***Rebuilding my VW type 182 Thing***

[VCheng]

The Thing looks great. Anybody notice that wonderful looking white 1965 Toyota Corona in the background?

[Xulfiqar]

the good ol' RT40 corona - my neighbor had it in Pakistan and drove it everyday without proper maintenance or even a wash.

[Storm]

have been ultra busy the last 4 days getting work done to my thing,... can't wait to take her out for a test drive.

CLICK HERE FOR PICS

[Storm]

foudn out that the set of original VW 14 inch steel wheels i had on the thing ar ultra rare so i've decided to scrap the idea of fitting 15 inch BRMs to teh car for now and will be restoring the steel wheels for now. sadly they were not stored correctly and now have allot of rust on them (not an issue).

what was more surprising was that 3 of the rims still had the drums attached to them. one of them had a 181-XXX-XXX part number meaning that this was an original thing drum. i'll probably have that drum polished up and placed in my garage as it's too worn to be reused (first inspection).

after doing a test piece i found that the rust is just on the surface and any good tyre person will be able to strip and clean the rims followed by a good powdercoating (not paint).

biggest part overlooked is always the insides of the rims,.. not this time.

I hope to have them on the car by sunday night,... wish me luck as i'll go drop them off after office.

[Storm]

took a stab at cleaning up the rims myself.

sadly they were stored VERY badly so rust has kicked in pretty hard. funniest thing i found was that the faces had been painted but the insides were NEVER treated since the vehicle lef the factory. so typical of our people "upper upper sey chamak"

painted being stripped maunally

half way through, using a copper/brass wire tool/drill bit

i've come to the conclusion that this is too much of a job for a DIYer as these 14 inch 5x205 rims need special attention (they are rare) so i'm going to give them to some pros to do. been shopping around all day but no luck with anyone willing to fix some 30+ year old "foxy" rims....:mad:

[reezvaan]

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[Xulfiqar]

find a sand blasting place - glass works..

Get them to blast the wheel, then find a powder coat place. simple unless they are bent

[Storm]

Can I ask for some more credit doing all this on my Stock Wheels on my own???

I didn't even have the power tool, but then I didn't strip paint off of outer side of mine either. I did it manually with thick sand paper from the inner hub/side.

credit??? you're a freaking legend! i got tired after doing this with a drill adn i consider myself to be in shape. you'd have to be superman to do what you did!

[Storm]

find a sand blasting place - glass works..

Get them to blast the wheel, then find a powder coat place. simple unless they are bent

can't find anyone willing to take on this job surprisingly. saldy the rim edges need a little TLC as well (a few taps with a hammer should do the trick). once someone fixes & cleans them safely then i have a powdercoating guy on standby.

sadly we've lost the real "denters" & metalworkers, now every monkey has a hammer in his hands but is incapable of doing squat! I wish i could find an old artist/ustaad who'd lovingly restore my rims to their original state,.. infact i'd pay for some extra love to be shown to the rims.

[reezvaan]

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[reezvaan]

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[Storm]

Two things; One that if you plan DIY on the rim edges needing TLC, it can only be done after mounting a tire inflated with pressure. Dont try it without an inflated tire else it would put wheel completely out of balance.

Two; I know someone in Multan who does all kind of rims be it straightening or balancing. I am sure he would know someone who would do the blasting for him too as he is specialized in the rims job. I will stop by him soon sometime and would ask him if he would do the job and would let you know accordingly. I am sure he would be more than willing to do it for a reasonable amount and time.

thanks for the input again buddy. every tyre shop i go to (even the ones i know) start laughing when they see 14 inch steel wheels. they all say "aap rim kyu nahi lagathey" or "yeh tho foxy key liyle hai, is sey behther hai key aap market sei aur utha lay"

both these reply irritate the hell out of me as they don't understand such things and have no value for history,.. they're just doing a job and as far as they are concerend they only know "rims". i recall once i went to get my mercedes tyres tyre pressure checkeed and hte idiot at the pump said "is per rim kyu nahi lagathey" now knowing that my car already had factiry "bundt cake" rims on it.

ignorance reaaly is the best excuse in PK!

i've got one more tyre guy i know in ISB, will try him today otherwise i'll have to make a trip to pindi.... GRRRRR!!!!!

[Storm]

today i'm having a bugasm, thanks ot the amazing efforts from a friend & fellow PW member (will allow him to take the honours here) i scored a set of original style Thing mirrors from KHI!!

when the box arrived i expected the worst as it had been crushed and my heart sank when i saw it:

[reezvaan]

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[Storm]

1. got the exhaust refit (fell off a few weeks ago), a jump start & the seat rewelded in position with the help of KPsheikh & managed to get her to the PW meet with only 12 hours notice.

2. I'm so glad I had the above work done on my car. on monday when i was taking the thing back to my other house some muppet moved from the left lane to the right and then pulled a U-turn near rawal dam, the cultus in front of me nearly hit him.

I saw this happen and stepped on the brakes expecting the thing to brake like my 1303,... meaning it would skid and end up inside the cultus, but it stopped in less distance than the cultus. i'm so happy i had the brakes redone (and that i manage to keep a safe distance from the cars in front).

I think the guy in the cultus ended up killing the other cars driver, i didn't stick around long enough to find out and continued on my way with a huge grin on my face.

1. On another note, the tail lights are on, the side mirrors are on and i've got the steering shock and headlights in the bonnet awaiting some free time so that i can get them fit.

2. next step, rollcage and seatbelts.

[Xulfiqar]

thanks for the input again buddy. every tyre shop i go to (even the ones i know) start laughing when they see 14 inch steel wheels. they all say "aap rim kyu nahi lagathey" or "yeh tho foxy key liyle hai, is sey behther hai key aap market sei aur utha lay"

both these reply irritate the hell out of me as they don't understand such things and have no value for history,.. they're just doing a job and as far as they are concerend they only know "rims". i recall once i went to get my mercedes tyres tyre pressure checkeed and hte idiot at the pump said "is per rim kyu nahi lagathey" now knowing that my car already had factiry "bundt cake" rims on it.

ignorance reaaly is the best excuse in PK!

i've got one more tyre guy i know in ISB, will try him today otherwise i'll have to make a trip to pindi.... GRRRRR!!!!!

I would like your comment if they said to change original AMG monoblocks with something with more chamak and madran to give some location <-- this actually means looks. WHY dont ask me. the mblocks were on a 124.

Ive had people comment on 123 bundts too. yeh kaisay fizool rims hain - yeah - get lost before I rearrange your configuration

[nmshaikh]

spent an hour going thru the thread from page 1. I never knew ..I think you should share the info about such threads on the VWCOP group mail. You've done a great job with that 'thing'. I remember seeing it when Razzak owned it..as a matter of fact I loaned him a steering box for it. Let me know if there is anything i can get you from here.

Best wishes.

[hamza_xeg]

Great work bro...!!

[Storm]

spent an hour going thru the thread from page 1. I never knew ..I think you should share the info about such threads on the VWCOP group mail. You've done a great job with that 'thing'. I remember seeing it when Razzak owned it..as a matter of fact I loaned him a steering box for it. Let me know if there is anything i can get you from here.

Best wishes.

thanks so much for your feedback nasir bhai. getting the thumbs up from you is a HUGE thing (no pun intended). the work is thanks to el-presidente and mumtaz who got it up and running in 3 days.

was really tempted to get the rollcage & cammo top from the thing shop but they've discontinued the top and the rollcage is WAY to large to send here. since the theme is "cheap and cheerful" with this vehicle i'm keeping costs to a minimum at the moment. will be fabricating some floor mats out of wood (similar to the ones at the thing shop) but lets see how our local "weathered" wood stands up to the task.

had a near miss a few days back, was taking the thing out of city when a car swerved infront of me. i managed to stop the thing in time but it was one of those moments where your wallnuts are in your mouth! so it's safe to say the brakes are good

Great work bro...!!

thanks so much, this car was bought for me by my dad and he asked me to rebuild it so that we could go for "shikar" in it. sadly he's no longer with us but i'm still going to complete the project.

[Storm]

fit my steering shock (finally)

got my wheels back from the painter

Got my new pirelli P6s mounted & balanced (195/70R14s)

had the iron cross affixed to the door

yesterday i fit the top frame, windows, painted the exhausts etc... been loving it during the eid holidays!