Restoration Question: What works?

jpashley · Post by **jpashley** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:07 am

Howdy All-
Just picked up a 74 Acapulco for cruising around town- love this THING! But, the old girl needs some work. A few quick questions: I need to replace the rear pan quarters- have got some bug pans laying around- will the bug rear quarters fit? Secondly: I had to cut the seats off of the pan and pretty much destroy the seat tracks- what else will work in their place- I'm not concerned with restoring to stock- just like to have simple transportation to the beach- and will I basically have to grind the remains of the tracks off the pan to weld some other seating arrangement on? I guess I'm not to sure on how the whole seat anchoring system works- and a set of those tracks looks darn expense for what they are- any clever tricks or mods- anybody with cool seats who's got the info I need.

rollin900 · Post by **rollin900** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 9:22 am

If you are not looking for perfect seat tracks, Mike at Thingunlimited.net has some used ones for 20 dollars a piece. They are a little rusted, but can be sandblasted and they are in working condition. I am not sure about the bug pans though. You have to see if one of the more knowledgable guys knows that one.

Bob Ingman · Post by **Bob Ingman** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 11:03 am

JP Welcome to the 181 forum. This is a good spot to interchange information and fellowship with other thing owners.
About the pans Thing pans are 181 specifis. That is for restoration to original condition. For practical purposes any solid metal will replace a deteriorated floor sction. I`ve seen it done with flat sheet metal. You could cut a section of the bug pan to replace the floor in your thing as needed. Many use KG pans due to the same shape as thing.

For seat mounts the offroad method is to weld cross sections from the tunnel to the door sill and mount from that. Much stronger than the sheet metal of the floor section. I did this to mine using 1X2" rectangular tubing. Then mounted Jetta seats to those. Good luck and keep posting here. Bob Ingman

bhowden · Post by **bhowden** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:35 pm

jpashley wrote:Howdy All-
Just picked up a 74 Acapulco for cruising around town- love this THING! But, the old girl needs some work. A few quick questions: I need to replace the rear pan quarters- have got some bug pans laying around- will the bug rear quarters fit? Secondly: I had to cut the seats off of the pan and pretty much destroy the seat tracks- what else will work in their place- I'm not concerned with restoring to stock- just like to have simple transportation to the beach- and will I basically have to grind the remains of the tracks off the pan to weld some other seating arrangement on? I guess I'm not to sure on how the whole seat anchoring system works- and a set of those tracks looks darn expense for what they are- any clever tricks or mods- anybody with cool seats who's got the info I need.

I am not positive on this but I am pretty sure that the floor pan for the Thing is actually from a Frinolin (sp?) (type 147) which was a sort of panel van used by the German post office. It is the same dimension as the Karman Ghia pan but the stampings of the stiffening ribs is a bit different. For a concours restoration you need Thing pans. For all practical purposes, KG are fine but the heavier ones are worth spending more money on. The bug pan is not as wide as the 181 so will not fit if you are going right out to the edge. The seat tracks in mine were identical to a 72 bug which is a bit of a single year part.
Brian

jpashley · Post by **jpashley** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:40 pm

Thanks for the great info- I'm going to do exactly what you've said- cut out the parts that I need for the pan and weld it in- my kind of solution- same goes for the "offroad" solution with the seat tracks- again, my kind of solution. Am excited, just got a quote to get the whole thing sandblasted, inside and out, underneath, in the engine compartment and under the hood- primed with two part epoxy primer and sprayed with that tan humvee paint (the place has a contract to paint the hummers)- gonna get this thing cleaned up!

Bob Ingman · Post by **Bob Ingman** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 2:05 pm

Once again I would like to remind everyone of the useful information to be found in our Parts Interchange thread below. Good luck. Bob Ingman
http://www.geocities.com/vwtyp181/181_3-4.htm

Capn Skully · Post by **Capn Skully** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:55 am

Just don't get discouraged and bolt in a sheet of plywood. The "parts" Thing I am disassembling has these plywood floors... UGH!

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Restoration Question: What works?

Restoration Question: What works?

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