VW Karmann Ghia

No.

Probably a needle in a haystack. You can go to your states DMV and they could trace where it has been in the state. However it might have been moved out of state or even the country, so this could be a long drawn out process, and could be expensive. I can't image DMV doing anything for free.

Same place as a carburetor equipped beetle, between the dizzy and gen/alternator stand.

The pulley on air cooled VW's has shims built into the design of the small pulley mounted to the generator. If you loosen the nut on the generator pulley, you will find that it splits apart, allowing shims to be placed between the pulley halves so as to effectively change the diameter of the pulley by changing the amount of space between the pulley halves. If the belt is too loose, remove a shim, try again. If the pulley is too tight, add extra shims, they are normally "stored" just under the nut and dished washer on the outside of the pulley. Hope that this helps. LL

If you have the VIN you can go to your local DMV and have a search done. I must warn you that the search can only be within the state that you are in now.

THE GHIA NAME Giacinto Ghia was born in Turin on 18 Sep 1887 and by the early years of this centaury was on the way to becoming one of the most famous motor body stylists and coach builders ever to be associated with the motor industry. The Ghia design house designed futuristic and super luxury car bodies for: Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Plymouth,Volkswagen, Rolls Royce and even Moskvitch and Volga. Ghia was merged with the design studio of the Ford Motor Company in 1973 and since then, only the top of the range Fords have been privileged to carry the Ghia name. This vehicle is an excellent example of what Ghia set out to do to the internal appointment of a car and puts an already good quality product in the true luxury class.... Source: http://www.atwellwilson.org.uk/MercuryMonarch.htm

To determine the year of a Karmann Ghia based on the engine number SFADTR170617, we need to decode the engine number. Karmann Ghias were produced between 1955 and 1974, and specific engine number patterns can indicate the production year. Generally, engine numbers from the early 1970s are prefixed with "F," suggesting that your Karmann Ghia is likely from 1971. However, for an accurate year, further verification with a detailed database or resources specific to Volkswagen engine numbers would be needed.

According to the website http://imcdb.org/vehicle_20182-Volkswagen-Karmann-Ghia-Coupe-Typ-14-1958.html?PHPSESSID=d32ecd517faedd2ff24cb709043d0adc http://imcdb.org/vehicles.php?make=Volkswagen&model=Karmann+Ghia+Coupe&modelMatch=1&modelInclModel=on The Ghia is a 1958 Hardtop. I had a 59, this body style was manufactured from 1956 to 1959, the 1960 model had the later style headlights, tailights and fresh air vent grills in the front. In addition this was a US model since it had the towelbar bumper overriders. Hope this helps. L Lee

The answer to this question is yes and no. The 1974 Beetle engine is a carbureted dual port 1600. The 1979 engine has the AFC fuel injection system. This is an air flow control engine with electronic fuel injection. Now here is what I know about all of this. Many people have performed this swap, there are a number of small electrical changes necessary to do the swap, but it is fairly simple and straightforward. The reason that you are not supposed to make this change, is more of a legal or environmental issue. The US EPA has mandated that all motor vehicles meet or exceed certain emissions standards, these standards changed pretty much every year. There were several big "cuts" in allowable emissions, these were for year model 1975, and then again for year model 1980. The cuts in allowable HC emissions for the 1975 models resulted in many car companies changing over to a fuel injection system from the carburetors of old. Quite simply, VW made this change to allow them to meet the 1975 emissions levels. Standard Beetles were manufactured for sale in the USA up through 1977 (I was in high school and working as a mechanic in a VW dealership at the time). The air cooled VW engine soldiered on in the "Super Beetle Convertible" for the US market until production ceased for US market Beetles at the end of 1979. The 1980 emissions standards were simply too tough to meet with an air cooled engine. While in college 1977-1981, I was a member and student section president of our SAE section (Society of Automotive Engineers), and did some extra-curricular stuff with alcohol powered machines for alternative fuels, and emissions, so I got to know quite a bit about all of these laws and mandates. The real answer to this question, is whether or not your particular state tests for emissions on 1979 vehicles. Texas cuts this off for anything made prior to 1980, so you could probably do this in Texas today and get the car licensed inspected and street legal. While technically illegal, still subject to some pretty onerous fines, you would likely get away with it, as the EPA does not spend a whole lot of time going around to check tailpipe emissions on "1979 Bugs", there are just not that many of them out there. On the other hand, other states may have more restrictions on what is allowable for vehicle inspection and licensing.

The '63 was listed around 1700 lbs.

"Karmann Ghia" refers to the body of the car. It was built in Germany by the Karmann coach works, and was designed in Italy by the Ghia coach works.

For the new stereo, connect the ground wire to one of the spade-type connectors welded to the left side support near the corner of the trunk, or screw it to one of the two center supports. The positive connector will go to one of the ignition-on switches. The third fuse connector from the passenger side usually is a good one. Alternately, you can use the first or second fuse, just remember to turn yyour radio off when done, as these are live all the time. This year Ghia has no "accessory" position for the ignition switch, so you have to listen to the radio with the engine running. If you turn the ignition key to the "run" poition, the radio will come on, but you may burn your ignition points!

Speakers can be mounted in the rear parcel shelf,, but you will need to find or make an opening for the speaker wires between the trunk and the footwell. Once you get the wires into the footwell, you can run them to the back under the carpet. Run the wires along the sides or the center tunnel, and not under the middle of the carpet.

Starting in year model 1958, Karmann Coachworks built a Ghia Convertible. There are a number of differences between the Ghia vert and the hardtop, specifically the rear seat is narrower, the body is reinforced below the doors inside the rocker panels, the windows are slightly different, heater vents are in different places in the rear etc.

While there are a number of chop top ghias, they are not correct.

Karmann never built a type I ragtop, with the metal roof cut out for a soft top center much like the early (up through '63) bug sunroof models. There are a number of Ghias which have been modified to install a ragtop, but none were done by the factory

Lindsey Lee

When you lift the engine lid and look at the engine, it should say "Zundfolge" 1432 I believe, all engines for the past 60-70 years have had the firing order embossed or stamped where it is readableon the block, engine case, or cylinder head. My '43 Jeep does, my '70 Ghia does, all other cars do as well.

same as 1600 cc pass side closest to fire wall

On the right side in the engine compartment.

Not to be confused with the expansion canister in the front trunk near the spare tire.

The stock tires on a '86 Karmann Ghia would normally be a 155 - 15 tire however most people put on 165 size. I think that the size would be a 5.60 15 or 6.00 15, they are 15 inch rims, and either 4 or 4 1/2" wide, not sure exactly when they made that changeover, but does not matter on the tire size.

I checked into tires in Houston TX, Discount tire stocked the 165-15 size.

Stock tires in 1968 would most likely have been bias ply. You will have much greater tire life and a safer vehicle if you go with radials. Unless you are doing a total ground up restoration, radials will likely be cheaper, and are better more modern tires for street use.

The last of the ACVW beetles made in Mexico this century used a 155/80-15, in theory this is just a hair smaller that the OEM 155r15. So far (spring 2010) you can still order this tire from better BFG vendors. This tire does fit in the nose, this tire does fit the stock narrow rims very well, this tire does allow for chains and turning with out rubbing.

I have some charts showing the meaning of the number and letter sequence in old VW vin numbers. All depends on how old the owner is as to whether i can help with decoding for you. If you want to let me have the vin I'll see if i can help.Dave.

Yes, the Karmann Ghia came with factory disc brakes in front, and drum brakes in rear.

The '69 Ghia had a Single Port 1600 engine of 53 hp, same as the '70 model. I believe that Ghias had this engine history; 1956-1960 year model, 36 hp 1200 (1192) cc Even though the '60 was no longer the early Lowlight body style, the 36 and split case (non synchro 1st gear) transmission soldiered on for the 60 model. 1961-1965 models had the 40 hp 1192cc engine, and a full synchromesh transmission. In 1966 VW introduced the 1300 for that year only. In 1967, the cars all had 12v electrical systems (the earlier ones were all 6v). They also had the 1500 single port engine. In 1968 the 1500 was still the engine, transmission was still the swing axle type as in all earlier ones. For 1969, non integral headrests were introduced, as was the 53 hp single port 1600, and the new double jointed rear end. The old swing axle was gone, in its place was a small diameter drive shaft off each side of the transmission with stub axles on the outside. For 1970, the single port 1600 was still the engine, but the taillights were bigger and flat on the back, and wrap around turn signals were introduced for the front. For 1971, the engine displacement was still 1600, but the heads were now dual port, with aluminum manifolds connected to a single 1 bbl carburator. The HP on this model was 60 for 71-71, but I believe was de-rated to 48 HP the last year or two of production, likely due to emissions requirements. Type I Ghia production ended with the 74 model, so there were no Ghias built with the 1975 and later AFC Fuel injection systems. Dual port intakes are necessary for efficient fuel injection, the Type 3 Fastback, Squareback (only models sent to the US) had fuel injection starting in 1968 I believe and it was initially done to meet ever more stringent US emissions requirements. Europe at the time lagged just a bit behind, so not sure on their models. VW also built a Type 3 Ghia and notchback sedan, but these were never officially imported into the US, although a number made it here through other channels. With engine swaps being so common these past 40 years, anything could be in pretty much any of these cars. The old 6v electrical systems have often also been "upgraded" to 12v as cars have been rebuilt. This was a simple process for everything but the old 36 Hp engines since they had a generator stand built into the engine block. On later models (40 hp and later) the larger engine block or case has no generator stand, that is a separate piece and is bolted on. The majority of 12v generators were a larger diameter than the old 6v ones, and featered a remote mounted voltage regulator, the 6v ones had an external regulator mounted to the generator. Hope this answers your question.

Some of the very early Type I and Type II engines were pretty much the same, that similarity ended in the 1960's. Most type II engines have a fan setup quite different from the Type I vertical fan housing. This means that stripped down, the blocks looked the same, but all of the cooling metal carburators, manifolds etc., were different. Most of the later type II engines were also bigger than the Type I engines, as they were in bigger heavier vehicles. Some parts will interchange, others can with modifications. Giving specific answers to a particular situation would require that I know what specific Type I and Type II year(s) you were interested in. For example the Type II got the 40 HP engine ~ 1958 or so, the Type I did not get that engine until 1961, then they were the same for another couple of years, then the Type II got a bigger engine.

no 68 seat tracks are wider than the 69and up ghias