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Reunited with my High School Thing
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Arkansauced
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Joined: November 11, 2014
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Location: Colleyville, TX
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:15 am    Post subject: Reunited with my High School Thing Reply with quote

An introduction and (ultimately) build thread.

I bought this car in 2000 (age 14) with the intention of working on it with my father (he spent highschool buying and fixing up/reselling VW's and worked his way around Europe for months repairing VW's in the 70's). We bought the car in San Jose, CA from the grandson of a WWII vet that had originally bought the car (thus the "Afrika Korps" on the front doors) I drove the car through highschool and sold it my uncle back in 2004 (car moved down to Long Beach at this point).

A few years later I'm living in Arkansas with a wife, a 16 month old and one in the oven and I needed a way to blow off some steam. Back when I'd sold the car to my uncle I asked him to give me a first shot at it if he ever wanted to sell it. This past October we inked a deal and I had the car shipped out here to Northwest Arkansas.

The car has aged since my HS years; thin spots in the paint are now surface rust. Hole in the pan near the battery, rust on the rockers in front of the passenger rear fender. The old 1835 is tired. I've got some fun ahead of me.

Back in the early 2000's I was part of an email ring where all sorts of info was shared although I can't remember what it was called. Looking forward to getting reconnected and sharing my project with you.

Top pic is of me in the Thing in HS, circa 2002. The rest are current photos.

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citroen
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good luck with your project I know how it feels to get back something that you had in high school I am restoring my motor scooter that I drove to high school in 1964 . This site will help with anything that you need there are great people on this site with a lot of knowledge . Also if you need more pictures and help my brother and I ( The Domeck Brothers) are glad to help also check out our Website to see a lot of Things and Thing topics http://kubeltreffen181.com
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ernieballbass
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

welcome to thesamba. it's always nice to see a fellow Razorback Smile

i have a similar story. i bought the thing in high school and drove it for a couple of years. it stayed in my parents garage after i moved out, completed college/grad school, got married, and bought a house. 7 years went by until i went back to my parents house and drove the vw thing to our new home [complete with 2 car garage). i'm at the place in my life where i can finally devote some time (and money lol) to restoring her.

this is a great site, especially the type 181 forum!
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the welcome. I've spent quite a few hours (to the wife's chagrin) browsing the site over the last few months gathering ideas and reading through other people's builds.

I feel conflicted regarding how far to take this project. A part of me loves the Thing just how it is (or at least how it looks). It's got a great patina and a number of attributes ( Afrika Korps, NRA stickers) that show its history.

For the time being my focus will be on making the car more functional:

- remove progressive and replace with dual, used HPMX's I just bought. Carbs are hitting the shroud preventing mounting so it looks like I need a different set of manifolds, thinking CB
- come up with a better way of mounting these Corbeau seats that allows adjustment. Currently I have a crossbar welded to the TTS show bar for the rear mount and an additional crossbar welded to the tunnel and bolted to the floor on either side for the front mount. Seats are bolted straight into the beam. I'm thinking I need to either remove the beams and purchase mounts/ fab something to fit the original sliders or come up with a way to attach sliders to the bars without substantially increasing seat height. Any ideas? Will provide pictures later.
- Get the heater working so I can still enjoy the car in the next few months. Right now it blows cold air. Points look good so next step is to check the spark/glow plugs and test the pump/replace lines.
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Merry Christmas Thingland!

Got these manifolds from CB for my HPMX's today for Xmas. Should I be returning these? Check out the gouges on the carb mating surface and the imperfection on the head side surface.

I'm sure I could take a sander or my Dremel to them but I'd hate to make it worse. Appreciate your feedback in advance!

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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would check the surface for flatness as that is what counts. The imperfections that you show really shouldn't hurt anything, but if you don't like them being there then return them.
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hitest
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd call them and ask them if they would like to do anything. Who knows, they may not want those intakes out reppin' their work if they are flawed. They might want them back- and make it worth your while for the inconvenience.

Maybe they'll send you a free set of heads and an EFI kit! Wink
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I wonder what the nut looks like.



'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181

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bugguy1967
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 2:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you haven't returned them yet, use a piece of plate glass, or other really flat surface with a sheet of 600 grit sandpaper to get them flat.
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like I'm just going to try to use the manifolds I got. Hope they work out with no issues

Went out and played today, cold and wet but the mud was fun:

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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Went to adjust my valves today. First time in twelve years so I brushed up using John Muir's sage advice.

I have a numbered pulley, dizzy is notched right around 4 o'clock so finding TDC was easy.

Both cylinder 1 valves were waaaay off. 180 degrees counter and same issue with cylinder 2. When I got to cylinder 3 exhaust valve I backed the screw all the way out and still couldn't even get the .004 in there.

Wondering if I did something wrong or if there's an issue in there? Hopefully you all can help me out?

After doing some reading on the forums I'm still at a loss. Other thing I've noticed is I've either got Chromoly or steel pushrods, so should I be at .000 loose or .001? I still don't think there's even that much clearance on #3.

Final thing, which may be a positive. I noticed the heads are stamped 044, I'm reading that these are aftermarket. On the base they are stamped 183, can't find any info on that.
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Removed the rocker arm, valve seats lined up. Anybody have any suggestions? Sorry if these are noob questions!
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germanbilly
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check here and also make sure you do not have hydraulic lifters installed.
http://www.vw-resource.com/valve_adjust.html
GB
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Appreciate it Germanbilly, that's almost exactly the same as the Muir guide, I went through those steps yesterday and again today, same outcome.
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germanbilly
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

See if you can find out if the engine was rebuilt at one time and had hydraulic lifters installed. They need to be adjusted completly different and there is no gap in them.
GB
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's an 1835 so it was rebuilt/built new at some point it's got CB 044's so
Somebody put some money into it. Hydraulic lifters is possible although back when I originally owned it I was always adjusting to .006 with no issues. Is there a way to figure that out without pulling them?

I'm just worried I've burn a valve or something, that's why I pulled the rockers to see if the valve expanded or receded but didn't see anything that would indicate that.

Is the next step pulling the head to troubleshoot?
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germanbilly
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

First off how was the car running before you decided to adjust the valves. Was there any noise or was it mising.
GB
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It felt like it was running a little hot, no noises out of the ordinary. Leaking oil out of the stock filler breather tube. No missing that I noticed.

Wanted to run through and do all the maintenance to see if that helped the temp.
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germanbilly
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Start all over with the valve adjustment.When you put the push rods back in make SURE they go into the pockets in the lifters. If they drop down just a little they will sit on the shoulder of the lifter. Once they are in put the rocker are on the mounting bolts and press it in. Put each push rod in the rocker arm hole and rotate the push rod. Keep a little pressure on the rocker arm. Tighten down the rocker arm and rotate the push rod. Take the push rods and rotate them. Don't worry about adjustment yet. Do the other side the same. Now pull the number 1 plug and line up the timing mark and the dissy. Take a small screw driver and put it into the number one spark plug hole and see if the piston is on TDC. If it is adjust the number one valves. Now follow the valve adjustment instructions. Make sure to follow them. If at the end you still have no play you have a problem with the valves.
GB
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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

germanbilly wrote:
Start all over with the valve adjustment.When you put the push rods back in make SURE they go into the pockets in the lifters. If they drop down just a little they will sit on the shoulder of the lifter. Once they are in put the rocker are on the mounting bolts and press it in. Put each push rod in the rocker arm hole and rotate the push rod. Keep a little pressure on the rocker arm. Tighten down the rocker arm and rotate the push rod. Take the push rods and rotate them. Don't worry about adjustment yet. Do the other side the same. Now pull the number 1 plug and line up the timing mark and the dissy. Take a small screw driver and put it into the number one spark plug hole and see if the piston is on TDC. If it is adjust the number one valves. Now follow the valve adjustment instructions. Make sure to follow them. If at the end you still have no play you have a problem with the valves.
GB


Sometimes when you walk away from something for a couple weeks and come back to it less frustrated and with a slightly different perspective it all seems to work out.

Thanks Germanbilly, i swear i followed those same steps 4 times before but now I've got an engine that purrrrs.


Got this in the mail the other day for my Formuling steering wheel, had to search for 5 months. It's NOS so it cost an arm and a leg but these things are hard to find!

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Arkansauced
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 10:07 am    Post subject: Re: Reunited with my High School Thing Reply with quote

Been a long time since I posted. Another child, a move from Arkansas to Stockton, CA and now another VW (although this one will be short lived).

Found a guy with an old 4 seater rail project, I've been wanting to build a larger engine and he had a never run (looks to be true) 2276 shortblock. Came with some 44 idf's, what appears to be a rajay turbo built by miniman and a Dellorto 48. Got a great deal on this project, I believe I'll be able to end up with a free engine + parts once I sell the roller + 002 tranny + paddle tires.

I will most likely need to replace the p/c's as there's some pitting in the cylinders from sitting. I'm in the process of pulling apart the shortblock to figure out what I have. Assuming the case is solid I'll be removing the awful yellow paint asap.

Looking a for a local-ish engine builder to start working with on this. I've talked to Jim Mahoney of Mahoney motors (any insight?) as well as Bugformance of Sacramento. Looking for suggestions.

Not totally sure what I'm going to end up building, but ran across a deal I couldn't pass up and ended up with some interesting parts.
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