The Great VW Thing Upgrade

So fair warning, this thread has nothing to do with Taco's, other than the fact that My Taco is parked next to this project and is probably looking-on in horror...


I'm knee-deep into a major renovation on my off-road car. It is (/was) a '73 VW Thing which about twenty years ago was converted into a pre-runner-type of off-road car, complete with an upgraded Transaxle and a Turbo-Charged Ford 2.3L engine along with a Tube Frame, Roll Cage, racing seats, harnesses a winch, the whole nine. It's a heck of a machine!


(I'll lie and say I don't always drive it this hard, but to be honest, I do. It really seems to thrive on it!)

I bought it 2.5 years ago from a close friend and I knew the car was getting tired. I also knew nothing about turbo-charged Ford 2.3 engines from the late 1980's so I did as little as I could to it and for the most part it worked well, especially in my local mountains and in the hills behind my house.

Then last Fall I took to to Moab, sank it up to it's axles in soft sand, broke the Transaxle and burnt the Clutch down to dust...

(it got way more stuck after this picture was taken)

After digging it out and letting the Clutch cool-off it was actually able to (barely) limp back to the campground where I was staying and got to spend the rest of the week parked.


Even broken-down it was the main topic of conversation among the other campers.

I towed it back home, winched it into it's spot next to my house and sort of forgot about it for the next few months. Oh occasionally the wind would blow it's car cover off and I'd see it through my kitchen window looking sad and probably day dreaming of happier times we spent flying-down trails in the mountains or even happier days when my friend owned it and parked it in an actual garage! Regardless I had a plan, I just needed some time to put it into motion.


(Even though it was broken and I was cross with it, it still got dragged through four states and two National Parks)

Finally I decided that since the engine needed to come-out in order to re-build the Transaxle it was as good of time as any to upgrade to a more modern engine. I spoke with a local engine builder and decided to go with a 2.5L Subaru. No Turbo (I have my reasons) and being a Boxer engine it will be a little bit closer to the look it had when it was powered by an air-cooled VW mill. Oh and because I'm that kind of Redneck, I'm having it polished so it'll be shiny. Pimpin' aint easy Y'all!


(It's a five-rib Bus Trans for the VW Geeks in the crowd. Most of Reverse gear came-out when I drained the oil. Probably some of the second-gear Synchro as well)

No pics of the engine yet as it's still being built however if there is interest I'll update this post with more pics every few days and news of the build. At this point I have the Transaxle out being re-built, my radiator being modified by a local Welder and now am working-on cleaning-up and re-painting the engine bay and eventually will try to sort-out the rats nest of wiring, which was chewed on by actual rats while the car was parked for a couple of months. Ah projects!

Here's how it looks right now. Note I was able to sell the engine in three days on CL, so I guess there's no turning-back now!!

 

Awesome!

 

Not much progress last week; I was on-call for my job and as such I worked some weird hours for part of the week. However I was able to find some time to degrease, clean and paint the engine 'bay'. I dropped the radiator off at a local fab shop to have the inlets and outlets swapped (a must for the new engine since of course it's backwards from the engine I had in the car previously) and thankfully I got it back quickly.

I'm at the point in the project which I hate; I'm at the mercy of the shop which is re-building the Transaxle which may have it another three weeks. Nothing major can happen on the car until I have that back, so this week's plans are pretty tame, mainly straightening the fins on the radiator and re-installing that. Dropping the engine lid off for media blasting, then I'll shoot it with primer and I'm going to make an attempt at IDing and cleaning-up the rats nest (literally, this car briefly had rats in it a few months ago) of wiring under the dash.


Before paint, after two cans of degreaser,lots of water and scrubbing.





After 3/4 a can of Gloss Black



Freshly-modified radiator and freshly-painted Trans support. The core-support for the radiator also got a fresh coat of Gloss Black. I'll post a pic of that after I re-install the radiator, which is on this week's list.

 

Wow, even less progress to report for the past week, although I'm *still* waiting on the Transmission rebuilder who has yet to even look at my Trans, yet claims he should have it done by his original estimate. I may make a stop by his shop this week to check on actual progress.

Other than that I re-installed the newly-modified aluminum radiator and fan assembly. I found a shade of ugly lime green spray paint which perfectly matches the ugly lime green color all the tube is painted on this car, so I've been treating some problem areas to some touch-up.

This week my plan is to (actually) tackle the electrical and at least get the headlights and running lights working again. Draining the fuel tank and ordering a replacement fuel cell, which I can hopefully locate under the rear seat as the current fuel cell is under the passenger seat/in front of one half of the rear floor so it limits the amount of rear seat passengers I can carry to one. Two would be more convenient.

 

Time for an over-due update:

The guy re-building my Trans finished it Monday and I picked-it up later that day, however it was Wednesday evening before I had a chance to install it, which because things are well, weird on this car required removing the front seat in order to reach a hidden top bolt on the front of the Trans. Next I need to re-attatch the Slave Cylinder for the Clutch and re-install the axles, oh and put the front seat back in!

I've been working alone so I only snapped a couple of pics. The modified Radiator is also back in-place, the electrical is still a mess but depending on how long it'll be before the engine builder wants the car that may be my next task, otherwise it'll have to wait until after the engine install.

Here's a couple of pics:


I'm the Trans in a box (forgive the Soundgarden reference). Turns-out the box for the new floor jack I had to buy to replace the one I broke taking the old trans out of the car was an exact fit so that's what I hauled it home in.


About half-way there. No pics (yet) of it actually installed in the car since by the time I got it to that point I was filthy, hungry and just wanted to be done for the night.

Here are some specs on the new Trans for VW Geeks in the crowd:
486 Ring & Pinon
Chromoly Pinion Retainer
Super Diff
Weddle 1st and 2nd gears
New Reverse gear (there wasn't much left of my old one)
New Pinon and and Mainshaft bearings
Rebuilt gear carrier

 

FINAL UPDATE!!

So after a lot longer than I expected my Thing is finally running and driving with it’s new Subaru engine! There are still a million little things (and not so little, like having a new engine cage fabbed) to do however I’m able to drive it again, which is nice, although it’s mileage at this point could be measured in feet since until yesterday it didn’t have a muffler. As more loose end’s get taken care of I’ll be putting more miles on it. It goes back to the engine builder after 50 hours for Dyno Tuning and goes on vacation back to Utah next Fall. What could go wrong?