Wanted: "Unstucker" Flanges

[rob love]

Yes Stuart, there is a place for the Iltis:

******Insert photo of car crusher here********

If a guy wants a pavement cruiser for the city, with the capability to go over 6" curbs with reasonable ease, then the Iltis will fit the bill. It has the advantage over the M series that it will travel to the next city with speed, and decent fuel mileage.

Unfortunately for Iltis owners, their vehicles will have to be cannibals. It is doubtful that any company will be making new Iltis parts, and as the stock of NOS parts dries up (in many cases they just about have) vehicles that fall will be used to supply parts for those owners who have the determination to keep them going. I suppose it is not unlike CMPs.

But for serious off road capability, as well as simplicity in design and repair, and NOS or reproduction repair parts available now and in the future, the Willys takes the trophy hands down.

It may well be the initial purchase price that sways potential Jeep owners over to the lesser Bombardier product. Even poorly restored Jeeps seem to be commanding more and more obscene prices these days. On the other hand, I just saw an Iltis on Kijiji for $700 the other day.

[David Dunlop]

Pure curiosity at work here, Rob, but is there much about the Bombardier Iltis that is compatible with the original VW Type 183, and how would they compare up against each other?


David

[rob love]

Yes Dave, there was a fair bit the same. But in a lot of cases, it was the differences which were the initial weaknesses. We took the original and changed some of it to North American components, which generally did not work out well. The original taillights, which were built in to be protected by the rear bumpers, were replaced with the US military type taillights, which were mounted higher and unprotected. The vibration inside the lamps caused early failure of the bulbs, and as well they were not so well protected in this location.

We added blue foam balls into the fuel system, which came apart and wreaked havoc in the fuel system.

We added an inline fuel pump of North American design which did not like where it was mounted, and failed often. Especially the early ones....it got better over time but never cured. Our first design fuel filter did not work either, and was later replaced by an oversize spin on type.

We changed the German alternator. Ours was poorly mounted, and tended to break the mount, or quickly wear out the upper bushing. It also had voltage spikes which would burn out headlamps.

One of the biggest problems, though, was the location of the batteries under the floor of the passengers. Terminals constantly worked loose, causing the alternator to overcharge and destroy the batteries and the alternator's internal voltage regulator as well.

Broken seatbacks, dead ignition modules, plastic seatbelt covers, air cleaners erupting into fire all by themselves....I could go on and on (as Stuart well knows) but these shortcomings have been brought up elsewhere on this forum. Do a search under my name along with the term Iltis.

[David Dunlop]

Re your quote:


"Do a search under my name along with the term Iltis."


Wouldn't that end up covering over half of the issues on the forum??? :roll eyes



David