| Author |
Message |
vwdug
Samba Member
Joined: April 30, 2004
Posts: 40
Location: Western Massachusetts
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:25 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| It actually looks like you already have block off plates in the fan shroud. Congrats on your Purchase....you were smart not to pay the full asking price....4k seems like a good deal. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
rhedrick
Samba Member
Joined: November 06, 2006
Posts: 126
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:08 pm Post subject: soft top |
|
|
Anyone have pictures of all the pieces to the soft top? The frame is all apart, no instructions available for assembly, and the canvas top is new, in a box, never been put on. The original top was cut off the frame (dry rotted, I was told).
I actually just purchased a new soft top from the Thing Shop. They send a video of all their parts and some installation videos with it. I can try to copy the cd and send it to you if you want? It describes the step by step installation of a new top and the installation of new seat covers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
iltis74
Samba Member
Joined: November 20, 2003
Posts: 826
Location: Anchorage, AK
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
4K is nowhere near too much. The stock Thing front end is essentially just a beefed up Beetle front end. It was designed to be sold as a military vehicle originally, with offroad capability, and it of course weighs more than the Beetle, but when you look at the pounding some of the bajas are giving a stock Beetle beam and they hold up, I wouldn't even consider doing anything to it unless A) you decide to get heavily into offroading or B) you become concerned with putting it back to 100% stock. The only thing I'd do to that is dump the exhaust in favor of one with J-tubes and no rust holes, preferably exiting out the bumper as it "should," and get the soft top on it. No sense having one of the funnest convertibles in the world to drive and not being able to drop the top at the slightest whim. Tuning the engine, valve adjustments, brake adjustments, that steering box leak, etc., are all things that you will have to learn to address in time also, and make a habit, but for now put some miles on it and get your moneys worth. (Shouldn't take long.)
Oh yeah, the hose clamp holding the sway bar would have to go sometime, too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lewis71bug
Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2006
Posts: 478
Location: Dayton, Ohio
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| iltis74 wrote: |
| Oh yeah, the hose clamp holding the sway bar would have to go sometime, too. |
How should the sway bar be mounted (I know the hose clamps aren't right!)? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ian Epperson
Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2005
Posts: 2262
Location: Alameda, CA
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Towel Rail wrote: |
| Also interesting is the BUG beam in front. |
Note that it's not just the front beam, but it looks like the trailing arms and spindles are from a bug.
As others have said, if it works, it works. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ian Epperson
Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2005
Posts: 2262
Location: Alameda, CA
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Woreign wrote: |
As far as the heater, you can view and/or download the service manual here: http://failsure.net/oacdp/ebersp.html
Hopefully the vehicle still has the fuel pump for the heater, which is located above the master brake cylinder, under the fuel tank. |
You can also search this forum for some advice. Here's what I wrote in a different thread (cleaned up a bit):
The pump is a solonoid - it'll give one squirt of gas every time 12v is applied. When the pump is working, you'll get about a pulse every second of 12v. This is driven off of the fan - there is a switch that trips on every couple of revolutions. Usually, the pump locks up requiring some maintenence - hitting it with a hammer often helps! It's quite hardy, but does freeze up if not used within a few months. If it's not clicking when the heater runs and hasn't worked in a long time, you may have to pull it from the car, wash out all the old fuel, give it a few jolts of 12v direct from the battery (CAREFUL CAREFUL of spark and shooting fuel!) and reinstall.
Check both the fuse and circuit breaker on the heater controller. The fuse blows when the heater over-temps which kills power to the entire unit - this should be an 8 amp fuse as it's supposed to blow when the heater is too hot. Often, you'll find someone put a 16 or 32 (!) amp fuse thinking there isn't enough power - but the heater intentionally shorts out at around 300 degrees. If the fan runs too long and no heat happens, the circuit breaker will pop - reset it by moving sliding the switch to the side (toward the passenger side IIRC) and it'll click quietly.
Very very often, the thermostat is frozen up. That cable from the compartment on the left is supposed to rotate the bi-metallic spring to change when the thermostat opens and closes. It's a very simple circuit in-line with the dashboard switch. The thermostat is supposed to prevent the heater from going over 212 degrees as read at the outlet. When the heater gets to 212 (or wherever it's set) the thermostat cuts power to the pump and the fan cools the unit until the thermostat re-engages and the unit heats up again. If it goes over 300 degrees, the fuse pops. When the thermostat is frozen, the bi-metallic spring can't rotate the little shaft it's bolted to, and the power is never cut - then it runs up to 300 and the entire thing stops.
It works great - when it works. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Captain Spalding
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2005
Posts: 2519
Location: . . . in denial.
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| That's the most lucid explanation of the workings of the BN-4 that I've heard. Thanks, Ian. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lewis71bug
Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2006
Posts: 478
Location: Dayton, Ohio
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
Ian - Thanks for the write up on the bn4, that will be a big a help. Woreign stated that the fuel pump for the heater is under the fuel tank. Does this mean I have to pull the tank to get to the pump and check it?
Thanks |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kevin11
Samba Member
Joined: March 12, 2004
Posts: 828
Location: Arlington,Texas
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Nice buy!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ian Epperson
Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2005
Posts: 2262
Location: Alameda, CA
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| lewis71bug wrote: |
| Ian - Thanks for the write up on the bn4, that will be a big a help. Woreign stated that the fuel pump for the heater is under the fuel tank. Does this mean I have to pull the tank to get to the pump and check it? |
It's certainly easier to get to it with the tank out, but you don't have to. It's right above the brake master cylinder bolted to the firewall - it's a small cylindar about 2 inches long and wide with an inlet in the middle of one side and an outlet on the other and 2 wires going to it. Since it's just a solonoid, the polarity of the wires don't matter - there's no marking on the pump as to which is which is 12v and which is ground and it works either way.
Under the feul tank, there should be a T connection to send gas into the tunnel on the pan (to eventually go to your engine) and to send gas to a filter, then the heater's fuel pump. There's a small tab on the firewall that the filter should snap into, but mine has never fit. The filter is just one of those cheap plastic ones everyone puts on their engine.
There are two ways to check the pump. The real easy way is to just listen to it - it makes a "tick... tick... tick... tick..." sound when it runs, ticking evenly about once or twice a second. If you listen really carefully, you can hear it sitting in the driver seat with the engine off. Most people can clearly hear it when they put their head next to the left-front wheel well. If you can't hear it, it's likely not working for whatever reason.
A second way to check it is to remove the fuel line going into the heater and see if any gas spurts out when it runs. When I first got mine working, I discovered that the fuel line was full of leaks and gas was just running everywhere. It's something you don't notice if the pump isn't working, but is plain when it does work.
If my heater has not run in a long time, the pump doesn't function. I turn the wheel and reach up under the wheel well with a hammer and give the pump a few whacks, and that usually does the trick. The pump is shock mounted and bounces around when you do that, and there's not much room for a good swing, so it's a rather self-limiting adjustement. If giving it a couple of knocks doesn't get it working, you'll have to pull it and clean it out. That'll be a lot easier if you pull the tank, but when I did it (only had to the first time) I didn't pull the tank.
Another way to make it start working again is to give it a direct shock from the battery. Get some long lamp cord that'll reach from the pump to your battery, then crimp 2 female tab connectors to one end, and strip back the other end. Take the wires off your pump, and connct up your wire and run the wire to the battery. Pretend like your an ER tech, shout "clear" and shock it briefly - it will spark your wires. That should make it tick - but you probably wont hear it. Give it a few shocks (only touch it to the battey for a split second) and it may start working. Only give it a couple of shocks - you don't want to dump gas into the heater when it's not running, but it'll take a bunch of cycles to fill that line between the pump and the heater.
The last time I did this, the pump sat for almost a year. I went back and forth between hitting it and shocking it, and each time it would run a little bit longer (2 or 3 ticks at first, hit hit, shock, 5 or 6 ticks, hit hit, shock, 10 ticks, hit hit, 30 seconds, hit hit, 2 minutes, hit hit, ran normally). You can hear the fan when it intentionally turns off the heater, it'll speed up as there's less power draw. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
