Hello folks - new member here, so be gentle. I thought I'd take a moment to show you what I've been working on for the past several months. I saved a Chenowth Desert Patrol Vehicle and Chenowth SEAL "Squad" Vehicle that was destined for the scrap yard. They've seen better days, but they're definitely worth saving to preserve a piece of military history.
Nope, I won't be racing it like many of you guys do, but this website has been a wealth of info and I hope that I can get your input on some of the components on the vehicle. I figured these vehicles have had a rough life, so now it's time for a quiet retirement on the dirt roads and pastures near my house.
In some cases, it's obvious that they're not your run of the mill performance VW parts, so I hope that some of you might be able to assist. I posted this in this forum (Vintage) because I'm hoping that since it's a Magnum DR2 based vehicle, some of you would be familiar with them.
So for a little bit of history, I've had plans over the previous eight or none months of building a SEAL Desert Patrol Vehicle. Since Chenowth is out of business and there aren't exactly a glut of used chassis's out there, I originally decided the way to do it was via purchasing a Chenowth 4LWD setup and build it up accordingly. I've seen several "Desert Patrol Vehicles" for sale over the years and usually while they might be called a Desert Patrol Vehicle, in some cases even with a correct chassis, they aren't built to spec and that disappoints me. It's almost like getting an old military jeep, painting it a shoddy green color and putting street tires on it and passing it off as correct- if you're going to do it, then do it right. So that was my intention, build it as close to spec as possible.
So no sooner than a 4LWD I picked up was delivered to the house, I spoke with a friend of mine for work related business and tell him what my intentions are. He tells me that he had not just a Chenowth Desert Patrol vehicle behind his shop, but also had a 6 man Chenowth SEAL Squad Vehicle as well. While they clearly had seen better days, he said I could have them if I came to drag them away. All parts are there and they haven't run in about 5 years, but they'll be worth having-he was literally going to drag them to the scrap yard. Some people collect military jeeps, I guess I'll have a couple of SEAL buggies.
So a few notes about the 3 seat vehicle because that's what I started on first:
- From what I gathered from Ryan Thomas and Lynn Chenowth, here were 120 made. Most went to Naval Special Warfare Group 1 (west coast) starting in 1989, another smaller batch was made for Army Special Forces and UK SAS for Desert Storm. The final batch was delivered to the Navy after the first Gulf War.
- It's got CNC Brakes, hubs and pedals throughout and Saco steering box
- It's got a VW Type 4 engine modded by FAT Performance to 2.6 liter.
- It's got a Vanagon Transaxle with locking diffrential.
So, enough of my yapping - here's the pics. Let me know what ya think!
Desert Patrol Vehicle
SEAL "Squad" Vehicle - 6 seats
I started on the 3 seat Desert Patrol Vehicle first. It was the worse of the two vehicles, but is the vehicle I'm the most excited about restoring.
Side Baskets
Front End
Rear End
Right Rear
CNC Pedals
Gunners Seat Mount
So I managed to finish stripping it down the other day and am excited to start the restoration process.
Here's the major damage that'll need to be repaired:
Floor Supports under seats and gas tank
Torsion Adjustment Housing
Right Rear Horn
Most of the parts that were pulled off are restorable, or I can at least identify them so that they can be replaced. I'm stumped on the rear transaxle mount though, and I hope that you guys might be of assistance.
Here's the rear hub:
And here's the rear axle:
Which is secured in place with a Sander Engineering Sprint Hex Nut:
I know it's a lot of pictures, but I know most folks like pictures. Do any of you have any suggestions for who made the rear hubs and axles?
I appreciate any input that you folks might have.
Nope, I won't be racing it like many of you guys do, but this website has been a wealth of info and I hope that I can get your input on some of the components on the vehicle. I figured these vehicles have had a rough life, so now it's time for a quiet retirement on the dirt roads and pastures near my house.
In some cases, it's obvious that they're not your run of the mill performance VW parts, so I hope that some of you might be able to assist. I posted this in this forum (Vintage) because I'm hoping that since it's a Magnum DR2 based vehicle, some of you would be familiar with them.
So for a little bit of history, I've had plans over the previous eight or none months of building a SEAL Desert Patrol Vehicle. Since Chenowth is out of business and there aren't exactly a glut of used chassis's out there, I originally decided the way to do it was via purchasing a Chenowth 4LWD setup and build it up accordingly. I've seen several "Desert Patrol Vehicles" for sale over the years and usually while they might be called a Desert Patrol Vehicle, in some cases even with a correct chassis, they aren't built to spec and that disappoints me. It's almost like getting an old military jeep, painting it a shoddy green color and putting street tires on it and passing it off as correct- if you're going to do it, then do it right. So that was my intention, build it as close to spec as possible.
So no sooner than a 4LWD I picked up was delivered to the house, I spoke with a friend of mine for work related business and tell him what my intentions are. He tells me that he had not just a Chenowth Desert Patrol vehicle behind his shop, but also had a 6 man Chenowth SEAL Squad Vehicle as well. While they clearly had seen better days, he said I could have them if I came to drag them away. All parts are there and they haven't run in about 5 years, but they'll be worth having-he was literally going to drag them to the scrap yard. Some people collect military jeeps, I guess I'll have a couple of SEAL buggies.
So a few notes about the 3 seat vehicle because that's what I started on first:
- From what I gathered from Ryan Thomas and Lynn Chenowth, here were 120 made. Most went to Naval Special Warfare Group 1 (west coast) starting in 1989, another smaller batch was made for Army Special Forces and UK SAS for Desert Storm. The final batch was delivered to the Navy after the first Gulf War.
- It's got CNC Brakes, hubs and pedals throughout and Saco steering box
- It's got a VW Type 4 engine modded by FAT Performance to 2.6 liter.
- It's got a Vanagon Transaxle with locking diffrential.
So, enough of my yapping - here's the pics. Let me know what ya think!
Desert Patrol Vehicle
SEAL "Squad" Vehicle - 6 seats
I started on the 3 seat Desert Patrol Vehicle first. It was the worse of the two vehicles, but is the vehicle I'm the most excited about restoring.
Side Baskets
Front End
Rear End
Right Rear
CNC Pedals
Gunners Seat Mount
So I managed to finish stripping it down the other day and am excited to start the restoration process.
Here's the major damage that'll need to be repaired:
Floor Supports under seats and gas tank
Torsion Adjustment Housing
Right Rear Horn
Most of the parts that were pulled off are restorable, or I can at least identify them so that they can be replaced. I'm stumped on the rear transaxle mount though, and I hope that you guys might be of assistance.
Here's the rear hub:
And here's the rear axle:
Which is secured in place with a Sander Engineering Sprint Hex Nut:
I know it's a lot of pictures, but I know most folks like pictures. Do any of you have any suggestions for who made the rear hubs and axles?
I appreciate any input that you folks might have.
