Alright, getting further... I don't know what changed, but I can view the thread in my normal customized template without any IE crashes. It loads the thread fully for me now, but still has the blank area.
I'm testing it on my live forum, with a nice "warning title" for the thread haha. Anyway here's the thread so you can see the page source:
http://www.mifbody.com/vbulletin/sho...819#post127819
Trying to use in IE7. Server's config: apache v1.3.33, PHP 4.4.4, MySQL 4.1.21-standard.