VW-MAN 9.136 FAE OVERHAUL Joey and Sarah's gallery

 Our plan it to overhaul this VW MAN truck into an expedition vehicle. We got ours from a nice fella
 that had bought it from Austria. It had been a coca cola truck and was use to taking drinks up the 
 mountains to ski-resorts. The truck was then bought by another beverage company who painted it 
 bright yellow and stuck their logo all over it. So the truck is called OGO and we are going to keep 
 the name.

 The drive train on the truck was in good condition so we drove it four hundred kilometers
 from it's home in the Harz to our workshop in Northern Germany. We knew that the car had some rust 
 on it but its when you dig deep that you find the real problems.

 It's was important to find a nice dry and clean place to work. We wanted high ceilings and enough
 room around the truck to move. Not to mention space for all the stuff that was going to get thrown 
 off. At first we thought that the drink container was just bolted onto the chassis. After some 
 prodding we were certain that the thing was welded on. Which meant cutting steel and getting rid of
 it.

 Slowly the beast is coming through and we can take a good look at what is "under the hood"!

  This much rust mean we are looking for a new drive cabin. The company that bought it from Coca 
 Cola did a real bad job of painting it. They splashed huge coats of body filler 
 over the old paint and the rust ate it from inside. 

 We hammered at it with a rubber hammer to reveal the damage. After estimateding the time it  
 takes to form the metal or to get a new cabin. 
 We opted for a new cabin.

 Luckily we found a 1999 VW L80 cabin with identical dimetions to the old LT cabin. 
 Some customizing is needed for the tilt and lock system, the brakes, clutch and electrics. The 
 VW MAN has some extras in the cabin and these will have to be repositioned in the L80. 

 First the two need to be stripped. 

 Stripping starts with the old one first. Next comes the the brakes and clutch. Beware 
 the no tool bolt that VW has installed. 

 We had to grind some bolts off to get the cabin into pieces. 

 It's always interesting what one finds under hard to see places. Looks the the drink company 
 forgot to lube the chassis or anything that was under the drink rig. 

 It was a lot of work to flex the entire rig apart. We collected a mountain of steel which we 
 will sell off shortly. 

 Finally we start to see the bare chassis. Pretty dirty down there. 

 First we clean. Get off all the old grime and dirt.

 Believe it or not...there is a good looking truck under all that junk. Soon the drive cabin
 will be off.

 Then we can begin to strip the car apart. Still wondering what to do with the chassis. It's 
 nice to have it drop a bit for storage but it's a little too low at the moment. We might 
 have to customize it.

 This was a serious mission. Getting the drive cabin off the truck. I guess it's not going to 
 drive anywhere for a long time now. Next we're going to clean up. Get rid of old metal, dirt,
 grime and paint. Then we will pull the old boys motor out...

 So the story goes on. We want to build a truck that can easily ride in off-road situations. We
 also want a compact truck and reasonably light weight. This means the old U-chassis has to go. 

 Building the truck from the chassis up also has it's advantages. It means we will go through every
 bolt. We like this idea.

 So viola! Our new chassis. Nice and clean. After lots of thought we went for a shorter chassis. 
 Lots of folk suggested a longer wheelbase. We have 3600mm at present. We opted for 3100mm. First 
 3100mm gives more off-road capabilities. The cabin can still sit a meter off the end of the chassis
 so we don't loose that much space, especially if you build adaptable cabins. Meaning interchangable
 heights. Our truck is a 9 ton version. This means that we can add more weight to the rear
 axle and in fact we should if we want to keep the gravity centered. Some think it better to add 
 weight to the center of the truck. We believe we should it put near the back, but we will get to 
 weighting the vehicle at a later stage.

 Gibbs brand lubricant is expensive and difficult to find in Germany, so Fertan is the next best 
 choice. After sanding or blasting the metal down, there will always be small rust spots or holes
 on the metal. Fertan basically converts this stuff back to metal and once washed off with water, 
 it can be painted over. Products like these are a God send in restoration and overhaul projects as
 chassis dipping can be a costly endeavor. 

 D 0826 GFA 01; 4 Takt-Dieselmotor mit Vierstrahl-Direkteinspritzung, wassergekühlt
 100 (136) kW (PS) bei 3000 U/min.
 5687 cm³
 6 / Reihe, stehend Einspritz-/Zündfolge: 1 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 4              

                                                                  //updated by Joey 21.02.08