Chenowth Desert Patrol/Light Strike Vehicle - Pics Added

[Lawdog734]

It sounds like the folks at UMP that would know anything about these vehicles left in the mid-late 90's, I do have a few names to track down though.

[TimS]

You may try sending a PM to "superfab" (Tim Everts) through race-dezert.com.

[Piledriver]

http://www.summersbrothersracing.com/

Is this a case of "there may be hope" or has that "Our new site is about to launch!" page been up for ages?


....and is it the same "Summers Brothers"?

[Iguana]

http://www.summersbrothersracing.com/

Is this a case of "there may be hope" or has that page been up for ages?

It hasn't been up to long cause it is a Word Press site and the uploads directory is set to November 2014.

So I would email them

Registrant Organization: Summers Brothers Racing LLC
Registrant Street: 720 East Sunkist St Unit 103
Registrant City: Ontario
Registrant State/Province: California
Registrant Postal Code: 91761
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Phone: +1.9093955555
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.9093955557
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]
Update Date: 2013-04-19 21:10:03
Creation Date: 2005-06-11 18:31:40

Summers Brothers Racing LLC
4747 Brooks St Ste D & E
Montclair, CA 91763
(909) 399-5121

It all started in 1965 when 2 brothers, Bob and Bill Summers decided to create a piece of art and named it "Goldenrod", what is now known as the fastest due to it's world land speed record for piston engines. Still to this day holds a record of 409.277 mph. Bob Summers past on to a better life in 1993 leaving behind a great history. Bill Summers is still around and enjoying what he loves doing best, cars. Summers Brothers was bought off 2 years ago and is now Summers Brothers Racing, LLC. We are doing our best to improve the quality and service to our customers everyday. New owners Jose Pontifes and Rafael Serrano have joined their knowledge to create more new and improved products. We have specialized in manufacturing the best and long lasting axles for the past 42 years and are continuing with the same quality over the years. Please if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask and we will do our best to answer any questions.

[Piledriver]

Rafael Serrano... Hopefully no relation to "Serranos" Chinese-parts purveyor that went TU after taking a load of peoples $$$ a few years back.

Sounds more like ex-employees firing up the business again though. Cool.

[Lawdog734]

The lack of a functioning website in 2014/15 is disappointing, but it is what it is. When Gary said "they're no longer made", I assumed that he meant they weren't around anymore - not that the particular model was "no longer made"

Regardless, they seemed very pleasant and knew what they were talking about.

[Lawdog734]

Tim-I count 42 splines with a diameter of 2.75".

[TimS]

Tim-I count 42 splines with a diameter of 2.75".

Awesome, thanks. Must be sprint car. I can't find diameter of the sprint car 42 spline, but I found a place that will gun drill them to >2" so they must be big. If they are, then there is a whole slew of spacers, hubs, brakes, and even splined wheels. Not that it helps you,but interesting nonetheless. I net those stubs, though, would be hard to find elsewhere. Thanks again... Curiosity satisfied.

[gorth]

Wow what a find. I wish I had been so lucky before I started my DPV project. Lots of work ahead of you. Keep the progress pictures coming. Best of luck on the restoration.

[Lawdog734]

With as much time as I had off over the holidays, you'd have thought that I would have had more time to work on things, but that was not to be the case with all of the travel. I've got a few days to attack things before Monday though.

I did manage to get the engine separated from the transaxle. I managed to take it apart by unscrewing the threaded shaft from the engine on the side that was stuck. To the point of what JUSSUMGUY had mentioned earlier in this thread, this would have been significantly easier to do with everything still mounted in the vehicle.

I've given a hard look at restoring the engine that I have, but with so many unknowns I've decided to go with a near new setup. While I was told that it was driven to its parking spot, I managed to find a turnkey FAT built 2600cc Type 4 for the project that's fresh off the dyno at 163hp and 190ft pounds of torque. I'm into it for what I imagine isn't much more than what it would have cost FAT to clean up, rebuild and dyno what I currently have. While it has dual Weber's, I think I'm going to leave them on. Even Greg at FAT recommends the dual setup and I'll still have everything to switch it back to the correct single carb if I feel like going that route. With as temperamental as the single carb can be on the Type 4 engines, I think I'll maintain my sanity better with as cool and humid as it can be here in Georgia.

Other than that, I intend to get the chassis sandblasted so that I can get a better look at what I have. Blasting it will give me a more definitive look at what else needs to be replaced or if I'll need to splice in any tubing. I'm planning a week in March for my parents come down and my father and I will cut out the nastiness and tig in new tubing. March will allow me time to clean up parts, get materials in and the garage cleared out so we can do the welding.

Of course there will be plenty of pics as soon as I do anything picture-worthy.

[gorth]

I see you are in Georgia? Me too, just south of Savannah & east of Fort Stewart.

[Lawdog734]

Yeah, I'm a couple hours away in the Athens area. We usually camp down that way in the springtime and I intend to take this with me when we do.

[gorth]

Wow small world I met my Wife in Athens when she was getting her Doctorate there. Our gun ship broke down heading west so us Sailor's, checked out UGA & Athens. If you are in this neck of the woods give me a holler. It would be great to meet you. We are not too far from Fort McAlister park just outside of Richmond Hill. I would love to see one of the old DPV's restored. My# is 1912 572 5721.

[Lawdog734]

I don't know if I'll get it down there with it this year. I'm pushing to get it done by Memorial Day weekend, but that's going to be really pushing it considering that I'm getting into what is my busy time of year. I'll definitely be in touch when I bring it down that way though.

[Lawdog734]

Gents - I just found the below pic of SEALs with a Desert Patrol Vehicle at the American Embassy in Kuwait City back in 91. Apparently they also used Summers Brothers hubs as well as CNC hubs.