volvo Portals and a GQ

[wrksux]

Ok having found a GQ shorty with portals on pirate4x4 from russia i then found his website
http://www.beef-eater.ru/dimon/

now im very curious asto if this could be done in aus, Vic specificly and if it would be road worthy. i realise this conversion would be quite expensive but im not sure how expensive.

the axles used were from a volvo C303

if anyone has any knowledge or is able to find some specs on the axles, width specificly or vehicle track that would be awsome

Cheers
Tim

[cruiserkid]

Marks 4wd Adaptors have made portal axles for Nissan patrols and they are all road legal.
4" of extra ground clearance and 40% stronger.

[wrksux]

but they cost 16k

im looking for something i may actually be able to afford

edit and atm the axles from marks are only for a GU and from what ive herd i dont want to drop 16k and then have them not give some good aftermarket support.

[bogged]

now im very curious asto if this could be done in aus, Vic specificly

anything can be done if you throw enough coin at it.

if it would be road worthy.

speak with an engineer - they are only a call away.

[wrksux]

before i do that bogged, i need to get some specs on the axles, searched but didnt find to much.

cost's to get em.


would like to think this could be done for under 10k from my searching ive gatherd these should be possible to be road legal but new laws since 2003ish might change all that.

hopefully Nam will chime in i no he had a set of them

[Wooders]

No reason they couldn't be made road legal.
Might take a bit of work though.
Best idea is to talk to the engineer you plan to use before you start.

We've had a few discussions with our engineer about this and a few things have been identified that he'd like addressed but he's ok with the concept....(of mogs).

[ISUZUROVER]

Bill Larman (known variously on the web as agrover/portalrover/daddylonglegs ) has built at least one vehicle (Defender 110) with C303 portals - and AFAIK it was registered and engineered in VIC.

John (Bush65) has a Bush rangie with C303 portals - but don't know if he has had it registered or engineered yet (but AFAIK it will be).

Many of the brake and CV components are interchangeable (or almost) with Land rover items apparently. They are supposed to be quite strong if you stick to 38" and smaller wheels.

[wrksux]

if they go on, i would be aimimg for 35's onroad and 36-7 off

[-Richo-]

youll be lucky to find 303's in Aus, Finland you can get them for about 2000 euro a set, but then you have to get them here, import duty and fees, i looked into it a while back and it would end up costing about the same as a set of mogs that are already here.

[bogged]

youll be lucky to find 303's in Aus, Finland you can get them for about 2000 euro a set, but then you have to get them here, import duty and fees, i looked into it a while back and it would end up costing about the same as a set of mogs that are already here.

speak with NAM... he was an import junkie at one stage..

[cpmurray]

Bill put them under my friends 110 County. One of the problems is that they have drum brakes as standard, but my friend did manage to get it engineered with them. Also, they come with diff locks, and give a six inch lift as opposed to the 4 inch lift the Marks hubs give.

http://www.lrocv.com.au/gallery/albums/ ... V02825.MPG

This is a short video of it. He has a three link setup on the front end for those that are curious.

Regards
Craig Murray

[cpmurray]

Forgot, also have a picture!



Regards
Craig Murray

[Reddo]

wow thatr's well set up!!

Looked at this a year or so ago, and in Tassie, as wwas advised by the Tannies Dept that they can't be approved cause of the vehicle mod code requirements - several sections relating to vehicle height, width, roll over risk etc etc. So would be interested to know if other State are different (same Code applies BTW). Perhaps the ones referred to were approved before thew Code came into force?

Looked at getting them while OS in the UK - and guess what everyone's after them, and so they are becoming quite scarce and very pricy too. Most 'spare' ones go to the US (Yanks love them and can afford them too). I found a pair in Southern UK but the price and cost of freight to Aus was huge - around 7-8K by the time it was all added up, and they needed work too. At the time MOGs seemed to be more available and would probably have been cheaper to import than Volvo portals, but more probs in fitting of course.

So, settled on modifiying the D1's drive train and soon fitting 35's - which should go most places and does not attract too much attention!

[grimbo]

NAM was going to do a Sierra?Rangie?Volvo thingo a while back and I believe he found out were to get them through in Malaysia. He also maybe able to shed some light on the legalities of the whole mods etc

[ISUZUROVER]

NAM was going to do a Sierra?Rangie?Volvo thingo a while back and I believe he found out were to get them through in Malaysia. He also maybe able to shed some light on the legalities of the whole mods etc

There are a few C303's in OZ if you look around - Dr Karl Kruszelnicki owned one which he called the "iced volvo", and Dave (owner of Manar 4x4 park) has 3 or 4 complete trucks.

The 4x4 model is the C303 and the 6x6 is the C306 (which have lower diff ratios and (2) rear axles which apparently less offset (diff) than C303 rears). I remember someone saying that supplies of C303 axles from malaysia were drying up, as they were more popular (especially for landie conversions) than C306 axles.

As I recall, NAM's engineer wouldn't approve C303 fitted to a zook chassis, but was fine with them fitted to a rangie chassis???

[STIKA]

last report dave was after 5K for the pair

[cpmurray]

Forgot, the main problem he has is getting tie rod ends for the steering arms. I remember he had all sorts of trouble getting them, and ended up getting them through the relative of a friend that worked in Volvo in Sweden.