Volvo TGB 111/303 Camper...WOW

[Beowulf]

Ok, this thing is my type of Sportsmobile. Full military Volvo TGB with custom Magnolia modified to the top to make a POP up Camper. Very impressive.

I don't have any pictures, but you can see it in the April 2009 Petersen's 4Wheel & Offroad magazine.

[flywgn]

There are a couple (Volvo TGBs, that is) available HERE (http://www.xtremevehicles.com/html/vehicles_in_stock.html).

Allen R

[Beowulf]

Yep, that is the vehicle. Now cut out the roof and put the top portion of a magnolia tent on it. Gut the interior and install kitchen and camper stuff. Finish it by painting the whole thing Tan. Then you would have one shown in Petersen's. Maybe I will just scan the pages.

[M.Bas]

I recently bought a C304/TGB1314 which is the 6x6 version with ambulance body :wings:
Still waiting on delivery...

Hopefully it will be here within a couple of weeks.

But a tan C303 with a pop-top, I've seen a whole lot of C303 picture's but can't remember ever seeing that one, I would like to see that pics.
I do know of a Dutch tan painted C303 with a RTT which was recently for sale.

[4Rescue]

Yeah Petersens is really getting more into Expo type stuff, definatly nice to see.

I saw that 303 and I've seen it before. It sure is neat, although I'd rather have one in a similar configuration to the "phoenix" that Dakarti Ed had. I don't see a use ofr a kitchen in a rig that small, I can cook nearly everything on the barbi...

They've also got a built from Scratch CJ8/Scrambler that is destined to be one fo teh editors Expo rigs. Pretty neat stuff going on at that mag. Now they just need to get with the program and stop putting so many Jeeps on their pages ;)

Cheers

Dave

[tamangel]

found this in a CDN 4X4 mag:

http://www.can4x4.com/articles/mogfest/mogfest.htm

scroll down to the "The Swedish approach"

clicking on the pics will bring up a larger shot..

Mike

[4Rescue]

OOOh the LWB 6x6 looks like an awesome OR motorhome. Sort of a 60's/70's Winnebago with Portal Axles and lockers... :drool:

Cheers

Dave

[M.Bas]

http://www.kmonkey.com/blog/trog/

A firebrigade C306 being converted to camper.

[4Rescue]

http://www.kmonkey.com/blog/trog/

A firebrigade C306 being converted to camper.THat is really a neat read, thanks for posting.

SOmething I ALWAYS wonder about these trucks is how hard would it be to swap another motor in to one of these or a Pinz??? I supose the pinz would be harder because of the drivetrain adn troube finding a tranny or bell housing that would fit the existing tranny. But it seems to me these could REALLY use a dosage of Diesel torque and some horsepower. 30mph top speed up a grade and lower if loaded is not really acceptable to me. At that point you're pulling over and running flashers on all the time. kind of hard to get anywhere, let alone getting stuck behind one eh.

Cheers

Dave

[M.Bas]

There is a bolt on kit available for a Mercedes OM603 diesel engine.
Costs about 600 dollars.

The thing that limits the engine you can drop in are the tranny and portal axles.
To much torque and they will fail.
Max Nm for the tranny is 285Nm if I remember correctly.

edit: Tranny datasheet says 181 ft.lbs. so that about 250Nm

edit2: Don't forget the Volvo has more power than the Pinz: 115~125 vs. 90 and 220Nm vs. 180Nm.

My personal opinion is that the standard B30A engine is just fine.
I'll look up some nice movies for you guys :smiley_drive:

[4Rescue]

There is a bolt on kit available for a Mercedes OM603 diesel engine.
Costs about 600 dollars.

The thing that limits the engine you can drop in are the tranny and portal axles.
To much torque and they will fail.
Max Nm for the tranny is 285Nm if I remember correctly.

edit: Tranny datasheet says 181 ft.lbs. so that about 250Nm

edit2: Don't forget the Volvo has more power than the Pinz: 115~125 vs. 90 and 220Nm vs. 180Nm.

My personal opinion is that the standard B30A engine is just fine.
I'll look up some nice movies for you guys :smiley_drive:
WOW, really??? I was under the impresion that the Volvo portals could handle more than that... That would defiantly make it limited indeed. I wonder if "Tired Iron" did anything to his axles before he swung them under his 80 series (now that is an awesome rig eh)

Cheers

Dave

[gjackson]

:drool:

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2329&d=1150342967

[4Rescue]

:drool:

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2329&d=1150342967
WOW... Is that the same one the guy has a kind of "different" web page on. Like you click a tree to see his links etc... THat is one beautifuly ugly truck.

Cheers

Dave

[M.Bas]

WOW, really??? I was under the impresion that the Volvo portals could handle more than that... That would defiantly make it limited indeed. I wonder if "Tired Iron" did anything to his axles before he swung them under his 80 series (now that is an awesome rig eh)

Cheers

Dave
I'm nut sure how much the portals can handle.

The ZF gearbox appears to be also used in Maserati's with 200+ HP, but I don't know how much Nm/ft.lbs. those cars have.

The drivetrain is pretty much bulletproof if you keep everything standard, never heard of someone breaking driveshafts or something else. Some are running 38.5x14.50 Maxxis Creepy Crawler tires with no problem.

[Martinjmpr]

There's a place about a mile from my house that specializes in the Volvo C303 and similar vehicles. I've always thought they were extremely cool!

http://www.xtremevehicles.com/

Last time I went by they only had one C303, that I could see.

[Christian]

... Now I have to join you all!
I have been lurking and reading here for months, but when you mention Volvo TGB as an expedition platform I have to join in!

My girlfriend and I bought a TGB 1314 three weeks ago and drove it back to Denmark from Sweden, it had 8.680 original km's on the clock when we started, now it has 8.832, these are some nice old machines!
25794
And this is what our plans look like:
25796

Great forum btw, we have found tons of inspiration here!

[M.Bas]

Mine has a whopping 60000+ km's on the clock, so it is actually used :smiley_drive: instead of running stationaire 90% of the time.
I was told it previously belonged to the Swedish military museum.

Christian probably knows the seller :D
There weren't much 1314C for sale lately.

Not sure what type of ambulance cabin mine has on the back, I'm still waiting on transport :(
The transport company recently changed the delivery date to next week, or the week after...

[Christian]

Mine has a whopping 60000+ km's on the clock, so it is actually used :smiley_drive: instead of running stationaire 90% of the time.
I was told it previously belonged to the Swedish military museum.

Christian probably knows the seller :D
There weren't much 1314C for sale lately.

Not sure what type of ambulance cabin mine has on the back, I'm still waiting on transport :(
The transport company recently changed the delivery date to next week, or the week after...

I hope you get it soon!
If you get more details on it I might be able to get some info on it, I'm a member of a swedish TGB forum, and they will probably know.
Whats your plans?

Maybe you can help me, I am looking for a toyota Land Cruiser KZJ7X, we plan to transplant the entire driveline from one, but none were sold here, but I have been told there´s plenty of them in Holland?

[M.Bas]

I hope you get it soon!
If you get more details on it I might be able to get some info on it, I'm a member of a swedish TGB forum, and they will probably know.
Whats your plans?

Maybe you can help me, I am looking for a toyota Land Cruiser KZJ7X, we plan to transplant the entire driveline from one, but none were sold here, but I have been told there´s plenty of them in Holland?

I know you're a member of the TGB forum. I immediatly recognized the pictures :D

I'm going to convert it into a camper. But I'll be using the standard ambulance box and put a bed, fridge, etc in it. Since I'm traveling alone there is enough room in the back. But because of my length the bed has to be front/rear instead of left/right. In this configuration I loose about half meter of interior space.
But that is a problem I'm going to fix when the TGB is here.

Landcruisers are actually quite expensive here.
Maybe looking for an separate engine/gearbox is cheaper.

The cheapest LC I could find within a couple minutes with a 3.0TD engine costs 6000 euro.

edit: By the way, do you know there are photo's of your truck on the utryckning site?

[Christian]

I know you're a member of the TGB forum. I immediatly recognized the pictures :D

I'm going to convert it into a camper. But I'll be using the standard ambulance box and put a bed, fridge, etc in it. Since I'm traveling alone there is enough room in the back. But because of my length the bed has to be front/rear instead of left/right. In this configuration I loose about half meter of interior space.
But that is a problem I'm going to fix when the TGB is here.

Landcruisers are actually quite expensive here.
Maybe looking for an separate engine/gearbox is cheaper.

The cheapest LC I could find within a couple minutes with a 3.0TD engine costs 6000 euro.

edit: By the way, do you know there are photo's of your truck on the utryckning site?


We're not using the ambulance box, partly because of its size, partly because it's quite heavy and we want even better insulation and last we like to build stuff!:Mechanic:
But like in this thread there are good examples of campers in the original box, I'm looking forward to seeing your project!

We'll go for the separate parts solution then, I have been looking for a couple of months now without luck...

If it is theese pics I have seen them:
http://www.utryckning.com/orebro/fotoalbum/get_large_photo.php?id=5023

Where did you find yours?

[M.Bas]

I bought mine from Morgan.

The ambulance box only weighs about 900kg's.
A custom camperbox would be sweet, but mine is going to be a low cost conversion.
At least, thats the plan.

Just some place to sleep, a place to sit, something to cook on, a fridge and maybe a portapotti.
Mine also has the maximum amount of cabinets that were build in from the factory. So quite a lot of storage space.

[Christian]

Well were planning a loooong trip in a few years, so we want some more comfort.

our plan is:

Toyota 1KZ-T engine
Michelin XZL 11 /16 tires
Camperbox made in Nida-core
Webasto furnace w. floor heating
Webasto x100 cooktop
Thetford toilet
compressor fridge
onboard computer


And of course a lot of other things. We hope to find a lot of them either used or at a discount, we're on a budget too! But having a few years and building everything ourselves makes a feasable plan, at least to us!
So we hope to upload pics of a 35 year old Volvo in Mongolia, Australia and other places!:safari-rig:

Btw who is Morgan?

[M.Bas]

This is actually quite a nice video of an TGB1314
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHZc4PM3efw

[Outback]

Great Video. What are your plans for your Expedition camper?

[M.Bas]

Planning to go to the North Cape this summer, so not a lot of time to convert it to a camper.
It is aproximatly a 7000km trip if I go straigth to the North Cape.
But I'm taking some detours in account.
So I'll probably end up driving close to 8000km.
Or a lot less if I decide at some point to not go to the North Cape.

[Christian]

Im looking forward to seeing your conversion, I hope you'll post the proces?

[FotoValpen]

This is actually quite a nice video of an TGB1314
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHZc4PM3efw

Glad you liked the 1314! It is my friend Mårten that owns and was driving it.
It is his PTO trailer that I mentioned in another thread about building a PTO powered expedition trailer to connect to my Laplander.

[M.Bas]

Another nice movie featuring a firetruck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Z-gZh1ydQ

[M.Bas]

Got the TGB1314C yesterday.

Already fixed some problems like a failing solenoid. And a lot of small things to fix before going to the car inspection for Dutch license plates.

[Christian]

Congratulations!!! So you are one happy :wings:

Let's see some pics of it then?

We've just bought a KZJ70 in England, I'm going there next sunday to pick it up. That's the source of our drivetrain!

[M.Bas]

Try this with your regular 4x4 :drool:
http://www.offrd.se/video/haninge-2004-12-05
Especially look at the last movie.

[NothingClever]

Those videos are proof-positive that being a redneck is an equal opportunity endeavor :coffee: .

[Linus Tremaine]

The subject of the original post in the "flesh"


http://picasaweb.google.com/poppageno/Mendo2010#5464567326376558994

http://picasaweb.google.com/poppageno/Mendo2010#5464580342008914450

[Christian]

Well I just found this thread again and want to tell you all how it is evolving.
First of all I have to say that progress is a bit slower that wished for, we bought an old house, got married and bought a HJ45 as a daily driver, so time on the Volvo has not been the first priority.

But i got the 1KZ-T in, gearbox and all and the Volvo runs!!!

I got hold of a set of Michelin 11/R16 XZL's for it, and the gearing is as perfect as I had calculated it to be, it runs great!

I have been building a new wiring harness, and damn, that takes some time, but is 85% done, new VDO gauges (oil temp, oil pressure, water temp, tach, speedo, turbo pressure, voltmeter and all..).

Added an electrical servo to the original steering box, made a new parking brake to fit the rear of the transfer and drove it 20Kmsto the new home, everything worked great!!!

Just to let you know... :-)

How are you coming along Bas?

[Wuff_Wider]

I used to think that only a Unimog would do for Overlanding but then I found these wonderful vehicles. Whilst the 6x6 has the room, I can't help but think that I could manage with the 4x4..........how do these vehicles compare with the Pinzgaures?

[Christian]

Never having owned a pinz my take on it is of course not the most well informed.

But IMO the Volvo is a much simpler construction and take on the same problem, straight axles and leaf springs, conventional engine setup, simple electrics etc. makes it a simple rugged diy vehicle, which can be maintained, operated and upgraded by anyone who have owned a Landcruiser, Jeep or alike.

[Linus Tremaine]

I own a volvo camper but have only ridden in a pinz. The volvo seems more like a car than the pinz. It handles well, it rides smooth, it it fairly agile. The pinz is like a military truck. Its all metal, its more rattly, its noisy. It sounds like a volkswagen. I think it is less service friendly with the hydraulic lockers, independent suspension etc. I like the volvo but would like more time with a pinz. They seem fairly equal in capability (similar gear ratio for crawling) but the pinz has a five speed gearbox. Did not get to see it on the highway. volvo turns about 3k at 55.