The Plan

For as long as I can remember, this car of mine has been made fun of for one fact. Its slow as hell. I cant fault that though, the car was never really intended for speed, granted the Ghia was designed to look like a sports car, but have the reliability and economy of the Beetle. My car came stock with 60hp, which is probably more like 53 hp. Factor in the loss due to the tranny and we are looking at 40 hp at the wheel. Its pretty anemic but there are ways to get around that. Most people like to build engines, the design is straight forward and the block can be bored out so new pistons can be slipped in. The most comon is a 1915 engine which gives good torque and can last around 50-75k miles before a rebuild is needed. Fuel management will need to be upgraded though. Then guys stroke them and can build up to a 2332cc engine. This thing is huge for a VW engine and make around 150-170hp but its not cheap. A good well built 2332 engine that will last 50k miles cost around 3k low side and 5k.


Then there is the type 4 engine. This came on some late model buses and and late model vws. Type 4 engines are stronger, but there is a lot of modification that has to be done oil cooling wise and transmission wise. Type 4 engines are very expensive to certain degrees and the best builder is name Jake Raby. He has done some stuff with these engines that is amazing. I have seen a type 4 engine run to 9 grand and dig into concrete with its tires. They are awesome engines but they are just to expensive to be justified at this point.


And then there are turbos. Turbos for these engines are pretty straight forward. There is a company called CB performance which sells complete kits for around 3.5k. Looking back my car would be turboed by now if I had gone this route. But I decided to go the hard way and build a kit myself. It is more expensive to do it the way Im doing it, but I wanted to put some trick parts on myself, something that was tasteful and combined the parts that I wanted, not just what CB sells. The only real benefit to the cb system is that it has fuel injection. Id like to add that at a later point in time.





I decided to go turbo because I like the idea of being able to switch parts over to another engine externally and still get mounds of hp out of it. So lets get to the parts.


So Im not going to be able to tell about everything right about now, but these are prelimiary parts, some for boost control and what not and or monitoring. They are important as I can see what my engine is going to be doing when under boost. Going to have to make this quick. I wish I had more time but I dont want to keep my friend up.


For boost pressure/control I decided to go with an HKS blow off valve. It is some what ricer I know, but I liked the design. Ive heard mixed reviews but I like the design, look, feel, fit and finish of the part. These get bad rap because of the atmosphere blow off which wistles quite loudly. I am going to recirculate it though so I get better response and not as much boost lag.







For monitoring the boost Ive decided to go with a set of gauges that are akin to the setup of Randalls car. http://garagehumble.blogspot.com Hes got a setup very similar to what Im going with. I liked his choice of gauges and placement and also which gauges he chose to use. I mirrored that to a certain extent. As you can see there is a boost gauge, oil temp and pressure gauge out of a 911sc , and an EGT gauge.






For direct boost controll I really liked greddys profec spec B unit. Next to it you can see an AEM Uego AFR unit. I was going to include these with the gauges above, but I am going to relocate them to the glove box so they can be hidden. These parts are a little more pricey so I wanted to hide them, plus their design is not really in with the others.





Next is a Borla muffler, I liked their build quality but this one is a little questionable, got it from Summit racing, and it isnt stamped like it should be, but it will suffice. All stainless steel an a 3in diameter. It should be quite loud :) but I am hoping for a good deep resonating tone.





Lastly this is the hotside of the turbo. Im going to sandblast it and then ceramic coat it. Should be pretty potent with the coating and a good turbo blanket.



Ps, Randall convinced me on the 60% throw, and Im going for it.

Shifty Situation

Ok, so I got bit the other day, more like yesterday but whatever. I currently have a shifter in the car naturally, but it isnt really upgraded, more just a stock shifter with a bit of a chrome cross drilled sleeve and a nice shift knob.



snagged this off www.thesamba.com any ways, I have the formula vee shifter (upper right hand corner) which come to think of it, FV sold little nick knack things for vws to "dress them up" a bit. I see no performance out of this shifter and when I bought it at the time I wanted to see if it would. It doesnt :( . I dont know why this has irked me so much recently, I mean it worked at the time yeah, but now it just doesnt seem to fit what I want. This means that I can use it for my very one day though which is cool.

So... what to replace it with?



I was thinking Hurst, but Hursts are very much Mopar and non VW, I mean they did come out in the 60's and 70's but yeah, way more Mopar then Dub. And then I remembered Ive always liked and wanted a Gene Berg Shifter. These things are hella famous and very well made apparently. People swear by these guys and Im pretty sure put Berg on the map. So the question is, do I want a 40% or a 60% reduction in gear travel. Little undecided. I have found a standard 11" with a small curve 60% reduction throw for $225 shipped, then a 40% reduction that is 9.5" tall. I want to get the 60% as I can get 40% reduc out of a stock shifter with a $5 part. Decisions decisions.

some pictures of the two proposed options, but Im really thinking the 60% reduction.



40%







the 60%, notice the ball and shaft protrudes a bit more and requires a special plate that isnt shown that lifts the assembly up a bit giving the larger throw.









Im really feeling the 60% reduction though :(

Slipping away

Cant justify the title other than me listening to the song by Sum 41, but it fits at this point in time. Ive done a lot and its been a while sense posting so this should be a good long update.



Any way, on to the car.



The car officially runs now. Carburetors in general are a tricky thing, its not like you can plug up a lap top and viola, its tuned. These things take time and dedication nowadays. They are tuned by small pieces of brass which are hard to find and cost some money to be honest. As it sits right now, I find that my carbs are pretty set in. I am noticing a bit of a lean spot on initial acceleration but I can adjust that by going from a .40 pump jet to a .45 and that should make the car run perfectly.

Any way lets get to the pics.






Thats a big difference mind you. To the left is the single Solex 34-PICT3. This was the stock carb for my car and it worked ok I guess. I fried an engine over this single setup.







It was very fuel efficient, so much to the point that it really restricted the fuel delivery to the engine. And this is how it looked originally on the engine.





I didnt like the way it looked much less the way it performed. It was great for stock use but I needed something more. Enter the larger carb on the right, there are two of these arranged in a double barrel setup which means there are 4 barrels on this engine now. Now we are talking :).
These allow for each cylinder to be tuned to what they need which is important. Here they are on the engine now.






There is a considerably noticeable difference on the car now, this thing has a little more get up and go. I finally nailed down the tuning after a very long time and I like the way they run the car. Much more throttle response but if you drive it normally just like it used to be it acts much in the same manner. Notice the Alternator. I replaced the generator and Im also pleased with this upgrade, it feels more inline with the car and its goals and will be able to power some of the electronic goodies that will help it with a future mod... turbo :)



I am planning to turbo the car some time within this life time, but Im taking a long time to do it. The car is going to sport some nice turbo parts and controls. I will get to those at another date and post.



As for now I have decided to go away from the WRX turbo I picked up as it is not in the limits for my engine and will not boost as I want it to. Whats the point of a turbo if it only spools for 800 RPM? So I have decided to go with a Garrett T25 turbo.





This is the .8x A/R one but I have one that is a .49 A/R which will spool up a lot sooner, Im hoping at 2-2.5K RPMs. I dont want to get to much into the setup now, but that will come as I acquire more and more parts for this project. Im aiming for 150-160 crank horses which this car would be a BLAST to drive but we shall see.



Ive also been restoring/cleaning the hell out the visors.






The off white is clean of course and the brown one is one that has yet to receive treatment. That is a solid hour of cleaning via Windex and then re moisturizing with Vaseline which I have fallen in love with its ability to cheaply lubricate leathers, plastics, and vinyls. Infact I used it to treat my dash which looks amazing and factory fresh now. Keep in mind this shot was in the dark so its not a glamor shot
but you get the general idea.






I then spent some time one the wheel and got it looking a little bit better. First is how I originally got it and then after massaging.




So yeah, thats about it for now.

Prt II

almost done, just need fiber washers that are hopefully in the mail.

Dizzy Rebuild prt 1

Ok, so I got extremely bored this past night. I hate being bored and quite frankly I have no cable which means no internet. This means I get stir crazy and do random things. So I am getting underway with my turbo project and I am currently sporting this little number on my car






That is a Bosch 019 Screamer, granted this is not the one that I own, mines not as nice looking as that but I restored it and like it, good little distributor.


So Im going turbo and need a distributor that can advance under vacuum and retard under boost so I dont blow my motor up right? Enter the original dizzy a JFU4




No where near as cool, old, or attractive, but hey we can work with that right? Well I hope so. The 019s came in a special kit called the screamer kit. That means they got the cool paint job and what not and thats about it. I wanted to repaint mine but to color match that, I could just buy a better or new one and not have to worry about it. Enter my little ball of oil and grime. Wish I had a before picture but I dont :(. I deconstructed the darn thing and began cleaning.





You can see the body is pretty grimey. Had to take out the center assembly out and what not and cleaned all that crap out too. I actually enjoy doing this and making the thing work better. I also learn how things fit together better and all that jazz. I use toothpaste as its actually a pretty good polishing agent and takes care of most of the grime. I then hit it with Windex to get the excess paste off.





Here you can see the tooth paste, the weights, and then the centrifugal weights and their retaining clips, a ball bearing for the rotating of the advance (via boost/vac) which the 019 does not have. Getting there :)


Getting there




After cleaning and then reassembling parts, the parts then went in a bath of this stuff.



And here they are laid out finished and then onto the body.



The body needed some help so I cleaned it up and then painted it to make it a little more attractive.

This should also help keep it clean and gunk free as the aluminum seemed to attract grime and looked horrible.

Heres some home made drying, wont be able to really touch these until tomorrow most likely.



ohh



cant forget an advance chart :)



enough for one day, Im out

Why Outlaw?

I don't know, I feel funny to a certain extent in stating or proclaiming that my car is Outlaw style. But lets break the whole Outlaw thing down first. Outlaws are different and are not an "elite" status to me and the only way I have identified an Outlaw car is if they state that. It seems to me that Outlaw usually tends to focus on Porsches of all things... insert rolling eyes here. It also seems to be a less publicized trend or direction and seems to follow a more underground vibe, maybe thats because many people don't own Porsches. On an interesting note though, if you type in Outlaw into www.thesamba.com in their gallery search some interesting things come up. Ok well... looks like I found a lot more definition for what Outlaws are. They seem to almost be exclusively Porsches.... great. Any way they seem to focus on some key ideas but then again this is loosely stated.

DT: Just what is a outlaw 356? what makes it a outlaw?

MP: Bigger/modified engine
lowered/modified suspension
typically non stock paint color
typically non stock wheels
typically non stock interior
sometimes deleted bumpers, possibly nerf bars

I always think of a 356 hotrod…

GL: Usually not a stock or "period performance", but all out performance.

DT: so just about anything that the good Doctor didn't put on or take off when they were built makes them an outlaw.[Via TheSamba.com] So ok
Modified engine (check)
Lowered modified suspension (check) Non stock paint color (not stock for USDM Ghia's to my understanding, no German brocures showing paint availability) (check) Non stock wheels (Porsche 2.0l Fuchs (check))
Non stock interior (Got some goodies on the way hopefully (check)(check)
Deleted bumpers? (removed bumper guards for blades (check)
That seems to be the gist of it and it seems that they only thing that would sperate me is the fact that its not a Porsche... However it is also true that Karmann Ghias were called Whore's Porsche in that they were cheaper then a Porsche but looked similar. So I guess thats another thing going for it.

That's probably the thing I love most about the Outlaw 356. A vintage car that is actually fun to drive. One that takes advantage of more modern components to build that old meets new vibe I talked about initially. By the way, Gary and Family are still at it today. Check out EmoryMotorSports.com to see their work, some cool video and lots of Outlaw 356 pictures.
Their base idea though is to make them more fun and enjoyable to a certain extent, to be used, and to be driven. The result... art

This article pretty much nails it right here
http://www.porscheperfect.com/2009/02/20/outlaw-porsche-356/

Outlaws in general are clean. The car doesnt have perfect paint by any means which lends itself to a hoodride take.
Now on to some pictures, Im bored.

Trends, and directions...

When it comes to VWs in general, there are a lot of trends. I don't like the idea of trends in cars because it seems to group everyone's ride and style into a take a number off the shelf boxed played out mess. Whats cool and benefitial about this though is that there are some really interesting ways that people execute these trends in the car world. I actually enjoy looking at how people do things with their cars, their personal touch, and their taste. I find them interesting because every one executes the way they do things differently. Some people do them properly, some poorly, and some just take it to the next step of awesomeness. From this I like to study how they do things and why, is it more show and no go, flashy, subtle? I just get a kick how people project their way of viewing and doing things onto a car. But enough about that, what about my direction, my trend? Well lets break down some general VW Trends (I miss that magazine a lot).



Cal Look.


Cal Look is weird to me. Cal Looks are weird though and are one of the cars that I kind of grew up around, and by grew up, hung out with some of them at shows. This is Charles Overton of the BK Cruisers. Really awesome guy and I refer to him as "Paint God". Cal Looks from the BK guys are something else. Some say that they take out second mortgages to pay for these cars. They are clean and decked out. Usually the more accesories the better. Chrome is every where to an extent but it usually require good fresh paint, 2.0l+ engine, good manual gear box, sick interiors ranging from stock, to resto stock, to off the wall custom. They are something else to look at and are usually refered to as Trailer Queens. My dad made the mistake of lifting a decklid at BugJam with out permission and lets just say that several guys eyes opened and mouth droped when he did this including me. I appologized for my dad which in retrospect cracks me up. Bottom line, expensive, well done cars that are custom to an extent but almost perfect. I like these cars, but they make me nervous to walk around them. To me the cars are put on a pedestal and not meant to be driven. Why build something like that if you cant drive it because its worth too much or it takes to much time to clean for the next show? I could build one for fun if I had deep pockets, but to be honest I would have to have another car because I would have to drive something. These are beautiful cars, but loose cool points because they aren't driven ever except maybe 6 times a year or something. They scream trophy wife to me.



Germanlook


I like germanlooks to a certain extent, dont get me wrong. They have their place and they are cool looking... but I wouldn't build one. They usually focus on Porsche wheels, dechroming the car to a certain extent sometimes, big engines (type 4 to be specific), good handling, carbon fiber in places, racing seats, suspension setups, low profile tires, aftermarket mirrors, loud exhaust but performance oriented. I do have gripes about German looks though and that is that it is loosely defined as there are so many diferent things that could be done to make a "germanlook" car. German look is also very closely related with Mulholand look. Get ready for this one ;)


Both of these in a sense could be considered Germanlook. It seems Mulholland is a lot more geared to the 80's Porsche styling though and body kits. I do not understand this but what ever. To me though, Germanlook seems to be more focused with subtle Porsche ques while Mulholland is 80's/90's mullet style who ran into a little money and spent most of the money on coke and then blew what little he had left into his vw but ricer style... there I said it. My problems with Germanlook is that it screams "Im trying to be a Porsche but Im still a VW". Its to much of an identity crisis for me to like it. If I wanted a Porsche look, Ill buy a porsche and be happy with it. Hell of these cars that are shown, with the amount of money invested, they could have just bought a Porsche and be done with it. I am not knocking the Germanlook style, its just not my cup of Kraut. Germanlook updates the car to current trends and makes something old new, but differently, I cant place a finger on it. Germanlooks also tend to focus on cars from 67 to 78 so my car could be a part of this. I have been told to put Turbo wheels on my ghia... Im not going to do that. New wheels dont fit well on vws, they just dont, and from a design standpoint are too flashy and take away from the original design, display, and shape of the car. My Ghia is not a Germanlook by my standards. Its close, and I agree with calling a spade a spade, but Im sorry, just because a car is performance and handling based does not qualify it for Germanlook status. So dont tell me to put porsche turbo twists on my car and we will be straight. Ohh, and Germanlooks require good paint for the most part, no patina, nothing.



Resto Custom

These bug me too. Ive seen some cool ones, but more likely than not, they bug me. These to me is where the person with the car had a really weird direction for the car and couldn't place it into a style and had some money and just said blam... here it is. I hate the term resto custom, I really do. Resto customs to me are like... I cant really put my finger on it, but is the car form of Kitsch.



Kitsch (/kɪtʃ/) is the German and Yiddish word denoting art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art. The term kitsch was a response to the 19th century art whose aesthetics convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama, hence, kitsch art is closely associated with sentimental art.



I hate Kitsch. Let me find some examples.

This one fits the bill perfectly and makes me want to Gag, and not just because I am somewhat of an Auburn fan... sweet baby Jebus what were you thinking.


This thing is hideous, I mean really, I really cant say more about it. When the term resto custom comes up in my mind, custom is what stands out in my mind, and it isnt good. While the cars fit the taste of the owner (I love watching people trying to sell these things, they think its cool and rare and worth 20x more then their stock version, but in realitiy they are worth less then the standard or what they started with.) thats about all it does for me.



Hoodride / Rat Rod
Theres a lot of cars that could be posted here, but Ill have to choose one.


You get the idea. These guys usually focus on slamming their ride, keeping OG stuff on hand, accesories, old bumper stickers, rust, and old OG or faux logos. The lower the better. The crustier and rustier the better. These cars are cool because each one is different due to their owners style and even the cars "paint scheme or lack thereof" due to the weathering process. Some of these cars can even be restored to look this way. These guys seem to pride themselves in going against the purest and making the car cool.



Purist / Stocker / Stock Restoration

This guy is good, it looks like its from the 50's right? Check out that 90 Ford truck ehh? Stockers/purists are ok guys. The focus on making a show car like it just rolled off the line. They are obsessed with period correctness, sometimes droping 1000s on gauges, period steering wheels, even stock mufflers. Quite frankly if I want to see a 100% correct stocker, Id like to go to a meuseum to check that stuff out. Theres a lot of money in this and people will pay big bucks for good restoration jobs. Matching numbers... all that jazz. I respect it but its very bland to me, because once you have seen one, you have seen them all. These people are also GREAT at hording parts. They have good taste for sure, but some have collections of rare parts just to have and have them in display cases. Quite frankly that pisses me off because of the whole with holding rare parts deal. If you are going to use them, awesome, more power too you. But honestly, do you really need 5 sets of complete motometer insturment cluster complete with gauges so you can sell each one at $2500 a pop? Come on man. Purists annoy me as they are usually the first to point out what is wrong with your car and why its stupid or why you could have done better. They are also usually old me too. The Ghia pictured is a very beautiful example, but its bland to me, there is no soul to that car other than being stock. If he likes it like that awesome, but I like personality in cars.



I will have to cover Outlaw tomorrow as the library is closing

But this is a pretty consice breakdown so there you have it. If you agree, awesome, if you don't explain why, Im all about learning.

Wish I could have covered outlaw :( ohh well, something to keep me busy tomorrow :)