1973 Volkswagen Thing

2DR. THING Convertible

4 - Cyl.

-

1832756050

Clear

Gasoline

The following is a description of my 2 door Thing that needs a new home. I refined the previous owners' build and now that I have the new engine broken in and running well I am going to sell. I had intended to tow it behind my motorhome on trips but life got in the way ;-) This is a unique VW Thing. It has 2 doors, a box steel frame, aluminum pan sections, a Thing beam up front, and Type 2 bus suspension/torsion in the rear. The wheelbase is shortened 9" . I have seen a bunch of "shorty" Things but most of them are novelty builds you would not want to drive. The slightly shorter wheelbase of this Thing makes the vehicle more responsive and cuts down on the odds of high centering on whatever pops up in front of you off road. The rigid frame does away with all the pan flex and rattles that are common to the stock 4 door Thing. Below is a description of the build and the particulars of the car. Don't hesitate to email or call if the description or the pics don't answer a question you have. BODY: The body, as mentioned above is shortened 9 ". The body work on that modification is professional quality. The body is straight and rust free. It is bolted through the aluminum pan and the 2"X3" frame rails. The 6 point roll bar is bolted through the frame also. The interior panels are all coated in a hard bedliner material. It doesn't nick or scratch and it cleans up with a damp cloth. The door interior finish is white like the exterior. The rear fenders are aftermarket fiberglass. Not bad quality. You will notice in the pics that the rear decklid and lower valence have been removed. The panels below the tail lights are cut out in an arc to aid in pulling and installing the engine. It is just right for clearing the air cleaners on the Webers without taking the jack to the floor. Very handy and a real time saver. If you have ever pulled an engine out of a stock Thing you know what I'm talking about. INTERIOR: The interior features a 2" steel tube 6 point roll bar. It is bolted all the way through the frame. It is also bolted to the windshield frame with 2 bolts that can be removed easily allowing for the windshield to go down on the hood as intended. The front seats are comfortable and high enough to eliminate blind spots and show you what's up ahead. I added two 3" speakers in each headrest so you can enjoy the radio. The rear bench seats are not meant for adults. The shorter body length took most of the leg room. The seat would be okay for small kids and the belt mounts are very secure. Ideally that shelf could be better used for a cooler, water, fuel, etc.. The seat comes out easily so dual use would work okay. I installed a Sony CD/Radio up under the dash. It has a remote. The front speakers are located in the natural body pockets up front in good fitting enclosures. Nice sound from the 6 speakers. The top is a Thing Shop bikini top. I reversed the 2 frame positions and ended up with just the right length for the shorter body. If you put the top down it will not lay down right. I is just as easy to remove it and put it back on every time you need to. The rig comes with a waterproof car cover that is just the right size. FRAME: The original VW pan was replaced with 2"X3" steel frame members. The welds are good and the geometry was well thought out. The entire frame has been coated with POR 15. There is no rust. The aluminum pan sections are sealed and sandwiched between the body and the frame, bolted all the way through. The body, pan and frame have no flex and there are no rattles. There are two skid plates under the frame. One in the front runs from the front bumper off of the frame down underneath the front beam. There is a rear skid plate just ahead of the transmission. There is a lot of ground clearance. Similar to 4X4 rigs. The front bumper is bolted to the frame, not the body. It is a two piece bar, welded and bolted and made of 1.5" tube steel. The bumper has two tow bar mounting fixtures bolted on that accept the pins from a Reese Sturdy Power towbar. 2" inch ball required. I have towed the rig and it tracks great. The rear bumper is made of 1/4 inch thick steel and won't bend easily. Don't ask me how I know ;-) SUSPENSION: The front suspension is a VW Thing front beam with KYB shocks. The front beam is bolted and welded to the frame. The rear torsion tube is VW Type 2 bus unit welded and bolted to the frame and upper frame cross member that supports the engine and transmission. There are 4 mounting attachments securing the engine/transmission. 2 are welded in and 2 are bolted through the upper crossmember. The spring plates were lengthened to achieve more travel. Shocks are KYB, CV's are good and the brakes are good. TRANSMISSION: The transmission is a newly rebuilt 096 bus transmission. It replaces a busted 002 that was too much of a stump puller anyway. It has a shorter 002 bellhousing to retain the original mounting points since the 096's are a touch longer than the 002 transmissions. The high tires and the 096 gearing give you low rpm gearing in 3rd and 4th for running in town or for highway use...or fast off road use. 1st and 2nd still have the grunt to get you up and over anything you have the urge to climb and go back down. There is a new Hi-Torque starter on the transmission. WHEELS AND TIRES: The set on the Thing right now are new BTR wheels, 4" up front wearing new Yokohama 700R15 light truck tires. The new 7" BTR's on the rear are shod with new Yokohama 31X10.50R15 GEOLANDER M/T's. These are great wheels. The wheel and tire combo is good looking,light and gives great traction. This wheel combination is the best for town, highway, dirt, desert. Just my opinion and experience. I have another set of 2 piece aluminum wheels that go with the rig. They are aluminum 2 piece 10" wheels, front and back, with Bridgestone 30X9.50R15's up front and 31X11.50R15 Bridgestones in the rear. They give you some flotation but it takes a real strong hombre to turn the wheel at slow speed because that is a lot of tire on the ground up front when this set of wheels/tires is mounted. ENGINE: The engine is a 2180 cc.. VW engine The case is a nice full flowed dual relief VW mag case. It has 94mm registers and is clearenced for a big crank. The cylinders are AA thick wall 92mm jugs. The pistons are Mahle with Mahle rings. CB light weight wrist pins are retained with teflon keepers. The crank is a CB race crank. The rods are CB H beam race rods. The cam is an Engle FK8. The heads are Tims' Stage 1's with match ported CB Big Beef manifolds. The rockers are Pauter 1 to 4 ratio roller rockers. The push rods are CB chromoly. The carbs are new Weber 44's with CB linkage. The fuel pump is a CB rotary pump putting out 3.5 pressure. The fan shroud is a Puma low profile with a venturi added at the intake uptake. The Puma gives you stock or better cooling and allows more room to get your head and hands behind the shroud for repairs, adding wiring, etc. All of the upper and lower cylinder tin is powdercoated satin black. All the bearings used were new Mahle bearings. OTHER ENGINE BITS: CB Magna Spark Distributor and ignition wiring, JayCee remote oil filter bracket and mount. MST alternator stand. JayCee fuel pump block off. JayCee spring loaded pushrod tubes with clear silicon seals. High volume oil pump. The Clyde Berg breather vents the aluminum finned bolt on valve covers and the base of the MST alternator stand. For break-in and the 1st 500 miles I used a 3.5 quart CB sump. The oil pickup tube has a fine screen with a magnet above it, just in case. The exhaust is a standard off road 1.5" system. I like it on this build because #3 and #1 pipes pass above the valve covers making it easy to pop the valve covers and set valves. I like the heat up by the manifolds too because real cold mornings get a quicker warm up. The exhaust note is healthy without being really obnoxious. START UP AND BREAK-IN: I did the usual 20 minute 2K RPM cam break-in. I used Brad Penn Break In oil. I drained that after the break-in, changed oil filters and refilled it with new Brad Penn for the next 100 miles. I varied speeds up and down to seat the rings. I reset the valves at that time. At the end of the 100 miles compression was 150 all around. I then changed over to GTX Synthetic with extra zinc additive. 400 miles later I drained again, changed the filter again and added new GTX Synthetic to it and checked the valves again. No adjustment needed. I have a nice Scat 1 quart sump or a 1.5 quart CB sump the new owner can have. The deep sump is okay for the early miles but I intended to change over to the skinny sump for off-road. I like a lot of oil for break-in but the Scat snug mounting sump gives you great ground clearance. ELECTRICAL: All of the original VW wiring has been removed. The rewire runs off of two fuse blocks under the hood on the firewall. There are spare spades for future use. The fuel pump is mounted up front in the well behind the front apron panel. Note: That would not be a good idea for a stock Thing because the bumper attaches to the body. On this rig the bumper mounts to the frame rails and protects the pump from crush. There is a kill switch for the pump under the driver side dash. There is switched 12 volt lighting in the engine bay and under the hood. The running, stop and turn signal lights are wired through to the front apron into a 4 prong plug in female fixture. The gauges are VDO Fuel, Volts, Oil Pressure, Oil Temperature and a Pro Comp Tachometer, all in working order. The fuel gauge is off kilter. The float needs to be bent up or down. The ignition switch is aftermarket. The original VW column key is still in place, but only to lock the wheel. The Optima battery has a master switch on top. Including the fuel pump kill switch, the locking wheel key and the battery master switch you have 3 anti-theft devices. NEEDS: I mentioned the wacky fuel gauge float above. You may or may not want to add a Thing wiper motor and assembly. It was not a prioity for me because it only rains in the winter where I go and I did not want to freeze my old body in the rain. You may want to change out the Thing mirrors for truck mirrors. The passenger side mirror view is blocked by the rollbar. The driver side seat needs a thread stitch repair. The glovebox lock is missing. A standard 70's vintage lock fits it. The bottoms of the rockers are 20" off of the ground and it is 29" to get over the door sills. There were some Steel Horse steps on it when I bought it but they hung to low. I have longs legs so it isn't a problem. There are some nice truck press down-spring-up steps that can be had for a reasonable price if you need a leg up. Every eye sees a ride differently and the best part about these modified Things is you never really get done. You can refine and add stuff until your wife squeals. OBSERVATIONS: Over the last 7 or 8 years I have lost count of the number of Things we have picked up to be either parted out or fixed up and resold. Close to 30 I would guess. They got into my blood and if I saw one is the western states that I could afford I'd buy it and tow it home. I parted a lot of them and got heavy into selling and shipping parts and swapping. I picked this car up because I had seen it here locally (for big $) some years ago so I bought it when it popped up here a couple of years ago with a tired motor and a bad transmission. I told myself this would be the last one... and so it is. Of all of the Things I have driven I think this is the one VW should have built. It is a joy to drive and handles like a Jeep CJ. It has great ground clearance. The 2180 pulls good and it will also creep in the weeds. This is not a full on pre-runner and wasn't built to be one. This Thing is the perfect compromise between the mild stock version and a wild tube frame monster. I'm glad I saved the best for last. I would like to see someone else get some enjoyment out of it. It would be a great towd behind your motorhome! If you only used it for a grocery getter it would fill that bill too. I can't drive it anywhere without people asking what it is. It definately has a high "cool" factor. The young folks think it is a jeep and the older guys that remember VW Things from back in the day wonder where the other 2 doors went. If you have questions and/or requests for more pics shoot me an email. You can also call me at 209-769-4232 between 9am and 8pm Pacific any day. Happy Bidding, Dave On Oct-01-11 at 10:42:36 PDT, seller added the following information: If any of you VW Thing guys need some extra incentive I have a lot of VW parts and tools that can be included in this auction. The wife is afraid I will tow home a Thing roller and start another project so she wants me to get rid of all my VW parts and specialty tools ( everything you need to tear down, dial in, and assemble a VW engine. I have an engine break-in stand with electric start and run controls, good CB 044 heads, several sets of intake manifolds, engine tin, distributors, alternator, rocker sets, pushrods, cams, gaskets, sumps, degree pulleys, valve covers, enough Weber 44 parts to make 2 sets, carb linkeage, a good fullflowed 1914 case, flywheels, pressure plates, clutch discs...etc., etc. boxes and boxes of good stuff. Probably $3K or more worth of quality tools and parts. Everything you need to build an engine except a new crank and P&C kit is here. She insisted I include it here, sell it on Samba or toss it all. I'm sure as hell not going to throw it away and Samba selling is slow and email and shipping intensive. It would pain me to sell it item by item. If it all goes at once it with the 2 door Thing it won't hurt as bad and I might just catch a break when I drag home the next project that isn't a VW Thing ;-) On Oct-01-11 at 14:44:52 PDT, seller added the following information: Back again with a clarification.....Her Highness just read what I posted before and she said it makes her sound like an ogre (sp) and me like I'm p***y whipped. Truth be told, I have some serious health issues and she is concerned that I will hurt myself if I continue taking on big projects. She is only trying to prevent me from hurting myself. Good woman!