1. Where can I buy a
"Valp"?
The Swedish armed forces
will not sell their remaining Valps (9033's), they will instead
scrap them (grind to metal pieces) for "environmental
reasons"! Remains the private market. Check ads on our Buy & Sell, SwedenOffRoad, in the magazine 4WheelDrive, on Autosite, LantbruksNet and other sites where vehicles are
advertised. During 1998-99 at least 192 Norwegian "Volvo
Felt" were sold at military auctions and also during 2000 a
lot has been sold.
2. Where do I find parts
for my Valp?
Try Stefan at Altyco in
Lissma, Huddinge (+46 8 7079045), Terräng Axel in Partille,
Göteborg (+46 31 264848) or Off-Road Autoparts, Ljusdal (+46 651
50100).
3. Doesn't a Valp have
high fuel consumption?
Everything is relative, but
my personal opinion is that the 1,1 liters/10 km that my Valp
comsumes is fully aceptable considering the 68 HP engine and all
the gears and axels that has to be kept turning.
4. How much does a Valp
cost in tax and insurance?
In Sweden all cars and
light trucks (<3500 kg) older than 30 years are excepted from
tax. Insurance varies from company to company. My Swedish tip is
Skandia that wants 500SEK/year for "half" insurance.
(trafic, glass, theft, rescue). State car check
("Bilprovningen", "MoT") is every second year
(>30 years).
5. Where do I get hold
of parts for the 9033's ignition system?
As previously told the 9033
has a screened ignition system thus rendering very high parts
prices. All parts are Bosch brand and can be ordered through any
Bosch retailer. Most expensive are the sparkplugs (Bosch WC 7 A
new #, WC 175 ERT1 old #) that cost several hundred SEK each! The
screened distributor cap (1 235 522 068) is also terribly
expensive at SEK 1650! Originally You could replace just the
inner cap (1 235 522 274) and reuse the screen cap, but they have
both been replaced by 1 235 522 068 that is a unit with both
outer and inner cap. Reasonably priced though is the condensor (1
237 330 045) at SEK 73, points (1 237 013 010) at SEK 87 and
rotor (1 234 332 033) at SEK 74. The points are besides in the
9033 also used in C303 -04 -06, Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer and Mercedes
300 SL Roadster "Gullwing"! The alternative to all
these expensive parts are the exchange of the distributor and
coil thus getting an "ordinary" Volvo Amazon ignition
system as used on the 903. I have no experience of this
procedure.
6. Is it possible to
find new exhaust systems?
To the 903 and 903B there
are several options:
Stainless: The firm
"Raka Rör" (+46 31 876300) have a system, but some
people claim that this system does not have the quality You would
expect from a system costing SEK 3000.
After market: Altyco
and Offroad Autoparts (phone# see question 2) have an aftermarket
system consisting of; part of forward pipe, silencer and rear
pipe that comes out UNDER the body on the left side. If the
original forward pipe does not fit the silencer You cut of a
smaller part and use the enclosed forward pipe. Price is SEK
1650.
Volvo Original: At
the nearest Volvo Truck retailer You can order forward pipe
(633514), silencer (634050) and rear pipe (637747) for a cost of
about SEK 3000 (price in Sweden).
Original exhaust for the
9033 is somewhat a problem. If You want to keep the original
apperance with the rear pipe coming out IN THE HOLE on the left
side enabling the use of the exhaust extension pipe the problem
arises. The forward pipe and silencer is the same as on the 903,
but on the 9033 the rear pipe consists of two pipes; "rear
inner" (637667) and "rear outer" (637666). These
two pipes have never been sold on civilian market and can not be
ordered from Volvo.
7. Tyres?
The original tyresize on
the 903 cars were 8,90-16. The tyre was developed especially for
the 903 and is a 4-ply rating (Raptgbil 915 has 10 ply rating!)
with soft sidewalls contributing to the cars excellent off-road
abillities. In the 70's a transition was made to mm i tyresizing
and the new size became 280/85-16. Many ex-military tyres has
under the "280/85-16" the text "(Ersätter
8,90-16)" = Replaces 8,90-16.
When it comes to patterns I
know of at least six different on the military 903's. In the
early 60's there was a pattern with about 30 mm wide
"wavy" blocks reaching across the tires width. This
pattern reoccured later with significantly smaller blocks (picture on Rickard Bergius page). There was also
a "wavy" pattern where the "waves" reached
radially on the tyre. Another pattern was very much like the
traditional tractor pattern (picture on Rickard Bergius page). Most common is
the "arrowed" Good Year Studded Sure grip tyre with
five parallell blocks that together form an "arrow".
This pattern was developed by Good Year in USA as early as 1936.
On my car was another Good Year pattern that resembles the classical
Willys jeep pattern, but with smaller blocks. All tyres to the
903 series were manufactured in Sweden by for example Firestone,
Good Year and Viskafors. When Tgb11 (C303) was developed in the
mid 70's it made use of the "arrowed" Good Year tyre.
This tyre was manufactured in Sweden until late autumn 1999 when
it was cancelled. The price was then about SEK 2400/tyre. In
later years it became 6 ply rating.
When the Swedish army
replaces the Good Year tyres on their Tgb 11/13 today they use
Trelleborg Cross-Country. This tyre has a pattern consisting of
irregularly placed square blocks and have according to some
(unconfirmed) sources very soft rubber making them wear out
quickly. This tyre cost about SEK 2600/tyre. Other than
Trelleborg there is only one tyre in 280/85-16 and that is the MT 117 manufactured by Silverstone with a pattern that resembles the
"arrowed" Good Year. In Sweden this tyre is sold by Joki Motorsport and cost about SEK 1200/tyre. The
european agent for Silverstone is Van Den Ban Autobanden B.V. in The Netherland. Michelin have
a tire in 9,00-16 that probably can be purchased in Sweden, but I
assume to a rather high price.
8. Outlet for trailer
lights
There are two different
types of outlet for trailer lights on the 903 series. The 903
versions without separate rear turning lights (9033 for example)
have a four connector type similar to the one used by NATO (for
example on Willys and Dodge) since World War II. The downside of
this outlet is that it lacks connector for turning light since it
was a feature unknown in the 40's. The connectors are ground
(GR), taillight (TL), stoplight (SL) and blackout (BK). It is not
without complication to mount a modern seven connector type of
outlet since most these cars lacks separate turning light wiring
in the rear part of the car, the turning light is on the same
bulb as the brake light. Therefore You must install two wires
connected to the turning light switch (connector 25-left and
22-right). The other wires are connected to the rear connection
point. On the 903 cars with separate rear turning lights there is
a twelve connector outlet that contains all necessary functions
for a modern seven connector type of outlet. The connectors J, L,
M & N has no function and K is ground in this outlet.
9. Engine pre-heater
An engine pre-heater is a
nice accessory that facilitates starting during winter months and
minimizes negative environmental effects. The Swedish armed
forces mainly use a blow-torch operated engine pre-heater that
connects to the two connections on the right side of the truck.
This contraption is both hard to come by and very complicated to
use so I would recommend an ordinary 220 volt electrical
pre-heater. Instructions: Buy a "Calix" pre-heater element for the
B18/B20 engine (RE18) and 2 meters of inlet cable. If You also
want an outlet for an interior heater You will also need a branch
outlet, 1 meter extension cable, an interior wall outlet, 1,5
meters inlet cable (instead of 2 meters) and 0,5 meters extension
cable. Drain the cooling fluid by opening the tap under the
radiator and opening both connections for the blow-torch engine
pre-heater. About 8-9 litres will drain of the total 10 litres.
Drill a hole in the farmost rear freeze plug on the right side of
the engine. Use caution not to drill to deep! Use a "drill
stop". Then pry out the plug with for example a screwdriver.
I got a "sliding hammer" for SEK 90 at Biltema (article # 19-906) and put it's supplied
hook in the 10 mm hole I drilled. Clean the freeze plug hole AND
the adjacent threaded hole. Then place the element with rubber
seal in the freeze plug hole and the bolt, spring washer and
clamp in the threaded hole. For space I had to release the rear
clamp for the pipe that supplies the rear heater with water.
Connect the inlet cable with the element and position the cable
along the right frame member. I used plastic straps for securing
the cable. I placed the intake on a home made angled sheet metal
piece that I clamped behind the left pair of bolts on the right
bumper mount. Top up the radiator with cooling fluid and start
the engine. When the temperature rises the thermostat will open
and You can fill in the rest of the fluid. Use caution when
opening the lid on an hot engine! Check for leaks, that the
engine temperature stays around 80-85 degrees (C) and that heat
is coming from both front and rear heaters when the fans are
engaged. Note! The engine pre-heater must not be connected to
mains before You are certain that it is NOT in an "air
pocket" as this will ruin the element.
10. Aren't the axles
used on the Valp Dana 44..?
You often hear that the axles on the L3314/L3315 were
manufactured by the american Dana Company and of the model 44
(Dana 44). The axles on the Valp were in fact manufactured by
Salisbury Transmission LTD, Birmingham England. The Salisbury
Wheel Company was founded in Jamestown, New York in 1901 and in
1919 the company was bought by Spicer. The Spicer group changed
in 1946 name to Dana Corporation and Spicer became a productname.
In 1970 The Salisbury Axle Group changed it's name to Spicer Axle
Division. As You can see there are plenty of relations, but the
axles are NOT Dana but Salisbury, model 4HS-001-85 front and
model 4HA-00-92 rear. The front axle was replaced during the
later part of the 60's, so early L3314 have a front axle with an
other number, do not know which one.
11. Braketesting
No Volvo with more than one driving axle and with a gross weight
of under 7 tons should be braketested on a roller brake tester.
This means that the "Puppy" should not be brake tested
in a roller brake tester. This fact has been established by the
Swedish authority for car inspection "SBP" after a lot
of e-mail questions from Webmaster (see translation of the last e-mail).
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Updated 2002-05-24
