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Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:12 pm

I finished tracking down all my missing tin and it finally came in got it all put in waiting on CP1 shipment to get the preheat hose the clamps and new speedo cable. I also installed the factory correct dizzy the other day and installed points and condesor man what a difference that made...Runs like a whole new Thing now oh and being a Texas native my licences plates came in they say Thang but only above it says IOWA

Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:21 am

Finally finished scrapping the tub and trunk. And then sprayed two coats of rust bullet.

Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:01 pm

Well the car sat all week without me touching it. Now it will not idle like something got in the jets. But runs like it has air leak will only run by itself with the choke half closed or more. So while I wait for the CP1 parts I pulled off the carb and will be sending it back home to Texas to visit Kiefernet to check it all out and dial it in for me. So back to waiting but shouldn't be a week or so he is pretty fast. But never had one have a air leak and still pull 17 in vacume in the ports and I had 3 1/2 psi on fuel pressure. Anyways will post again when the mail returns my carb.

Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:34 pm

Cleaned up the trunk area and shot some primer. Then cleaned up the heater and installed it. My heater timer switch is no good and I didn't want to go with a new digital one (even hiding it in glove area) So I bought a push pull switch for $5 and wired it up to the heater. Used the original knob on the switch and wired the 'DEF' light in line with the grey wire to the heater. Wired the red wire to the fused side of the heater circuit. Clipped the black wire from the light switch. Re-routed the ground wire from the heater to the tab on firewall that the switch originally grounded at. Now I pull the heater knob out and the heater runs as well as lighting the 'DEF' light. When I push the knob back in, the 'DEF' light goes out and the heater continues to finish it's run-down cycle. After run down it shuts off totally. Everything looks stock from the front.

Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:20 pm

Am I the only one playing with my thing lately?

Primed the driver door, painted the e-brake handle. Going to strip and paint the shifter tomorrow. My plan is to get it driveable for around town this summer and then do a more major restoration over the winter. Going with an olive drab primer color, black carpet and black trim. When I do my big restoration, I think I'll go with a military green and flat black trim...possibly even on handles and such, eliminate all the chrome. Other than a little painting, It was just clean-up today. Carpet kit should show tomorrow and brake lines by the end of the week.

Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:10 pm

Pietenpol wrote: Am I the only one playing with my thing lately?
:-k

I ordered front end parts today. At lunch, I tinker with my Thing. :oops:
I washed Her up real good after work too.

Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:02 pm

Pietenpol wrote: Am I the only one playing with my thing lately?

Primed the driver door, painted the e-brake handle. Going to strip and paint the shifter tomorrow. My plan is to get it driveable for around town this summer and then do a more major restoration over the winter. Going with an olive drab primer color, black carpet and black trim. When I do my big restoration, I think I'll go with a military green and flat black trim...possibly even on handles and such, eliminate all the chrome. Other than a little painting, It was just clean-up today. Carpet kit should show tomorrow and brake lines by the end of the week.

Nope. Just nothing real productive as I have to save now for parts. So, I jacked her up today and removed passenger side drum. I need to order new drum and bearings but don't have $100 to do right now so she will have to wait. :?

tj

Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:44 am

Ordered parts from Airheadparts.com today. My 1st order with them. New front drum, outer bearing, thrust washer, fuel tank hose and 4 fuel tank seals. They did not have the proper inner bearing or bearing seal that matched my Thing part #'s so I will buy those locally. So, hopefully new drum setup tackles my sh-sh-sh noise and the new fuel hoses tackles my fuel smells when I fill the tank up issue. Couple weeks we will see.

tj

Sat May 03, 2008 12:38 pm

Well, the guys at Metic Autohaus and I have (Well the guys at Metric mostly) working on restoring my 73 Thing.

They did the dis-assembly and most of the sand blasting but I was in there today to bead-blast one of the rear fenders.

The hope is to have it competled in the next month.

The guys at Metric (Maryland) are great to work with.

I will post some pic's as it progresses.

Sun May 04, 2008 7:31 pm

Just stared at mine today cause of carb problems :( I have had a big problem finding the correct numbered dizzy for mine no one seems to know the correct number. So I found out after talking with kiefernet there is a certain carb to go with certain distributors. This is my problem. I will have to do some more reserch to get the correct parts together to enjoy my ride again this sucks ass

Wed May 07, 2008 4:51 pm

Well I robbed the carb off my bettle and sent to kiefernet to be rebuilt and stole the 043905205 distributor off it too so in a week or so I should be back on the road again woo hoo

Sat May 10, 2008 7:20 am

Cleaned up the wiring behind the dash, took the air cleaner apart to clean it out, changed the oil. Took the wiper motor apart and discovered the metal tab for the parking circuit was busted....hmmmm, looks like the inside of a cheap flashlight...PERFECT FIT. Cut to sze, drilled a hole and with a big pop-rivet I'm back to a fully functional wiper motor.

Sun May 11, 2008 6:19 pm

Yesterday, my husband and I cleaned up some more parts. We are literally in the middle of ground up restore. Hubby sanded, primered, and painted the fuel tank-gloss black, sharp. Will look sharp against the blood red we plan to paint her. Took someone's advice on cleaner-had an old bottle of oven cleaner under the sink. Worked well, but I'm gonna try Simple Green, better on the enviroment. Will order the floorpans in the next couple of days. Yippee!!!! :lol:

Tue May 13, 2008 8:40 am

Almost done stripping the outside of the car. Took the windshield, gas tank, fenders, hood and other small parts in my dad's shed and made a plastic sheet booth to paint in. Will roll my car on a plastic sheet and then block it in when I'm ready to paint it. The inside turned out great. I'm a pretty clean house painter and don't use blue tape or plastic on the floors, so figured I'd blue tape the car but not wear any gloves when I shot the rust bullet. Man oh man :shock: I had the gray stuff all over my hands arms and clothes. I poured it neatly but the sprayer got me :shock: I used a peticure stone and zylene and it still took a week to wear off. I looked like the tin man from wizard of oz.

Tue May 13, 2008 4:14 pm

I recently traded for a 73 thing that I had been wanting for several years. I started last week with the front disc brake conversion only to find my wheels now won't fit. Had to dig up some chrome mangels too! Gas tank was total loss so I replaced it as well. Four corner air shocks to give it just a little lift after setting up the rear torsion three degrees, Only to find way too much slack in the side flange and shaft. I will run it this weekend to our club cook-out at the lake and adress the tranny next week. Gotta stay busy in order to make the mid-america funfest at the end of the month. The motor has less than 1000 miles on a turnkey stock engine but it has been setting so fresh tune and weber 34 Icts maybe by Sat morning. Long work days in my A/C business doesn't leave much time to play at the shop but the bags under the eyes seem worth it somehow

Tue May 13, 2008 5:00 pm

Worked on getting the engine hoses all hooked up. Didn't have a vacuum port on the doghouse for the charcoal canister so I put a nipple on the short tube next to the air cleaner (that has the plastic cap on the end). Forgive me if I use the incorrect terms but I'm new to Vw's. Figured it would be safe enough to bypass the canister since I'm in Ohio so I ran a new hose from the nipple to the top back of the cleaner. Ran the other hose line from the under-side to the nipple on the oil filler plate. Put my new elbow on from the cleaner to the carb and will install the warm air hose as soon as I find whatever bracket I need that bolts to the exhaust. I'm figuring the engine is not a stock thing engine. Should be getting my left side dash pod soon and going to finish up my wiring project. I'm thinking of cutting the wiring wrap since it's brittle. Will re-wrap it so it lays better when I do the carpeting. Other than that I've just been wandering around and tinkering. I went through a whole box full of hot vw mags that came with it and tore out the articles of interest.

Thu May 15, 2008 2:10 pm

What I did today....

Discovered that the PO installed the engine/tranny and new cv's/suspension in the rear (as opposed to the front although at this point I wouldn't be surprised) what he neglected to do was install the clutch throw-out shaft in the tranny.

What I'm doing tomorrow....

Pulling my first vw engine.

Mon May 19, 2008 9:56 am

Been doing other things as of late other than working on my Thing. I did receive my new drum and fuel tank hoses and purchased on Saturday an inner drum seal and inner bearings. So, I need to do the drum replace sometime when I get a chance. Hopefully that will take care of my sh-sh-sh noise I have.

To be continued when time permits.

tj

Wed May 21, 2008 7:29 pm

Today I installed a new set of wiper assemblies, new tail light lenses, and a new set of front and rear bumpers. I got my turn signals working but they stopped soon after. I'll try again tomorrow.

Mon May 26, 2008 3:46 pm

I was able thanks to the thing gods to drive my thing today. I now know the trans is good, I still have an awful wiring nitemare behind the dash. I am missing the rings that hold the headlight bulb in, does anyone know if it is a bug, bus or what ever part? Until I round them up and get the wiring fixed I will have to limit my driving to around the farm. We got an inch of rain last night and I was really impressed with how well I was able to get around, and that was with bald tires.