Any Iltis owners from the GTA here?

.22LRGUY

.22LRGUY

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Hey guys~off-topic question perhaps...but I'm contemplating the purchase of an Iltis, and am wondering if there are any owners here from the north end of the GTA. Please post your horror stories about parts availability, high maintenance, poor road manners, etc. etc. Talk me out of owning one please. :) I've had a few open-top Jeeps (1977 CJ-7, 1981 CJ-8 scrambler, 99 TJ) and swore I'd never buy another money-pit of a vehicle....but boy, do I get "Iltis envy" whenever I see one. I've never even SAT in one, so perhaps it won't fit my 6'1" stature anyway!
 
Any milsurp vehicle will be a money pit. No parts, hard on fuel, etc.
The Iltis has a very narrow body with narrow tires. They were new when I was in the Reserves, eons ago. Got out before I drove 'em much. Wasn't impressed with needing multiple keys. Only made for 2 years too.
A fast net search turns up a parts guy in Edmonton. A carb runs $350.
 
The Iltis was kept around longer than it should have been. Most of them on the coasts had rusted out, the rest had been beaten up pretty badly.

The Germans surpluses their stock much earlier, and they were in better shape. There was a guy on the West coast selling them for $10K, I think. Look him up, you might be able to find parts.
 
I am not sure if the previous posters have actually owned one, so I will comment. They are great little "trucks." There are parts you can buy from VW AND AUDI direct...like sump crush washers found at your local Audi dealership, but the rest come from private, Europe or the guy in Edmonton. My advice to you, from someone who has owned one, is spend as much as you can afford right off the bat. It will save you money in the long run. You should only consider a truck that currently has Ontario registration (blue plates). Stay away from the green plated, or non-plated Iltis. The Iltis VIN is irregular, which plays havoc with the MTOs registration system. I transferred mine from QC and had to wait a week until they figured it out. A transfer from another Ontario owner is much easier.

I bought and sold my Iltis for $6500....and it was in excellent shape.
 
I didn't own one, but from 1989 to 1995, I made sure that any iltis coming out of my unit would be best sold as parts :)
 
Watch for frame cracks. They'll be evident in the lower portion of the door frame. That being said, ground gear and diff lock will pull you out of almost anything you can get into.. ;-) I'm not an owner but I was an operator ;-)
 
Love mine.

Too small for a real Army Car, but great for recreation / hunting / historical purposes.

Parts - search Super Dave on www.mapleleafup.net or Jean-Baptiste at Prefair Surplus in Beloeuil (south shore of Montreal).

Buy the best one you can afford right off the bat.

Ben
 
I enjoy the one I own out on the West Coast. Its like any old car. You need to have good storage and either be mechanically minded and like working on old cars or pay someone who has the old fashioned expertize to deal with carbs and the like. Parts can be had, but you will need to be resourceful. Sung in Edmonton is very good and ships quickly and economically. Some parts are hard to get and the 24 volt electrics are a pain to deal with.
I don't off road mine but its fun to drive in summer but cold and wet in winter. I regard mine as a big piece in my Canadian Milsurp collection. Fun to fool around with and lots of accessories and parts to accumulate. Some stuff shows up on ebay, Kijiji etc. Its great to look for radios, webbing, tool kits etc. Some airsoft weapons look the part but I would not encourage having them onboard unless attending some sort of show or rally.
 
Thanks for all the input guys, greatly appreciated. My '77 CJ7 was about as rough a vehicle to own/operate/maintain as any vehicle I've ever heard of...but..parts were no issue. Good thing too~it needed lots of them! I should probably get my large frame into one before I decide, but I was thinking of it as a fair-weather, short-distance driver. They certainly look awfully cool. (to me)
 
I own one in edmonton, there is 3 parts guys in town: Mark Iltis4x4, sung iltisparts.ca, (the biggest dealer. he has a warehouse full of parts), and Punchbuggies.com and 2 mechanics. (ken and super dave)

most of the parts on the motor can be found from volkswagen, it is a VW engine, same as a 81-83 rabit except the iltis has a carb instead of fuel injection. Rockauto.com still has lots of parts that fit the engine. The only hard to find parts are breaks, so nurse em and don't burn through them, they can be re-padded for cheap but only if the shoe itself is still good, the drums last for ever, I have a spare set, and after 3 years of driving... my original drums are still like 80%

Plugs, fuel pumps, clutches, Cvs are still being made new as they are the same as many other vehicles.

if you don't want to run the 24volt ignition its not hard to switch over to 12volt and dump a non military distributor in, then a cap costs $6 instead of $40 and plugs are $7 instead of $70, plenty of space to swap the military air filter for a K&N

As far as vehicles go, its cheap to maintain, it doesn't break stuff all the time, Ive spent less in 3 years then what I spent on my ranger in 2 years... and with the iltis, most of the parts can be rebuilt for a fraction of the cost (starters, alternators, carbs, distributors).

The most expensive thing I've had to replace was the tranny, and I bought it ####ed up. Brand new out of a create and installed for a whopping $1700, try getting that price that with any other vehicle.

Ontario and quebec have a lot of iltis kicking about, If I was the OP I would jump on one. a typical up iltis (running, rusty and plated) should be between $3000- 8000 depending on variant, body condition and mechanical, expect to drop $4000 if you want to restore an iltis to like new provided you don't need something big like a motor or tranny and you do your own work (welding, mechanical, electrical)


Im in about $10 000 on this guy including purchase price and custom aluminum doors

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U can contact me or any of your local vw dealers for parts. The engine is a 1.8 8v engine. Shares many parts with the older golf and jetta.
 
They are incredible little off-road machines. I like to think of mine as a side x side that is street legal. It is incredibly capable off-road, and narrow enough to travel on ATV trails. I've had mine over the headlights in water (which is as far as you can go without a snorkel), and into some very hard to get places. The best part is that they are simple, you can wrench them yourself for most maintenance, and no computer to worry about. I've been in some crazy places and have always been able to drive it out and back home.
Parts are easy enough to come by, and once you're in the "club" you'll be linked into all the other Iltis owners and their resources. The only things that I have found to be hard to find are spark plugs and original tires. Many people don't like the original tires, but I swear by them. They have a very aggressive tread and are nice and narrow and cut through mud and snow down to the traction.
Some things to look out for are the windshield frame, floorboards, battery box (located under the back seats), CV joints, and if there is water in the rear diff.
 
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