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My 1973 Refresh Project
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JayC
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2015 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You got a bit farther to go than I did! Good luck!

jay
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AirDirect
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2015 9:56 pm    Post subject: 1973 Type 181 "The Thing" Restoration Reply with quote

I hope mine can turn out half as good as yours. I especially like to re-plating on the metal hardware. What did you have to do in the way of prep for those parts (rear seat, hood latch etc)? I have been doing several restorations with my kids and now it is time for mine.

Links:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=439103

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511954

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610671

I am in NE Texas, how did you find someone to do the plating in your area?

Thanks

David
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JayC
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PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2015 7:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually I did very little prep other than removing and taking parts apart as much as possible. For plating, I actually asked the guy that did the power coating who he would recommend. Since it was not chrome, it was actually just an industrial place that added my stuff. They did the hinges, supports, brackets and light buckets. It came out nice.

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi All,

Now that the weather has finally started to turn and it didn't rain all weekend, I got the chance to get out and start fixing a few minor things.

First up were the turn signals. I was not getting flashing on the left side and overall flashing was really slow and weak. This was the fun part... I traced all the wiring and check for continuity across everything, power at the appropriate times, and ground connections. Everything seemed fine. Finally, it dawned on me that maybe the bulb was bad (they were new so wasn't my first thought). Sure enough, bulb was burned out. New bulb, and the front drivers side worked!

For the slow blinking, got a new flasher relay. Went in and worked like a charm. Now they blinked rapidly. Cool, almost there!

Final issue was they were not cancelling correctly. I pulled everything apart again at the steering wheel to check the stalk. Yea, it was getting hung up. I tried to order a new (OE) one from a company that advertised them. They contacted me a couple of days later and said "We don't have those anymore, but are sending you a replacement that is just as good". Yea, like all replacement parts, no, not so much. It was a pain to fit back in to the steering wheel, but the wires all connected and it worked. Just with a horrible grinding noise when I turn the wheel. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Funny thing with the new stalk / flasher - when I turn on the emergency flasher, the green indicator in the speedo shows up and flashes. However, when I use the turn signals, no green indicator? Seems weird since I know the lights work in the speedo? Could be something in the new flasher? The old one was round with 4 prongs. New one is square with 4 prongs but slightly different lettering (KBL instead of K something)?

Still fighting with the bikini top. I would not recommend TTS biking top at this point. It is a pain and doesn't fit that great.

Now the trunk doesn't want to open anymore Smile

Oh well, at least I can drive it and enjoy the sunshine. Nothing major wrong at least!

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi all,

Just thought I would post a quick update.

This weekend, i did the first oil change after the engine rebuild. I was dreading it a bit as I was worried about what I would find Shocked ! Luckily, not metal shavings in the strainer. Everything looked good!

I do have a leak though. I thought it was coming from the sump cover plate (replaced with an EMPI with the drain plug) and went back to the original. No luck, still dripping about a teaspoon of oil after it is parked for a while. It definitely looks like that area, so this winter, maybe pull the motor again and reseal Hopefully that fixes it.

Other than that, dive it most weekends. Went with some friends Saturday night to check out all the micro brew pubs around town (I just sipped as I was driving). Great time and great comments from everyone!

Now I am looking for my next project Smile

jay
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tkfar
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just replaced the lower driver side balljoint on my 71 ghia this past weekend and noticed in your picture that your lower balljoint mounted on top of your lower spindle and bolted on the bottom whereas on my ghia the balljoint mounts from the bottom with the bolt on top. I was always told that things and ghia pans/front ends were the same........could you have inadvertently swapped those lower torsion arms?
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Bashr52
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tkfar wrote:
I just replaced the lower driver side balljoint on my 71 ghia this past weekend and noticed in your picture that your lower balljoint mounted on top of your lower spindle and bolted on the bottom whereas on my ghia the balljoint mounts from the bottom with the bolt on top. I was always told that things and ghia pans/front ends were the same........could you have inadvertently swapped those lower torsion arms?


The pans are the same but the Thing front arms are different. The balljoints are installed differently on a Thing due to the taller spindles.
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You beat me to it Smile

On a Thing, the ball joints are both oriented down whereas on other VWs, they are one up / one down.

Does that make sense?

jay
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tkfar
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I searched the gallery of Thing Beams and found both balljoint orientations. I guess they are running beetle/ghia front ends ? I'm assuming they are interchangeable?.... depending on spindle height you prefer ?
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 11:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Tkfar -

Honestly, I am probably not the best person to respond to that question. I think you are correct, that you can put bug spindles on a thing beam, but you will need the correct ball joints. The Thing ball joints themselves are not the same as Bug ball joints. Lots of threads here talking about the differences.

So, my general update:
Still driving and having a ball. Still sorting out lots of little issues but have it down to two that are stumping me.

First is the gas gauge. It worked before I took everything apart (at least to the best of my knowledge) but didn't when I was done. I tested the sender and it appeared to be working, so I replaced the needle and the vibrator. Still no joy. I shorted the wire to ground that goes to the top of the sender and the needle did move, so my final thought is that the sender must be bad. New one ordered from the Thing Shop and should be in this week. Hopefully that sorts it as I am tired of taking the dashboard apart. Getting those two tiny screws back in the bottom of the middle pod is a pain.

The second is the turn signals. I asked the question in a different thread, but haven't gotten any responses. Basically, if the ignition is off, then the flashers work and the indicator shows up in the speedo (emergency flasher on). If the ignition is on, the turn signals work, but no indicator in the speedo (nothing lights up). I am at my wits end on this one. Spent all afternoon yesterday tracing wires to make sure they are hooked up correctly. I have replaced the indicator stalk in the column is with a new OEM model.

For reference, the readings I get:
Ignition off, emergency flasher on - Terminal KBL on the flasher relay goes from 0-12 volts as the lights flash
Ignition on, left/right turn signal - Terminal KBL on the flasher relay is on at 12V, no change as the lights flash (which is weird to me as that should mean the indicator will light.

The only connection I see between the turn signals and the ignition is the wire running from 49a on the ignition to 49a on the emergency flasher relay. I'm wondering if I have this in the right place? Kind of a pain to tell. I thought I had a picture somewhere that explained it.

The more I think about this, the more I am wondering if this is what is screwed up since my wiper don't work either?

My wife asked me the other day if i was "done" working on the Thing... I told her "Never!"

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Still no luck on the fuel gauge. I got the new TTS sending unit yesterday and installed. No joy. No needle movement. To date, I have replaced the needle, vibrator, and sending unit.

If I ground the wire that goes from the sending unit to the speedometer, I get movement (very slowly, but the needle creeps up).

I haven't tried it yet, but could this be because the gas tank itself does not have a solid ground to the chassis? I saw some recommendations of adding a ground connection between the sending unit and the body. With a rubber gasket between the sending unit and gas tank there really isn't a ground on the sending unit itself?

Am I missing anything else?
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

JayC wrote:
Still no luck on the fuel gauge. I got the new TTS sending unit yesterday and installed. No joy. No needle movement. To date, I have replaced the needle, vibrator, and sending unit.

If I ground the wire that goes from the sending unit to the speedometer, I get movement (very slowly, but the needle creeps up).

I haven't tried it yet, but could this be because the gas tank itself does not have a solid ground to the chassis? I saw some recommendations of adding a ground connection between the sending unit and the body. With a rubber gasket between the sending unit and gas tank there really isn't a ground on the sending unit itself?

Am I missing anything else?


I think I ran into this same issue when I was putting my car back together. I have some flakey gauge readings and ended up narrowing it down to fuel tank ground, since the body under the tank had been treated with bed liner and it was going in on rubber mounts on top of that. You can test this theory by temporarily grounding out your tank and see what happens.

Any luck with the Top?
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JayC
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 9:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks!

Playing with the grounding now. I am thinking with powder coated tank and painted body that is the issue.

No luck on top yet Razz

Jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So success (partially).

Turns out the power coating on the tank was fairly thick and not allowing the sender to ground. I ground off a bit underneath the half moon clips that hold the tank to the body and got good continuity between the tank and the body and by proxy the sender. I went and filled the tank to the brim and sure enough, the gauge is reading, but only halfway... Not sure if the bend in the new sender is correct or not. May try the old sender and see what it shows.

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another fun weekend of driving and fixing electrical gremlins.

Fixed the windshield wipers. Could not figure out why they weren't getting power. Then I found that I had never connected them to the fuse block! D'oh! Silly.

I had one turn signal that was dim and one that was bright. Finally dawned on me that that there were two wires underneath even though it was only showing one on the wiring diagram. Swapped them so that both sides flash bright now.

So, I am down to my one last issue: the green signal indicator in the speedometer. If the ignition is off, it flashes green (with the emergency flasher). As soon as I turn the key on, the indicator goes out (with emergency flasher or turn signals).

I traced all the wiring between the emergency flasher switch and the flasher relay. As near as I can tell, everything is wired fine. I am not sure what voltages should be showing on what pins when, but I measured everything and I don't see anything off.

On the flasher relay, pin KBL (blue / red wire) shows alternating 0-12 volts when the emergency flasher is on and no key. It shows solid 12 volts when the key is on and the flasher is on. However, this makes no sense as it should be lighting the arrow and doesn't.

So, do I get a new emergency flasher switch? Or do I just live with the fact that it doesn't work?

I'm not sure where else to look at this point.

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably the wrong approach, but I ordered a new switch and relay from the Thing Shop. If that doesn't fix it, ARGHHHHH!!!!!

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:44 am    Post subject: Re: My 1973 Refresh Project Reply with quote

Ok, I'm done trying to solve this for now. I have replaced the emergency switch (the one from TTS) as well as tried two different flasher relays. Everything works, I just lose the green indicator in the speedo when the key is turned on. Very frustrating to solve.

I'm down to the horn Smile

jay
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:45 am    Post subject: Re: My 1973 Refresh Project Reply with quote

Rough weekend...

I was out tooling around in beautiful weather on Saturday running some errands. All of the sudden, it seemed sluggish and didn't sound good. No warning lights. As I slowed down and started to pull over, it died. Luckily I was close to home and called a buddy to come tow me back.

I got it home and looked in the back. The pulley on the alternator was completely dug in to the alternator body. Luckily the belt hadn't broken but the alternator pulley would not spin. I pried off the alternator pulley and sure enough, the back half of the pulley was shattered. I'll post a picture in a bit.

So, the engine still spins freely and the motor oil does not smell burnt. I'm going to drain the oil and make sure it looks and smells ok. Then I am going to have to drop the engine to replace the alternator. The alternator still spins, but feels wonky. Yea, that is a technical term.

Really bummed. Coming into the nice months of the summer (even though it is still February). I guess it could have been a lot worse.

jay
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JayC
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 1:25 pm    Post subject: Re: My 1973 Refresh Project Reply with quote

Ok, looking at new alternators. I bit of help please Smile

Is the Bosch AL82N the right model? Also, any advice on where to get a good pulley? Hoping not to have the same issue in the future.

jay
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:27 am    Post subject: Re: My 1973 Refresh Project Reply with quote

Go to autozone and get an alternator for a later beetle. I think I asked for one for a 75? They will be the later style "single wire" internally regulated model. Mine was a rebuilt Bosh unit, and they have a lifetime warranty Wink
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