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

Sethsquatch here from (currently) sunny Colorado!
I have been salivating over pinzes for 2 years now. Started with wondering what car Natalie Portman was driving in Thor, and here I am.
Am in negotiations with the guy selling the 1990 p90 718mw with the box on the back. Rhd 5 speed diesel.
Just wondering what the parts availability is for this engine. (or even what engine it has?)
Not trying to be a daily driver or anything like that. A once a month camping excursion vehicle. Tons of trails here in CO that offer dispersed camping. I live for it. Anyway, any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to going down the rabbit hole!
Cheers!

Welcome sir,

That should be a good rig for ya. Andre at Fat Fabrications has some 718 parts and Jake Raby says the engines are still widely available in Europe. Just drive and enjoy.

cheers, Merrick

Well this would be a 2.4 liter 6 cyl turbo diesel from vw/ audi....it is known as the vw LT engine as it was used in there vw LT vans but the same engine was also used by Volvo in the 200, 700 series

Yes the engines you can find them here but they are getting more and more rare every year....they are getting old and with all the emision controles and rules not wanted so much anymore.

Good luck with your purchase. That is a nice box on the rear, wider than a normal ambulance box. You might look to make a fold out Murphy type bed in the side opening that would give you more interior room for the camper build-out. IIRC, the additional interior width also allows for a bed across the width

One thing you will learn quickly with the 5 speed is the need to wind out each gear before up shifting. With the spacing of the gears in the TDs, it is necessary to avoid to having to spool the turbo in the next gear. Unlike modern turbos, it will fall on its face if you don't have the RPMs up. Something I'm familiar with on my old P80 716.

Good advice, thank you! It is just slightly under 6 ft wide inside, I'm 5'10" so I should be able to sleep sideways like you said.
I've heard of guys switching the transfercase out to a 4x4 pinz for a little extra highway speed. Any benefit to doing this on a diesel?

Don't use anything you read for the 710/712 for the 716/718. Very few things apply or interchange. The major difference between the 716 and 718 is the extra axle, nothing else in the drive train is different. T cases are the same, but there is an optional lower one for the 718 , but supposedly hardly or never ordered.
The suspension of the 718 is basically the same as a 712 but rated for a heavier GVW.

Well that's good to know! The one I'm purchasing has a bad parking brake, which seller says is easily obtainable and same as all pinz... That's not the case?

The parking brake internals are 710 numbers.
IF the yahoo TD Pinz group is still up, A modern TD parts book is on there for download. If not, contact me by a PM and I can send it to you. It's a 2001 manual for 716 but pn's are correct and apply for all except 718 dedicated parts. And there are listed changes for the P90 and P93 ( ex A2, A3). Plus you can determine what parts were carried over by the 710 prefix .

I had own a P80 716 (aka the Pink Cow) from 2002 to 2012 and most all the literature went with it, retained a little of it on pdf . Since 2014 I've had a rare ATL LHD 718K w/2.5TDI

OK so that's right. I read the thread about the green grail. Beautiful. I appreciate your insight. I am finalizing plans for the purchase this week, trying not to get my hopes up too high, but if it happens I'll join that yahoo group. Thanks for all the current and future help!