TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Jul 14, 2014 5:49 pm

mkparker wrote: The cars are mostly prepped by the owner in West Texas. We were having some west coast prep help by the original Full Potential car builder, but that came to a screaming halt recently...

Seats look fantastic! Are you mounting them on stock bases, cage or ?

Can't wait to see your cage come together! :popcorn:

I'm thinking Danny works for the owner. He moved to West Texas and preps two cars, one of them is a FP 10 car. Seeing that there are only 3 on the planet and Torchmate owns another one, I'm guessing I have a 50/50 shot. :lol:

As far as the seats, since this is a street first car, I'm using these bases from Moore VW that are easy and work well:

And the cage, I really like the look of the work on this show car in the gallery. From the photo it looks like the rear coilovers are mounted to the cage and this car might be a two seater with a fuel cell in back. I think our rear mounts will tie in just behind the rifle rack mount and slightly in front of the stock location. I think we will do an aluminum top painted yellow with a dust light and tabs for a LED light bar up front. That's the plan for now... 8)

BTW: In no way am I comparing my car to this. This car is sick. The detail work is over the top! :shock:

Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:28 pm

Shoyrtt wrote: .... this car might be a two seater with a fuel cell in back.

Looks like a small buggy bench seat in the back.... Between the shock mount hoops.... :?

That's one sweet Thing..... All that capability, and not a spec of dirt....... :roll:

Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:47 pm

GI Joe wrote:

Looks like a small buggy bench seat in the back.... Between the shock mount hoops.... :?

That's one sweet Thing..... All that capability, and not a spec of dirt....... :roll:

I think you are correct Joe. I wonder if the fuel cell is on the rear parcel tray or under the little bench seat. I'll guess that car was built by a fab shop in San Diego (pic is from a San Diego VW car show) just to show off the skills of the shop. It will get sold and used some day in the dirt or sand. :wink:

Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:00 pm

So after picking up the yellow Thing a few months ago, the seller also had a hardtop at his house for it that was part of the deal. I wasn't in a huge hurry to pick it up, as the seller was a friend of a friend. I figured it was a white VWOA ribbed top that I have seen over and over and hopefully in a little better shape than the top I have for the lowered car. I never saw the top until today...

Its a Fiberjet top. I had never seen one of these less desirable tops and even with a search on Google and here on the Samba, I couldn't find another picture to compare it with. I sort of like the textured roof, but I'm not thrilled with the aluminum trimmed windows and how it attaches to the car with the rubber bungees. :? The jury is still out on this one. :P

Edit: Found this picture of a Fiberjet. Maybe it works with a few changes. :wink:

Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:56 pm

Quote: I'm thinking Danny works for the owner. He moved to West Texas and preps two cars, one of them is a FP 10 car. Seeing that there are only 3 on the planet and Torchmate owns another one, I'm guessing I have a 50/50 shot.

There's no Danny in our group and we have two FP cars. We're out of Odessa.

I like that red cage a lot! The whole red Thing is pretty awesome. I'm aiming a bit lower on mine! :)

A little paint and the Fiberjet top looks pretty good!

Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:56 am

mkparker wrote: There's no Danny in our group and we have two FP cars. We're out of Odessa.

Sorry about the mix up. Danny works for Race Ritchie on his FP car that we used to race against us in Class 3000 (now converted to a 10 car). I forgot about those cars. So with the old Green Army 3000/10 car there are 5 cars on the planet. :oops:

I'm thinking that we will remove the aluminum window molding on the Fiberjet top and replace it with just rubber. As far as mounting, we can fab up some lower brackets to replicate the VWOA units and glass them in. I have an extra set of stainless steel Thing Shop latches I can use up front. I'm torn on the color. Keep it white or paint it black or yellow? :?: I'm leaning black.

Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:45 am

OK, I did some checking, Danny works with Steve Tyo @ TPM Racing in San Antonio.

http://tokipokimotorsports.com/team

Race is out of Odessa. Race currently has the two FP cars and just added a Penhall 10 car.

I like the looks of the black top quite a lot!

Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:55 pm

Sneak peek of the cage:

Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:56 am

Cool!! That's a great start. Did you choose that rake on the windshield? It appears to be laying back a bit too far... You will have fitment trouble with side curtains and top, if you're going to have them... Fyi

Sun Jul 20, 2014 8:05 am

"Rake" looks ok here, unless something has changed.

Sun Jul 20, 2014 8:25 am

Rake is probably off in the picture due to the camera angle and we pulled the latches to get the tubing close

Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:16 pm

Here are a few more progress pictures:

If you look close you can see the lowered Thing floating in the shop :lol:

Almost ready to be pulled for powdercoating. 8)

Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:13 am

Cage is looking great! Keep the pics coming!

Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:03 pm

A little update. :D

All of the cage work is done. Finish welding on the seatbelt harness/rear passenger grab handle and a lot of dzus fastners tabs for the aluminum top. I took the cage in for powder coating this morning. After seeing this car a few months ago in Pomona, I decided to go with this coating for the cage:

Lots of tabs and the Momo steering wheel: 8)

and the matching shift knob:

Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:10 pm

I can't decide on powder coating for the stock looking bumpers. :? Should I stay with a traditional black or match the cage? I dropped the bumpers and the rear seatbacks off also this morning for sandblasting. I get them back on 8-11 after ten days in Hawaii, and then they are off to the coater. To match, or not to match, that is the question! 8)

Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:37 pm

I'm voting for non-traditional "cage matching" bumpers! And we need waaay more cage pics!

Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:47 pm

I'd match the bumpers with the cage. I think that would look dynamite on your Thing. Heck, I would do the same for the headlight rings and turn signal assemblies, too. :idea:

Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:51 pm

I too vote for that same hammerd tone on the bumpers! It's a great look, and why not tie it all together!?

Thing looks better each update!

Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:15 pm

mkparker wrote: I'm voting for non-traditional "cage matching" bumpers! And we need waaay more cage pics!

As requested, waaaaay more cage pics now with powder coat. 8)

and in the car (windshield rake still not set):

and the lucky 16 year old hard at work. :lol:

Fri Aug 01, 2014 12:13 pm

Looks like he's calling for a slider, low and away.

Your Thing does look better with each update. Great stuff!