HELP - I want to build my own car

**dfopiso** · August 30th, 2012 08:12 PM

^ ano ang main goal mo webmiester?

**webmiester** · August 30th, 2012 08:13 PM

Wow Ghosthunter, That picture is soooo coool!

Anyway, I havent driven a G-class yet, so I wouldnt know if it will drive like one. I doubt that it will. Ghosthunter, in one of your threads you mentioned that someone is trying to make LPG powered jeeneys. What kind of engine are they trying to use? It might make a suitable LPG engine for this project.

I dont mean to offend anyone, but with the G-class being so boxy and all, there are some angles of it that it really reminds me of philippine made AUVs of sometimes ago. So if I want to make a locally made vehicle, why not try to make it look as nice as a G-class right?

One possibility I am looking at is to find a manufacturer that makes a body similar to a G-class then make a custom made fiberglass grill grill and position the lights in a nice clean manner like the way Mercedes did it. Really, the MB lights are so simple yet so beautifully placed. So I am wondering if anyone can suggest such a manufacturer. The guys in Pampanga sound interesting... thanks

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

Seriously... you want to custom build a vehicle to look like a G-Wagen? ... Do you also expect it to drive and ride like G-Wagen?

Wow Ghosthunter, That picture is soooo coool!

Anyway, I havent driven a G-class yet, so I wouldnt know if it will drive like one. I doubt that it will. Ghosthunter, in one of your threads you mentioned that someone is trying to make LPG powered jeeneys. What kind of engine are they trying to use? It might make a suitable LPG engine for this project.

I dont mean to offend anyone, but with the G-class being so boxy and all, there are some angles of it that it really reminds me of philippine made AUVs of sometimes ago. So if I want to make a locally made vehicle, why not try to make it look as nice as a G-class right?

One possibility I am looking at is to find a manufacturer that makes a body similar to a G-class then make a custom made fiberglass grill grill and position the lights in a nice clean manner like the way Mercedes did it. Really, the MB lights are so simple yet so beautifully placed. So I am wondering if anyone can suggest such a manufacturer. The guys in Pampanga sound interesting... thanks

**webmiester** · August 30th, 2012 08:23 PM

Hi dfopiso,

That is a very good question...

My goals in this endevour:

1. To have a utilitarianistically useful vehicle with good ground clearance for floods and rough roads. I want it to be able to carry a good number of people (like an AUV), but to have it look really nice so hindi naman siya mukhang cheap.
2. To have the vehicle in LPG (as an alternative fuel) and for economical and environmental reasons.
3. If it comes out really nice, I can have a sample of a really nice Philippine-made vehicle (this thread talks about such vehicles a lot), and show people that we can make such nice vehicles

. If people like it, maybe we can even make more of them.
4. To have a vehicle with available affordable spare parts (a Mercedes just wouldnt do that)
5. To have some sort of experience in making a project like this.

In this forum, a lot of people have been discussing about auto design, etc. Its usually the body designs talked about here. So my other purpose is to get us also to talk about the other inner workings - such as the suspension, engine, etc. and who is going to build the car, suppliers,etc. No one can build a car with just the body. So I am hoping that even if I am unable to build the car, we can still create a set of useful information which someone might be able to pick up in and use for his own car project.

Just to give you a background:

When I was a kid, I used to visit the Transport show, and the portions I would really look forward to seeing were the portions where they had Philippine made vehicles. The Atendido vehicles, Minsan Patrol, etc. I really wanted one of these but my parents wouldnt want them. When LPG came, I really wanted an LPG car, but my parents wouldnt want one.

So now that I graduated, I converted my car to LPG and have not regretted it ever since. But as for getting one of these Philippine made vehicles, they are no where to be found. The guys who make AUVs now are not of the same quality as those guys I mentioned. The old works were much smoother. Contrary to what people think that they mere replicas (yes the Minsan Patrol was a replica), the other locally made cars had enough original parts to distinguish them e.g. the Atendido grills were distinct and were shared by all their vehicle models... The hood shape and even the side panels were actually quite different from the Pajero, so they werent really a copy even though they were labelled as such. Now that I am working, I might be able to put up a vehicle similar to those. It may sound strange to a lot of people, but I really find them attractive, but unfortunately, they are now hard to find.

Originally Posted by dfopiso

^ ano ang main goal mo webmiester?

**webmiester** · August 30th, 2012 08:37 PM

Exactly,

So who are these local builders you are mentioning? Does anyone have an actual contact that he knows is good?

I like the Alano Hammer, its really nice and I would like to get one... but it is too rugged for me

The G-class lines are much more refined. Unless Alano has already come up with something similar to an H3, that would be nice too.

Now buying a Terrano or a 2nd hand Patrol/Pajero as donor vehicle would be great, only that it is suicide for the resale value. Cant I build one using a new set of chassis? Jeepney manufacturers make their own chassis, can these be used for something like this?

Originally Posted by niky

Buy a Nissan Patrol or Terrano. That's what they most commonly use when making Hummer replicas.

Have a local builder use the interior and running gear and build it into a new body.

AMC have experience doing custom steel work, with the Hammer... if they're still around, maybe they'll be interested in doing a G-Wagen replica?

Otherwise, you'd have to have it molded in fiberglass.

Doing a one-off in fiberglass or hand-beaten in steel is going to be very, very expensive. Especially if you want it to look good.

**dfopiso** · August 30th, 2012 08:59 PM

*webmiester: did you get in touch with DOST already? they are focusing yata on buses with CNG as fuel

you have a noble cause. doing it alone without sponsors would be difficult. mahirap naman if you have this plans for just 1 unit, lalabas hobbyist lang. better if you can make this a cause ang get the support of government. pag private ang partner mo, baka hindi maging successful kasi puro economic feasibility ang trust

pwede rin, contact a foreign lending institution but make sure you have full control and exclusive rights sa project mo

**ZURC01** · September 6th, 2012 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

Seriously... you want to custom build a vehicle to look like a G-Wagen? ... Do you also expect it to drive and ride like G-Wagen?

*webmiester...... Sorry I don't have any input or suggestion regarding your project G-Wagen replica, but if you have the money to spend, I would buy The "Real Thing"!!........Those G-Wagens are awesome vehicles!!.....for serious off-roader.

Those Gen3 W463 G-Wagen has a full time 4WD plus I believe the only SUV with front, center, and rear fully locking differentials (electric)......It has solid axles front and rear, I test drive one of them a while back (2002) in pavement and it feels like any other Mercedes.....don't know about in rough roads though.

You can't go wrong with a real one.....personally I would prefer the G-Wagen over the Defender or the LC80 Land Cruiser. I'm not saying its better than the other two....just my preference.......don't want to pick an argument with the Defender and Land Cruiser folks......peace......hehe

**niky** · September 6th, 2012 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by webmiester

Exactly,

So who are these local builders you are mentioning? Does anyone have an actual contact that he knows is good?

I like the Alano Hammer, its really nice and I would like to get one... but it is too rugged for me

The G-class lines are much more refined. Unless Alano has already come up with something similar to an H3, that would be nice too.

Now buying a Terrano or a 2nd hand Patrol/Pajero as donor vehicle would be great, only that it is suicide for the resale value. Cant I build one using a new set of chassis? Jeepney manufacturers make their own chassis, can these be used for something like this?

Jeepney ladder frames are heavy and crude. Buy a dead Patrol or Terrano and you already get a ladder frame attached to a decnt body. All you have to focus on is recladding the body to make it look like a G-Wagen.

Too bad he isn't around. If I recall, Dprox's car was made from the ground up (secondhand engine chassis, bespoke design), but the metalwork cost him a bit.

**webmiester** · September 13th, 2012 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by ZURC01

*webmiester...... Sorry I don't have any input or suggestion regarding your project G-Wagen replica, but if you have the money to spend, I would buy The "Real Thing"!!........Those G-Wagens are awesome vehicles!!.....for serious off-roader.

Those Gen3 W463 G-Wagen has a full time 4WD plus I believe the only SUV with front, center, and rear fully locking differentials (electric)......It has solid axles front and rear, I test drive one of them a while back (2002) in pavement and it feels like any other Mercedes.....don't know about in rough roads though.

You can't go wrong with a real one.....personally I would prefer the G-Wagen over the Defender or the LC80 Land Cruiser. I'm not saying its better than the other two....just my preference.......don't want to pick an argument with the Defender and Land Cruiser folks......peace......hehe

Hi Zurc01,

I agree with you. Having the real thing is really very nice. I dont like the big engine though. I really dont think driving around Manila requires us to have such huge V6 engines, and even with the potholes, 4x4's arent a complete necessity. The high ground clearance is all I really find necessary.

I actually miss the days when we had 4-door AUV's which were powered by 1.3,1.4, and 1.5L Gasoline engines. They had sufficient power (not too much), and decent fuel economy. Their parts also werent so expensive.

Having something done locally is a "heritage" thing as well. Its like buying guitars from Cebu or hand-made scissors from Bicol. We dont always buy them because they are far better or far cheaper than their imported counterparts, but rather because they are part of our heritage. One can really say that the cars we make are like works of art and history ;).

**webmiester** · September 13th, 2012 10:16 AM

Hi Nicky,

Alright, Ill look for something like that. I was also thinking of the Anfra's chassis. I wonder if FMC still has or can still make one of those. Oo nga, Dprox's car was made from scratch, Maganda nga to find his suppliers, it will save me some time and effort.

I actually came accross an Advertisement for an ANFRA Special Edition AUV on an online classified ad website (I dont know if we are allowed to mention it here). It was an old model, but it was a 5-door Anfra with a 1.4L Mazda Engine. That's acutally more or less the configuration I like

**webmiester** · September 13th, 2012 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by glenn manikis

pangit nga mga replica... halatang halata... sayang lang pera, then baka sakit pa sa ulo mo yan.... i think its better to buy a 2nd hand G CLASS....

but if you are going to build a replica... ENGINE ng G Class na 290 GD TD — OM602DLA29 2.9 L Diesel I5 (turbocharged), 92 kW (123 hp)yung engine ng MB100 pareho ng G CLASS 5cylinder 2.9.... I think nasa 50k lang YOU can buy it at AWONS...

What is AWONS?