65 back from the chromers and have refitted them for the first time in over 25 years and they look great. At the same time I removed the tow bar and was amazed at heavy it was and also how heavy the later metal overriders are compared to the earlier aluminium ones. I might save a mile per couple of gallons and be able to save for a holiday on the fuel saved!

Mechanical update

2011-04-30T21:22:00.002+01:00

Problems with smooth running of the engine have continued. I identified a couple of issues contributing to the problem - the linkage for the automatic choke was bottoming out on the tinware and stopping proper function. Also the right hand heat riser has also come slightly loose.
Having rectified these and still experienced poor performance I decided to take it to a local\modern VW specialist who has an employee who new about the cars from the 60s; they kept it for a week and have managed to get it running much better.
When I got the car back there were 2 noises coming from the engine which were rather worrying - one was from the generator (which actually belongs to my 65 1500S) and another which I couldn't identify immediately. I removed and stripped down the generator and identified that the central rotor\armature was rotating out of line and rubbing on the side fields. My engineering neighbour identified the problem as the end plate which holds the brushes; this had some side play which allowed movement over time and resulted in the problem experienced. I took an end plate off an old one, rebuilt it and placed it on my 65 where it is now functioning without problem; I have put the NOS one from the 65 back on to the 62.
The other noise took a little tracking down, it was a definite mechanical\rotational noise and was from the drive shaft from the distributor. using a screw driver I ran some oil carefully under the plate holding the points and the noise stopped.
Finally an exhaust leak has started from cylinder 3 and this is as a result of failure of the gasket between the head and the exhaust flange. I have fixed with sealant for the time being and will remove the exhaust to replace after the next 2 weekend's events.
On top of the mechanical issues the passenger door then decided it didn't want to open from the inside or the outside. I stripped of the door panel and released the door mechanism and think I will have to do more work to resolve.
Fingers crossed now for a couple of weekends of trouble free motoring.

Quick VolksWorld 2011 update

2011-03-27T21:53:00.005+01:00

Just back from the show where my 62 won one of the top 20 car prizes and where best in show was won by the amazing CSP drag racer. A big thanks to Ivan, Adrian and all the team at VolksWorld for a fantastic show; it was amazing to win an award at a show that is predominately focused on the custom scene and which is full of cars of such a high quality and finish that they take your breath away.
There were 7 T34s present, both Clive and Janet Richardson had their cars present, Steve Wright's car was there, Mark Poulton had his restored 68, resplendid in marathon Blue\dark blue with marathon wheels to give a take on what a car might have looked like if production had continued through to 1972. Mike and Dee Shaws car was also present along with my 62 and of course the CSP car.
Clive's car was used as a photo opportunity for show attendees who wanted to celebrate 50 years of the T3\34 by having their photo taken in the car. My car was featured on a revolving stand as part of the celebration of 50 years of the Type 3 model range with 2 other amazing T3s and also set amongst a collection of other fantastic T3s including Mark Poulton's car. More in a few days and here are a few photos meantime.

Engine problem progress

2011-03-22T16:31:00.003Z

I might have found the problem with the car. I was doing a compare and contrast between my NOS carb which I fitted during the rebuild and the one that came with the replacement engine and which I removed at the rebuild but have now refitted to the car.
In the lower half of the carb casing there is a drilling in the side wall that feeds fuel from the accelerator pump to the top half of the casing and onward to the various venturi. Missing from this was a small brass plunger that presumably amplifies and\ or regulates the flow of fuel through the drilling. Presumably its absence could have led to flooding of the carb and its' cutting out; Paul Medhurst at Type 3 Detectives has confirmed could be possible.
I have taken the brass plunger out of another carb and it has now been re-tuned following which the engine seems to be going OK when really warm but still stationary without any load.
Here is a picture of the NOS carb showing the brass plunger resting outside of the drilling in the top right hand corner.
I won't be able to test drive it until Thursday now and so I have a neighbour on stand by to get the car to the VolksWorld show by trailer on Friday if I have further problems. I don't like having a trailer queen for a car but having committed to get it to the show that's what I'll have to do.

The Bad, Good, Bad news - Engine problems

2011-03-20T22:20:00.002Z

The engine in the 62 has never run as smoothly as I would have liked. I have spent hours resetting timing, tappets etc and still it feels lumpy and juddery once warmed up. My friend who built the engine with me came around yesterday and we logically went through tappets, timing, points etc but it made little difference. We concluded the problem lay on the fuel side and so today, one at a time, I replaced the fuel cut off valve, fuel pump and then all that was left was the NOS carb that I fitted.
I dug out the original carb for the engine, took off all the crud from the outside and then stripped it and cleaned every part of it. As soon as I put it on the car and started it then the car sounded as I would expect it to with no uneven running. It was smoking heavily so I rest the idle and volume settings and the rich running and smoking disappeared.
I took the car out for a quick spin, what a transformation - it ran like a train all the way to the next village, I turned around to come back and then 150 yards away from home the engine just died. I managed to get it around the corner into our road and could not get it to restart.
After fiddling with it for over an hour and changing the wire from the coil to the points as it had a crack it it (desparation as there was spark at the points!) I managed to get it going again and into the garage. It started OK later on but I have no confidence in it and have a journey to make on Friday morning around one of the UK's busiest stretches of motorway to the VolksWorld show where it is due to be on display.
Potential culprit at the moment if it remains as a fuel problem will definately be the carb as I swapped back the fuel pump\cut off jet and so could be:
- May be the accelerator pump - I'll strip the top off the NOS carb and look at how much fuel it pumps up through the drilling compared to the one on the car and change the diaphram if needs be.
- The float needle valve - I put in what looked to be a good free moving one when I rebuilt the carb as the original was sticking but it was also stuck shut when I took it apart again - only problem is the carb was full of fuel so it is unlikely to be the problem. It's an easy change so I will do it anyway.
- probably crap adjustment of the idle\volume screw settings by me, although I followed the VW manual for the settings.
Anyway, keep your fingers crossed as I don't want to let the guys at VolksWorld down and have already found a trailer in case I have to resort to that to get it to the show.

The Good News - paint roof problems

2011-03-20T22:17:00.003Z

I got the cat back from Frankie's paint shop on Thursday Morning and the roof looks great - big thanks to Frankie & Lee.
The roof trims went back on easily and I inserted a little dumdum paste into each trim to make up for the missing thin rubbers that usually assist with their rattle free fitment.

Chris Leonard

2011-03-14T21:09:00.002Z

Chris - If you are reading my posts then just to let you know I can't respond to comments left in the guest book and you didn't leave any direct contact details so I can help you re the T34 Register. Leave me a comment against this post with your contact details and I will come back to you and put you in touch with the T34 Register and T34 World\James Kramer who is one of the Australian t34 reps.

Roof paint problems

2011-03-14T17:46:00.003Z

About 6 months ago a crack appeared in the paint on the roof by the gutter at the rear of the passenger side.
Unfortunately Brackley Paint who did the paint work have now changed hands but the good news is that Frankie who worked there and knows the car well now runs his own paint and bodyshop. I took the car into Frankie's body shop today after removing the gutter trims and we popped out the rear screen. The roof will be repaired and resprayed ready for me to collect and bring home on Thursday morning, ready for prepping for next week's Sandown Park VolksWorld show. Here's a link to Frankie's website.

http://www.frankiespaintshop.co.uk/

Spring has arrived - hopefully

2011-03-13T16:26:00.002Z

With some decent weather over the last few days I took the opportunity to check and reset the timing and valve clearances on the engine. The car ran very well for the first few miles, better in fact than ever. After a few miles I could smell oil; it turned out to be a split in the oil dip stick rubber bellows and oil was coming out in minute quantities and dripping on to the exhaust - easily solved with a new rubber boot.
On the way back after identying the oil leak it was running a little lumpy so may need to check the carb settings next.

Repro front bonnet\boot rubber

2011-02-19T17:38:00.003Z

When restoring my 62 I could not find a correct profile front bonnet strip. the one I used was from our club, the KGOC (GB)and was not a very good fit, leaving the bonnet sticking up proud of the wings.
I noticed last week that Ruediger Huber at Eratzteileservice in Germany was offering a replacement strip so I sent off for one.
The price is euro 52 plus tax and post and it comes in 'yardage' i.e. not assembled to the shape required to fit over the raised centre profile section at the scuttle end of the bonnet.
This is not a problem as there is more than enough yardage, even if you get making the cuts\angles required wrong first time round.
The strip is an exuded dense foam that is sealed to stop water ingress, it is rather blacker and shinier than the original material which was a matt\grey finish and powdered. The god news is that with a trial location of the major part of the strip it was an excellent fir, allowing the bonnet to close correctly - this means I can stop stealing the original VW one from my 65 when ever I want to take out the 62 now.
I will make up a template to enable others to create a good replica rubber and post details when i have done it. Go below for details.

www.karmannghia.de
e-mail: info@karmannghia.de

Pre 66 model pointed bumper overriders

2011-02-19T17:25:00.004Z

I thought it was about time I got the early pointed style bumper overriders from my 65, fitted to models up to and including the 1965 model year, rechromed.
These are made out of aluminium; many people think they are made of Mazak or pot metal but they are actually cast aluminium.
I had one rechromed when rebuilding the 1962 car by The London Chroming Company, it was them that confirmed they are aluminium and they made a fantastic job of refinishing it. These will be going off to them shortly and I am hoping they come out just as well and restore a correct feature to my 65 that has been missing for many years.

Scratches to drivers' side door window

2011-02-19T17:19:00.002Z

The trailing edge of the drivers side door window had some very deep scratches in it; there were probably about 20 of them each up to 2.5" (6cm) long.
I found a company called glass polish who do commercial repairs to sheet glass windows etc. following damage\vandalism, they also offer a do it yourself kit to help car owners repair their car windows.
I bought one of their kits which consists of 2 grades of special sanding discs and a polishing compound plus pads to attach to your drill and a small water sprayer.
I have used the kit and it has made a great job in removing the scratches, which is all well and good as the early 62 door glass is 2cm longer than subsequent windows and therefore very hard to replace.
For more info go to www.glasspolishshop.com

March VolksWorld Magazine

2011-02-06T12:21:00.005Z

It was great to see my car featured in the March edition of Volksworld; it will also be part of the 50 years of the type 3 celebration at the VolksWorld show at the end of March.

Red needle tacho

2010-10-30T20:50:00.004+01:00

The photos with this post show pictures of a red needle tacho which accompanied a car bought from the US over 10 years ago and were part of a full set of restored instruments with the car.

The unit seems to have been made using an original VDO case as with many repros and reads up to 8,000 rpm without any read line section at the high end. It carries the name of VDO at the bottom of the dial face and looks to be therefore assembled from VDO parts.

On the rear it is clearly not an original VW\T34 unit as it doesn't have the cutaway at the top but looks to be dual 6 and 12 volt.

From the shots of Tachos on the Type 34 register and Pure T34 site it looks closest to a Tim Dapper unit but not an exact match.

Does anyone have any views on who may have created it and what its value today would be so I can sell it on for my friend?

News on my 1965 T344

2010-10-30T15:37:00.002+01:00

The front seats on my 65 model have been giving way for a number of years now with no sign of any replacement material to repair them with.

I have got by with some cunning repairs in the past and unfortunately the drivers seat has now deteriorated in a big way.

A friend kindly supplied me with the interior from a scrapped 65 with the same style, but not colour, of material. There is some damage to the material but I am hopeful that I can use it to repair mine and then recolour it. Watch this space.

Key Fobs

2010-10-30T15:11:00.004+01:00

Here are photos of a couple of original key fobs as issued by German VW agents back in the 60s.

The green one was issued by a VW agent in Rudesheim and is similar in style to the ones used by Karmann. The brown one is a little more compact, I added one of the repro VIN tags to it as you can see.

Volksworld Magazine article

2010-10-30T15:10:00.003+01:00

The car was photographed extensively yesterday to appear in a future edition of the UK's leading VW magazine, Volksworld.
Not sure when it will appear and will post details as soon as I know.

early oil cooler

2010-10-18T22:07:00.002+01:00

Mark Poulton kindly gave me a NOS oil cooler for the early engines. I will hold on to it in case of need and don't intend to strip the engine to fit it at this stage as the existing one seems to be working well.

A post door shoulder seal

2010-10-18T21:55:00.003+01:00

Unlike the later cars the early ones had a seal on the A post in the door shoulder area rather than on the door shoulder itself.

Here are a couple of shots of the nearest seal I could find to use in place of the original VW one. You can also see the screw and cap washer that is fitted half way down the seal to make sure it stays in place.

Fuel guage

2010-10-10T19:01:00.002+01:00

The fuel guage on the car has refused to work since it got back on the road, this makes driving a little precarious unless you know the exact amount of fuel in the tank.
I decided it was time to rectify this little niggle and checked out the instrument cluster and the grounding of the tank and connection to the fule sender unit. Seemed all was OK.
This potentially left the problem as being the fuel sender unit itself. I took it out of the tank, it was one from a 63 I had used as the original one was very battered; I replaced it with one from 11\61 that was in my stash and normal function was quickly restored.
I noticed a few little differences between the unit stamped 61 and the 63 one, nothing of any significance but still interesting to note.

A fresh pair of eyes

2010-09-26T16:40:00.002+01:00

I have a small list of ongoing issues that continue to bug the 62, Clive Richardson dropped by last weekend to pick up some roof trims for Janet's 346 and he managed to give me some ideas on a couple of the issues.
The battery continued to drain until flat and Clive suggested to check that the rear boot light wasn't staying on. This turned out to be the cause and a bit lax of me as I had already had to sort this out once before. It needed a new and larger rubber buffer on the underside of the rear boot lid to ensure that the light switch is fully depressed when the boot is closed - problem now solved.
The rear opening quarter lights did not seal well to the rubber\body and Clive suggested that maybe the 3 small plastic blocks that act as the hinge mechanism and which are sourced from t14s may be too deep, pushing the window too far to the rear of the car and preventing correct closure. I removed the window, sliced a chunk off each of the 3 blocks and it now closes really well, will repeat with the other window next weekend.
Finally I mentioned vague steering, Clive checked the wheels and thought that there seemed to be play in the bearings; on inspecting the car there was no play in the bearings but the NOS angled inner tie rod end had loads of play in it for some reason. Luckily I had another NOS one in the garage and within an hour had split the tie rod off the drum\steering box arm, replaced the offending tie rod end and re-assembled - it now handles well.
Next to tackle once again are the ill fitting door windows and front quarter light frames, I have been playing with these on and off for 6 months and still can't get them to fit how I want. I will update as soon as I have progress.

The final piece

2010-07-29T14:29:00.008+01:00

The only original spec piece missing from my 62 restoration has been a really good set of the correct Lemmertz 15" wheel rim embellishers.
Whilst I managed to pick up a set of correct Lemmertz embellishers, even with the correct date, they were too badly scratched to merit going on the car and stripping\re polishing and anodizing was horrifically expensive.
In the meantime I have been using a really nice set of stainless steel embellishers, not sure what they were off, may have been Volvo and they looked very good although a different profile.
I saw the advert below in the Samba last year for a set of reproduction Lemmertz style embellishers and ordered a set (these are aimed at T14 and T2 and the same as for the early t34). There was a delay in delivery due to some production problems and they finally arrived today. They are a spot on reproduction with the exception that they are not anodised, I will have to consider if I want to make them more scratch resistant and get them anodised or keep polishing out any marks that appear. This is achievable as there were a couple of marks on one due to damage in transit, the marks came out very easily with fine wet and dry and chrome polish.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=832832

Francisco at Kaefer Nostalgie persevered with the production and shipped them to me from the US and I am very happy with the end result. Here are photos of the reproduction (Bottom), original 62 with scratches (middle 2) and the stainless embellishers (Top).

Just to clarify following a posted comment - these rim embellishers are aluminum, not stainless steel - it was the ones I originaly fitted that were stainless

A pain in the Glass

2010-05-03T19:45:00.004+01:00

Another update consisting of challenging and better news. Getting the drivers door window to work correctly continues to prove challenging, the prime cause is that the felt runner for the window channel in the chromed quarter light window frame is just too thick and therefore tight, as a result the glass keeps pulling out of the lifter. I will order some replacements from a UK supplier I have found and let you know how I get on once I have them. The other challenge in this area was that the glass was sticking proud of the door window rubber - cause is basically that the rubbers are too stiff - I have managed to find 2 presentable used ones in my stock and the glass fits much better with them in place.

Mark Poulton kindly donated a rear windscreen to me - my own is so badly scratched that you can see the scratches from about 10 feet away. I picked it up at the Stanford Hall meeting yesterday and fitted it today - it looks great, so thanks Mark.

Here is a photo of a couple of T34s at the meeting yesterday, both of which are well known to the club. Also here are shots of cross sections of the door window rubbers, the early style was a continuous hollow section, where as the later replacement is of a different style.

It was all going so well until the wiring melted

2010-03-06T18:46:00.005Z

I set out today to cure the problem of the none functioning oil and ignition warning lights on the dashboard instrumentation.

I had worked out that it was a fault with the backing unit to the instrument cluster and had put off changing it for a spare as I didn't want to disturb the wiring or indeed have to replace it as it differs slightly yet again to later ones.

The photo shows the original 62 one on the left with 2 wires coming from the centre; the black one goes to the fuse box and the green and black goes to the flasher relay. On the later one there is only 1 wire (Green for some reason but actually wired to where the black one goes on the 62) the difference is that the wire for the flasher unit fits on to a spade connecter on the back of the unit at point K (top left) rather than being hard wired into the inside of the unit, so no problem to use a later one, rather than mess about and replace the wiring on the inside of the original one.

So this was all easy, I wired it all up, tested and all was great before permanently fitting the unit to the dashboard. I then put everything back together once I was satisfied that it worked without problem, turned on the ignition and within seconds the car was filled with smoke as part of the wiring loom burnt out. I had knocked the main feed wire off the fuse box and it had shorted out across other terminals and taken the least route of resistance through the thinest wire.

Looks like I have had a lucky escape as this piece of wire is easy to replace and I have plenty of original coloured wiring from the old loom.

My recommendations, tighten everything, check its connected to what it should be before turning on the ignition and ensure you haven't tightened the battery terminals prior to completing testing - I think the ability to quickly remove the battery cable saved the car. Oh yes, and keep a fire extinguisher handy!

Engine Decals and radio Bracket

2010-02-16T11:03:00.004Z

The Decals that I fitted to the air cleaner and the rear air intake trough started to peel off at the edges. I think this must have been due to either an impurity on the paint work or not firming them down sufficiently at time of application.

Scott Taylor kindly sent through a new set free of charge which was fantastic of him, my problem was getting the old ones off. Looking on the internet showed a couple of chemicals that should remove them and I was concerned at the potential effect on the paint work underneath.

I decided to steam them off instead using a domestic hand steam cleaner, I tried it first on a transfer on the inner side of an old 62 glove box lid, it didn't make a great impression but did shift some of it.

I gave it a go on the transfers that I wnated to remove and they came off immediately without any damage to the paint. new ones have now been applied.

The radio rattles about a little when driving so I decided to replicate the bracket fitted to my 65, on left in photo. This looks to be a home made one and is fitted via the mounting screw on the back of the radio and then a self tapping screw into the bulk head - fitted the repro one to the 62 and now no more rattles!

November 1961 Type 3 Karmann Ghia, VIN 0002910 - a set on Flickr

2010-01-29T21:01:00.000Z

November 1961 Type 3 Karmann Ghia, VIN 0002910 - a set on Flickr

Here are the photos of the car I took last weekend, just click on the link to see them.

What's new for 2010

2010-01-25T21:26:00.002Z

I manged to do a few more miles in the car this weekend and took some photos which I will share shortly. Only other issues to surface were a pull to one side in the brakes, all wheels are well adjusted so I need to check all lines for signs of leakage and bleed if necessary.

The radio wobles about a little and reminded me that it lacks the rear support bracket fitted to the radio in my 65 344, I will make one up and fit to solve this small issue.

The engine ran really well, there is a slight irregularity on how it runs at tick over and I will need to check if there are any remaining issues with the replacement manifold I fitted at the end of last year - possible drawing in of air between the manifold and head requiring a further tweak to the manifold.

Leak from carburetor solved

2009-12-31T15:26:00.002Z

When the engine was rebuilt I fitted a new old stock side draft carburetor trusting in the fact it would work smoothly. I experienced a problem with the car when it was first back on the road, total lack of performance and poor acceleration. I tracked this down to a sticking choke valve which was easily fixed with lubrication. However another problem with the carb was more persistent; this was a very slight fuel leakage from around the brass pipe which the fuel feed line is attached to.
General tapping in of the brass fitting made no difference and also the use of sealant gave little improvement. I resorted to removing the brass pipe from my old original carb, smearing it with Loctite and have now cured the leakage.

More electrical issues resolved

2009-12-13T18:04:00.002Z

The intermitent fault on the instrument cluster related to the ignition and oil warning lights looks to be linked to the wiring on the backing unit - I will dig out another from my stock and replace and hopefully this will resolve it.
I also established the fault with the fog lights was caused by a faulty relay via swapping across the one from my 65. Whilst I have 4 of these they all turned out to be useless so will be looking for one on The Samba.
This should solve the remaining electrical issues and the next snag to resolve is the drivers door window which separated from its lifter due to rust, will see what I have in stock.

Tweaking the electrics

2009-12-06T22:13:00.003Z

The engine is back in place and clutch adjusted and the car seems to drive much better now as well.

Next task is resolving some of the residual electrical problems. Something that I thought was a problem just turned out to be a difference in wiring between the early cars and those from slightly later. I noticed that when I put on the side lights for the car that the lower left green light on the indicator cluster\fuel gauge came on. As this indicator light is wired to the fog lamps on my 65 I thought there was a fault in the wiring; once I had consulted the wiring diagram it became clear that this is how it is supposed to work and that the function of the lower left green indicator lamp changed at some stage from showing side lamps switched on to showing fog lights on.

With that sorted I am tackling issues with the indicator wiring and relays. Again the 62 cars wiring differs and uses a flasher relay with 3 terminals (S,K, +) rather than subsequent ones that use only 2 (S,+). So far I have amassed a range of dodgy early style 3 terminal versions, none of which work to my total satisfaction. As I have a number of 2 terminal ones I thought I would change to this later system. From looking at the wiring diagrams it looks achievable which just a couple of wires to swap around. Here is a quick sketch of the 2 systems.

Clutch repair and manifold update

2009-11-03T11:25:00.003Z

Well the engine went back in again at the weekend and there was a lot of fiddling about before it happened.

I ordered a replacement clutch release bearing shaft only for it to have the slot for the internal circlip set about 1.5cm further inboard from the clutch cable arm end; no supplier seemed to be able to supply the one I needed. I then remembered that Pete at Cogbox mentioned that there were heavy duty shafts available and a quick search for these turned up a pack by BugPack with the shaft, bearing and fittings. This also has the slot for the internal circlip in both places. These heavy duty shafts are far sturdier and offer a better solution for retention of the release bearing clips so hopefully I wont have a repeat episode with the clutch assembly.

The shaft bearing supplied is a neoprene one and needs to be cut to size through various attempts at inserting, marking and cutting. All this was carried out and the engine went back in effortlessly.

I now just need to adjust the clutch and cure a small leak on the fuel inlet into the carb; the brass fitting has come looses and even gentle tapping back into place hasn't cured it. I will dig out the locktight at the weekend and see if that cures it.

I also obtained a replacement 62 only manifold for the engine from Bert3 in Belgium. It turned out to be distorted where heat had been applied in an attempt to remove carbon deposits in the preheater pipe. A local engineering workshop got it back into line but I think it is still slightly out of true as when the engine is warm it seems to 'hunt' rather than idle smoothly. I might need to remove and tweak slightly.

Damage limitation

2009-09-12T19:27:00.004+01:00

Got the engine out today, The clutch release bearing had come off the operating shaft, one arm on the shaft was bent and one broken. The springs on each of the 3 clutch release levers that are part of the clutch pressure plate had all come off and were wrecked.

Not sure now if it was a failure of the pressure plate that led to the release bearing and operating shaft damage or the other way round.

Will be ordering new parts and switching to the later style clutch release mechanism and pressure plate; at the same time we will also be checking the fly wheel to make sure there is no distortion that could have caused the failure.

At least no major damage to engine or gear box.

62 details

2009-09-10T17:31:00.003+01:00

Here is one more difference on the early 62s compared to later ones.

I never looked at the 62 handles properly when I took them off and when sorting through my collection of door handles to supply one to another T34 owner I noticed that the back of the original 62 handles in the finger grip area are hollow, where as all the later ones are solid.

Post 62 handle at top, 62 at bottom in the photo.

And one more thing

2009-09-10T17:28:00.002+01:00

To solve some of the electrical problems on the car and remove the need for a separate switch for the windscreen washers, as the valve in the push button unit leaks, I bought a NOS switch unit which was of course very expensive but looked great.
It solved some of the electrical glitched linked to the resistor on the back of the unit but the new valve in the washer switch leaks equally as well as the old one.
If any one knows how to repair these then do let me know.

Happenings since May

2009-09-10T17:03:00.008+01:00

It hasn't exactly been a smooth transition from restoration to on the road for my 62, in fact it's been more trial and tribulation.

On the way back from it's MOT after the VolksWorld show the rear driver's side wheel decided it didn't like being attached to the car and came off at about 30mph with the exception of one bolt that held the wheel to the car and stopped it scrapping along the ground. Outcome was no one injured, a damaged wheel, dented pride but no damage to the bodywork.

So having got over that I tracked down a replacement rim and will be prepping it to go on the car shortly.

Electrical problems have persisted, most of them now relate to the multi function instrument cluster and I will be swapping over the back of the unit to see if that helps solve the problems. I also had to swap the early MPH speedo back to the early restored KPH speedo as the trip meter kept zeroing back to 0 miles.

Subsequently has issues with the brake fluid proof hosing I bought to connect the reservoir to the piping and the joint between that pipe and the master cylinder pipe. It bled fluid profusely and I replaced it and bled the brakes which now seem OK.

At the VolksWorld show the car picked up a dent in one of the doors and at the same time the door lifter decided to part company with the window glass - will sort both of these problems at the same time. I will use a guy who does dent removal and then replace the window lifter and glass from my stock in the loft.

Finally - I was driving the car back from London along the A40, just before where it joins the M40, very busy in early evening and as I changed down gear the clutch release bearing, newly installed of course, decided to give way accompanied by loud banging and grating.

After 5 hours we were home, the engine is OK and turns over and the gearbox selects all gears. So hopefully damage is restricted to the bearing and shift lever inside the bell housing.

I have taken advice from ever helpful Luke at Terry's Beetles and will be switching the release bearing assembly and clutch to the later style with the aid of a conversion kit from Pete at Cogbox - more to follow on this as it happens.

Here is a picture of the car abandoned on the A40 with us safely out of the way.

May 2009 update

2009-05-15T17:27:00.004+01:00

Well at long last the registration for the car came through. It is now finally road registered and taxed under registration number 278XUT. I have a set of number plates on order in the correct period style from Vintage Supplies and they should be with me next week.

Here is an image of the VW birth certificate which has a few interesting things on it.

It states that paint code L41 isn't simply black but Tukan black - never seen it described this way before

There is an explanation of the M codes - not provided on my previous certificates

M580 is shown as a pearl white roof, so the car was 2 tone originally

Strangely they can no longer put the engine number on the certificate for data protection reasons - No idea what the logic on this is, whoose data are they protecting and why would they want it protecting? They do however confirm your original engine number in the accompanying letter.

I now have the final pieces of carpet for the car, thanks Joel for the templates, and have also had the sill pieces made up with the correct heater outlet grommets, will be fitting these shortly.

Finally I went to the Stanford Hall event and whilst I didn't find any amazing NOS parts I stumbled across a couple of small items on my Friend Brian Johnsons stand which he gave me for free - a couple of original plastic end caps for the wiper spindles and a plastic seal for the door lock - really small parts but some nice final touches.

A small picture of the car also appears again in Volksworld this month as the Car that the editor, Ivan, would most have liked to take home with him - good man Ivan!

April news

2009-04-05T20:22:00.002+01:00

The car passed its' roadworthy test (MOT) at the end of the week. Just waiting for the birth certificate from VW to be able to submit the registration papers for road use in the UK.
I have a few mechanical adjustments to make following the ride back from the testing station, adjust the clutch cable conduit and tweak up the rear brakes amongst them. Additionally I have some remaining trim pieces to work on, but more of them as they take place.

Final March updates

2009-03-30T21:52:00.002+01:00

In the lead up to finishing the car for the show I received the part carpet set from Newton Commercial. fantastic fit and great quality. I prepared templates for them as in a previous post and they than scanned them and laser cut the material. the only small problem was they can't reproduce the correct sill heater outlet grommet but are looking at reattaching my old ones.

meantime I received the templates for the tunnel and cros bulkhead pieces from Joel in the Us and handed them to newton at the Volksworld show, so should have the carpets back soon.

other work was mainly around fit up of the interior panels, I have a problem to resolve on one of the door cards as it is too large but other wise everything fits really well.

As mentioned the electrics were a challenge, we still have to get the foglights to work at the correct time and the indicator lights on the dash to work correctly, this is because I don't have a functioning early flasher unit and later ones are slightly different. My local auto electrician has a cunning plan to get around this though.

Things left to do are mostly to rectify the above and then get the car roadworthy tested and registered.

Volksworld show 2009

2009-03-30T21:41:00.003+01:00

Here is the short video clip of my 62 at the show - enjoy!

March, and what an update

2009-03-30T21:21:00.003+01:00

Well, March has been all go, trying to get the car finished for the Volksworld show - did i manage it, well of course! It was a close run thing and the car ended up going down on a trailer, late night oil was burned with a local auto electrician resolving various electrical gremlins but unfortunately the new battery I had ordered for the 62 didn't arrive and the one on the 65 chose this moment to die. In any case the car wasn't registered for road use in the UK so couldn't be driven.

So it entered the show under human power but left with its new battery connected under its own power, was driven around the outside of the show ground and back home on its trailer - a great feeling after 6 years of hard work.

Here are some shots of it inside the show, I have a short video to post as well shortly and an update on some of the final work undertaken, plus some small remedial actions still needed.

February update 3

2009-02-28T20:57:00.006Z

Here are a couple of shots of the car. I have fitted out the drivers door and fixed it to the car, still need to adjust the window etc.

Also fixed the problem with the passenger side rear vent window. The car goes into the body shop this week for some minor work while i am away so hopefully when I get back all paint\body issues will be sorted.

I have installed the scratched rear window for the time being but Mark Poulton has kindly donated one to the project - thanks Mark!

Once I get back it will be the final push to finish the car before the end of March.

February update 2

2009-02-21T20:20:00.003Z

Well I haven't had time to blog because I have been rebuilding frantically. I am working hard to get the show finished and present at the Volksworld show here in the UK at the end of March.

So what have I been doing?

Revisiting the wiring loom and sorting a few issues
Rebuilding the rear drivers side hub seal and brakes
Fitting fuel lines and heater cables
Replacing the oil filler neck which turned out to be bent and wouldn't allow me to insert the dip stick
Refitting the gear lever & steering wheel & headlights
Fitting the fronts screen and wipers
Trying to fit the rear screen only to find it was very badly scratched and too poor to use - I am on the search for one in the UK and if you have a good quality none heated rear window then post a comment
Fitting and finishing trimming of the passenger door and A & B posts
Making templates for a new set of 62 specific carpets, some pieces have rough estimates of where exact location of items are, I am waiting for some templates to arrive from Joel in the US to help resolve, thanks Joel. Meanwhile the templates have gone off to Newton Commercial who alreadfy manufacture carpets for various VWs that include original style grommets for all appropriate appertures - I'll let you know how they turn out
Taking advice from Paul at Brackley Paint on how to tackle a few minor body issues (some self inflicted during the rebuild) the car goes back to them in a weeks time whilst I am working abroad so that will be excellent timing

Sounds so easy but it has been hard work and loads left to do, so posts will be a bit sporadic while I press on.

Here are some pics of the car and the carpet templates - only items on the passenger side and centre are shown as the drivers side are of course mirror images and the templates can be reversed.

February update 1

2009-02-03T20:28:00.002Z

I have been struggling to fit the upright chromed pillar that the rear vent window hinges off. There has been much swearing and gentle, and not so gentle, bashing, removing of excess chrome plating, paint and thickness of rubber in the new rear vent seal.
I think I am about there with it now but needed then to remove it all to trim the B post edge.
I have also fitted the rubber\aluminium strip that goes from the rear roof pillar base to base of the front roof pillar, including using the new rubber base strips that I picked up at the VW Classic in the US during 2004.
Finally the passenger door has ben fitted and just needs a little tweaking to get the gaps perfect. So next is finish off a few small things on the passenger side then turn the car around and start on the other side. I need to push on with this as I am hoping that during a week's vacation in the middle of Feb I can finish the majority of the fit out and get the car MOTd (road worthy test) ready for display at the Volksworld show at the end of March.

Roof lining finished

2009-01-22T20:20:00.002Z

I managed to finish the roof lining at the weekend and have also installed the NOS sun visors bought individually from Paul Colbert and BerT3 at a far more reasonable price than currently advertised by Lars Neuffer whose prices simply reflect the ever escalating price of NOS parts.

I have also installed the correct aluminium stemmed early rear view mirror extracted out of my stash of parts as the one that came on the car was from a 6o's beetle.

Further interior trim progress

2009-01-11T21:33:00.002Z

I have now finished fitting the trim to the rear parcel shelf area and rear shoulders\B pillars in the original style for a 62 model.

I have also retrimmed the front screen pillars and fitted the NOS front screen pillar aluminium trims.

Next for completion is the head lining which I hope to complete during the week.

Rear parcel shelf

2009-01-10T12:48:00.004Z

I have been working on the rear parcel shelf area and have used the material kindly supplied by Lee Hedges when he sources the materials for the interior from TMI and had the seat covers made up.

A stiff card under liner was made and attached to the underneath of the lining to prevent the corrugations in the rear parcel shelf showing through.

I have also had to spend a lot of time making a shaped material cover for the small rear shoulder area in front of the parcel shelf. On the early models these were covered with material, later ones had a seperate black plastic cover or it was an intergrated part of the cover that goes below the opening rear quarter light.

I have glued the rear parcel shelf in place and fitted the resprayed rear vent but have yet to glue the shoulder covers on or glue down the front edge of the shelf as it is -5C and the material isn't pliable enough even with heat applied to it to get a good fit.

A head lining for the New Year

2009-01-07T21:13:00.006Z

I have started work on installing the head lining. It is a bit of a jig saw because you need to put the A & B post trims on first, plus the B posts needed new card liners making beforehand.

Additionally covers need to be made for the small shoulder areas on the 62 models in matching vinyl to the rear parcel shelf as they weren't fitted with plastic covers of any description. More on this in the next post.

I made a new insulation felt liner for the roof and stuck it firmly in place and have put the new liner in just by its 3 fixing bars (longest at rear) whilst I do the other trim.

End of 2008 review

2008-12-29T11:41:00.002Z

Well, another year in the restoration of my 1961 built T343 is drawing to a close and this feels like the final hurdles just before completion, which is great.
I have pressed on with the reinstatement of the dashboard instruments and trim and just need to connect the final wiring and then install the push button switch unit. Before doing this I need to install the courtesy lighting wiring loom.
I have also now finished the rear luggage compartment and am part way through the fit up of the first door - see picture above. I have also posted a series of comparison photos so you can see how far the car has come.

Bodywork Comparisson

2008-12-29T11:30:00.004Z

Here is a photo that shows how far the body has come at surface level without being able to show all the skill that has gone into getting it this far.

Seating Comparisson

2008-12-29T11:26:00.001Z

I have published these before but still worth a review.

Front Luggage Comparisson

2008-12-29T11:19:00.001Z

Photos showing before and after in the front luggage area.

Rear Luggage Compartment Comparisson

2008-12-29T11:16:00.002Z

Photos showing before and after in rear luggage compartment.

Dashboard Comparisson

2008-12-29T11:09:00.003Z

Photos of dashboard before and after restoration.

Santa has arrived early

2008-12-19T16:18:00.002Z

Just catching up with things after being away for a while and hope to do more refitting of the car over the Christmas and New Year break.
Meantime santa has delivered a new heater control knob, correct for the Karmann Ghia with its little red dot. The one on the car when it arrived was beyond use, I managed to find a used replacement but it had broken in the past and was glued back together. Now I have a very pricey but excellent NOS replacement in its little bag ready to be fitted.

November update 3

2008-11-26T15:46:00.003Z

Both air intake troughs have now been reconditioned and refitted. Unfortunately the drivers side one doesn't seem to want to fit flush under the scuttle panel, leaving a nice gap for the water to come in through. I need to investigate further but this will have to wait until December due to being away with work.
The trims for the A & B posts have been made and will be fitted once I start the fit out of the central interior section.
That's it folk for November- back in December when I hope to make a little more progress.

November update 2

2008-11-09T15:26:00.003Z

With the rear boot area completed I have been gathering up from around the garage all that is needed to finish fitting up the dash board. The main thing to work on is the air intake troughs that fit under the vents in the front scuttle. I restored one early on in the restoration and now need to clean up and repaint the other and renew the rubber hinged flap.

After this is complete the next major areas will be fitting of the roof linning and the trim around the doors on the A & B posts. The existing A&B post pillar trims fell to pieces when I dismantled the car. I had some other ones from another car I broke up and have used a length of black material similar to the original and some flexible rubber fuel hose as the basis for recreating them. The ends of the pipe need to be shaped correctly as in the photo. I will investigate if our sewing machine can do the stitching required, if not i will plead with a friend to do it for me.

I have a replacement roof lining, this needs some work before it can be fitted, including getting out lines in it from where it has been folded in storage - moral is that if material arrives folded then unwrap and roll up instead.

November update 1

2008-11-02T14:54:00.002Z

Here is a shot of the old rear boot floor linning laid out on a piece of replacement Hardura linning material ready to be cut to shape. The early cars did not have the Auf\Zu signs on them and had textured Hardura rather than smooth surfaced material. This makes it easy to source and replicate as it is the same as early Jaguar boot linning material and that of other British classics.

Also here is a shot of the fully refurbished rear boot area.

Info for Simon

2008-11-02T14:45:00.002Z

Hi Simon

Draw back of blogs is there is no e-mail for direct response, so here are the answers to the questions in your comment, hope they help.
I got my head linning from Lars Neuffer in Germany. It you are up to making your own, which we did for our 65, then Woolies trim do an excellent material match (called off white perforated, catalogue number 334) you need 2 metres from what I recall at £12 a metre and some plain white material for the pillars (roof linning from an early Golf used to be a good match).
For Chroming I used The London Chroming co in the Old Kents Road, SE15. Results are outstaning and about the mark for good quality work. Cheaper option in Premier Plating in High Wycombe.
If you are a member of the KGOC(GB) then do contact me at the e-mail address for the T34 register secretary, or post a comment again with contact details which I can see and withold from publication

October update 4

2008-10-29T17:24:00.002Z

Success at last with the wiring loom. I removed it once again and then undid some of the binding I had put on and shortened some of the wires by folding them back on each other so that there were no big groups of connectors before re-binding. I then did as suggested by Mark Poulton, greased the cable and heated every thing up. I can't say that it flew through but it is now in place.
I have put all of the rear cables in place and connected everything up at the rear end. Just the front end to the fuse box etc. left to do. This will now allow me to press on with putting all of the rear boot linings etc in place. once that is done I will concentrate on the centre section of the car, starting with the new head lining.

October update 3

2008-10-27T23:12:00.004Z

No major movement forward with the wiring loom, other than a few bruises here and there from pulling it in and out. I have however sourced a replacement rubber for the spare wheel well to carrier frame. This is of a much larger cross section and hollow but has worked well and allowed me to fit the spare wheel well permanently using hex headed self taping screws in place of the original small bolts. It is very difficult to notice the difference between the self tappers and bolts, this approach was needed as no captive nuts were built into the newly built carrier frame when it was created. There was little left for the body shop to work from and I forgot to mention it to them.

An interesting small piece of trim difference can be seen in the photo for this posting. The long piece of black material goes on top of the painted dash, around the various vent outlets. I am not sure when this process was stopped in favour of the individual pieces photographed alongside it that were used on cars such as my 65 model 344. To make this work the top of the dash was sprayed black to cover up the areas where no black plastic was provided. There is a small break in the plastic on the inner edge but this will be covered up as the top dash pad sits directly on top of it.

October update 2

2008-10-16T12:52:00.003+01:00

Fitting of the main wiring loom is going slowly. The loom is all the way through the sill and has exited the hole at the top of the A pillar by about 6 inches. It appears to be stuck and I suspect that the problem likes at the bottom of the pipe in the A pillar and that the casing for the loom is catching on the entry to this. I am going to wait until the weekend and then, once the car is in the open, see if I can free things off.
Meanwhile not a lot of othr progress as I don't want too many jobs started at once.

October update 1

2008-10-05T17:49:00.003+01:00

During the last week I have rebuilt and fitted the twin tone horns and have been slowly reconnecting the front wiring loom to the push button light\wiper switch unit, new fuse box and relays etc. this seems to be going well so far and I intend to press on and fit the small inner light, door switch loom and then the main rear wiring loom over the next week or so.

I am looking forward to receiving a rear wing drain tube from Bert3 in Belgium shortly, he was breaking a May 62 T34 which has exactly the correct sort of drain tube fitted only to the early cars, the one on the right is the earlier type and the body work has a narrower outlet in the bottom of the rear wing to accommodate it.

September update 4

2008-09-21T20:30:00.000+01:00

I have continued to concentrate on the front of the car and have now finished the majority of the front boot area, other than securing the spare wheel well and adjusting the front bumper and boot lid.

The other major task remaining is to get the headlights to fit. The correct headlamp to body work seals are proving too thick to enable the top of the headlamp rim to locate on the headlight bowl hook. I have adjusted the hook as best as possible and removed excess paint from the rear, as well as checking that the headlight rim retainer springs are not in the way but so far no joy. My approach is leave them until next week and have a beer!

September update 3

2008-09-16T19:46:00.000+01:00

I have refitted the fog lights after putting the new front wiring loom in place etc. Luckily I had one original remaining fog light to body seal (dark grey in colour). To replicate them I took some NOS T14 inner headlight seals (light grey, like the headlight to body seals) that go around the lense and cut of the outer edge of them and then adjusted them to the correct length and super glued them together to make great replacement seals.

I have also recreated the front bonnet drain pipe. To do this I took a T14 front bonnet corner drain and cut it in 2 as in the photo. I then purchased some tubing with the correct internal diameter to accommodate the end of the corner drain with the 90 degree bend. Once this was glued in place I located this in the hole in the front slam panel and then made an cross shaped incision in the top of the rubber horn knickers used for covering pre 65 model T34s, ensuring that the pipe went far enough into the knickers so that the water drained externally rather than accumulating inside the knickers or entering the car.

To do this for 65 and later model cars it is advisable to use 2 T14 front bonnet corner drains, using one at the top and one at the bottom where it will exit through the horn hole blanking plate (As horns fitted to bumpers).

If you are really careful with your craft knife you can also take the part from an old pair of the rubber horn knickers that goes into the horn hole and cut an extra slot into the internal lip to accommodate the blanking plate as well as this rubber is no longer available. did this on my 65 back in 1992 and it is still working OK.

September update 2

2008-09-06T19:18:00.000+01:00

I have concentrated on installing the front wiring loom today. the reproduction loom made by Autosparks is excellent and they built in all the repairs to the loom that were needed to bring it back to original spec. One thing I left as it was on the original loom was the wire from the horn relay to the fuse box. This was black with a yellow stripe, rather than green in the wiring diagram.

Next on my plan is to press on and finish everything in the front bonnet area and then move to the installation of the main loom and completion of the rear boot area.

When trial fitting the lower dash pad as mentioned in a previous posting, I found that as expected the later post may 62 padded dash pad that I bought won't fit my pre may 62 dash without alteration. You can see why if you look at the photo of my dash versus the dash of Paul Colberts car (thanks Paul, photo lifted from your site).

In May 62 the steering column was raised 20mm and they did this by cutting out a section of the dash board. The later padded dashes therefore won't fit as they are not recessed to accommodate the area over the top of the steering column that was removed and existed on the first production cars.

September update 1

2008-09-03T22:51:00.000+01:00

I have fitted the brake fluid reservoir and line to the master cylinder and refitted the petrol tank and breather pipes. Also now installed in the front boot is the tank top liner,flip up tray for the spare wheel and the paint colour code sticker. once I have the spare wheel well back from the body shop then that can be fitted as well. Photo shows the area before some final paint touching up was completed.

At the rear the air control flap in the engine bay and cardboard intake pipe is in place along with the rubber belows and correct clamps. I had a NOS set of bellows - went to fit them and my fingers went straight through the rubber whilst manipulating them into place - luckily as usual I had a good used one in the cupboard and that has now been fitted.

the rear and side badges are in place, the side ones look to be a bit of an issue as the Karmann script looks out of line - not going to worry at this stage as I shall accumulate any issue and take the car to the body shop at the end of the fit up for final sorting. This is a problem of my making as I drilled the holes.

I offered up the lower dash pad to see if it would fit OK - early 62 cars had a slightly different lower dash area, cars from May 62 had the steering column raised 20mm, this altered the dash shape and the lower pad shape. So looks like I will need to be brave and cut the rear of my later lower pad to make it fit.

I have been fitting the various heater pipes inside the car, I am sure I took photos of where each of them went and I know roughly their location under the rear seats and in the inner rear wing to rear screen outlet but am no longer sure which goes where. Without the photos it will be a process of elimination. one pipe needs sections replacing and I have the correct diameter tubing to do this, a task for the weekend.

August progress 1

2008-08-26T18:00:00.000+01:00

Since getting the body back time has unfortunately been in shorter supply than anticipated but some progress has been made.

All bolts for the chassis are loosely in place with the exception of one large frame head bolt which refused to go in. I will try again this weekend and if needed use a tap to clear the thread in the captive bolt, nothing is being tightened down until that is in place.

Front and rear boots have now been fitted, some minor adjustment is needed to get the correct gaps but they are safely installed on the car. I will leave the doors off for the time being as space is tight and this should prevent damage to them.

The seats are loosely installed as well to keep them safe from the marauding dog.

A few minor problems have surfaced, none paint related, the spare wheel restraint bar (best way I can describe it) has been welded to the inner wing in the wrong place. this stops the jack being stored in the front boot and lets the spare wheel move around too much. the paint shop say they can help sort this for me. Also I thought I had sourced a missing early rear air intake to rear wing drain pipe but I can't find one - if anyone has a correct driver side one then let me know - it is the shorter flat ended one in the photo and has a narrow end, this prevents the later ones being used.

When little issues like this come up I turn my attention to simpler tasks like small trim item fitting, this is good as it also gives the illusion of progress as well. Even here things don't always go as well as expected - the drivers side sill trim clips are not holding the trim in place as well as they should and I will have to think about a remedy for this.

Anyway, reasonable progress so far and I will look to do more at the weekend.

Back to black and back home

2008-08-14T20:41:00.000+01:00

The bodyshop delivered the bodyshell back home this afternoon - it looks absolutely fantastic. the doors and bonnets will follow in the next few days.

They managed to weld up the two horn wire holes in the front panel that I had missed - these were only on cars from 65 model onwards once the horns became externally mounted.

Anyway I have an initial plan of action for the weekend which will be;

Fit the bumpers and get them out of harms way and give protection to the car

Bolt the chassis down

Fit the steering column

Fit all locks and latches where ever possible

I am not going to rush after all this time but will move on at a good pace.

Its in the spray booth

2008-08-09T11:35:00.001+01:00

The 62 has had its' final prep finished and is now in the spray booth. It will be sprayed on Monday and hopefully home by next weekend. It's come a long way from a car that was de-registered and classified as scrap in South Africa which again was an accurate description. The final stages are close and re-assembly will be a pleasure.

Front Axle - here we go again

2008-08-08T15:25:00.000+01:00

Well the front axle and chassis have been completed for a couple of years now. I decided to replace the 2 smaller rubber bumps stops with new ones that I bought and during the process also replaced the track rod end boots that had perished since fitting. Not good as they were new stock, not NOS.
Whilst doing all this I noticed that the rubber boots on the 2 upper ball joints were also cracking. These were NOS in the box but a good number of years old. I dug out the ball joints that I took of the car and luckily the boots on them were perfect, strange as I think one was an original item.
I called the body shop today, they have finished rubbing down and perfecting and the car goes into the spray booth today for final prep coat and hopefully top coats next week.

Trim items

2008-08-01T10:10:00.000+01:00

Having completed the bumpers I am now digging around in my boxes of trim to see where some work is needed before re-assembly.

I needed a new rear boot rubber, these are not available with the original moulded lower corners. Digging around in my cupboard of wonder produced a nearly complete rubber, all present except for the piece that goes around the are for the oil filler. Lee Hedges gave me bits of an old rubber when I was over visiting him and luckily I was able to salvage the missing piece from that.

It will all need a good clean up and gluing here and there but will look better, even if slightly worn, that the reproduction ones.

At the same time I dug out some old trims for the A & B posts, these fell apart when I took them off the car, luckily I have enough of the 3 I found to be able to recreate some new ones.

Bumpers complete

2008-08-01T10:06:00.000+01:00

I have now coated the insides of the bumper blades with hammerite paint and sprayed them on top of this in a silver colour, similar to original to finish them off. They are now fully assembled and have been wrapped up to prevent damage before fitting in the near future.

Bumper rebuild

2008-07-30T11:48:00.000+01:00

I have been digging out all the parts for the front and rear bumpers and making sure I have all the correct hardware to fit them. I bought new front and rear grommets for the bumper irons from the KGOC (GB) and also new seals for in between the bumper overriders and the blades - these are the original style broad section ones.

The set of overriders is made up of 3 NOS ones which it took me 15 years to track down and were intended for my 1965, plus one rechromed one. This turned out so well that I am going to have the originals from the 65 rechromed as well in due course. They are made of aluminium, not Mazak as many people will try to tell you.

I now need to just paint the inside of the blades to protect them and then build up the complete assemblies.

Wiper assembly rebuild

2008-07-22T21:39:00.000+01:00

I have been sorting through the parts for the car in anticipation of the completion of the respray, more of which later.

I pulled out the wiper assembly and a quick look at the rust on the end of the spindles for the wiper arms made me think that there might be some problems ahead. I removed the motor linkages and found that one spindle has stuck solidly, no amount of releasing fluid or brute force would shift it. Luckily I had a couple of spare assemblies, I have taken the best frame and the best 2 spindles plus a NOS motor as the components for the rebuild. Whilst the original motor performed well under test and parked correctly it was a little slow and it seemed sensible to use the new motor in view of the difficult nature of replacing the assembly once fitted.

I used new one piece seals to fit the spindles\bushes in to the body but have not yet been able to find any end caps to go over the spindles of the correct size.

I called into see the car in the body shop's new premises. Whilst the respray hasn't been completed yet a good deal of effort is still going in to it with 2.5 days last week on just flatting down the 3 coats of paint that have already ben applied. The upshot is I am convinced I will get a good end result and prefer to wait my time rather than rush at this final stage.

Front vent frames rebuild

2008-07-19T21:59:00.000+01:00

Whilst waiting still for the elusive completion of the respray I thought it was time I rebuild some parts.

I have fitted the new seals to the from vent frames and also fitted the new glass to the passenger side that I got at a meeting some years ago, plus for the other side I used the one I picked up from Mick Blondin at the 2005 celebration of the Karmann Ghia launch in Germany during 2005.

The early years of production featured a slightly different latch mechanism on the glass, not visible until you try to take it apart but they also have a smaller head to the chromed button that is visible on the outside of the glass, nice to have the correct early ones fitted.

I went touse the repro black packing spacer for betwen the glass and the chrome fitting but they were useless, wrong shape and hole in the wrong place. The originals were servicable and have been used. You can see the difference in the photo between the 2 of them.

the original drivers side cats eye mirror has been fitted, I have decided not to fit the cats eye mirror I picked up for the passenger side at this stage and might offer it back to a guy who promised me huge bucks for it to fit on his notch restoration. Just got the felt runners for the window channels left to fit.

News on the completion of the paint will follow - yet again I am pressing for this week as the completion point.

Anodising completed

2008-07-06T10:38:00.000+01:00

I collected the anodising on Friday as planned. It looks good but does show up where some of the pieces still look worn even after polishing and refinishing. Still they are much better than thet were as like everything on the car they were in bad condition or missing.

Called the bodyshop, they said the move in process had taken them longer than anticipated and were only getting back up to speed next week when they could hopefully make a start on the final stages.

The aluminium trim is a bit boring to post photos of so here is a shot of 4 of the 5 type 3 Karmann Ghias that attended the KGOC (GB) international in North Yorkshire last weekend.

The second photo shows a shot of the June 69 343 of Thomas Voss, a very nice original car.

End of June update

2008-07-03T15:38:00.000+01:00

With being abroad for most of June I didn't get much chance to check progress on the bodyshell. The bodyshop has now moved to its new home and I will be calling in this weekend to see if there have been any developments.

Meantime I collected the small couple of pieces back from the chromer and a few bits that had been left for zinc plating. I also collected all the aluminium trim from the windscreens and interior that I left for stripping and polishing.

It turned out very well and I took it across to London Colney anodising and will be collecting it tomorrow, more pics to follow.

Here is a photo of Martin Hoontrakul's latest acquisition out in Kuala Lumpur, a right hand drive coupe which he intends to turn into a convertible. Bodywork needs a lot of work and most trim is missing which makes it an excellent project to customise into a convertible without worrying about creating an exact replica.

Black and Shiney

2008-05-30T10:53:00.000+01:00

Just got some photos from Mike Dempster who popped into the bodyshop to check on progress and saw things have begun to go all black and shiney at last.

This is the first of the gloss coats to be applied and will need to be flatted down before further coats and then the clear lacquer is applied.

I suspect things will come to a halt for a couple of weeks though as the body shop is moving over the weekend to new premises next door, I am going to drop down and see the bodyshell which is already in the storage element of the new unit today.

62 sun visors

2008-05-26T11:20:00.000+01:00

I picked up a 62 sunvisor in the correct colour from Bert in Belgium recently. Down side is that it had several grease marks, was stained from the packaging and also heavily compressed, but all reflected in a lower price.

I have managed to remove all grease marks and reduce the discolouring using an aggresive vinyl cleaner bought for the preparation of my floor mats. It has done a great job but left the vinyl slightly shinny.

I think when it is fitted alongside the other NOS one kindly supplied a while ago by Paul Colbert that it wont be too noticable. I might even treat the other one with the same preparation cleaner so at least to give the same effect.

The bodyshop mailed me to let me know that all is on for the body to go into the spray booth tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

May update - body

2008-05-10T19:34:00.000+01:00

I called in to the body shop today - the prep work is now complete and the front and rear boots (deck lids) have received a first coat of paint. The plan over the next 2 weeks is to spray the car first in black 2 pack paint and then flat down. After this it will be sprayed in black base coat and then clear lacquer.

The 2 pack will give depth of paint and the clear over base the final high quality finish. Baring any unforseen urgent jobs at the bodyshop all should be finished by the month end at the latest. keep those fingers crossed!

We were at the Stanford Hall meeting last weekend - couldn't go in our 65 model 344 as it sprang a fuel pump leak. Neil Shone was there in his 344 which he recently purchased from Chris Wright - here is a picture of it. I bored everyone at the meeting by telling them I nearly bought the car in 1982 for £1,200 but couldn't afford it, so bought our green 65 which wasn't in as good condition but was cheaper at £850.

July 61 MPH speedo

2008-05-10T19:27:00.000+01:00

I recently bought an early T34 speedo off The Samba in exactly the same style as the one fitted to my Nov 61 T343 but in MPH.

The only difference is a lack of a red change up marker at the equivalent in MPH of 50KPH (approx 31MPH). It was made in July 61 but needed a lot of cosmetic attention and a grease up. Here are pre and post pictures.

T34 in Thailand

2008-05-10T18:43:00.000+01:00

I was in Bangkok recently and had the pleasure of meeting up with Martin Hoontrakul and seeing his 1968 T344 which is black with a white roof. The car was in very presentable condition and whilst missing a few small parts wont pose much of a challenge for an enthusiast like martin.

The car had been rebuilt before Martin acquired it and has a type 1 engine fitted in a very professional manner, with an engine bay now very reminiscent of a T14. here are a couple of shots of the car.

Floor mats

2008-04-14T21:11:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend I resprayed the plasticised floor mats that came with the car from new. I used a product called Kolorbond in a dark grey shade. As you can see from the before and after shots of the rear mats it has made a good job of them.

variable quality news

2008-04-10T20:15:00.000+01:00

The damaged rear boot lock mechanism supplied by Larry Edson arrived safely today and will allow me to attempt to repair my 62 unit by making one good one from 2 broken ones. Paul Colbert has also lent me a complete one in case this doesn't work, this way I will be able to get the body shell home from the bodyshop with the rear boot firmly closed.

Meantime the bodyshell remains at the stage where the primer has been rubbed back and final imperfections identified and tackled. I just have to wait for it to gain a space for final primer and top coats etc.

I took some remaining bits of chrome and all the interior aluminium trim and screen trims to a polisher today, he was happy to do these but not the original style Lemmertz wheel trims; so I need to think of another way forward with them or finding better ones.

Once the trim has been stripped and polished I will need to collect it and take it to the anodizer down the road, a bit laborious but it should get me there.

Meanwhile the plastic paint for the floor mats has arrived, I have cleaned the mats and will hopefully spray them at the weekend.

End of March Update

2008-03-30T18:35:00.000+01:00

The body shop have finished blocking down the middle 3 coats of primmer and prepped it for final primming which will be done this coming week. With a bit of luck it should then be moving towards final paint in the second week of April.

In the meantime I have been doing some outstanding electrical work; I took the resistor off the back of an old push button switch unit and soldered it onto mine to make a repair. I also re soldered all the wiring back onto the connector plate on the steering column\ignition unit cover.

All of the aluminium trim has been gathered together and will be going for examination by a refinishing company in Northampton, including the early rim embellishers. I had to do some extensive metal bumping to get one of them back into shape - if any one has 2 good ones to sell that would be great.

Finally Larry Edson kindly has sent me a part damaged rear boot latch mechanism which I hope to be able to use to mend my own 62 unit.

As I have no new pictures to share this is a video clip of what the car looked like about this time last year when it was due to go to the body shop.