Dear Friends,
Salam
It is heartening to feel at home almost immediately. It was not in my wildest of dreams that we were actually joining a family of great friends.
Thanks for all your replies.
I have in person met, probably, Aamir Saheb at one event of Islamabad Jeep Club. I have spoken to Basharat Saheb on Phone, but I also feel, already, that I am a welcome member of a big community of friends.
This year, we are planning a winter trip to Naran. I do not know, how far we will be able to go, but we do hope to enjoy. This will be somewhere in January, when the snow is at its peak. Once the details are worked out, we will definitely share it on the forum, and welcome all your presence.
About the UNIMOG, we actually did it, sort of like sailing through uncharted seas. We did not have any clue as to what we were doing, or whether it will turn out interesting.
We started with the rear end, and actually sliced off around 6 inches from the two sides. Then we trimmed the back, to balance the approach and departure angles. The tail gate was converted from a dropping down type to a side opening type, only for convenience. We moved the flat, curved fenders in, just for streamlining the looks, and finally added the third door on the back side on left. There is no rear door on the right (for kids' safety).
However, interesting is the Engine swap. The original 4 cylinder Mercedes Engine of series 116 is a low rpm, low out put engine. I am not sure, but looks like it is in the region of 60+ horsepower. When we looked at our use, less than 100 horsepower did not suite us, mainly because the unimog is already at 4500 feet above sea level, and regularly visits or was expected to visit higher altitudes. So, we looked at various available options. There was a very good option, a Mercedes Benz 364 & a 314 engine, one being turbo-charged. The main draw back was in the typical 'kar-kar-sound', and a dearth of mechanics willing to tackle a Mercedes Benz engine problem.
Our natural choice was a TOYOTA. But, we were stuck up with the idea of inserting a 3 L engine, 2.8 Litres with normal aspiration. This, is a very flexible engine. I believe we did a mistake by not using this one. This 3L has horse power in the range of 80+. We rather settled on 14 B, a normally aspirated engine, 3660 cc, and with easy availability of spare parts. It produces 120 or so horses, and is a beautiful piece of TOYOTA technology.
It was a great effort shoeing in the bigger engine, and we had to do some very cruel surgical interventions. Eventually all went well. I am happy with the outcome, except that the torque is too much even for the UNIMOG gears to handle. It is regularly burning rubber on tarmac, even when I shift from the 3rd to the 4th gear. I intend to add some weight to the back to help this problem.
I do not have many pictures. As all my friends can gauge from my picture in the mog, I am a relatively older version, myself, and am not much into the digital technology. However, next time, I will add some pictures from our first meeting of Off-Roaders Unlimited. Quite some time back actually.
see you again.
Irfan