The Karmann Ghia thread

[Dan McCosh]

Yep, I drove a 356 Super 95. Went from interesting to frightening in very short order. Looked at a 911S that needed a bit of body work. Then found the duff exhaust system was more than I would have paid for the car. Just as well I missed on that, likely it would have got me once to often.

Drifting, I really do not get the macho bit with bad handling cars, like the Porsche. 'You have to be a great driver to handle one' Huh? How about giving a car progressive handling and good balance. At least Porsche did it with the mid engined cars, like the 904 and the current Boxter, while using electronics to tame the old school ones.

On reliability, The AA in UK said 'a while back' that VW figured as often in their call outs as other marks, pro rata on numbers on the road.

I once had a ride with a Porsche factory driver in a then-new turbo Carrera equipped with a new ESC system intended to compensate for excessive oversteer. He was muttering and swearing as he alternated between stomping on the brake and accelerator in a high-speed corner, attempting to get the rear end loose. Just didn't seem right without unpredictable oversteer. Might add that Nader's "Unsafe at any speed" spent a lot of time panning the Beetle.

[Ted Hoppe]

Cool as they are, they are: Maybe unsafe at any speed.



They lack modern safety equipment we take for granted and rarely upgraded that addresses driver and road errors. I'll stick to motorbikes thank you.

[Figment]

While I wholeheartedly agree that old cars are several orders of magnitude less safe than modern cars, that particular crash had little to do with the design of the vehicle and a lot more to with her being pressured to drive a prop-car (the seat wasn't even bolted down FFS) down an unpaved lane fast enough to make her hair blow around for the camera.

[leikec]

Get off a freeway in the rain onto a decreasing radius exit ramp in a swing axle, rear engined car. Make sure you go a little too fast for the conditions.

Believe me—there’s no better rough-and-ready education for understanding the dynamics of driving that type of car.

Jeff C

[Canoeyawl]

Driveability hasn't been a problem. I need to drive it differently than I did with the old engine, but it's only a neckbreaker when I want it to be.
Cylinder head temperature is a bit excessive if I'm driving hard for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm going to back the timing off by a few degrees, just to give myself some margin for error.

Retarding the timing will likely raise the cylinder head temperature...
Changing the fuel mixture might give better results

[Breakaway]

Get off a freeway in the rain onto a decreasing radius exit ramp in a swing axle, rear engined car. Make sure you go a little too fast for the conditions.

Believe me—there’s no better rough-and-ready education for understanding the dynamics of driving that type of car.

Jeff C

Boy, was my Beetle fun spinning out in empty parking lots when snow was on the ground.

[hawkeye54]

Get off a freeway in the rain onto a decreasing radius exit ramp in a swing axle, rear engined car. Make sure you go a little too fast for the conditions.

Believe me—there’s no better rough-and-ready education for understanding the dynamics of driving that type of car.

Jeff C

Jeff, you 'got it in one' . Absolutely right on that scenario - I drove a bunch of Corvairs ( including Lakewoods ) and VW's in Chicago in winter in my younger days. The absolute worst was the metal decking of the Chicago Skyway Bridge and approaches in winter or wet weather



Rick

[Garret]

Jeff, you 'got it in one' . Absolutely right on that scenario - I drove a bunch of Corvairs ( including Lakewoods ) and VW's in Chicago in winter in my younger days. The absolute worst was the metal decking of the Chicago Skyway Bridge and approaches in winter or wet weather

Rick

Metal bridge decking is even worse for a motorcycle. The Merritt Parkway in CT used to have a long bridge that was metal grating (I guess so rain, snow etc. would just go through) - traversing that on a bike is just plain scary.

[leikec]

Metal bridge decking is even worse for a motorcycle. The Merritt Parkway in CT used to have a long bridge that was metal grating (I guess so rain, snow etc. would just go through) - traversing that on a bike is just plain scary.

Yep, I’ve seen a few riders tripped up by that. Yet another reason my first bike will have four wheels and be fitted with a Mazda Miata convertible top…

Jeff C

[Hugh MacD]

Metal bridge decking is even worse for a motorcycle. The Merritt Parkway in CT used to have a long bridge that was metal grating (I guess so rain, snow etc. would just go through) - traversing that on a bike is just plain scary.

Especially the metal grid decking that looks like you're riding over a cheese grater. I'd go out of my way to avoid those whenever I could!

[hawkeye54]

At the time I was writing about in post # 147, I was commuting between divorced warring parents in two adjoining states - I had a little Suzuki motorcycle, which I would ride in 'better weather' - crossing that bridge was a terror, particularly when I would glance in the mirror and see the front bumper of a Mack beer truck 6" back. I decided I needed crumple zones , and started doing the commute in a Corvair Lakewood.



Rick

[Figment]

Updates.

A few months ago she blew, kinda. Head studs pulled out of the magnesium engine case.
A new case was $2k I didn't feel like spending (because the new case would have begged for a stroker crank, which would have wanted different rods and pistons and camshaft and a whole different configuration that's more about torque than horsepower and it would've been $5k really) so I rebuilt* the original engine instead.

BUT THIS TIME I REMEMBERED TO PROPERLY REALIGN THE DECKLID LATCH WHILE THE ENGINE WAS OUT!!! (reference post #135)

She's alive again.

I dunno, I think I might be looking to unload this and pick up an early 90s Saab 900 turbo or something. If you see one with minimal rust...

[Garret]

Bummer on the engine. Any chance of helicoils in the old case?

As far as 900 Turbos go - my favorite was the mid-eighties 8 valve 4 door. 4 door as I thought they were the best looking, 8 valve because they got better fuel economy than the 16 valve while being fairly close on power. My last of this type was an 84 that got 36-38MPG with the cruise set @ 73.

Also remember that the early turbos as found on Saabs needed spool up & down for longevity. 10 sec. idling at start, same or a bit longer at stop. I always started, then did seat belts & vice-versa at shut down. Doing this the turbo would last 100K+ but not doing it could kill one in 30K.

[Nicholas Carey]

Shoot. Drop 150 horse into a ghia and go embarrass fools.

Peace,
Robert

Friend of mine in high school dropped a Porsche 914 engine into his VW Beetle. Performance was significantly improved, though it did get a little scary around 90 mph or so when the Beetle body's shape started to generate enough lift.

[Hugh MacD]

Had a friend with a Ghia with a 911 engine stuffed under it. Scary at any ​speed

[Figment]

Helicoils in the case... no. This is the second time those particular studs have pulled, it already had the largest case-savers installed. Just a soft spot in the casting. It happens.

I was under the impression that all turbos required that spool-up/cool-down protocol.

[Garret]

Helicoils in the case... no. This is the second time those particular studs have pulled, it already had the largest case-savers installed. Just a soft spot in the casting. It happens.

I was under the impression that all turbos required that spool-up/cool-down protocol.

Good idea on all turbos - but particularly important on the older ones.

[Paul Pless]

i think you should put a saab 93 motor in your vw

Updates.

A few months ago she blew, kinda. Head studs pulled out of the magnesium engine case.
A new case was $2k I didn't feel like spending (because the new case would have begged for a stroker crank, which would have wanted different rods and pistons and camshaft and a whole different configuration that's more about torque than horsepower and it would've been $5k really) so I rebuilt* the original engine instead.

BUT THIS TIME I REMEMBERED TO PROPERLY REALIGN THE DECKLID LATCH WHILE THE ENGINE WAS OUT!!! (reference post #135)

She's alive again.

I dunno, I think I might be looking to unload this and pick up an early 90s Saab 900 turbo or something. If you see one with minimal rust...

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

i think you should put a saab 93 motor in your vw

I think they all got used up in racing sidecars.

The Poles did something similar, but much less sophisticated.

[Henning 4148]

The Saab 2 ltr 16 valve fuel injection without turbo (around 120 hp) was about as bulletproof as an engine can be. And pretty good mileage.

[willin woodworks]

Metal bridge decking is even worse for a motorcycle. The Merritt Parkway in CT used to have a long bridge that was metal grating (I guess so rain, snow etc. would just go through) - traversing that on a bike is just plain scary.

Yeah the old Sikorsky bridge was tricky. It was on a grade as well. I remember skidding/sliding downhill in my 59 ford pickup in freezing rain.......had about as much traction as a steel ball bearing on a glass table top.

[John Meachen]

The Saab 2 ltr 16 valve fuel injection without turbo (around 120 hp) was about as bulletproof as an engine can be. And pretty good mileage.

I have a friend with one of those and has no plans to part with it-ever.Quite convinced that 300,000 miles is attainable with ordinary care and he might be right.

[Garret]

I have a friend with one of those and has no plans to part with it-ever.Quite convinced that 300,000 miles is attainable with ordinary care and he might be right.

A friend had an 85 900 Turbo that he rolled by sliding off his icy road when it had 210K miles. It rolled 270 degrees down a steep bank & he went back to his house, grabbed his truck & a couple of chains, pulled it back onto the tires, pulled it back up on the road, and then back to his house. While dinged up everywhere, all the doors still opened, all the glass was still good & windows & sunroof still worked fine - sunroof didn't even leak! He checked the oil & fired it up. Drove it for another 5K miles & sold it for a better looking 900.

[SharonM]

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[Nicholas Carey]

Button pushed.

[Joe (SoCal)]

Pushed

[Jimmy W]

Button pushed.

Probably won't matter. Button doesn't seem to work any longer.

[Joe (SoCal)]

Probably won't matter. Button doesn't seem to work any longer.

Yup this is now our new reality