Another "new guy"

[fixxxer]

Hi all,

My name is Scott. I'm living in the country near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

I'm looking to purchase either a C303 or a Pinz in the next year, once my shop is completed. I'm leaning heavily towards the Volvo becasue of the liquid cooling (more heat for winter) and better weight distribution. Plus I just think it's cool looking... Likely mods will include fuel injection, semi-camperizing and adding those cool windshield wipers for the headlights!

I had a couple of small questions for you:
What is the ride quality like versus the Pinz 710k, or perhaps a more conventional vehicle like a Jeep CJ or YJ. I had a YJ for a couple of years and later drove a TJ with coil springs and the TJ was sooo much smoother. Does the same coil vs leaf comparison hold up here?

Are there any low-temperature operation issues you're observed? We see -40 here, and I want this vehicle to be able to "go" if necessary. I mean things like frozen brake boosters, lockers that don't, etc. I imagine the Swedes figured this stuff out already...

Are there any Volvo owners in Canada? I would love to have the opportunity to actually see one of these, crawl underneath, bounce over a few potholes, etc. Any importers in Canada?

I'm trying to get onto the Yahoo 303 site as well, waiting on the mod's approval, so if any of this has been discussed over there, just point me in the right direction.

All the best,
Scott.

[Anthony]

Hello Fixxer,

Very welome to the forum.

You may have noticed in the previous thread started by comthin48 "QuestPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:44 pm Post subject: Questions from a new guy that some information was given out regarding Volvo C 300 Web sites.

The Volvo C300 series was developed in Sweden for the Swedish military so it is likely that any problems with running in cold weather where ironed out very early on. I have no personal experience with this as GB is a Warm but wet country, genraly. Lining the body with high performance household sheet insulation products makes a huge difference to general comfort and is a fairly strait forward task. You may like to include an auxiliary heating system like a webasto or similar. You could choose either an air heater or one that heats a water system which could preheat your engine and or an additional circuit for radiators or a blown air through the rear heater matrix. By an arrangement of pluming one could divert all heating to the cab or to the engine or both depending on design. I should imagine that sort of equipment might be common in Canada. http://www.webasto.us/am/en/am_rv.html Dennis of Linden Engineering has helped many members with advice and fitting. The brake boosters etc are close to the engine but you will have to ask others of there resistance to icing, I do not believe that there is a problem

A C303 would lend its self well to converting for camping. I did this for many years in a similarly sized vehicle the Landrover 101 FC. The C304 TGB13 6x6 versions having far more space in the cargo area behind the central passenger department. There is easily enough room to stretch a bed out length ways without having to move the central seating. If your short like me then lying across the width oft the vehicle is easily possible making even more room available for other things. The ambulance and radio shelter versions of the 6x6 also make excellent campers. http://www.c303.de/c303-forum/index.php ... eadid=7788

The headlamp wipers that you mention can be found on the mark 1 or unmodified versions. the Swedish army had a program of replacing he rusting bodies of he C300 series with galvanised bodies at the same time it was considered unnecessary to continue with the headlamp wipers.

I believe that the Volvo is more comfortable in the spring department than the Pinzgauer at least in the 6x6 versions having driven both. The 6x6 is of course more comfortable than the 4x4 and this is true of the Pinzgauer also. It has somthing to do with the shared load of the rear tandem type suspension. the beauty of this is that no matter how hard the rear spring might be or how unladen for each bump or crest that a particular rear wheel might mount the body will only rise a maximum of half its height by virtue of geometry. For a leaf sprung vehicle its is surprisingly supple and has good articulation. It is possible top replace the springs with Parabolic Springs from Holland. they provide kits replacing the 4 leaf springs of the 4x4 and just the 2 front springs of the 6x6, which has Parabolic on the rear already. Some poeple do take off one leaf ofthe rear parabolic ofthe 6x6 to create grater articulation's. This company can provide dampers/shock absorbers also but I prepare Koni shocks but may change to parabolic springs. I can provide the company address if wanted. A 6x6 is also more comfortable because of it length, imparting less pitching over rough going.

Hi all,

My name is Scott. I'm living in the country near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

I'm looking to purchase either a C303 or a Pinz in the next year, once my shop is completed. I'm leaning heavily towards the Volvo becasue of the liquid cooling (more heat for winter) and better weight distribution. Plus I just think it's cool looking... Likely mods will include fuel injection, semi-camperizing and adding those cool windshield wipers for the headlights!

I had a couple of small questions for you:
What is the ride quality like versus the Pinz 710k, or perhaps a more conventional vehicle like a Jeep CJ or YJ. I had a YJ for a couple of years and later drove a TJ with coil springs and the TJ was sooo much smoother. Does the same coil vs leaf comparison hold up here?

Are there any low-temperature operation issues you're observed? We see -40 here, and I want this vehicle to be able to "go" if necessary. I mean things like frozen brake boosters, lockers that don't, etc. I imagine the Swedes figured this stuff out already...

Are there any Volvo owners in Canada? I would love to have the opportunity to actually see one of these, crawl underneath, bounce over a few potholes, etc. Any importers in Canada?

I'm trying to get onto the Yahoo 303 site as well, waiting on the mod's approval, so if any of this has been discussed over there, just point me in the right direction.

All the best,
Scott.

[fixxxer]

Hi Anthony,

I did read the "comthin" thread, and am learning lots from those websites. Now if I only spoke Swedish

A webasto does sound like a very nice idea to keep me toasty, but I was more worried about mechanical gremlins. I've heard the Pinz likes to ice up it's crankcase venting and occasionally swallow a quart of it's own oil. I had a Honda that liked to do that...

Since I got access to the Yahoo forum i have seen some realy interesting TGB 11 style camper conversions. For me, the 6x6 is just too big and costly to even consider, but then I'm just going fishing for a week, or exploring, not expedition style camping.

Too bad about the headlight wipers. Do you know if they could be retrofitted into a newer body? I suppose I could always mod something off of a newer Euro car..

I looked up the parabolic springs, very interesting! The YJ I had liked to pitch so bad I'd get shoulder pain from driving it on the highway, but I bet different shocks would have helped. I ended up taking a leaf out of the rear pack to smooth it out some. Are the Koni's you favour adjustable for valving, like the Rancho shocks we often use over here? The ability to change the shock rate via compressed air is a neat trick, too.

Thanks for your infomation and welcome. Now i just have to save up some $ so I can fly somewhere to test drive one!

-s-

[Anthony]

The main thing about the Volvo C300 series and the older Pinzgauer are age related issues just like the series Landrovers of that period. The C300 likes leaded 97 fuel though supposedly with the body revamps the engines where refashioned with harder valve seats but one cannot guarantee that. Often engines have been changed for what ever reason so usualy one has to use fuel enhancements to prevent pinking.

There are two very worthwhile engine modifications that you may consider. One is a change of distributer to 123. These are all electronic and have no bob weights and associated parts, the adaptive advance is calibrated electronically by sensing the demand. They have a 123 distributor for the Volvo C300 TGB series with the primary curve already programed in. These distributors also can be manually adjusted by simple switch for other options like LPG etc. Once fitted they can be forgotten.

http://www.123ignition.nl/index.php

http://www.123ignition.nl/id/14.html

The other modification is to have the cylinder head removed and hardened valve seats installed. This will allow use of lower octane unleaded petrol/gas.

It may be possible to re retro fit the original wipers or try some from another truck I do no know. The other way is to look for a TGB that has not been re-bodied, there are plenty around but the re-bodied ones use galvanised sheeting. there are fairly easy visual checks to identify the differences. In any case it would be worthwhile fitting more modern H4 reflectors.

Contrary to some comments power assisted steering can be fitted for a reasonable cost if a hydraulic ram type were considered as apposed to the vane type used by Danfose.

I like Koni because tey are superbly made. they have tremendous experience with shock absorber/dampers over huge range of vehicles Locomotive - Formula 1 Heavy Trucks - cars including 4x4 vehicles. They are adjustable for damping and rebuildable. I have experience with using them on a number of vehicles and have always been impressed with the improvements in ride and handling. I have never had any issues with them or had a failure.

Good luck with your quest for a suitable truck.