THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

VinceAtReal4x4s wrote:If you do have some trace of a steering wheel, why can't you use that to build off of? It has the hub, doesn't it?

I never needed to get into this issue so I dont know more about it but the wheel would not be made just for the 303. It could even be from the same company that built the Pinz wheel. The axles were built by the same guys who make them for Land Rover, and there are several other Land Rover compatible parts on it....

By the way, you should get different tires for that thing.

I'm going to measure out the splines tonight (had to get a different wheel puller, mine wouldn't fit it), and see what it resembles, figure I'll ask the pinz guys if it fits there.


And now I'm going to put on low profile 20" wheels.

with SPINNAZ.





The steering wheel, is a bit of a story. I bought it from an artist in California, (www.baronmargo.com) who originally was going to turn it into an art piece. He welded together a solid aluminum wheel for it, which, while it is a piece of work, makes it completely undrivable for me, as he must have been exceedingly short. He has requested that I return the wheel to him if I'm not going to use it, (artist stuff I guess) and I'd like very much to abide by this request, but if I can't find anything else, I'm afraid I will have to just modify the wheel.

I'm prepared to fabricate any other part, modify anything to get this thing running, but an internal spline cut for a steering wheel is something my poor little machine shop just isn't capable of doing.

Of all the annoying little problems to have...

I have a an x-tra steering wheel for a Volvo(minus the horn button). Located in AZ. Make me an offer.
Wehrx3@live.com

Mark

Emailed. You are my personal hero.

Hello

In the mean time, have you tried to take out the seat and sit on the sheetmetal just to go around the block?

Pringle

Friend, with what I saw on that website, you're lucky your Volvo doesn't look like a Mars Rover..........lol

stiffler4444 wrote:Friend, with what I saw on that website, you're lucky your Volvo doesn't look like a Mars Rover..........lol

Wait till you see what he did with the dash.

And yeah I'm considering replacing the seat if I can find like a forklift seat or something too, but the wheel is REALLY low. Like, I'm not even sure sitting on the bare metal would work well enough. it's... silly.

This really is a restoration project at this point, I'm fabricating up various panels (like the middle dash bit), and some of the exterior body parts he opted to just strip off, The steering wheel is just the one thing I can't fabricate due to the internal spline cuts.

This makes me curious as to where this truck came from. Who could blow that kind of money just to screw it up that badly and make it almost impossible to resale? I appreciate a lot of his work that I saw on the site but doing that kind of thing to a rare 6x6, 3 ton+ truck seems a little out of place, even for him.

I've run into this stuff before though. The weirdest one was at a big Land Rover rally in NY. There was a pretty rare 109" that a guy had bought and slowly, over time, turned it into something unusable. He seemed to think it needed to be waterproofed for "underwater driving" so after adding tons of weird switches and electrical craziness, he used lots of caulking to "seal" various escape hatches he had installed. This was all done for the prepping of the end of the world. There were so many holes and rust spots under the crap he put on it, not to mention the roof was trashed, that it was likely scrapped or stripped for parts. Even worse, I have seen a Sugga, which is likely the rarest 4x4 on earth with less than 400 in the world, be ruined by Euro-Rednecks who cut them up, install a V8 chevy motor and jack it up with 44" tires.

VinceAtReal4x4s wrote:This makes me curious as to where this truck came from. Who could blow that kind of money just to screw it up that badly and make it almost impossible to resale? I appreciate a lot of his work that I saw on the site but doing that kind of thing to a rare 6x6, 3 ton+ truck seems a little out of place, even for him.

I've run into this stuff before though. The weirdest one was at a big Land Rover rally in NY. There was a pretty rare 109" that a guy had bought and slowly, over time, turned it into something unusable. He seemed to think it needed to be waterproofed for "underwater driving" so after adding tons of weird switches and electrical craziness, he used lots of caulking to "seal" various escape hatches he had installed. This was all done for the prepping of the end of the world. There were so many holes and rust spots under the crap he put on it, not to mention the roof was trashed, that it was likely scrapped or stripped for parts. Even worse, I have seen a Sugga, which is likely the rarest 4x4 on earth with less than 400 in the world, be ruined by Euro-Rednecks who cut them up, install a V8 chevy motor and jack it up with 44" tires.

I've got a word for people like this, but I think it might get me moderated!

IMHO - scrap the arthouse wheel and use the centre to make something useful out of it.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA SON OF A *MODERATED*

Well, i really wish the gear puller I needed had come sooner.

yeah it'd be REAL hard to find a wheel for this thing, it uses a 21.75mm x 36 spline steering wheel.

Used on some much older volvo cars, and some weird american car company called "Jeep". Apparently any of their "Cee-Jay" products from 1950 through the 70's use the exact same wheel.

Grant 4405 adapter kit for anyone who winds up finding this thread looking for the same thing I was.

(And to the gentleman who is offering to send me the wheel - PLEASE, I still want it! I'd prefer the STOCK Volvo wheel on this thing as it's a restoration project)

VinceAtReal4x4s wrote:This makes me curious as to where this truck came from. Who could blow that kind of money just to screw it up that badly and make it almost impossible to resale? I appreciate a lot of his work that I saw on the site but doing that kind of thing to a rare 6x6, 3 ton+ truck seems a little out of place, even for him.

I've run into this stuff before though. The weirdest one was at a big Land Rover rally in NY. There was a pretty rare 109" that a guy had bought and slowly, over time, turned it into something unusable. He seemed to think it needed to be waterproofed for "underwater driving" so after adding tons of weird switches and electrical craziness, he used lots of caulking to "seal" various escape hatches he had installed. This was all done for the prepping of the end of the world. There were so many holes and rust spots under the crap he put on it, not to mention the roof was trashed, that it was likely scrapped or stripped for parts. Even worse, I have seen a Sugga, which is likely the rarest 4x4 on earth with less than 400 in the world, be ruined by Euro-Rednecks who cut them up, install a V8 chevy motor and jack it up with 44" tires.

now that just hurts. Girlfriend wants a Sugga, after seeing it on another C303 website.

it is a shame how people will destroy rare classics. On the one hand I can appreciate art, or customizing something to your needs, so long as it remains FUNCTIONAL.

That last key bit there seems to be lacking in all too many cases.

***** (And to the gentleman who is offering to send me the wheel - PLEASE, I still want it! I'd prefer the STOCK Volvo wheel on this thing as it's a restoration project)*****

No need for name calling! Taking it to UPS 2-day.

Mark

Correction, grant 4405 does *NOT* fit, and apparently I messed up my measurements.

ohwell. At least I have a wheel coming.

Wanted to thank everyone who's helped me get the Volvo running,

http://youtu.be/l0wwAmE5DoU

And yeah, I'm saving up for new tires.

I was wondering what your top speed is and what it will be after you downsize your tires....nice looking truck, I am envious!!

And this is exactly why I never even considered a volvo...after looking at parts availability Pinzgauer seemed to be the only logical choice...I can imagine the frustration you feel having this vehicle on your driveway but after a month and a half not even being able to drive it.