Ghia Monster -- -- a little something to piss off the V8 guys
 

Been lurking around here for a long while and just finally decided to show off my build of three years.... I love anything that is off the beaten path -- the weirder the better... The smaller and lower the better --

So this project started after the wife had decided that I had consummated my relationship with my last project -- -- a 1960 Fiat 600 -- OK, I'll admit it here that I really loved the car -- -- it just had everything you'd ever want, factory suicide door and it only weighed 1400 lbs -- -- and when I saw this poor little POS I just had to bring it home

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...fiatphoto1.jpg

Anyway, I remember way back during the gasser days there was a bunch of these little bastards running around in D and E/GAS kicking everybody's ass -- Jumbo Shrimp,, Little Giant Killer, to name a couple of them, so I decided I wanted to build it with those in mind -- -- These were all powered with Air Cooled VW engines, so that is the way I went,,, and after a quick build it came out looking like this

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Panic9-08.jpg

I went through a few different engines before I I finally settled with a turbo'd VW engine and the car finally ran like I wanted it to...... and this is my favorite picture of the car LOL....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...atatBarona.jpg


So the wife gave the ultimatum, either the car or her, so being the man-ass that I am, I sent the car packing but now I had a huge club to hold over her head forever LOL

So, I started looking for a new project -- -- I wanted to start playing at the track more and more and with all the drag strips here in SoCal barely hanging on -- so, I decided I wanted to go back to my roots and start doing auto-cross again.... So a street - 'track' car was in my future.... So I started looking around for just the correct project..... It took me a few months and then I saw this and knew it was 'IT'......

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...4156308023.jpg

It was a former SCCA d/m car that had been raced in the 90's in Phoenix and Vegas -- the owner had decided to go open wheel racing and parked it in '98 and hadn't touched it until I bought it in 2012.....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...4156250075.jpg

It needed some serious updating and love, but I could see myself cruising the boulevard and carving some cones with it......

I ran through all the options for an engine and stumbled across this ACVW engine from the late 80's

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ude/arpm2b.jpg

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ude/arpmsm.jpg

This an ARPM cased 2989cc 4 cylinder -- yep a 3 liter VW -- -- It runs SBC pistons and small journal rods on a custom ground 90mm stroke crank -- it has custom barrels and really rare angle port heads

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...dcylinders.jpg

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ttingclose.jpg

I built a custom intake for the engine, put a fuel cell into it, and then ....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...3417830170.jpg

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...3227900569.jpg

I put a turbo on it --- BuuuHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...4120974189.jpg

So through all the times of money and no time and time with no money,,, all the breaking of parts and updating this and that,,,, I finally got it all put together and here is how it is setting today.....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psdvma4kvg.jpg

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psk4nviyxf.jpg

That is sic!! thanx for posting. My wifey's first car was a 73(?) Ghia, its one of the few "that got away"/......

The dials really look good on there, very cool project!

Just the other day I was thinking an Outlaw styled Ghia would be pretty sweet. Nice project!

Dave

There's several really well done outlaw Ghia's out there -- the one with a Viper V10 -- the "Blue Momba" ,, which was at SEMA in 2013, I think,



and another really killer one out of Idaho -- the "NoGhia"

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337887.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337333.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337343.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337316.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337322.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337346.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1337345.jpg

Mine is still running the VW style suspension, highly tuned of course -- with big brakes and some big sway bars -- It works very well out on the course, but without a LSD, I was smoking the inside driver exiting all the turns......

I just had it all apart to put a LSD into the Bus trans and upgraded to a AEM EMS4 EFI setup -- --

The one thing AEM doesn't tell you that you've got to run a 12 tooth (MAX) crank trigger -- so after fighting my 32 tooth for about 2 months, I've had to special order a 12 tooth sprocket for my front (or rear, depending on you look at it LOL) pulley...

So waiting for the planets to align for that to get made. then back to WesTech in Mira Loma for the tune.......

It's Story telling day and it's Baseball season (here in the states) and the final year of Vin Skully's 67 year career announcing Baseball -- -- Here are a few of the stories he interweaves into his broadcasts that makes him so great.......

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/04/27/...ll-a-story-day

Cant believe we missed this build thread. Your taste in cars is AWESOME and the ghia looks like it rips! What were the final power numbers?

Going to pick it up from the tuners Sunday -- it has sprung a huge oil leak while on the dyno at half throttle -- didn't ask the numbers because I'm embarrassed about the puking LOL -- so have a few things to fix before I can return it

Cool! We're curious to see what it puts down!

What kind of power are you expecting from that big 3 liter turbo 4cylinder? I've never heard of one that large!

You should keep your eyes open for a Mendeola transaxle ;)

I've finished rewiring the Ghia. I found that since I had relocated the battery to the front, I had the power running from the front of the car, to the back, back to front, and then back to the back, and then back to the front..... Those little electrons were being busy little bastards.... Then add in the small wiring sizes that I had used and that were in the stock wiring harness,,, well, lets just say that it wasn't right.... So, I've added some 8 gauge power wires and sorted out everything, so we're good to go (I hope,,, LOL)

Now, on to the oil leaks.... If you remember from previous posts, I was having issues with the flares breaking/cracking on my stainless tubing....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psdcmf3sfz.jpg

So I started asking around trying to figure a solution for this.... I was recommended to talk to the guys at Bonaco in Ontario CA.... Bonaco Inc. - Brake lines, AN Fittings, Aluminum Fittings, PTFE Hose Ends, Carburetor fuel line kits, fuel gauges and more... They have the trickiest tubing flare tool,,, so I got one....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psngntprhq.jpg

I guess what makes it different is that the flare is actually has bumps/ridges on it.

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psky2019pg.jpg

OMG,,,, you should see the flares this thing makes..........

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psrvifgisi.jpg

So now I just have to go around and redo all the flared ends and see if I can dry this pig up!!!!!!!!!!! Trying to talk to my buddy so I can use his shop (with a concrete floor) to do this, as my carpeted floor just doesn't like oil dripped on it.......

Monday, thinking I had the electrical all sorted out, I took the car out on my little 3 mile test loop I use. Left one signal and was rolling onto the throttle, trying to get my gremlins to reappear. Damn, only boosting to 4-5 pounds, double damn, forgot to plug-in the boost controller and was only running on the waste gate spring..... Turned onto a side street so I could connect it back together... As I climbed out, this new GT Mustang pulls up next to me and rolls down his window... "I usually don't stop and congratulate someone for beating me, but that little thing is fast ! Whatcha got in it??"

"Just a stocker with a little boost," I replied, "If I'd known we were racing, I would of really got after it!!!!" Hope I don't go to hell for all the little lies I tell, LMAO.

He drove away shaking his head..... Don't mess with the Air Cooled!!!!! LOL

As life goes -- so do our toys --

The Ghia is for sale for $16,500 --

I believe this is a really fair price knowing how much in receipts I've shredded....

all offers are welcome, but please don't embarrass yourself.

Dayum that sucks. Youre just at the point of having it sorted and having fun with it. GLWS!

Tuner leaned out the engine, then noticed a loss of power -- I said thank you very much, please do it again sir

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psgvaqzmxu.jpg

But I now have a solution to this tuner ****----

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps99irwrl8.jpg

We hope they're helping you with the cost of a rebuild, if not covering it completely?

Oh lets say I've gone little stupid since the last post -- -- a complete tear down, inspection/R&R of the bearings, Corilla rods, J&E pistons, new gapless rings, heads completely redone (new porting, valves, springs, heat resistance coating on the inside, heat dispersement coating on the outside, blah blah blah), new 1.4 Pauter rockers, a couple of weeks in Italy for vacation and got all the parts and pieces back from the machine shops,,, and wah-la back together as a birthday present to me.... """Oh yes dear, it shouldn't cost more than a $100 to redo the engine,,,,, cough,,, cough ,,, choke, cough....."""

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psykbbrohn.jpg

Ok --- I think I got the carb intake mocked up -- this engine is starting to have more colors than an Easter Egg -- --

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps9s3febux.jpg

Way better than selling it! ;)

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps9s3febux.jpg

I see you're using the Percy's Adjust-a-jet.

I hope you have better luck with it than I did. Have you tried one before?

I experienced major flooding with it.

This is my second go with them -- the first time I really loved them

Percy's have really changed their product since the last set I bought in '09....

The kit comes with 2 little black seals/plugs that are not mentioned in the instructions.... They replace the original jets in the metering block, and if you didn't pick up on that, it would cause the problem you mentioned. And when I was assembling them, I felt that the adjust-a-jet block was REAL close to the Power Valve and might not be letting it seat (I'm thinking running a double gasket on the power valve might solve this if it becomes an issue).....

I'm kind of worried with this set as I'm running E85 and the Carb I'm using uses the dominator style plates ("regular" Holleys, the jets are flush in the metering block and the Dom's stick up about 1/8 of an inch)... And Percy doesn't make a Alcohol set for them... so these are setup for gas and I'll be twisting the screws out about 8 turns to start with (you can see how far out they are in the picture) and I think the max is 10 1/2 turns,,, so it will be close.

It was either this or stick a brand new set of metering blocks into a mill and shave off the jet bosses.... I wasn't too hot on that idea either...

But when/if they are working, they are great for making that quick "jet" change at the track...........

Good info!

Yeah, I tried them back in the late 90's and on the first test drive (without an air cleaner) the bottom of the hood got sprayed with fuel. LOL No plugs at all for the open holes where the jets used to go.

Thanks, and good luck, nice stuff there.

^^THIS^^

Engine is almost ready -- Just need to finish the MSD install -- I still hate crawling around the freaking cage to get to the back of the firewall LOL

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps48w4x44s.jpg

I'm so over using steel braided line -- and E85 just eats them up -- I'm having to replace it almost every other year -- So now I'm using hard line when I have new installs or replacing old lines, I'm using either SS or Aluminum... AL is softer and easier to form and more forgiving than SS.....

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...psptbezuma.jpg

IT'S RUNNING -- -- Fired right up -- My timing light took a dump so I was just guessing where I was at --- and was trying to guess where I was at with the fuel but it was sounding real nice.........

No sooner than I bragged about how great my 16300 starters, I had mine go out --- Damn it!!! -- -- So, I jumped into my car and drove over to CarCraft in Riverside, CA, all the while preparing to buy another 16300 (and get lunch at Zorba's).... Was setting there bench racing with Bob Godfrey and whining about losing a starter, Ed perks up and said that he had this new brand new starter "OE Brand -- Part Number BA16450" out of Florida making some really killer starters.... I'm going, Yeah, Yeah, I've heard this all before... So Ed brings one out. They are tiny and light!!! I'm looking at it and thinking there's no way that this little thing is gonna spin my 2963.... He says, you buy this, and if you don't like it, bring it back in the original box and I'll put 100% of the money towards another starter.... OK, what do I have to lose except another chance to come over to CarCraft and go to Zorba's Hamburgers for lunch (I live for a Zorba Burger and Onion Rings from this place -- they are great!!!! Remember that the next time your in the area)..... SO, I bring this thing home, throw it into the car and this little starter is winging my engine at a higher RPM than I have ever had..... Really impressed with this little thing!!!!!!

Confucius says -- You definitely have an over rich condition, if you are finding pinholes in your intake by fuel squirting out.......

Words to live by if you ask me.....

Glad you got it running. Good luck!

Went to the Pomona Swap meet today.... ((Bet you guys can tell the wife is out of town for a week))

Wow, I haven't been to one in over 20 years and this thing was massive. Easy 200 VW's in the VW corral. Got a wild hair and hung a For Sale sign on the Ghia for $20K as the guy in the Porsche powered Bus next to me had a price of $100K on it..... But the side panels on it were soooooo straight, I could of taken a picture of my Ghia off it (or you can see my car in the reflection off the door)..... The Double cab behind me was gorgeous too!!!!

No one wanted a HotRod Ghia LOL........

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1679906.jpg

Here is a picture of the engine -- finished -- for now -- this week -- today

Have made some templates to cover all the openings around the engine, but need to get some sheet metal to finish.... I've got some stainless sheet laying around but other than my 4" grinder, I really don't have a way of cutting it.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1679914.jpg

Didn't take any pictures or videos as I went by myself, but I went out to California Speedway for some AutoX this past Saturday. The event was held by Fastivus. Did some laps. My 5-6 year old tires were really holding me back.... The rear end was sliding out from under me the whole time and when it wasn't, the front end was pushing......

Had the speed up for a tight section and was trying to whip the rear around to setup for the next section .. .. .. Ended up doing this really slow looping slide right through this huge area of cones..... Did win the unofficial award for most cones collected (knocked down) for the day LOL

Noticed the Ghia wasn't pulling as hard as 'normal' -- found the seal between the hat and the carb had squirted out -- need to find a fix for that.....Then I got really impressed with the Ghia when I realized that I'd been running all day on just engine.... no boost

Lance Gregory donated a parachute lever and cable to me after he finished his promod build a few years ago..... I've been having issues with the cable and release for the hood on the Ghia.... Then I got this wild hair and now I've got a bullet proof hood release......

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1683974.jpg

Showed up at 4pm at California Speedway to spend the night -- unfortunately there was a test and tune that day and there was still a ton of V8 guys there clogging up the pits -- so I choose a spot that was way out beyond the finish line.... peace and quiet,,, Yeah right the Silverbugget guys were 100 feet away.

https://i.imgur.com/3MS5H4k.jpg

So there I am profiling with my motorhome thinking I'm cool -- -- then Dave Rosique (sp?) drives in.....

https://i.imgur.com/za3AULw.jpg

And he ruins the neighborhood with his coolness..... LOL

I jump into the Ghia and drive over to the Drippers meet at BurgerTown hoping for the magic of Nick's to return to SoCal.... But most everybody must of missed that memo as there was only about 15 VW's there. Maybe the DKK thing all day killed this meet...... But what was there was really nice, I should of taken more pictures

https://i.imgur.com/IiufmJY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zsl6ZC6.jpg

So, everybody that was there from the campout had to be back by 8 as the gates were locked at that time... I did my best to do a nice leave, had some sideways action going and headed back to CMS... found out my headlight switch is going bad as I had no dash or tail lights for the 9 mile return trip in the dark... also Had a nice fog following me as I had sucked a valve cover gasket at some point too (wonder when that was????)

When I got back, the party was going full blast at numerous locations, everybody seemed to have a full bar and the World Series going..... after visiting several of the parties I stumbled back to my MH and proceeded to nose into my pillow and ignore the several occasions of pounding at the door to get me to come out to play some more... that is until someone drove an uncorked VW by at 7 AM... I could of killed them, if I could of lifted my head off the pillow....

But by now the gates were open, people were POURING in, and there wasn't any more sleeping to be had.... Great turn out! The Car show area was 90% full by the time I got to functioning, so I said screw it and kept my oil leaking pig in my pit.... Soon all the Red Baron crew started showing up and I almost didn't save enough area for everyone to park.... The baron was running real good and Eric took it all the way to the finals until a oil filter took a poop and started leaking as he was staging and he had to shut off giving the win to Racing' Jason who was running real strong with his Pro Turbo car (5.70's)....

Here's a picture of the area in front of my MH between rounds... remember just how empty it was??? not now, the pits almost went all the way back to the scales!!!!

https://i.imgur.com/IdnB1lR.jpg

Very cool to see the Ghia making the rounds to car shows and track events! If you ever come to one around Prescott, AZ let us know!

Damn -- -- It's been like FOREVER since I've been on here ... Some of you have missed me, Some of you haven't LOL

Well, Here's the short story.... Last October I turned 65 and I had been dragging my feet at retiring .... I had hooked with a good company and really was enjoying the type of jobs they were doing and the work I was getting to do. Well, on February 1st, the wife insisted that we list the house and try selling it again (last time things didn't go very good). I, in my infinite wisdom and thinking, thought that it would be the same stuff all over again. NOT, we had 4 full price offers the first weekend..... Damn, we're gonna have to move and do it in 21 days.....

Again didn't think this thing through very much.... We had been living in this house for over 27 years and you can guess all the stuff I had collected during that period of time. So, why worry, I'll go to work and let my wife pack it all up.... Can you guess where this is going LOL. Needless to say I gave my 2 weeks notice and all the while, every waking moment was spent packing and moving stuff into storage.... Did I mention we didn't have any place to go to yet???? Nope, not a clue where we were gonna end up....

So, on the very last weekend we were to own the house, I called hire-a-mover and had 3 guys move most of the big stuff from the house and into 3000 cubic feet of storage and some of the essentials into the motorhome... We moved to the local regional park (about a mile from the house) and then sat there trying to figure out what was next..... can you guys tell I wasn't really happy about moving out of the house???

Anyway, we decided to head towards Missouri where I had about a million relatives and we had been there a ton of times on vacation. Oh Chit, what about the Ghia, There was no more spaces left at the storage, and the wife told me I wasn't gonna spend $250 a month on space rental just to put that dumb car inside somewhere. ... .. ... So it got loaded onto the open car trailer and wrapped with 2 car covers, some blue traps and then bungee'd wrapped and hoping it would survive out in the open at a friends lot....

https://i.imgur.com/GVgU883.jpg

So, we put the Flex on a car dolly and packed up the MH and off the MO we went...... Holy Crap was it cold in March in Mo... and it wasn't really that cold by Mo standards 12 degrees (f) a few nights, 22 a lot of nights, and a healthy dose of snow on occassion... LOL ------- Please notice all the Marble size hail on the ground from an overnight storm -- IT WAS LOUD IN THE MOTORHOME!!!!

https://i.imgur.com/1YGCj36.jpg

Anyway, we started looking for a house and of course what the wife was wanting and what I was wanting were in two different parking lots on opposite coasts of the continent LOL.... But after 2 months of full time looking at stuff in our price range, she decided on this house in Monett MO....

https://i.imgur.com/wNF37Ny.jpg

Not a bad little place 1700 sq ft upstairs and 900 sq ft in the finished basement.... really funky designed thing, but the wife wanted it so.. .. you know the story, Happy wife blah blah blah...

It did have this detached little 2 car garage where 1/2 of it was set up as a paint booth and a nice covered RV parking thing that was about 15' too short for my Motorhome,,, but....

https://i.imgur.com/TCJmyvO.jpg

The house is sitting on 5 (20200 sq meters) acres of land, of which 3.5 acres are of grass which needs mowing -- -- Damn... So I ended up buying a lawnmower that cost more than the first 5 cars I owned combined!!!! Damn nice lawnmower if you ask me, even has a cup holder if your worrying about that... OH yeah it did also have this other little building sitting on the property.....

https://i.imgur.com/YGw3pb4.jpg

Something about a 40' x 60' (223 sq meter) shop building that just brings tears to a man's eye!!!!!!!

Well, the place had some issues, so we bought it in "as-is" condition and took possession the first week in March and 2 days later were flying to Cali to get the Ghia, .. oh, and the rest of the stuff...

We hired the same movers to take all the stuff out of storage and put it into a 26' Penske rental truck -- about half way through this it became apparent that one truck was not going to be enough, so I got another one and filled that one up too... I then hooked the car trailer up to the 26 footer and we prepared for the second part of adventure.....

https://i.imgur.com/lwecbum.jpg

Man, there was a ton of things that happened on the trip back to Mo which would fill another blog. but I won't bore you with here. but we made it right before Memorial Day weekend, put the Ghia in the 40x60 and it sure looked awfull lonely in there with my multi million dollar mower, I need some more stuff don't you think????

https://i.imgur.com/rnbEYgd.jpg

Anyway, it's taken me 2 weeks to get around to unpacking all my office stuff and setting up my computer, so I could give you a update... Aren't you glad you had all this extra time to spend reading this LOL Love you guys!!!!

Took the Ghia to a car show in Joplin MO Thursday night -- --

https://i.imgur.com/rB7kL4T.jpg

First car show I ever went to that a relative stock 2013 Camaro won best car …..

So I guess I shouldn't of been surprised when I won this …. But I was amused, very amused …... LOL

https://i.imgur.com/wULMkqA.jpg

Thought I'd give you a warning that the end of the world is coming soon!!!!!!!

This Died in the wool Ford Dude bought a Chevy Truck today...……………………………………..




Thought I'd let that sink in a few moments..... It must be the end of time LOL..



I've been looking for a good/nice used 4x4 truck for a few months now and today the wife wanted to go to an estate sale down in West Branson.... So I took her, and lo and behold, here was this CHEVY truck for sale as part of the estate... It's a 2011, always garaged Z71 Silverado with,,, get this,,, 27K miles on it... The price was right so I kicked a few moths out of the wallet and bought it.... too many scratches on the bed, but I'll make do..... LOL

https://i.imgur.com/DXQtjd0.jpg