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Technut27 Samba Member
Joined: May 18, 2015 Posts: 97 Location: Cleveland
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:40 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Died on the the way to my daughters trunk or tread at her day care. 7 miles into an 8 mile drive. Thought it ran out of gas because my sending unit is flaky but I guess that wasn't it. Turns over just fine but no spark, not excited to hear from the shop that is looking at it for me. It has been running so well this year
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emersonbiggins Samba Member
Joined: February 18, 2003 Posts: 1681 Location: Nebraska
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Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Technut27 wrote: |
Died on the the way to my daughters trunk or tread at her day care. 7 miles into an 8 mile drive. Thought it ran out of gas because my sending unit is flaky but I guess that wasn't it. Turns over just fine but no spark, not excited to hear from the shop that is looking at it for me. It has been running so well this year |
That sucks.
Probably the points. |
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Technut27 Samba Member
Joined: May 18, 2015 Posts: 97 Location: Cleveland
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Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:06 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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+1 to the points suggestion! Got it back today, new points, condenser, some misc tubing\wires that had gotten brittle, a carb cleaning, basically it's first professional tune up in probably 20 years. Starts idles and runs better than ever and didn't break the bank. |
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Solomon Grundy Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2004 Posts: 747 Location: Silicon Valley
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Geothing Samba Member
Joined: June 20, 2017 Posts: 4 Location: Ashland, OR
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 11:32 am Post subject: Finally tied the battery down! |
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With the proper battery clamp and battery pad (from Mike at Thing Parts), finally tied the battery down - been meaning to do that for months! Not a great idea to hold the battery in place by using the battery cables!
Geothing |
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Dan Scully Samba Member
Joined: February 12, 2013 Posts: 15 Location: So Cal
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 11:33 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Switched out the steering wheel .
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perello Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2005 Posts: 829 Location: where social security comes for free
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:58 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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got new tires (continental vancontact 4seasons)
_________________ Aug '58 pressed bumper SO23
1974 German Thing
1978 Bug 1200 |
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oasis Samba Member
Joined: December 12, 2002 Posts: 2168
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:32 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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14 degrees Fahrenheit, started right up and drove around doing some errands. Didn't end so well, though. Driver's door was persnickety about opening and had to get out on passenger side. After fetching a couple of boxes out the back seat, driver's side rear door was even more persnickety about closing. Didn't take a look but I'm guessing the cold played a factor. Sure was fun driving but I need to look at it before pulling it out of storage again. _________________ 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 |
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doublecanister Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2008 Posts: 1184 Location: Richmond, Va
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:11 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Dan Scully wrote: |
Switched out the steering wheel .
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Nice wheel there Dan!
Just curious, did it change the amount of leg room between you and the seat and the bottom of the wheel? [ie; give you more, less or no change?]
Like it!
T _________________ ****************************************
2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8 |
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doublecanister Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2008 Posts: 1184 Location: Richmond, Va
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:40 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Changed the Oil and took it for a test run Sunday, was the nicest weather we've had in a long while.
T _________________ ****************************************
2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8 |
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oasis Samba Member
Joined: December 12, 2002 Posts: 2168
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:57 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Trying to figure out why my left side doors don't close ... _________________ 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 |
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Semper_Dad Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2005 Posts: 3509 Location: Indiana
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:28 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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oasis wrote: |
Trying to figure out why my left side doors don't close ... |
Most likely the locking mechanism on the door is all gummed up. Go ahead and remove it. Then clean and relubricate. If I'm in a hurry, I just hit it with some WD40 and exercise it a bit. Best thing to do would be to run it through a parts cleaner as a unit then lubricate with a dry lubricate. WD40 and oil just seem to attract more dirt and gum things up again. It's happen to each one of my door latches at one time or another. _________________ Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492 |
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oasis Samba Member
Joined: December 12, 2002 Posts: 2168
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:13 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Semper_Dad wrote: |
oasis wrote: |
Trying to figure out why my left side doors don't close ... |
Most likely the locking mechanism on the door is all gummed up. Go ahead and remove it. Then clean and relubricate. If I'm in a hurry, I just hit it with some WD40 and exercise it a bit. Best thing to do would be to run it through a parts cleaner as a unit then lubricate with a dry lubricate. WD40 and oil just seem to attract more dirt and gum things up again. It's happen to each one of my door latches at one time or another. |
Thanks. I'll give it a go when there is a stretch of better weather coinciding with my schedule.
It was weird when it happened. No warning. At first, I couldn't get out until I crawled through the passenger side. Once out, I got the driver's door open but I struggled with it. In the process, I opened the driver's side rear door. It wouldn't close at first. I finally got the rear door closed (without the window in), and I drove Thing back to storage (I had it at my house while I was minus Beetle) by holding the door as closed as I could -- not easy to do when steering and shifting in sub-20 degree weather. Hopefully, I will get a break soon to revisit it. _________________ 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 |
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doublecanister Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2008 Posts: 1184 Location: Richmond, Va
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:38 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Took mine out for a short drive, was a bit chilly, got to exercise the heater too.
T _________________ ****************************************
2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8 |
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Technut27 Samba Member
Joined: May 18, 2015 Posts: 97 Location: Cleveland
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:40 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Over the last few days in my spare time between surprise visitors and my 19 month old I managed to get the passenger side rear brakes rebuilt. I cleaned up the backer plate and painted it along the way. Next weekend the driver side.
So what did I learn?
1. Thor torqued the hub nut on or it has been on there 30 years, I had to cut it off... and broke my last cutting wheel for my Dremel half way through, bought a pack and expect the same out of the drivers side.
2. The torque multiplier tool for the drum is simply awesome when it came to re-assembly... After I bought new lug bolts that were longer and waited for them to be delivered, mine were too short.
3. My starting gremlins that were fine when it was parked in the fall after a tune up are back but at the moment I blame a shot battery, plus maybe some stale gas I was late to treating it, going to drain it/new filters/fresh gas next weekend. Fail on my part ignoring my reminder to start it up once in a while too.
4. And after I replaced the spedo cable the radio won't turn on, it sure seemed like a good idea to feed that new cable through the dash behind it in order not to kink it at the time.
5. Watched a bunch of video's about re-indexing the torsion bars to raise the passenger side up some but not entirely sure I want to do that myself.
All in all it was a fantastically fun weekend considering just one wheel is done (I rebuilt the fronts in the fall) and when I repeatedly realized I was missing something that cost me a ton of time |
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kenj06 Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2011 Posts: 198 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 6:56 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Technut27 wrote: |
5. Watched a bunch of video's about re-indexing the torsion bars to raise the passenger side up some but not entirely sure I want to do that myself.
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Hey Technut, I just reindexed the torsion bars over the winter. I too was a little worried but what the heck, no broken bones. Replaced all the bushings while I was in there and may have the stinkbug stance now but I can always take it apart again and lower it if it doesn't settle. I'm around the area, PM me if you have questions, need advice or maybe some help. |
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kenj06 Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2011 Posts: 198 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Got my Thing out for the first time this year after a long winters worth of work. Was a little chilly but the gas heater worked great. Rear bushings, rear seals, and reindexed, replaced fuel lines and added and original air cleaner. Ran pretty good first time out, quieter with less engine noise and squeaks than last year. The rear end settled out nice after a drive. Even had my picture taken while fueling up.
Now if we can just get some consistently warmer weather...
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63ziggy Samba Member
Joined: June 19, 2005 Posts: 1100 Location: The Woodlands, Texas
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 7:35 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Well not today but last weekend.
We got her out for a cruise in with the Nifty Fifty car club. Bonus round, they used to gather about 30-40 mins away. They moved locations to within our neighborhood. 5-10 drive.
Fun night out with my oldest (not pictured) and my youngest who is now 16 and just got his license. Yes, he is challenging dad for the tallest in the family.
pic at the show and one afterwards when we stopped for a bite to eat. Thinger is rest comfortable in the night air outside the burger joint.
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doublecanister Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2008 Posts: 1184 Location: Richmond, Va
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 8:45 am Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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This Saturday, I entered a local car show and won "Best Import" with the THING!
There was only one other VW there, I think they won Peoples Choice, 65 Convertible Beetle.
There were a few other imports there but the VDubs won the day!
T _________________ ****************************************
2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8 |
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nikita Samba Member
Joined: September 16, 2007 Posts: 531 Location: California
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: "What did you do with your Thing today"? |
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Getting the Thing on the road again for summer. Tri-mil exhaust is gone for a stock muffler. It was way too loud. Because of a custom rear bumper, the tailpipes are custom, made from galvanized EMT electrical conduit. |
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