ghia resto.

airnudie · Post by **airnudie** » Sun Feb 10, 2002 9:55 pm

I am getting ready to restore a 67 ghia. I have a few questions that maybe someone could answer. 1)What is the widest tire / weel you can fit under a stock ghia. 2) What kind of seats have people installed and, how do they fit?

Thanks in advance

genrex · Post by **genrex** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 4:07 am

A few years ago, a '68 Ghia was featured in Hot VWs - it was a resto-custom (stock body, but modified suspension and engine). As with '67s, the '68s had long axles in the rear, but the Ghia in Hot VWs had earlier short axles, which allowed the use of 185/70 x 15" tires in the rear, on 8-spoke Empi-style 15 x 5 1/2" wheels. The front of that Ghia was lowered a little, and had 145 x 15" tires. I saw that car in person, and it was a beautiful set-up! Anyway, 185's are probably as wide as you can go in the rear, and that's only with short axles, and wheels like that. By the way, 165's are as wide as you can go on stock 4 1/2" wheels.

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 6:32 am

Well Genrex, you are a little off on your assumptions. I personally had 195/60-15's on standard chromies on my '73 (with the long axles) w/ almost no rubbing after trimming a 1/4" off the inside rear trailing fender lip. You are right though about not wanting to go w/ much wider than 165's or 185's on stock 4.5" rims.

Airnudie - search through this forum (or simply browse on down) and you will see there have been multiple discussions on both wheel/tire combo's and seat options. There are folks here that have fit 17x7's or larger under stock fenders after some careful planning about the offsets.

As far as seats, you can pretty much put anything in there you come across with a little creativity and a little bit of mounting fabrications, I personally have seen that Honda Civic or Prelude, or Mazda Miata seats fit very well and proportionately but.....you can put anything in you want.

Travis

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genrex · Post by **genrex** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:01 pm

I guess it depends what kind of restoration or resto-custom he wants to do. For many people, tweaking the rear fenders is okay.. I've seen that even on Show Ghias!

I agree with your advice, Travis.

16" and 17" wheels look kinda out of character with a Ghia, though.

[This message has been edited by genrex (edited 02-12-2002).]

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:27 pm

You are right, re-reading, didn't mean to come off abrasive....I also made an assumption (yeah I know what they say about assuming things

)from his post that he wasn't wishing to have his car stock (the request for diff. wheel/tire & the req. for seats) but I did pass by the idea of resto-custom so I apologize.

I have come (as I think many folks have) to accept "just a little rubbing" (being on total lock u-turns or full tilt bumps in the road) as a consequence to wanting wider tires on my car but I understand some people wouldn't be very happy about that.

It is possible from my reading here though to get much larger wheels w/ wider tires than I was running under our fenders with NO rubbing by finding wheels with an offset further toward the outer rim of the wheel than stock (which many Porsche rims apparently are)

Travis

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genrex · Post by **genrex** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 3:12 am

I like your 195/60's.

For seats, I've found that the bottom cushion is a big factor in comfort.. it can be too long, or too thin, or too hard, or the angle is too steep, etc.

A good thing to do is take the measurements of the stock seats, for comparison purposes. Aftermarket seats with moveable seat-backs are expensive; seats from a wrecking yard are numerous and cheaper, but mounting them so they're low - like Ghia seats - might take some doing.

[This message has been edited by genrex (edited 02-12-2002).]

Lee Appleby · Post by **Lee Appleby** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 5:49 am

I will just let you know what I have fitted in the way of seats to by 70's Ghia. I have used early Porsche 911 seats. To fit these I have removed all the porsche mounting mechansim from the seats then I have cut the bottom steel mounting frame of the old seats, this still contains the seat adjustment and sliding rails and welded mounting brackets to bolt on to the bottom of the Porsche seats, (you will destroy the stock seats in do
ing this). By doing this you don't have to modify the floorpan and the seats fit very low. Second hand Porsche seats are available for approx £100 in the UK.

airnudie · Post by **airnudie** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 8:18 pm

Thanks for all the replies. Im sure I will be asking more questions later. I think I will leave the car somewhat stock for re-sale but, I will want the car to be fun to drive. Putting the rice cars to shame at the local autocross would be great.:-\

Airnudie

genrex · Post by **genrex** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 11:46 pm

Re: the rear suspension - I know this is very controversial to say, but I've heard that swing-axle VWs can use the anti-sway bar that's designed for use on IRS VWs.

I've talked with some older VW people about this, and 2 of them said that they used the old Bugpack yellow 7/8" anti-sway bar on their swing-axle street VWs, and the only complaint that they had is that it's stiff. We discussed the mounting points, and the mounting points are on the spring-plate, just as they are on an IRS. I know this application is now very controversial, and I wonder why. It seems like it would be a big help in auto-cross..

KillerKarmann · Post by **KillerKarmann** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 1:23 am

I am running Pirelli HP 215x65x15 tires on the rear of my 71 Ghia and have no issues with rubbing at all. Even with a lowered stance, no problem. The wheels are original Rivieras that measure 15x5.5 all around and have an offset equal to Fuchs alloys. Tires DO NOT stick out nor do they come close to the fender lip. It looks right. IRS rear with stock arms.