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Greetings All -

Hope everyone had a great and safe holiday.

Well I have the carb dialed and 2 of the 3 small holes in the floor boards patched and have the my baby out and about. I am having some electrical issues with the turn signals and headlights which i believe has to do with flashers and relays.

Back to the Duck Boards, I am ready to build my own and was just wondering if anyone had any blueprints or some quality web -based photos.

My next question is, Are there any other Thing owners in NJ?

And my final question is Where is a good free web-based place to display my photos? I have tried to load to this web site but have been having all sorts of issues.

Thanks

Jersey

Jersey I have seen duckboard how-tos on the net and will try to find them for you today.
Sounds like your project is coming along now. Are we having fun yet? Bob

Well I did a quick search under VW Thing duckboards and found what I was looking for.
http://www.angelfire.com/ct/vwthing/winch.html
It is winch and duckboards so let it load up completely. Bob

Bob -
Thanks for the heads up on this. I had this website as well as the thing shop and Things Unlimited's web page. I was just hoping that someone had a daigram with measurements of the specific lengths as i am a novice at woodworking. I think I am going to follow suit of http://www.angelfire.com/ct/vwthing/winch.html and make a cardboard stencil. She is moving along now, I really should tear her down to the frame and redo...but i really want to enjoy her first for a summer and then take care of business.

Thanks again,

Joe

Joe thats what i`d do. Drive the car for a year or so to formulate your ideas of what really NEEDS to be done. Its fun driving a clunker that I know I am going to fix up. Also in that time you will bond with that car. Too many projects are abandoned because guys jump right into a full teardown before having time to get to know and get attached to the car. When you really care about a car you are more motivated to see the project through to completion. It becomes like geting a loved one home from the hospital. I`m getting crazy now so better call a halt to my rambling. Think you get my point though. Bob

Bob -
Believe me i understand. I am 38 yrs old and have wanted a 181 since i was about 4 yrs old. Wanted to paint it Canary yellow and put a Huge Pink smile face on the hood. So this has been a labor of love. I feel bad though 1 day in frustration i kick my car...since then i have been a loving "father " so to speak. I am however a bit anxious in doing these duckboards with no real plans.

Thanks for all you advice and help...What would be the best and least expensive way to get some more horsepower out of it?

Joe

The best and least way to get more horsepower is a very subjective topic. They nearly contridict each other. If you engine is of high miles then its simple. Just rebuild using a mild cam,big bore and dual carbs. Nothing has to be (or should be) extreme. A 1776 with a 120 cam and a set of Kads is about as cheap as you can get yet does yield a significant increas in power while maintaining very decent drivability.
Or you could just convert to a stock 2.0L T-4 engine with a set of duals and be done with it. See what I mean? There is no end to the answers to this question.Everyone had a duifferent opinion. Cheers. Bob

Ok...a bit over my head. I did understand the Dual carbs...how difficult is it to do. I saw in some of the ads in the VW magazines like $300 +.

My engine only has 51k miles on it.

Joe a good engine should not be torn down just to increase a little HP. Heres what I`d do then.
Get a set of ratio rockers (acts like high lift cam but does not require disassembly),a decent header and a set of dual 34 Solexes or Weber ICTs or Kadrons. Those carbs are cheap and I hear a lot of favorable reports on them because they have chokes and are user friendly. Too many good intentions are gone bad by those getting carried away. It doesn`t take much to give good power and it takes even less to go over the top to produce an engine that is not a fun daily driver. Moderation is the key word. Cheers. Bob

Thanks for the valueable information...i will give that a shot point X down the road...right now my focus is to get her street legal and a safe.