Thing air cleaner

[lewis71bug]

Is the stock 73 thing air cleaner and oil bath type? (mine came with a round empi paper filer). Also, will a stock 71 oil bath air cleaner fit on a Thing (will it clear, I'm not sure if there's enough room)?

Wayne

[bciesq]

Yes, the Thing came with an oil bath, but it's different than filter that came on a Bug. Here's a shot of an installed Thing air cleaner I found in the gallery:

The air cleaner is the barrel shaped object off to the right. If you look in your engine bay, there is a plate on that side (both sides actually) where the mounting bracket attaches. Some buses also came with a similar barrel-shaped filter for "heavy duty" use.

Are you trying to use a '71 Bug oil bath air cleaner (the cooking pot shaped filter that sits on top of the carb) that looks like this:

Then my answer is: I don't know if it will fit, but it couldn't hurt to try. The only functional difference that may come into play is that the Thing air cleaner used an internal thermostat to switch from pre-heat air to cool air. The valve is operated by manifold vacuum. IIRC, on pre-'73 Bug oil bath air cleaners, the valve to switch from pre-heated air to cool air is operated by a cable connected to cooling shroud flap mechanism.

Here is a more thorough discussion of the different pre-heating systems:

http://www.vw-resource.com/air_cleaner.html#intake

HTH,

Ben
_________________
'73 Thing -- making 45 mph exciting again.

[Towel Rail]

Depending on how tall the aircleaner is, installation might be tricky. Part of the reason VW used the "separate aircleaner and neck" arrangement was because the engine compartment is shorter, like a Ghia or Bus.

Try it and see though! A Beetle oilbath would be a big step up from those round crappy paper filters.
_________________
1974 Thing -- under the knife
1967 Beetle -- spring/summer/fall driver
1996 Subaru OBW (EJ22, 5-speed, AWD) -- winter car, 3-seasons "don't feel like biking today" car

049 > 070 > 053 > 009

[Ian Epperson]

I've got the original oil bath cleaner for sale if interested. PM me if you want it.