I am here now. :wings:
Thanks very much for this invitation. I am happy to answer any questions you have.
Here some comments to the previous comments in this thread:
Yes, this engine is air-cooled. With normal use there is no problem with overheating, even when it is really hot. The engine has a really big temperatur controlled cooling turbine driven by the engine oil. Of course, this makes the engine loud under load. Some then say that the engine is noise-cooled.
A lot of people are driving rallys through deserts with this kind of trucks without any problems. The advantage there is no complicated water cooling. If the the seal of one cyl fails than nothing bad happens. No cooling water leaks into the burning room and cause damage. You just loose power and you can fix the problem later.
Newer versions of the MAN KAT Series 1A1 use a MAN water-cooled engine because they wanted more power and lower emissions. This newer trucks have a hydro-pneumatic suspension to support heavy load and to allow leveling for the mounted army equipment. But this has considerably more electronics on-board. This trucks are also much more expensive and only a few are available, mostly prototypes from MAN. I have decided against this not only because of the budget, but also because of electronic problems I hear from time to time.
Lynn, you cannot transform the standard 8x8 KAT1 into the Desert Challenger. The standard 8x8 is only something less 100" wide. But the dessert challenger is based on a 118" wide chassis. This was used for missile transport and is used for airport fire brigades.
The base truck is much to wide for normal roads. The Desert Challenger is allowed to drive only with special permit on european roads. It is really designed for the desert.
You find more information about the desert challenger in the following document:
http://www.actionmobil.at/page17/page17_assets/DESERT CHALLENGER ENG.pdf
Images in a slide show you find here:
http://www.actionmobil.at/page18/page18.html
I was already in the desert challager once when it was at service at
http://www.aignertrucks.com . It is really a luxury home on wheels comparable to your Class A. But this would be nothing for me because it is to large and to heavy. You cannot go really off-road. And don't ask for the costs ...
Magirus Deutz uses an older version of the engine from the same series with 6 cyl. You can get Magirus Deutz trucks also sometimes very cheap from the fire brigades in Germany. A lot of people have build their own motorhome with it.
There is a special german forum dedicated to MAN KAT trucks:
More questions?
