Grelland's Ghia

[Grelland]

You ever heard the saying measure twice, cut once... ?

I was trying to fit the quarter panel the other day, and no matter how I tried, the holes in the inner fender and the outer skin, for the rear torsion bar, simply would not line up...

So I did this:

[Grelland]

and then this:

[Grelland]

NOW the holes line up, and I will also probably be able to pull the torsion tubes out through the hole

I also trimmed the wheel arch and quarter panel, and treated the inside with some anti-rust stuff before it is time to finish up this fender all togehther:

[Grelland]

After seeing all the bugs at SCC last weekend, I thought I better hurry up in order to at least double the amount of Ghias next year, so I got out of my coach tonight and got the quarter panel mounted.

See, shubee2, I told you I would have that done tonight ;-)

[Grelland]

This turned out to be a real PITA, as the shape of the foremost part did in no way fit the shape of the door, so I had to cut some wedges and make it fit...

Just remains to mount the wheel arch now, and this corner is about done :-)

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

After seeing all the bugs at SCC last weekend, I thought I better hurry up in order to at least double tyhe amount of Ghias next year, so I got out of my coach tonight and got the quarter panel mountet.

See, shubee2, I told you I would have that done tonight ;-)

LOL Good Job Roy Way to Go!! Get-R-Done

[Grelland]

And now the wheelarch is mounted:

[Grelland]

But I was somewhat over-eager on the MIG, and the entire fender ended up with a large dent after I heard a loud popping noise...

Ah-well one of my best friends is a panel-beater, so I guess I have to invite him over one evening...

[Grelland]

Ok on to somehing nicer.

I was browsing through my pictures the other nigth, and it seems that my wife not only took care of the hot-dogs stand at the local show I set up a few weeks ago; she also snuck around with my camera, and here's a couple of the images she produced:

[Grelland]

progress is slow, but not completely stopped...

So I have finished welding up the rear fender, and that is a milestone!

Then I started to prepare for doing the final mounting of the front fender, and the first thing I noticed was that the shape of the lower part of the fender that meet the heater channel, pointed inwards compared to the heater channel, so I cut of the lower part of the fender again, and on the second pic you can see what I mean:

[Grelland]

Part of the problem is that the curvature of the repro fender part does not match the curvature of the repro heater channel. I dont know which is correct...

But in order to remedy that, I made some cuts to the lip in the wheel opening, and made this part fit the curvature of the heater channel:

[Grelland]

Then I made a couple of brackets to mount the splash guards to:

[Grelland]

And once the fit of the lower part of the fender was getting ok, I realized that the gap to the front side of the door was not right, so I made some cuts there also, in order to rectify that.

You just got to love repro parts (they weren't even cheap...)

Here you can also see that sandblasting the door revealed some more work...

[Grelland]

Then I made sure the gap at the rear end of the door was good, by making a cut along the gap, and welding in a wedge. It turned out ok:

[Grelland]

I am planning on using body solder to straighten out the imperfections after all the welding and cutting, and I am afraid I have to prepare for a significant weight gain to the poor Ghia before it is done.

I just have to compensate for that by building an even bigger engine, so I have started collecting parts for a 2276 to replace the 1835 EFI engine that I am working on at the moment.

So this car will keep me warm and busy through this winter too, I guess...

Stay tuned

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Looking Good Roy How Many Hours in it now??

[Grelland]

I have no idea how many hours I have put into this car, and I am not that interested in that either, as I do this for two purposes: Build a car to have fun in, and have fun while building it :-)

Today I actually managed to put in a few hours during the day, and I started by mounting, priming and applying seam sealer to the mounting brackets for the splash guards:

[Grelland]

Then I fixed the gap towards the door. I still need some adjustment before I weld this up

[Grelland]

Then I made sure the lower part of the front fender lined up with the heater channel, and then mounted the rest of the fender, and here you can see that I welded this part on wrong the first time, as I need to add some 10mm more steel here: 

[Grelland]

and then the alignment is vastly improved

[Grelland]

In between I aslo made myself some clips to hold the panels as I do butt-welding. I have seen these for sale, but it took me about 15 min to make these out of various stuff I had lying aroung.

I need these for when I am to weld the front febder back on, as I dont have wise-grips that are long enough...

[Grelland]

ok so I worked a few hours this weekend, but I had to stop last night and head for the ER after testing the sharpness of the angle grinder blade...

[Grelland]

But before that little incident, I managet to cut out the dash in order to prepare for mounting my period correct one. Lots of air...

[Grelland]

An added bonus is that the access to the back side of the inner fenders is improved, so that I can clean up this area and grind the welds that were done from the outside.

[Grelland]

and here you can see how I used my new clips for the final trial mounting of the front fender. It is all coming together now :-)

[Neil Davies]

I've got a set of those clamps - absolutely superb things! I love 'em!

[Grelland]

Progress is slow these days, work is taking too much time 

But after my finger grew back together I managed to get a few things done.

First some cleaning up of welds behind the dash:

[Grelland]

Good to know that this area that will NEVER be visible again is looking good....

Then I cleaned up the area around where the dogleg meets the firewall:

[Grelland]

Then I cleaned up some old welds in the rear inner fender, and also trial mounted the shelf next to the rear seat, to verify the fit:

[Grelland]

I also removed all the cross-bars internally in the car, since the heater channels are now securely fastened, and the car is supposed to have gained its old rigidity back: