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Fiatdude wrote:Dude --- That is gonna be a huge can of worms --- fly out here to Cali and buy this one and drive it home -- save yourself a TON of money and get a free trip to Cali -- -- there are a ton of these on Craigslist and you won't be disappointed -- AND NO RUST

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4077144625.html

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/4106594753.html

The ghia in Cali is not one that has been in the family fforever

Fiatdude wrote:Dude --- That is gonna be a huge can of worms --- fly out here to Cali and buy this one and drive it home -- save yourself a TON of money and get a free trip to Cali -- -- there are a ton of these on Craigslist and you won't be disappointed -- AND NO RUST

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4077144625.html

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/4106594753.html

Might be a money saver if only used for OG replacement panels, depending on how bad your rot is.

Another option would be put the new body on your old pan... and just fix the pan.

helowrench wrote:The ghia in Cali is not one that has been in the family fforever

This man wins the prize.

I applaud your desire --- I just know of a lot of projects that get buried because of their required scope to finish them ---

A car can be your Dad's car or a car in honor of your Dad -- -- pull the steering wheel off (or whatever you want) and put in the new car

rust is just a killer to me (and to most people that can't do body work), just too much work and time to get it done -- -- and you can have a car done in half the budget and 1/100 of the time your gonna have redoing that car

What is this I read in the old VW ads about fine English pewter work on the body of the Ghia? Am I going to run into surprises when I start stripping this?

Ghia's have lead work on some of the seams--helped smooth out the body. I've repaired lead, and nasty rust, and even fabbed new panels for a ghia (university had a hot rod degree with all the cool tools!), rust repair is a pain, but not as bad as some make it out to be if you can weld/grind/cut/do body work.

We were taught in our classes that a true metal finishing would require no, or barely there, filler. Lead was fun to work with--make sure you have enough flux when you try and do it. If you strip to bare metal you will be able to see where there is lead--looks a bit different than the surrounding. Wear a respirator, lead dust is known to the state of California to cause cancer (along with about everything else in California).

But, there are very few cars I wouldn't consider purchasing knowing I was going to fix all the rust.

Thank God I don't live in California.

Is the lead the darker spots I'm seeing?

Yes-if I remember right. Should be in spots where things were joined, and around edges like the doors, the roof seams etc. It just looks slightly different in color from the rest of the metal.

Can anyone tell me if this is a bad idea. I'm removing the front and rear glass. The rubber seals are already dry, cracked and/or painted on, so I had planned on replacing them, along with all the rubber, anyway.

In an attempt to not break the glass, would it be useful to take a razor cutter and "surgically" remove it from the seals?

If you can get the glass out with the seals on, just remove them after. If not--try trimming it as best you can, just use some judgement to not scratch the glass with a razor--not super easy to do but possible if you don't pay attention.

I'm more worried about getting the glass out without breaking it.

Always cut the seal! I use the inside and try to keep as much of the rubber on the outside so I can use it as a cushion for storage and leave enough to use as a cap on the body.

Yup.........cut the inside off and try to keep the seal around the glass for storage.

Tonight, I was looking at these front end suspension wrecking ram rod pipes sticking out of the front of my car. I'm assuming in VW's haste to make this car street legal, this was their quick fix.

It's looking to me that I'm going to have to cut them out. I figure this will make removing the body easier, although I guess it could just be pushed forward over the pipes. I plan to remove their ugliness anyway, so am I correct with the cutting?

yup