Outlaw inspired Karmann Ghia with Subaru power. Help me not screw this build up

So i have been lurking for for years and i am always impressed what people in this community can do and how they support each other. So this is one of the only places where i want to put out there what i am trying to build which is a 356 outlaw inspired, Subaru ej22 powered 1968 Karmann Ghia.  I am really good at checking out what others are building and posting but really suck at showing what i am up to, but i really love the builds that have the whole GRM community helping with ideas,inspiration ,parts ect and i would love to tap into this knowledge.

So my vision for this car is to take some of the styling from the hot rod 356's, early and backdated 911's as well making the most of the Italian styling that the car has. I want to look way out side of the box for inspiration and if it works use it no matter where it comes from, even if it has not been used before on a vw. Any changes (and there are going to be lots) i want them to look like they belong not just parts thrown on because that is what is in style at the moment. I really like the project Binky approach to building a project like use oem parts when they make seance  even if you have to spend days to make brackets to make it work. I have welders ,grinders, cardboard ,tea so i am set.

So what do i like about my Ghia

-its a vw everyone loves a vw right

-parts for the most part are easy and relatively cheap even up here in Canada

-the body has great lines 

-it came with a great color of blue so back to stock color it goes

So here are some of the things that l am not crazy about on my year of Ghia,

-not enough power,for some reason 48 hp isn't enough. I would have loved a built air cooled engine but to get someone to build one with the same power as a stock subaru engine is going to cost what 10 000$ by the time it is all done and is it going to be as reliable a the stock subaru.

-It  sits too high, so i am going to drop the front with 2 1/2 dropped spindles that l already have and i might add adjusters to the beam. For the rear i am going to do a couple of things first do a transmission raise of about 1 3/4 of a inch as well as i have already installed a center torsion bar adjuster to the pan. one of the other reasons for the transmission raise is that it gives more ground clearance for the subaru sump which hangs a little too low compared to the stock engine. I did cut down the sump and gained some clearance so hopefully this will work out

-Its too pretty in stock form for me with the chrome bumpers and stainless side trim so those are going to go and nerf bars are going to be installed as well

-Fake wood grain  dash need i say more, a painted dashboard looks so much better

-stock seats suck so they are going to be replaced by a set of leather bucket seats from a 911 that l already have

Ok l will try to post some pictures of it later tonight, time to do some work on it

in for updates.  KG's are cool.

Big fan of them as well. My 66 was too much rust for my skillset when I owned it, and regrettably sold it due to that. I honestly don't trust any of them to not have rust which is what keeps me from pulling the trigger on any I see pop up.

Yes, I am in too, looking forward to some pictures. Subaru power solves a lot of the negatives!

looking forward to updates.  Cool plan.

I always say it is one of the most beautiful profiles, just look at that roof line. Truly a wonderful design. It is funny that it was originally designed for Chrysler.

I did a concept a while back for a 550 Ghia. Maybe I can sketch up yours when you start getting at it.

First,  I have a 1960 MGA Coupe that is in the early stages of a similar "what if and how do I".  The one issue I am working with is rims and tires.  Have you addressed that with the Ghia?

OjaiM5 said:

I always say it is one of the most beautiful profiles, just look at that roof line. Truly a wonderful design. It is funny that it was originally designed for Chrysler

The prototype Ghia on the Karmann museum had a Chrysler. badge inside he door post !

And cool drawing , any other angles ?

Thought seriously about Subi power when i built my Outlaw Beetle.  Came across the 200hp Raby fairly inexpensive on CL.  So i went that direction.

All that said, the Subi may be the better choice.   I'm having to use race gas, etc.  With the Subi you can have an engine that is more easy to use daily, while at the same time hardly stressed.

The serious thought goes into hiding the rads and running the correct ducts and fans to keep it cool and the driver not too warm.  One thought is to move to a fuel cell behind the driver opening up all that space in the front for rads and fans.

I ended up using two 5 gallon fuel cells, one behind each seat.

I'm all about a Karmann Ghia with modern horsepower but I've noticed a serve lack of pictures of said project.  Us lower IQ people need pictures to follow along.

May I offer another idea.....

buy a cheap blown motor Porsche 4 wheel drive 996  and strip the body off it......

replace blown 996 motor with Subi motor........

Install Ghia body !

It sounds so easy :)

Check to see if the wheelbases are close to the same first.   

Sorry about the lack of pictures but for some reason i have  them spread out on all my devices so i have been trying to get them all in one place and i sort of suck at this computer thing but here goes.

Here is how it is sitting in my garage all the metal work was all done about 10 years ago,then we bought a 1950,s house and started a whole house reno that we did 90 percent of it ourselves so here it sat and waited. if you look close you can see that the grill openings are not quite stock.

Yea following the Porsche handbook of having twin radiators up front,think this will work? The last couple of pictures are from when the body was getting re done so if people want to see how much work was done l could post them

The rads are from a Honda Goldwing , not sure i will stay with them or get something better but till it is further along this will work i hope.

So here is what my Son and I have been working this winter a new motor plate so i can use the stock Subaru motor mounts, a center torsion  adjuster so i can play with the ride height. The openings in the floor pans was to get rid of the only rust that was in the whole car, the tunnel was opened up for the aluminum cooling lines.  The plan is to make the cover for the bottom of the tunnel be able to be bolted on to get back some of the structural intergety 

Here is the sump that we cut down ,instead of just cutting it shorter and putting a flat plate we put kick outs on the sump to make up for the lost oil volume.

thi

This has been what i have been working on the last few days making brackets for my cooling lines.

Thanks for the feedback it will definitly help keep me motivated to both keep working on the project and keep me posting about it. As far as other options like putting the body on a different frame i think i have thought about most of them at one point like did you know that a factory five 818 is within a half inch of the same wheel base and there are a few for sale if you looking that might be the easy button for someone

Most of the image links are no-go's.  Did see a bare metal VWKG and a motorcycle radiator in the nose.  Seems like a very cool project and the rad placement seems like a good solution from here.

Looking forward to following this loving your ideas

You might want to upload the pictures here.  To do so click on the icon to the right of the quote marks.  Using an url from google photos tends not work well.  But looks great in the few I could see.

I approve of this project. Very much

Ok let me try to do this picture thing againso can these pictures work now?

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

Check to see if the wheelbases are close to the same first.   

That's not a problem, see the Molvo topic!  

Those pictures you just posted work for me.

So sorry about the lack of good pictures im learning a whole new skill set here but i think l got this now 

So I will start with the bare metal porn, here are some of the pictures of when the metal work was done by a great local guy Rods n Restos 

All pictures working and looks like a lot of work went into it.

And a few more picturesIt really had very little rust for a Ghia but it had a lot of very bad body work done to it which was hidden under about five different colors.

Also in for updates.

I'll admit that I always thought KG's were a fiberglass body. I like them even more now that I see that beautiful formed metal.

My god man.

Ill be in my bunk....