should I change headlight buckets

[weldvair]

I have noticed that some change the headlight buckets in their KG's.
It looks like thy are using VW types.

What are the pros & cons of doing this........Don

[Piledriver]

Do you mean the early style T1 headlights with the angled cover lenses?

It looks good on a Ghia, and it makes for a good repair section on a commonly rusted area.

[Marc]

Do you realize that you've posted this topic three times? You can delete the other two threads if you get to it before anyone responds on them, otherwise only the forum moderator will be able to clean up after you.

Your 'Ghia will never have any collector value based upon originality so there's no disincentive to alter it further, so it's mostly a matter of personal taste.
You should be aware, though, that pre`67 headlight buckets in good condition are getting harder to find every day - I ended up needing to buy new reproductions for my car.

[weldvair]

Any pictures of this conversion.....Don

[Piledriver]

Here's one:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/ ... CN0184.jpg

There is a car or three out there with Mercedes headlights grafted in as well, can't find the picture, but a black convertible with the merc headlights was on the cover of a US VW mag, not sure if it was VW Trends or HotVWs.

[crazy tarzan]

The new mini cooper lights have been done as well, but I like the look of the original bug/porsche best.

Couple cars with the mini-cooper lights:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=305009

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3020934/1 ... mann-ghia/

Whole thread on another site, has multiple pics of bug/porsche and a pic of the black ghia pile mentioned:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ?p=4263093

[LouieJ99]

My Ghia had the typical rust through on the top of the fenders right at the headlights. I had seen the early Type 1 headlight conversion and decided to go that route. I think the slanted back headlights make the Ghia look better. I obtained a set of early Bug fenders and trimmed the bucket out with a jigsaw. Trial and error trimming of the bucket and the fender eventually gave me satisfactory fit and was then welded in place.
One think that makes the conversion look even cooler is the set of repro Porsche flutted lenses I found on eBay.
I did my conversion 10+ years ago so locating a good set of pre '66 Bug fenders that you want to cut apart might be difficult.

[carl4x4]

Not a big fan of the old sloping beetle lights on a Ghia myself, but probably the best one I've seen is this 74 on thesamba using old 912/911 lights somehow suits it better.

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/407655.jpg

[LouieJ99]

Thats what mine looks like with the Porsche lenses I mentioned in my post.

[weldvair]

......for those of you that have changed headlights did you have the fender metal surround
to do it?

Don

[crazy tarzan]

You can do it with the metal surround--especially if you don't have any metal left on the ghia--about 1.5-2" of metal from the donating bug fender surrounding the bucket. Many do it with just the bucket and you use the excess metal from the ghia to form around the bucket.

[gaurdsredKG]

My '71 Ghia restoration has reached the point that it needs an upgrade (with the help of some front end damage). I've decided to do the pre '67 type 1 headlight conversion, but I'm wondering if I need to get some beetle fenders to get the actual headlight buckets. I bought some repro headlights and I'm hoping someone has some tips outside of dropping $500 on a pair of fenders to butcher.

[Piledriver]

You don't need or really even want new fenders to hack up...

og is best, even if its quite beat up, you just need the headlight buckets and a couple inches of surrounding metal.
You used to be able to get that area as a repair part.