My Thing Story
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:06 pm
First of all I want to thank all of the old Martha's list and Shop Talk people who helped me along the way with stories of their mods and pictures. People like Bob Miller, Vince and Larry.
I bought my 73 Yellow Thing in 1994. Third owner,35,000 miles. NO RUST!
To make it passs CA smog it needed a new carb and dist. So, Bocar 34 with a NOS distributor. Ran Ok, then exhaust started to leak from rust out. Went with an S&S system. Good enought for weekend drives.
Had two jobs and really no time to really work on it or use it. But, I was able to lurk on the list and email people who had.
My goal was a pre-runner Thing to carry kayaks, fishing stuff and my overweight friend to our spots in the Sierra foothills where we live.
So I started buying stuff to put on it. First were Kemper Fab bumpers then 15" X6"Centelines with proper offset. So Cal Imports announced the wide five disks. Got them for all around. AC.net SVAD ,Coilover shocks, Compufire module and then AJ Sims Kadron kit. Plus a lot of other stuff over the years.
Somethings got put on, most sat in boxes. Now retired and just finished building a grannyflat for inlaws. More time for Thing stuff.
Centerlines mounted on 15 R75 M&S tires. Very light as compared to the factory wheels. Gained about 3/4" of ground clearance. Re-indexed the rear torsion bars to factory height. Still too soft for me. Installed the coil over shocks front and rear. Added just under 2" of ground clearance at the lowest setting. The ride is fine, not bouncy. Front disks next. The only problem was some flash that need to be ground off the mounting brackets to allow the pads to seat properly. The difference was night and day. Had I known the fronts would had changed the stopping power so much I would not have ever bought the rear set. Rear disks on. Wow, the deer have a second chance now.
Next was the SVAD distributor. I was leary of the claims, but needed to go with a single vacumne advance for the Kadrons. The difference from the stock one is worth the price. Had I know that this would make such a difference I would have stayed with the PICT 34 and performed the modifications from Mike Humiston.
Kadrons set up for my elevation and engine with SCAT linkage go on next and will complete my Thing until its ready for Beard seats and new paint!
Thanks again to all. Without you I would not have a great performing vehicle that really fits my needs.
Jeff
Coloma, CA
I bought my 73 Yellow Thing in 1994. Third owner,35,000 miles. NO RUST!
To make it passs CA smog it needed a new carb and dist. So, Bocar 34 with a NOS distributor. Ran Ok, then exhaust started to leak from rust out. Went with an S&S system. Good enought for weekend drives.
Had two jobs and really no time to really work on it or use it. But, I was able to lurk on the list and email people who had.
My goal was a pre-runner Thing to carry kayaks, fishing stuff and my overweight friend to our spots in the Sierra foothills where we live.
So I started buying stuff to put on it. First were Kemper Fab bumpers then 15" X6"Centelines with proper offset. So Cal Imports announced the wide five disks. Got them for all around. AC.net SVAD ,Coilover shocks, Compufire module and then AJ Sims Kadron kit. Plus a lot of other stuff over the years.
Somethings got put on, most sat in boxes. Now retired and just finished building a grannyflat for inlaws. More time for Thing stuff.
Centerlines mounted on 15 R75 M&S tires. Very light as compared to the factory wheels. Gained about 3/4" of ground clearance. Re-indexed the rear torsion bars to factory height. Still too soft for me. Installed the coil over shocks front and rear. Added just under 2" of ground clearance at the lowest setting. The ride is fine, not bouncy. Front disks next. The only problem was some flash that need to be ground off the mounting brackets to allow the pads to seat properly. The difference was night and day. Had I known the fronts would had changed the stopping power so much I would not have ever bought the rear set. Rear disks on. Wow, the deer have a second chance now.
Next was the SVAD distributor. I was leary of the claims, but needed to go with a single vacumne advance for the Kadrons. The difference from the stock one is worth the price. Had I know that this would make such a difference I would have stayed with the PICT 34 and performed the modifications from Mike Humiston.
Kadrons set up for my elevation and engine with SCAT linkage go on next and will complete my Thing until its ready for Beard seats and new paint!
Thanks again to all. Without you I would not have a great performing vehicle that really fits my needs.
Jeff
Coloma, CA
