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  View original topic: New to things
fusername Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:15 am

so once upon a time I was 17 years old, and my first car was almost, on a whim, a bright yellow thing, with all the lovely trimmings. Even got to take it for a test drive, and man was it a blast. Now a year and a half later I ended out behind the wheel of a 77 westy, but I still crave a thing.

my best friend however, requires a new car. Vw thing as a daily driver, a good plan? We don't have a ton of cash to throw at it, but I am handy enough to be dangerous. Think we should tackle this project? I am thinking a budget of 3-5k for a good solid runner, maybe in need of some cosmetic work, with 5k landing a car thats perfectly fine. is this at all possible in the northeast? looks are not important, but reliably is. how different are these creatures than beetles or busses? I built a sandrail, and I maintain my bus. How different could it be?
What do I need to look out for in buying a thing, what are common rust problems, whats easy to fix, whats hard?

Hopefully you guys can answer atleast a couple of my 4 thousand questions.

mrafindley Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:16 am

The whole car is just as easy as a beetle or bus. Rust problems are the same to the pans and rocker panels. good brakes godd motor and trans equals good daily driver. I drove mine everyday for 7 years and as long as you dedicate 1 weekend a month to the car you will be fine. The wipers are slow and not good in the cold other than that rain x and a jacket go for it

fusername Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:57 am

oh that was the other thing i forgot to ask about. how are they in the snow? my Bus is incredible, i blame the rear engine. are things the same?

how about parts prices? I would assume steep, or are there enough beetle parts in there that i just need to hope my front end is fine? Just like to know what i'm getting myself into. not to say knowing ever seems to stop me...

Van-go108 Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:47 pm

From an earlier forum. A kinda' test drive comparison to a new Range Rover.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=CaU0tBlz_O4
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=pnCdIJN7Mtg

Ian Epperson Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:48 pm

fusername wrote: Vw thing as a daily driver, a good plan?
I've often used my Thing as a daily driver. Currently, work is walking distance, so it doesn't really count

fusername wrote: We don't have a ton of cash to throw at it, but I am handy enough to be dangerous. Think we should tackle this project? I am thinking a budget of 3-5k for a good solid runner, maybe in need of some cosmetic work, with 5k landing a car thats perfectly fine.
The cosmetic work will drive the price way up on a Thing much faster than the mechanical work. The body parts are getting rarer and the prices are going up. You can drop a ton of money on the windshield frame, top frame, windows, fenders, etc. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a good engine cheaper than a good set of windows!

Go look through The Thing Shop's website to get an idea of the price of some of the parts before jumping in. You'll notice that anything that is custom to a Thing (like the right hand tie rod - part #181xxx $140) are expensive, but items that are common to a bug (like the LEFT hand tie rod - part #131xxx $45) aren't.

That said, you can get a lot of miles out a beater car while you fix it up. That's exactly what I did, and I've always loved driving it!

stevehenderson Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:54 pm

Do you want to drive a pretty slow 30 year old somewhat unsafe car that gets less than 25mpg ever time you leave home? Parts for a newer golf are not that cheep ether so thats relative.

A not to rusty clean Things can be had in desert climates. Mechanical stuff is much easer and cheeper to accomplish.

If you wait until one comes up for sale that someone truly needs to sell 5K will buy you a a very little rust good running one. Put an add on on the Samba saying I want a good running, straight low rust Thing, for 5K, (no more), and am willing to travel to get it and just wait You will have to ignoring all the emails that you will get saying that is too low a price for a Thing. I did this @ 3.5 K and got a fairly clean one from Grand Juction Colorado I could drive back to Wisconsin. It took about 2 months to get someone to take me up on my offer. There is a lot of nice AC VW stuff in south east.

fusername Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:47 pm

well thanks for all the input guys. belive it or not what looks like the ideal thing just popped up. solid mechanical and drivetrain, housepaint paint job. floor pans look solid, gonna take a close look first chance i get. its been sitting somewhere for 18 years, been driven the last couple months tho.
where do i need to inspect for rust? looks like there are no heater boxes, as the blowers on the fan shroud are plugged. is this standard for a thing? Does this mean there is no heater channel to check for rust?

anyways, thanks for the pointers guys, lets hope i dont buy a mistake. I love my bus, but if I had known I woulda been more conservative on the offer I made. However, not buying anything I can't drive home. or atleast test drive and then tow. IT comes with a towbar, but can i use my beetle tow bar as well, or does the bumper interfere?

Ferretkona Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:31 pm

fusername wrote: ,,,IT comes with a towbar, but can I use my beetle tow bar as well, or does the bumper interfere?
Beetle tow bars work great.

csmith181 Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:11 am

Check the rocker panels below the doors VERY carefully. and bumps, bubbles or wavy metal means it has a rust problem and the rocker section will need to go. Not an easy task! Also check the bottoms of the door where the seals go and just like and VW, look under the battery.

rhedrick Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:53 am

"looks like there are no heater boxes, as the blowers on the fan shroud are plugged. is this standard for a thing?"

Actually it depends on what year it is. I bought a 73 that had the wrong fanshroud so the blowers were also plugged. If it has the ear muffs on the side then it is a 74 and should have the heater boxes. No ear muffs and it is a 73 and the wrong shroud is on there and if you want the right one, look at dropping 250 to 300.

fusername Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:21 am

well, here are a few pics of it for your viewing pleasure









let me know if you notice anything i missed! also, if you see rust, lemme know if its structural or cosmetic, cause we're not in this for the looks, but saftey is key. thats why we're building a cage.

rhedrick Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:55 am

It is a 73 with the wrong fan shroud.....fyi. Does it have a gas heater in the front?

Ian Epperson Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:45 am

rhedrick wrote: Does it have a gas heater in the front?
Shown in the 3rd pic - it looks pretty complete too - only missing the exhaust heat guard.

You've got the correct original oil-bath air cleaner - those work really well. However, the breather hose from the oil filler to the cleaner doesn't look correct and is kinked - this can cause oil leaks from various places. Also, none of the pre-heat parts are there (pipe that goes from the heads up to the oil bath's lower intake port) - not a big deal in warm climates, but something else to keep in mind.

The exhaust system is totally wrong, but workable.

It looks like the original front beam - the front end looks a bit tall, but I don't see evidence of welding nor are there adjusters - did someone put those cheap coil over shocks in the front? Also, that bracket going from the bumper and welded to the beam isn't stock - it looks like the sway bar has hit that bracket more than once. I assume that bracket is to give strength to that tow rig mount.

Is that the VWOA center console? I've never actually seen a real pic of one, just the sales brochure.

Looks like a different wiring harness in the passenger compartment. Also, there's a cigarette lighting where the old, useless, 12v port was in the dashboard.

Looks like a nice assortment of spares too! I see some of the engine skid plate, extra wipers, wiper motor, proper lower tin, and a few other tidbits.

TimGud Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:25 pm

What is it with VW owners and Wilys wagons or trucks? I know of a few of us who are into both. Looks like 54 or so?

fusername Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:34 pm

if there are coilovers those are getting deepsixed immediatly. Thanks for all that info, I couldn't have figured that out myself in a month! Now this preheater you mention, i see that the heater riser gets heat from the muffler, or atleast i think it comes from the last foot or two of exhaust. not important, just as long as it is there, but the pre heat for the oil bath, does that come from the heat exchangers? I guess im not to clear on that, i feel like i have seen it before on a beetle, but parts were missing and I didn't look too close.

anyone have a nice pic of a correct engine bay? I am not looking to make the car accurate, but I do want to make it winter drivable. high up on repair list is heater and seals, followed by tires and engine. also, is it worth tracking down those odd vent cover things i see on a lot of 181s? I assume they serve some offraoding function, but i just think they look cool. getting ahead of myself here, but its good to keep busy i think

Ian Epperson Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:59 pm

fusername wrote: Now this preheater you mention, i see that the heater riser gets heat from the muffler, or atleast i think it comes from the last foot or two of exhaust.
I've seen a couple of Things in person, and only once seen the proper pre-heat setup. There's a little duct that collects air from around the heads (not the exhaust) and pipes it up through the tin into that lower intake port on the oil bath.

Here, it's scribbled in red. Note that he's also got the rare dual oil bath setup.


fusername wrote: high up on repair list is heater and seals, followed by tires and engine.
If it's winter driving you want, then I strongly recommend a hard top. They're getting pretty hard to come by, and cost at least $500 if you can find 'em. Even with the hardtop, the windows leak air like mad. The BN4 heater you've got there is a great device, but often finicky to get working. I've done many many drives where my right leg is nice and toasty, but the rest of me is freezing.


fusername wrote: also, is it worth tracking down those odd vent cover things i see on a lot of 181s? I assume they serve some offraoding function, but i just think they look cool.
These?

Naw, you don't want those! Those are for posers! :D
(See, that's how you insult half the Thing owners out there!) Those are the muffs that come on the '74's but not the '73's - some people love 'em, some hate 'em. I've heard that the reason for them was so the fresh air heating system (stock on the '74) would pull air from the top of the car to avoid blowing exhaust into the cabin. I've also heard they were there so that while sitting in traffic the car wouldn't pull in fumes from neighboring cars. On the '73's, the baffling action that those provide is actually internal - there's these scoops just inside the vents that catch the heavier debris. I've heard of one person who stuffs HVAC filter material in them when offroading to cut down on the dust in the engine compartment.

fusername Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:08 pm

do you have pics of where the hot air comes from? I want to be ableto check and see if its still there, or is this that special tin you guys were talking about? either way, its good to know whats missing. hopefully can go take a look at the car in a week or two

Ian Epperson Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:16 pm

You can see most of the ducting in this photo:

That black cylinder at the top of the boot is the heater. It draws cabin air from the right of this photo (near the driver's left leg), draws outside air for combustion from that 2" dark pipe coming from the wheel well, blows the combustion exhaust out the exhaust pipe at the center to the wheel well, then blows the hot air into the cabin towards the left (by the driver's right leg). You can also see the ducting the blows into the defroster.

What you can't see is if a) The defroster duct is there - it's a big, fiberboard duct behind the dashboard. If you look into the defroster holes under the windshield you should see duct, not daylight or wires. And b) if the defroster flap is working. If you move the defroster control on the edge of the glove box, it should close a flap preventing the air from blowing into the cabin and force it into the defroster.

The tin I was talking about covers the heater's exhaust pipe. Here's a pic of it in place:

Note the boxy looking black tin where you would see the exhaust pipe? That's the tin I'm talking about. It's purpose just seems to be to keep the contents of your boot from getting burned on the pipe.

fusername Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:23 pm

so i guess ian is the go to guy on this forum! Thanks for all that info, and good point on the partical board as that stuff never really seems to last.

but nows the part where i admit confusion. I meant to ask where the hot air comes from for the intake preheat. the one you showed me a pic of in the guys car that has the supa-fly dual oil bath. I have never seen such acontraption in real life. you said it gets hot air from off the cylinder heads, after its been used too cool them? curiuos how that works, and was it a 181 only part, or a rare beetle bit, because i think I have seen beetles with accommodations for that, but no ductwork. gah, hope i make sense this time



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