Aarons 1964 Karmann Ghia Rat

Hey guys,

Here is the next recap on my 15 year old son Aarons 1964 Karmann Ghia Rat Project.

Aaron Had a big weekend in the shop. I have been working on getting the brakes rebuilt and Aaron decided to install his new exhaust and the Judson Supercharger. The Supercharger went on Saturday and Aaron did a great job on the install by himself. I was at work and gave phone support the couple times he needed it. after he had everything tied up it was time to fire it up for the first time. Aaron called to let me know that upon start up the engine would rev to almost red line hold for a second then die. I told him it sounded like an intake leak, he looked for it but couldnt find it. When I got home, I looked also. I could get the car to run for short times, but never found the leak. So today we headed out to the shop to pull the blower and try to find the problem and Aaron found it as he was undoing the first bolt. one of the intake studs was too long and would not let him tighten down the blower to the intake. He fixed the problem, turned the key and it purred like a kitten. All on his own!

Video of Judson Goodness!

Will post some pics as soon as I get them reuploaded!

Enjoy the Video, and vote him up in the readers rides!!!

Sean and Aaron

Great news! Sounds like it's running really well in fact. My project cars tend to be over twenty years newer and never seem to humm that smoothly.

What kind of power does that SC put out?

: J

Its a stock 40hp motor, with the Judson it should put out an honest 40 at the rear wheels....lol But it sounds tough!

Looking forward to putting it back on the ground and driving it for the first time.

That's brilliant! and sounds badass. You guys are making me want to buy a Beetle and rat it out.

That judson sounds really cool...but then again, all wooshy noises are cool.

sjd

That's so cool it hurts. Once again, congrats to Aaron for another job well done. Keep it up, kiddo.

Here is the photobucket account for the project. We will be uploading all of the pictures as we have time.

Ratghia

Sean

The photobucket account is also linked to from the ride (assuming Sean put it in)

Oh, didnt see that Tim, do you want me to remove it from here or is it ok? I will add it now. Thanks!

Sean

It's fine. Just pointing out one of the new features.

that is soooo cool.

grm ever done an aircooled vw project car that I don't know about?

Meyers Manx back in about 2001

You need to rename your video... at least with "supercharger" innit or something

The "Related Videos" are based on judson... and not nearly as cool as that SCACVW :grin:

Is the supercharger belt on the right side of the tensioner? Usually they push toward more pulley wrap, not less. Very cool ride!

Aaron and I were talking a couple weekends ago and decided we wanted to go to the Challenge this year. We have the Ghia back under budget after an engine swap last weekend. We bought a 59 Panel Bus with a 40 hp motor ( the correct motor for the ghia) for $100. Turned around and sold the bumpers from the Bus for $400. So now we have a free running 40 horse in the car!

We are pushing forward with the build and hope to hit our first autocross next weekend!

Looks like we will be heading south in October. Just in time for the team owners 16th birthday!

More later!

Sean

So we put the ghia on the ground tonight and drove it for the first time with the new motor and the supercharger.

Wow is this going to be a fun car to drive! Its not carzy fast, but feels at least as quick as the '06 Challenge Ghia was. (not saying much...)

We have a list of prep work to get done between now and its next Sunday for its first autocross.

Here is a link to the old thread for anyone interested: Old Ghia Thread

thanks for the update

Spent Friday night in the shop helping Aaron with the Ghia. We changer the transaxle oil and also installed a camber compensator.

We also picked up a dual circuit master cylinder that we hope to swap in. As a bonus it was $20.00 cheaper than the OE single circuit one we have on it now.

More updates later this weekend! Maybe we will even manage a driving video. Boy does it sound sweet!

Hey this is Aaron

Tonight we got the brakes working then immediately blew the top off the brake light switch trying to put the rear axel nuts on. We put the original switch back on and got them working again.

We also got the car running from the gas tank for the first time since the seventies.

Still hoping to have the ghia ready for the autocross Sunday.

Aa, make sure you guys take it to the "H Stock" Ghia this weekend.

So we had our first autocross today. We got to the track with our biggest problem being the 4ft. antenna folding down into the highway lane beside us. A lot of people seemed to like the car and wanted to know if it had a supercharger. The car ran really well for being on 30 year old tires off of another car in the barn herm junked. We beat a 1974 mini that had wider tires and a lager engine. The "H Stock" ghia wasn't there but the owner brought his "H Stock" Datsun pickup with bull horns. After the third of four runs the car wouldn't start because of a blocked fuel filter. We had to push it back to the pits. We finished mid pack overall and believe we beat someone in our class

So it’s been kind of busy around here. Aaron is out in the shop chasing our fuel problem, and fixing the tail lights. I was just getting in his way so I came in the house and decided to post.

Sunday was a BLAST!! We were no where near fast at the autocross, but that was never the goal. The goal was to go, shake down the car a little, and have fun. That we did indeed!

I spent a ton of time watching Aaron talk to everyone who came by to see his car. It was awesome to see the amount of interest and encouragement he got. My hat is off to all who make the Susquehanna SCCA a fantastic region!

So how was the car? It was about 15 sec from FTD, but I am not sure I have smiled like that in a car for a LONG time! We can’t wait to get real tires on her and try it again!

And to share the joy here are some in car and out of car videos from the event!

Crank up the sound boys and girls and enjoy that supercharged sound!

First Run

2nd run

3rd run

We sent our Challenge registration in Saturday, Finished our budget today and it looks like we still have a little room left! AWESOME!

More updates Soon!

Aaron,

Great work!!!

Can't wait to drive this at the 2008 challenge. It should be twice the fun that the last Ghia was and it was a blast! The videos looked great!

Alan McCrispin

Alan,

Thanks for being willing to drive it for us.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Keep up the good work d00ds!