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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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 Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:44 am Post subject: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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I disassembled this '73 in 1999, just after Kubel Treffen East. It was then powered by one of my 2.0 T4 engines. Some of you that have been around the scene for years may remember this was my daily driver back then, and the car had been rear- ended horribly, but I drove it anyway.
I had big plans to lift the car super high, install a bus transaxle, and pretty much make it a pre- runner style Thing. I had the car painted the first time in 2001, and bought most all the parts between 2000-2003. The car was stored in my warehouse, and never saw a drop of rain for the next 14 years.
Business exploded, and I pushed it aside until 2018.I remained bound, and determined to finish it.
I started gathering up a lot of the parts I had sold from the car before, when my plans were radical for it.I ended up re- painting the car, because the paint had faded while in the warehouse! Some of the rubber I had bought had rotted in the package, so lots of money was wasted while "waiting".
The new plan was to make the car mostly stock, but with a twist, and of course Type 4 power. Originally I had planned to step the car up to my 2,316cc engine, but when a customer offered me an amount that I could not refuse for that engine back in 2004, I sold it.
The engine that the car has now is much like the one that it has back in 1999, making 141HP and 145# of torque, while running cool. I kept displacement at less than 2.1L, and just changed up the bore:stroke combination to compliment the Thing, and my gearing.
Last week I put it to the tests nd on a 90+ degree day I never saw more than a 325 degree CHT, with impressive oil temperatures. Cruising at 75-80 was effortless, yet I tend to keep it around 65-70, as that's where I designed the gearbox, and engine to be optimized with the tire height, and RPM. I wanted to do my testing with as much load as possible, so higher speed was the key to see what I wanted to get for data.
I finished the car mostly in early 2019, but it had a few areas that needed a little more work..Getting the wheel/ tire combo perfect was my big challenge, especially with the CSP brakes on all 4 corners, and how this effected offsets.
Now, with the exception of installing hub cap clips, and some hubcaps, the car is 100%, and ready for it's next trip to Kubel Treffen East next weekend! 20 years after I started, the car is finally the way I want it..That's drastically different from how I wanted to 20 years ago!
Specs:
-RAT 2.1L engine, RS180 cylinder heads, 8.7:1 CR, RAT 9510 camshaft.
-RAT Version 1 DTM cooling system
-40 Dellorto carburetors
-123 Ignition system(bluetooth tunable)
-Original transaxle, with taller 3rd and 4th gears, Quaiffe differential
-CSP 4 wheel disc brakes
-Recip 205/75/15 tires fitted to early bus wheels.
-Westach instruments
I'm excited for it to return to KTE 2019 next weekend!
[/img]
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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obus 
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2001
Posts: 11065
Location: just off Garden State Parkway Exit 81
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Drtrash
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2019
Posts: 135
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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| Sick |
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jakokombi
Samba Member
Joined: August 15, 2010
Posts: 777
Location: Milwaukee
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 12:35 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Awesome build Jake, you provide me great inspiration for my new to me '73 Thing project.
Can you tell me where to get those tires? The Google doesn't bring up anything.
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70 Sunroof Kombi
69 Tin Top
73 Thing
72 Baja |
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 1:05 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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I imported the tires. I have them on my Bundeswehr 181 as well as my Bundeswehr Typ11 Beetle.
I have thought about importing a whole container of them to sell. There’s nothing like them in USA.
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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jakokombi
Samba Member
Joined: August 15, 2010
Posts: 777
Location: Milwaukee
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 2:42 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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| Jake Raby wrote: |
I have thought about importing a whole container of them to sell. There’s nothing like them in USA. |
I'll take 5.
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70 Sunroof Kombi
69 Tin Top
73 Thing
72 Baja |
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 2:45 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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| jakokombi wrote: |
| Jake Raby wrote: |
I have thought about importing a whole container of them to sell. There’s nothing like them in USA. |
I'll take 5. |
110 fit in a container, so we have a ways to go😎
_________________
Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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mondshine
Samba Member
Joined: October 27, 2006
Posts: 2769
Location: The World's Motor Capital
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Looking forward to seeing that Thing next week Jake.
I plan to take a crawl under mine tomorrow just to look things over before I drive down there.
Safe travels, Mondshine |
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el_safari
Samba Member
Joined: January 01, 2005
Posts: 375
Location: Nouvelle Aquitaine,France
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74 Thing
Samba Member
Joined: September 02, 2004
Posts: 7390
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:33 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Congrats Jake on getting the Thing back on the road-looks great.
What kind or exhaust and what 3rd and 4th gears did you go with (assuming 4.12 R&P) |
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:38 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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The current exhaust is a Vintage Speed. I don't care much for it, but it'll get by on this small engine until I can build one of my Evil Twist headers for it.
I actually changed the R&P up to a 4.37, and was able to get my gearing happier for the rev range of the engine.
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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74 Thing
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Joined: September 02, 2004
Posts: 7390
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:42 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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| What RPMs are you turning cruising on the freeway at 70, and at 80? |
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:48 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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3,300 RPM at 75 MPH via GPS. I was shooting for 3,500 @75, but the tires were taller than advertised.
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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hobie16
Samba Member
Joined: July 26, 2013
Posts: 244
Location: Maui
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| Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 4:49 am Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Very nice!
Kinda off topic, where do you install the engine temp sender?
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If anything’s going to happen, it’s going to happen out there.
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 5:20 am Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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| hobie16 wrote: |
Very nice!
Kinda off topic, where do you install the engine temp sender? |
I have senders under each spark plug, feeding through switches to toggle them to the gauge, so I can read all 4 head temps within a few seconds.
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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74 Thing
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Joined: September 02, 2004
Posts: 7390
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| Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 3:12 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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| What size venturis are you running in the 40 Dells (34's or larger)-I would imagine you heads have some decent size valves on them. |
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 3:17 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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34mm vents. I run these up to 160HP or 2300cc
Heads are 42x36. This is a very mild combo.
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Ready for KTE 2019!
_________________
Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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vwthingboy
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Joined: August 27, 2004
Posts: 83
Location: NY, NY
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:30 am Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Jake,
Great to see that the orange Thing is back in service!
A Marine never leaves a car behind, right?
Question about the 123 distributor:
Is that something I should look into putting on my Raby 2270 engine?
Hope all is well.
-Sean in NYC
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Jake Raby
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2003
Posts: 7433
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:43 am Post subject: Re: Finally finished my 481 after 19 years... |
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Hey!
Yes, the 123 has been my go to unit since the Mallory Unlite went away a few years ago.
Here’s a screen shot from my Thing last night. This is Bluetooth from my iphone
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell" |
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