North GA 1973 Veteran's Addition

[Heiferman]

Well - this finally happened.

Took Kubel around to discover the fuel guage stopped working. No biggy. Since it seemed okay I took it to get some non-ethanol.

It was just still running super hot. I could not even touch the dipstick without a rag. I had put in the missing rear tin this morning (I am missing industrial tins but that would not make it this hot.)

Then it gave me a slow low battery start at the gas station.

Got home to discover this - which has plagued me my entire VW owning career. Why am I not surprised.

I always try to not overfill but I had no idea the contents of the tank.

Other than the overheating, it was fairly peppy and seemed happyish. But when I say overheating I mean it. I could hardly touch the deck lid latch and the dipstick was scalding. Could not pull it without a rag.

The fan is spinning. Most of the tins are present. The exhaust (although a little undersize) is not clogged. The valves are properly adjusted. Timing to advanced? I am getting a tiny backfire here and there around idle. I think I am at about 28-30 advance at 3000rpm. It does not kike being much less advanced than that.

So we are about to head to Athens - in the Honda.
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Had a great time this weekend at Kubeltreffen East 2025.
We were bummed Kubel was not able to make the trip but thanks to all who weighed in on my overheating issue. We will go ahead and pull the engine just as soon as we can and get the fan and doghouse off to determine if there is damage to the fan or something inside the doghouse preventing the air to fully flow. (This is my non-educated guess. Gotta be it or the fan is spinning freely on the alternator. )
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

It has been a few minutes as we continue with some residential maintenance.
For thise I spoke to at KubelTreffen we surmised my overheating could be cause by debris inside my fanshroud or cooling tins.
Anyone thing this is enough to make me run super hot? Like in the 400-450° area?
This was in the fins on the left side of the shroud.
About the size of 2-3 fingers.

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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

I cleaned it out and got it all put back together.
Things got in the way so I was unable to start it and see if that fixed my issue.
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

[Heiferman]

I bought this exhaust a while ago and decided to throw it on today. The old one was pretty beat up and was in the back seat of the car when I got it. I am hoping the large size will help the engine breathe a bit.

For anyone looking to put on a Tri-Mil, it does require some trimming to the front tins and tucks up pretty high toward the pushrod tubes. I am not really thrilled about how tight to the engine it is as it allows no room for industrial tins. The welds were so thick it was sort of hard to get the hardware tight on the flanges. New copper nuts on now.

Looks clean though.

Next up is moving the oil filter.
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

My Chica went and got our very old 1976 16th Edition of John Muir's book rebound at Staples today. They did it for free because they did not realized their spiral was tighter than the original before it was taken apart. That resulted in cutting it a little narrower than it should have been.
Vinyl on the front and back. Also the cover was redone in cardstock. We also got some torn and missing pages replaced from the newest edition.
Normally the service is just $10. Hope it holds up.

New card stock cover.

Old cover still there.

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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Been busy with some family visits and working on my Bullnose Ford which is what keeps the property going.
New clutch and flywheel as well as wiring and a new dizzy with a computer delete.
Anywaaay, got the new exhaust on the Thing and built a bracket to mount the external oil filter in the engine compartment only to realized it was too low so I need to make another one.
I got some more Evil Energy hose and fittings to get that filter properly plumbed and also got some hose insulation since it seems hard to snake that hose through the headers.
Will get it done and post some pics in a few days/weeks. Our next couple of months are really full for a couple of retirees!
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Wow. Where did September go?
We have been busy here at the house as usual but the Bullnose is back on the road so I was able to divert my attention back to the Kubel.
While this may not be popular with everyone I think moving the oil filter from behind the rear wheel was a pretty good choice. It was hanging from som sort of framing strap or scrap metal.

I modified the bracket I made last month to gain more room and it is firmly attached to the OE airfilter mount.

I ran new Evil Energy hoses and discovered that the engine builder or PO used what appears to be JB Weld to seal the fittings in the oil pump. I was too afraid to pull them out and replace them so had to use a 90° rather than 45° (which is what worked on the top).

I will be replacing that Fram with 51515R and switxhing ton10w30 VR1 oil next oil change.
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Still overheating.
Engine is coming out to pull all the tins.
I am sooo frustrated.
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[doublecanister]

hey Heiferman,

Rats on the overheating man! What's the giveaway (what's telling you it's hot now)?

Also,
I put a trimil on mine earlier this year, I noticed that dern muffler was rather hot (I was running dual 73 mufflers before, now I have the 1 muffler runs across under the bumper, I decided to exhaust wrap a majority of the "muffler" portion just to help cut down on the heat that I felt.

Seems to have helped keep the "felt" temp down a bit, the bumper even the engine lid would get right warm without it.

Plus I had a bad feeling i'd end up hitting the muffler and roasting myself somehow, so trying to be safe.

Unknown if that muffler is got anything to do with the "hot" problem but i'm sure you feel the radiant heat from it for sure.
I've been loosely following along, that was your major recent change right?

Stay on it man you'll get it, sorry it's being a mutha. Hope you find the culprit.

T
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2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8

[Heiferman]

[doublecanister]

Hey Heiferman,

Rats yeah she's still running on the hot side.

What oil are you running again?
I think on my last change I tried the Valvoline Racing 30w (for more zinc)
I was using Castrol 30w with some Risolone oil treatment for zinc prior to this.

I know fuel/carb/timing all that can muck with temps but I know you've chased thru that prior I believe.

I'll try to fire mine up and take some temps this weekend and see how far i'm off from you.

I got one of those "save my bug" oil dipstick heat sensor devices to flash the oil light on the dash, it get's close but (like 2-3/16th's from triggering) on it's hottest but I've only
ever had it come on once, I had tried full synthetic oil once, ate thru a quart on a trip to the mountains like a 2-3hr trip on 55mph
roads. Prior to I never had it consume that much oil and didn't smoke out the exhaust either. (On a hot startup it would a bit).
Went back to the Castrol straight 30w and never happened again.

So far on the Valvoline 30w racing, it's not overly consumed any either, I added some a few months back as it looked low, ended up checking it again
the following weekend and now it was too full. (not sure what happened there) could have not waited long enough when I re-checked the levels.

I think also prior to going to dual carbs, my single carb was flooding for sure, esp when on hot shutdown and say 10m later restart, it flooded every time.
When i pulled the intakes you could see fuel pool stains in the recesses.

All that has since changed with the electric fuel pump / dual carbs, minus now the hot bumper-new exhaust setup. The exhaust wrap did make it somewhat
less hot for sure.

Well keep on it man we'll help you if we can.

T
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2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8

[vws-microcars4jim]

Replace the engine seal, missing in this picture. No gaps allowed. This brought the temp down for my Thing.

[doublecanister]

[Heiferman]

[vws-microcars4jim]

[Heiferman]

[Heiferman]

Well I'll be dipped!
PO had a 30mm fan in the dog house shroud!
I can't believe I figured this sht out!!
Has to be the main culprit.

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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

So I pulled the engine and discovered incorrect hardware and a missing upper engine mount bolt.
Pulled the tins and everything is clear and clean. I can see where there had been some other dirt daubers. Little bastards.

So now on to addressing the holes and missing engine seal channels.
You can see the mess I am dealing with.

Fortunately the car came with this.

I am going to do a removeable valance/apron mod while it is out and I am awaiting a new fan and some other stuff I discovered broken or missing.
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- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance