Touareg Becomes a Brat!

Recently I decided it was time to replace the tub on my Touareg since the gearbox cover was no longer making a seal. All of the wear and tear over the last couple years of use had really taken its tole on the chassis. While swapping out the tub I went ahead and replaced the gears and pinion as well. (Went with a Robinson Racing steel pinion for added durability.)

After doing all of that, it seemed silly to put the severely beaten Touareg shell back on my newly reborn chassis, so I did a little digging to see what would make a good replacement. After seeing other members' Brat bodied XCs, I figured there was no better use for the extra Lexan shell included in the re-re Brat kit -- It fits quite well IMO!

Little was required to make the transformation; I shortened the drive shaft with some careful measuring and a hacksaw. The body posts are the standard Touareg set without the rear spacers. I also made an additional lower hole for the rear posts to drop the body down past the rear inner fenders. Painting went much more quickly than I expected. After tracing the window decals onto some clear adhesive-backed film, I cut them out and masked off the windows. I went ahead and did the same for the front and rear lights in case I decide to install LEDs later. I used tape for the front and rear bumpers. PS-23 Gun Metal was choosen for the body color mainly because I love how it looks with the gold stripes. Following that I used PS-48 on the bumpers. After everything was well cured, I applied a light backing of black for opacity. Believe it or not the rear rollbar is a plastic drawer pull found in my garage, and I used some 4mm tapping screws to attach it. (Easiest mod I've ever done! :D ) The front brushguard was painted black to match. For the black trim I used a scalpel to cut though the outer protective film and expose bumper, bed rail, and door mouldings - allowing me to use the old 'paint from the outside' tecnique. Admittedly this was the first time I've ever attempted this, so I was a bit worried about the outcome, but it turned out much better than I had imagined. Seems the trick here is to use very light pressure with an extremely sharp blade. This is definitely a technique I'll be using in the future!

The wheels happened to be a last minute thing that also panned out well; I had originally planned to just stick with the Touareg OZ style wheels, but wanted something a bit more detailed. After mating some Celica 2-piece centers with the narrow Taisan chrome outer rims, I used some silver 'Fusion' paint on the centers to create a cast aluminum appearance. (I also thought the four-lug look went well with the Brat body.) These wheels also have a slightly narrower offset than the one-piece wheels, which is better proportioned to the body in my opinion.

I do have my doubts, but hopefully this body will hold up to the regular use my XC gets. I can already see the rear bumper hangs way out there and will probably be the first to get damage. I may have to use Brat Attack's idea and create some sort of skid plate to prevent 'hang ups'.