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First outing of year

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 9:37 am
by dustrat
Nice day on Sunday so decided to go for run. Every thing went well and ended up at Blyth on the north east coast of England where I live. There was going to be a good meeting of dubs from around the area there but only about a dozen turned up. Pity as the weather was great. The weather being great it was hard to find a parking space . The cherry on the cake being that I met on old friend there that I hadn't seen for 35 years.All in all covered about 70miles so battery is well charged. :D
Robert
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Re: First outing of year

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:49 am
by FJCamper
Hi Dustrat,

Very sharp looking Ghia you have there. I am partial to the VW-Porsche Irish Green paint.

In the States, we stopped getting two-tone Ghia's long ago, is your roof color original? I'm guessing you have a '72?

Also, just a curious tech question. Is your Ghia rear suspension a four-joint IRS, or like VW did with the 113 cars, still a swing axle?

FJC

Re: First outing of year

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:27 pm
by dustrat
Hi FJC,
Thanks for your post about my Ghia.Your nearly right only 1 year out,73. She left factory and was exported direct to Japan, hence RHD.The colour when built was Pearl White but the last of 4 owners in Japan was in process of converting her to a drag racer and built a big engine with 44 IDF's and painted her Mat Black with a roller. I did a full body off restoration and whilst body was off decided to paint Irish Green with White roof . Not quite sure what VW white , but she looks OK. I had to renew all mechanics ie brakes, suspension,steering, strip the engine down as well as complete interior The engine had not been put together properly and because of cost of specialist engine parts sold the engine to a friend of mine who does drag race Ghia's and built my self a 1641 cc which does what I need.It took me 4 1/2 years to complete ( got most of parts from KGPR, even with import duty and Fedex it was cheaper than buying parts in UK ) but worth it. I was going to change gearbox as it is very high geared but decided to keep it. A friend has a FF gearbox but mine is higher geared. At 70 mph I'm just under 3000 revs. Good on fuel but can not run at 30 mph in town in top gear.She's swing axle.Bit of an odd ball as she is US spec but with out side marker lights. I had to change head lamp units so I could put side lights inside units.
Robert

Re: First outing of year

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 4:57 pm
by FJCamper
Hi Robert,

If you'll change to 60-series tires you'll achieve the same effect as a lower final drive. But your speedo will also be off!

I'm presuming you have a working Z-bar? Or did the Japanese owner remove that?

FJC

Re: First outing of year

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:33 pm
by dustrat
Z bar fitted and checked speed with GPS. Will check tire profile tomorrow and let you know
Robert