"What did you do with your Thing today"?

FV195 · Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:17 pm Post subject:

Someone at Dover said theirs worked, but was out of fluid. I call bullshit on that, I'm installing an electric one myself, did it in my last thing, very easy to do, hooked right into stock plumbing, push button on dash, hose barn from elec. kit to rubber hose in car. Now that I'll be driving mine this winter, will need one that works

oasis · Samba Member Joined: December 12, 2002 Posts: 2168

The windshield washer system using the spare tire worked on my '71 Super when I acquired it, so I would personally be reluctant to say BS to anyone who said theirs worked unless there is something fundamentally different between a 1302 and a 181.

That said, it was a nuisance to pump (the '71 SB was activated by an on-dash knob that had a button within it that had to be pushed rather than a column stalk). Sometimes it hit the glass where I wanted it, sometimes it hit low with less coming out, sometimes it just dribbled. Pumping several times in succession had mixed results.

Changing it to electric was one of the better things I did to my car. I just had a little on/off toggle under the dash to the left of the steering wheel. Once the nozzle was aimed where I wanted the squirt, it was perfect every time. I'm hoping for similar results in my next wave of improvements.
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Now: 2003 New Beetle Turbo S / 1990 Single Cab Transporter / 2014 Tiguan R-Line 4motion / 2013 Tiguan S / 2002 Golf GLS TDI
Past: 1974 Thing Acapulco / 2009 Eos Komfort / 1997 Jetta GT / 2002 Cabrio GLX / 2002 Passat GLS / 1971 Super Beetle / 1993 EuroVan MV Westfalia / 1981 Pickup LX / 1985 Vanagon / 1986 Jetta GLI

perello · Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:44 am Post subject:

changed gear oil. choosed a sae90 mineral which tells: does not corrode bronze. expensive uh.

Carefully pluged a hose and started pouring.....

- Hey seems its raining...
- weird...its sunny today

1 litre of oil later...i realised the hose went out of place...I was pouring to the floor Sad

oh well what a mess...
_________________
Aug '58 pressed bumper SO23
1974 German Thing
1978 Bug 1200

FV195 · Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:24 pm Post subject:

well, thing related, installed some rubber swiss cheese flooring under my thing tody, my girlfriend works at a horse farm, and they had a bunch of these 1'x1' by1" mats laying around. used in stalls for washing horses. my garage floor is mostly broken concrete, so these make a nice uniform floor, plus it matches my floor mats in the car, will be hooking up booster fan to my heat soon, 74, place fan on center tunnel blowing to the defrost, did this in my last 74 when I lived up north before. with a well sealed up hardtop, this setup will make you sweat on the coldest day

oasis · Samba Member Joined: December 12, 2002 Posts: 2168

Two things of note recently ...

I drove my Thing quite a bit Saturday through yesterday as a result of my daughter's Tiguan picking up a nail-like construction piece gizmo (if I were a DIY'er, I could tell you what it was Embarassed

) which forced her to drive my Eos. I proved my unworthiness by pulling the debris out of her tire so I couldn't even temporarily inflate the thing enough to get Tiggy to the tire store. Nobody local had her tire in stock so it had to be ordered. I found out in time Fix-a-Flat and Slime are big no-no's with tire sensors and, especially, with tire stores. I wasn't totally worthless as I was able to put an oversized screw into the puncture area along with some super glue wannabee. I actually got the tire up to 34.3 PSI and was able to nurse it to the shop.

Anyway ...

I found out two things about my Thing. First, I got about 20 MPG on my first measured tankful -- 20.2 if I can trust the fill-ups between two different gas stations. This was a lot better than I was expecting as a certain amount of the initial driving was clumsy on my part as it had been more than five years since I drove an air-cooled car, and the Thing is vastly different in every way than the Super I used to own. Also, all of my driving was in short spurts and local.

Second, this fill-up wasn't followed by any residual gas smell. I bought the gas smell kit sold by TTS, but it hasn't been installed yet. I have a feeling I might have been slightly negligent in replacing the gas cap in my prior attempts. I will take greater notice as I did this most recent time. I probably will still install the kit when the time comes since it is new and I already have it.

Honorable mentions go to learning how far to trust the gas guage and happy I do have heat after all of the hose replacement stuff I went through.

Today, I ordered some touch-up paint in the same two color codes I found in my box of previous records from the previous owner. I will be especially interested to see if the blue matches the blue on my Acapulco. If it does, I will want to see if it matches the blue of an original Acapulco (just to make sure we're dealing with apples and apples).

I need to bone up on painting, however. I have a dash piece I want to paint the proper blue but I'm going to need a platform to practice upon. I also need to learn about clearcoat. I'm a total novice here.

I seem to remember Thing's were originally painted in a way less glossy than most cars. Although there are no signs my Thing has ever been in an accident, it has been repainted at some point a number of years ago. I'm not sure if Acapulco's had the semi-gloss paint originally, but no flattening agent (if that's the right term) was added to its respray.
_________________
Now: 2003 New Beetle Turbo S / 1990 Single Cab Transporter / 2014 Tiguan R-Line 4motion / 2013 Tiguan S / 2002 Golf GLS TDI
Past: 1974 Thing Acapulco / 2009 Eos Komfort / 1997 Jetta GT / 2002 Cabrio GLX / 2002 Passat GLS / 1971 Super Beetle / 1993 EuroVan MV Westfalia / 1981 Pickup LX / 1985 Vanagon / 1986 Jetta GLI

FV195 · Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:41 pm Post subject:

Finally got around to changing to a lighter oil. Dumped the 20/50 and filled with 5w30 brad penn. Seems to start quicker in this cold pa weather. Now just need to undercoat and she's all ready for winter driving, snowboard rack for hardtop needs to be picked up from my brothers. Got to pick up my 15" steel wheels from the powder coaters with knobby all seasons on them. Skinny to cut through the snow.

FV195 · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:41 am Post subject:

Started the electric washer install. Trying to remember where I teed into factory hose last time I did this, remember it being real easy last time. Hoping to install booster fan for heat today too. Really cold here in pa, girlfriends honda is broke down do she needs my truck, lots of thing driving soon, so want windshield washer and heater booster fan installed

Zylinderkopf · Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:05 am Post subject:

FV195 · Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:44 am Post subject:

Yes I will try to post pictures, fan installed washer just needs to be wired to the switch, bottle is hung, lines are run

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:28 pm Post subject:

Drove it to a fellow VWer's wedding and on the way home, stopped by the Mothman Statue in Point Pleasant WV. The site of the Silver Bridge collapse in December 1967.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

FV195 · Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:30 pm Post subject:

Drove mine to work today, 15" steels got their first color of powder on today

GI Joe · Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:13 pm Post subject:

Yanked the two year old Advance auto battery out and had it tested to find a bad cell...
Dropped In an old used Optima I had in the garage and she fired right up!

Now when the rain stops, I'll throw a few miles on her!
_________________
'74 Thing, "Our Thing".... Blue 181

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...p;start=60
'71 Beetle RPU
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8080337#8080337
www.NLEOMF.com
Respect, Honor, Remember

doublecanister · Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:58 pm Post subject: Late Christmas

Hey everybody,

hope all had a good Christmas! Mine was bout a week late as I been laid up a bit the past week. Better now though..

Got to open presents this weekend and
Santa brought me a new soft top! Very Happy

(now I just gotta install it) something to look forward to!

T
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2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8

FV195 · Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 6:38 pm Post subject:

Drove mine to work today, drivers side heat stopped working, washer shoots way over the windshield, fix all that tomorrow. Think hose fell off fan shroud

GI Joe · Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 6:48 pm Post subject:

Checked to see what I'll have to do to mount some 32's!!

_________________
'74 Thing, "Our Thing".... Blue 181

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...p;start=60
'71 Beetle RPU
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8080337#8080337
www.NLEOMF.com
Respect, Honor, Remember

Highland Piper · Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:34 pm Post subject:

Mine is going in for a complete engine rebuild today. Will be nice to drive it again.

FV195 · Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:54 pm Post subject:

Well, yesterday I installed some aux driving lights, I can see at night now, what a differance they make. 5" round on the bumper, look good too

Banker · Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:27 pm Post subject:

FV195 Did you go with LED's?
_________________
Brian

07 Charger Sublime
03 Goldwing
74 Thing

FV195 · Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:58 pm Post subject:

No, 55 watt halagon


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