TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:31 pm

Scored a 73 Thing project. Plan is to wrench on it with the middle daughter. Needs work, my plan is to replace the floors, and redo all the mechanicals, basically "daily driver" status (I may need intervention as I tend to go all in... call me out if I start to falter...).

Floor was toast at some point, and some PO welded in flat sheet metal, which also then rusted... PO should be a swear word! Motor needs a rebuild, brakes, etc... Last on the road in 2005.

Sat Jun 11, 2016 7:07 pm

Looks like a Great start! She appears Very solid...

And do I see adhesive ALL over that interior(doors, rockers, etc??)..... :roll:

Welcome!

Sat Jun 11, 2016 7:24 pm

GI Joe wrote:

And do I see adhesive ALL over that interior(doors, rockers, etc??)..... :roll:

PO glued on carpet?!?! And hacked holes in the middle of the inside rockers, arrrg!

Sun Jun 12, 2016 7:25 am

One thing that continually baffles me is when you see things of one original color repainted to another original color..eg white over orange yellow over orange, orange over yellow. i jsut think its odd

Wed Jun 15, 2016 12:56 pm

what's with the four things on the bumpers?

like they had a over the roof rack or were feet for a tent maybe?

Neat idea, tent feet for a popup over your THING! LOL

Don't worry, I'm sure yall will get it cleaned up and purring again!

Good luck with your project!

T

Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:21 pm

doublecanister wrote: what's with the four things on the bumpers?

T

Hippie "roll bar" ??? What they are is a collection point for water, therefore rust issues inside the tube. I will be removing them.

Mon Jul 04, 2016 7:01 pm

How I spent my Sunday. Finally got the last of the triple layered, welded, angle iron floors cut out, lots of careful surgery removing the welds without damaging the tunnel/rockers. Frame is in great shape, inner driver rocker needs some rust repair (beyond the hacked out hole to clear the custom seats).

Mon Jul 04, 2016 7:03 pm

Worked the passenger doors, hinges were rusted, now they open and remove as they should. Replaced the seals on the top and bottom of the windshield, and windshield to dash seal. Replaced the missing pad below the glove box. Replaced the connection bar and lubed the pivots on the wiper arms. Making progress slowly...

Mon Jul 04, 2016 7:16 pm

Great to see another Thing under restoration in the Houston area.

Keep the pics coming

Tue Jul 05, 2016 4:30 am

63ziggy wrote: Great to see another Thing under restoration in the Houston area.

Keep the pics coming

Thanks Ziggy. I've seen your Thing around, I will introduce myself next time we cross paths.

My plan is not to restore this one, just repairing the floors (and now the driver side rocker) and redoing the mechanicals. Will roll the body as is, shooting for daily driver quality. I've given myself a one year deadline to complete given time and financials.

Tue Jul 05, 2016 10:38 am

I know it's probably a tad bit early,

but what's your thought on seats?

I've been mulling swapping mine with some (I think they are BMW) seats I everything was manual on these, now power. But I need
to make their seat tracks fit the THING seat tracks in the floor, so
I found an old cruddy set of seat bottoms to use but they need major cleanup.

Since you don't have seat tracks right now, maybe now's a good time to spec out some seats?

Just asking/mentioning as I'm curious myself what i'd do if it were mine.

Good luck with it and keep the photos coming.

T

Tue Jul 05, 2016 5:52 pm

Stock for now. Got some used seat tracks from thingparts.com, even if I decide to install something different, I would like the originals as an option.

Sun Jul 17, 2016 9:52 am

Got the body and pan separated. In the process, both rear shock tower captive nuts spun.

How do you replace those captive nuts? Any thread links? I can't possibly be the first to have this issue... TIA

Sun Jul 17, 2016 10:16 am

so it's been a while since I had mine apart. sounds like you are referring to body mount bolt that goes through the shock tower arm up into the bottom of the body.

if so, an easy way to repair/replace a captive nut that is buried behind sheet metal is to cut open a square in sheetmetal around the captive not/bolt area.

you can then weld in new nut or weld old not back in place. then weld sheetmetal square back in place.

hope that makes since.

basically do surgery, open up area, repair, weld back in.

Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:18 am

Making progress.

Separated the pan from the body, trimmed and welded all the necessary attachments (seat tracks, battery mount, seat belt mount, pedal stop, jack points, jack support braces).

Three rims/tires stacked on top of each other make for a good body holder over the pan... wish I had taken pictures of my getto stand... :lol:

Driver side rocker needed rust repair lower three inches inner/outer, and repaired holes on both sides.

Put POR 15 on outer edges of the new floor pans, installed new floor pan seal, then bolted pan halves to body. Dropped body back on the chassis and bolted everything up before welding pan halves to tunnel so I wouldn't have any issues with alignment.

POR 15 with Chassis Black Top Coat.

Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:25 am

if you have not already, pull that tape line. Por-15 dried will give you fits removing the tape in crisp line.

Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:31 am

63ziggy wrote: if you have not already, pull that tape line. Por-15 dried will give you fits removing the tape in crisp line.

Thanks. BTDT, I removed the tape while still wet.

Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:45 am

Needed to address some rust under the dash/foot well area. Knowing that POR 15 is a bad idea on actual body panels, I just sanded down and applied only the chassis black top coat to the inside of the rockers and under the dash.

Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:10 pm

Working on the rear brakes, and decided to replace the bearing seal.

Question. The outer spacer has a bevel. Does the bevel face in toward the outer bearing or out toward the seal?

Wed Jan 04, 2017 12:09 am

Outer rear spacer has the bevel in towards the CVs and the larger part facing outwards and it mates up with the brake drum.