Three Things in Hoosierland

[ztnoo]

I'm new here, so please bear with me. Hope all of you can be of help with advise to me. It would be much appreciated.

If any of you are familiar with the phrase "up to my butt cheeks (substitute freely) in alligators", then you'll have some understanding of my wonderful dilemma.

I'm working on three Things (one '74 and two '73's) owned by two brothers. My only real experience with VW's was a '70 Bug I bought in '72 and drove all over the eastern US.
I didn't really work on it much, so this is a new learning experience for me.
The owners are good childhood friends who honestly just don't have much time to mess around with their Things. I'm currently unemployed, so I decided to jump in with both feet. Bought all the relevant literature...parts list, shop manual, etc.
I 'm not getting anything for working on them, I just wanted to learn about them and help my buddies be able to get in and drive a couple of the vehicles with some reasonable reliability this summer.
Nothing like a three Thing testbed to learn the ins and outs.
I hope to own one someday myself, but I already know I wouldn't buy my first one with the idea and intentions of a big restoration project in mind.
I'll buy one I can get in a drive and not have to work on constantly.

One the three Things I'm dealing with is a '74, the primo one. Less than 29,000 miles.
Needs tires and maybe a tune up. Has a few minor oil leaks...likely valve cover gaskets.
Motor seems to run decently. Vehicle hasn't been driven in about five years, but has been garaged in a dry place.
It basically just needs some TLC and minor odds and ends.
The only fairly major item I have to do at the moment is repair a broken cv bolt. It appears to be broken off in the axle hub.
I'm in the process of removing the brake drum and have the thing jacked up to have a good look and facilitate working on it.
The only thing I need to track down is a 12 pt. 8 mm allen wrench to get the cv bolts removed from their flanges.
Did that yesterday....brake drum off after a struggle (rear shoe bound up on the brake drum), axle hub out., broken bolt remnant removed. after much work on the drill press and some left twist drill bits.

The best of the '73's runs, but is rough. About 45,00 miles on it.
I suspect a valve problem, but haven't had the time to check it out with a compression test.
This one has a gas heater in it, but it wouldn't fire the first time the owner tried it and leaked gas, and he never tried it again.
The body is rougher than the '74, but not too bad compared with some of the pictures I've seen online.
This one has been driven only a few times in four years. It's in the same place as the '74.

The second '73 in a different location nearby, has many problems. It hasn't been run in about ten years. The cap, rotor, and points were out of it when we dug it out of the barn is was buried in. Someone spaced out and walked away without closing it back up. The guts of the diz looked like it had been setting out by the ocean...heavy oxidation and badly rusted cam lobes. We decide to can this right off and I got an exact used part replacement form Mike Basso along with new points, condensor, rotor, and cap. Maybe risky buying a used one. Guess we'll find out one way or another.
We haven't be able to get this one to fire yet...turns over but won't even pop.
I 'm pretty sure I've got it set to TDC on # 1. It also has new plugs. So I'm not sure what the problem is.
Developed a bad gas line leak just before the fuel pump last weekend. Old rotten line. Thank god it happened before we had the chance to get it running.
I'm going to try to get some help from newly met (through Samba ads) local guru's on this one. If this engine will run decently, and the other '73 needs a rebuild, we'd likely exchange engines for the time being.
This '73 has pan problems and is sagging in the back end as a result. Without a body off restoration, which I don't think the owner is interested in messing with, it's likely a better parts car.

Things are good in Hoosierland ....and complicated, with three Things to work on simultaneously.
Joy of joys....
Hallelujah
Amen

ztnoo

[Buckly]

Hey ztnoo, I saw your post on the thing email theard. I've been slowly bringing a thing to daily driver and getting ready to start another. On all old vws theres always a few things to replace, some more common than others.

If you think you have a running engine, tune it. New points plugs condensor cap rotor, fuel filter, oil(clean the screen), gas lines(drain any old gas and use lots of snake oil everywhere(like marveluos mystery oil, or whatever its called) add some to the new gas. theres a hard line that runs from the front to the back. It often gums up solid. you can jam a wire down it to clean it out, use some carb cleaner for extra thick gum.

for starts on the brakes check the four soft lines. one at each wheel.

I'm sure any old thing thats been sitting needs shocks, but even more important is the steering dampner.
when your checking the dampner check the tie rod ends, and the ball joints. mostly looking for cracked or torn boots and looseness. A 12:oo- 6:00 wiggle on the tire and then a 3:00-9:00 can say a bit about wheel bearings, ball joints and tie rod ends. on to the steering, a good test is a pull-push on the steering wheel, and then a back and forth. If it pulls and pushes somethings loose at the box, back forth(74's atleast) bad bearing in the colum. A little free play in the wheel can be adjusted out at the box.

Check the CV boots. check the tansaxle fuild. take note of the trans mounts rubber.

More will expose itself when you finally get to drive it.

Theres way more but it sounds like your mechanically inclined and will do a great job.
_________________
Cool runnins,
_______________________
Bucky

[ztnoo]

Buckly.
Thanks for your tips and encouragement. I'm sure for long time Thing owners and mechanics the problems I'm encountering are ho hum, big yawn stuff, but to me its all new. I'm a green novice, about as green as they get. I can only read as much as I can, form new local VW contacts to help with advice, review the online community's experiences, and make my own physical observations and conclusions about problems and difficulties I stumble upon. That's not to say I won't make some big boners along the way with this Thing trio, but at least I feel I've got half an chance of succeeding now. A little success gives ya a lot of satisfaction and more confidence.

Fluids were the first thing I attended to before doing anything else.
Completely drained the gas tanks and drained old oil and cleaned sump screens.
The fuel lines I didn't attend to, but seems like they are revealing their age slowly, at a time of their choosing.
My new VW friends stopped by yesterday morning to observe and add their two cents worth. They are going to be a great help to me. They wanted to try starting the second '73 (the ten year sleeper) to see what was going on. I operated the key, they watched.
After two ignition clicks they said wait a minute, advanced the diz slightly, asked me to try it again, and boom the engine fired and idled from the get go! Sounds pretty good. But after running for a couple of minutes, some fuel stated to appear at the left intake manifold boot and the base of the fuel pump.
They think maybe I've got a malfunctioning fuel pump (mechanical) and probably a sticking carb float and sediment in the bowl.
Anyway, the engine the hadn't run in ten years did, and I'm thrilled! Yahoo!!!
Will attend to these immediate problems and go from there.

My buddies listened to the other rough running '73 for about a minute and said from listening carefully, the valves need to be gapped. Add that job to the list of things to do for the Hoosier Things.

I'll probably put the axle hub back in the '74 on Monday and get the cv shaft cleaned up, lubed, and reinstalled, and the brake drum back on.
I'd like to put one aside for a while to concentrate on one vehicle at a time. I've been hopping around while waiting for parts and my mind to catch up with each new problem.
I'm sure there will be more along the way.

Thanks again.
I'm sure I'll have other questions for you and the group.

ztnoo