Shannon's 73 Thing

swhitcomb · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:28 am Post subject:

The car came to Texas in 2007 then to Maryland from the guy we bought it from. That pic could be in Texas. The album it's in is locked so I'm not really sure. Most likely you're correct.
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My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

Busdriver79 · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:11 am Post subject:

swhitcomb · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:36 am Post subject:

I bought the more expensive car because she could drive it now. I could've fixed the $800 car, but as Joe pointed out, the more expensive car is the cheaper of the two.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

swhitcomb · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:45 am Post subject:

Been working on the Thing every night this week. Got the pedals apart and blasted. Got the ebrake blasted. All of the lights are working but the reverse lights. Have to run a new wire for them. The pedals and ebrake get powder coated gloss black when I get off of work.
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My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

swhitcomb · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:06 am Post subject:

Got all the brakes working, everything powder coated, and it all safe to drive last weekend. Today she registered it and look what she drove to work.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

Semper_Dad · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:20 am Post subject:

swhitcomb · Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 5:14 pm Post subject:

So it's been a while. Done a few things to the car since. Took the brakes apart again. Powder coated the front backing plates and replaced the shoes, wheel cylinders, and hardware all the way around. In September she drove it to Bug Out 70 and took 3rd out of 4 Things that showed.

I am slowly working on getting it to pass WV state inspection. Needs floors and tie rods. It also had some electrical issues but I fixed them all.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

swhitcomb · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 6:30 am Post subject:

I was just reading back through this thread. Kind of ironic. The $800 car has a lot of good parts on it I could use on the 73 we did buy. Also has at least $800 worth of parts I could've sold to recoup my $800. Too bad, I should've bought both. Oh well, live and learn.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

kubelmann · Samba Member Joined: April 13, 2003 Posts: 3266

Good rule of thumb. More Things is Better. I am currently "down to" three and am ready for more... A Thing parts car as part of a resto will be a huge money saver in the long run. I also use the "other Thing" as a reference when working on "a Thing" to answer the eternal question "How does this dang Thing go together?"

swhitcomb · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:34 am Post subject:

Been on vacation all week and been installing new pans in the Thing. Pics to follow. What a pain in the ass. Been doing it with the body on.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

swhitcomb · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:05 pm Post subject:

Well, here we go. Started working on it mid day on Tuesday.

The beginning. I had patched it so it would pass WV state inspection.

Cut it out.

Get it to fit

Transfer all the things that don't come on new pans

Got new stainless hardware from fastenal

Start welding new pans in

I got that side all welded up but failed to take a pic

Then I started the other side:

Even uglier over here.

I'm planning on fixing the rocker rust while I'm at it.

Out it comes

Bottom side

Overall view of the rocker rust

If you look really carefully you'll see that someone used fuel hose on the new master cylinder reservoir. Got the correct blue hose and am going to fix it while I have the car this far apart. The clutch cable conduit needs fixing while I have out the grinder and welder too. You might also notice I haven't welded a seat track in. They weren't savable. New ones are on the way.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

doublecanister · Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:32 am Post subject: new Thing

hey swhitcomb,

looks like a nice Thing to work on, good luck and have fun with it.

Welcome to the Thing world!

Glad your wife likes it too, it helps when they "play along". My wife likes the 73 Thing we have but I can't get her to drive it, she likes riding but wont have anything to do with driving it.

Anyways,

I know this is a mute point here but your last photo of the emergency brake, those cable thread ends poked out on mine too, I used 2 rubber vaccume plugs to cover them after I about ripped my hand open on them!

Good luck with bro!

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

NOVA Airhead · Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 12:46 pm Post subject:

Looks good Sean!

Are you going to patch the rocker or replace?
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Ghia Owner Emeritus

swhitcomb · Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 9:12 pm Post subject:

swhitcomb · Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:03 pm Post subject:

Here we go:

Removed all the good parts off the old pan. I blasted them but didn't get a pic.

Clean up the last of the old pan

Cut the rocker open. This is getting to be a familiar site when I work on VWs

Cut out a little at a time

Make a template and fab the missing piece

Put it in place

Weld it up

Do the same thing in the dog leg

I did the same thing in the larger hole. It started getting dark before I had a chance to finish, so I threw some black paint on and called it a night.

I will resume in the morning, and hopefully I'll have the drivers side pan welded in by the late afternoon.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

Yarkle · Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:56 am Post subject:

looks good!

swhitcomb · Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:20 pm Post subject:

Well, day 5 has come and gone. Still not quite done. I'll post pics tomorrow. Only one day of vacation left. Looks like I'll have to finish it next weekend, because the new seat tracks haven't arrived yet.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

swhitcomb · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:34 am Post subject:

Ok, here's some pics from Saturday:

Finished welding the rockers and etch primed

Paint

Welded all the old stuff to the new pan and began fitting it up

Then it got dark and cold so we decided to powder coat some Thing parts

Single stage chrome on the pan retainers. Couldn't put them back on ugly and dirty.

_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

Jon65 · Samba Member Joined: September 29, 2012 Posts: 2417

Looks really good. Nice job.

swhitcomb · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 5:21 pm Post subject:

Didn't quite get it done this week.

They're trimmed, fit, and screwed in. I'll weld them in next weekend. My seat tracks from Thingparts.com aren't here yet either. Hopefully they come soon.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster


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Shannon's 73 Thing
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