Hello from Russian Truck owner (1 Viewer)

Zoltan Gaz66

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Dec 28, 2010
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Hi,
I'm Colin from Kent, owner of a Russian Gaz 66 Military 4x4 truck which is being converted as a camper.

I plan to use this beast to shuffle slowly down to the Alps for skiing in February so there is a mad rush on to finish the interior and test test test all of the systems before the trip. The cold weather has helped enormously as Ive spotted a number of potential issues before they become issues. I have already got several trial runs under my belt during the autumn so it is not an entirely unknown proposition
The good thing about the Gaz is it is bomb proof mechanically and built for Russian winters. :thumb:
The bad thing is it is powered by a 4.2 litre Russian V8 petrol engine :Sad:

Not your average motor home but should get up to the ski resorts easily enough whatever the weather

If anyone wants a good laugh I have documented the build here
http://www.russianmilitarytrucks.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=4041

This is what she looks like from the outside
http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums... 66 pics/?action=view&current=02122010050.jpg

С Новым годом! Zoltan
 

sue1959

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Feb 11, 2010
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non as yet, hired in Canada a couple of times. hope to buy in the next few years.
Wow, what does it look like from the outside?
Anyway good luck and welcome.

Sue

Sorry didn't see 2nd link!
 

Douglas

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It should do well in Morocco if you chose to go there.

Doug...

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Dec 23, 2007
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What a beast!!!!:thumb:
I would love to be behind you in the Caravan Club site office when you try to book it in!!!
Have you thought of an LPG powered conversion? Or dual fuel,for when you go to Morocco?
 

Terry

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Hi & welcome :thumb: thanks for the pics/ links :thumb: look forward to seeing the finished project
terry

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bobandjanie

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Hi :welcome: to motorhome fun. :thumb: Great bit of kit,:Smile: you will be everyone's best new friend on a wet rally field. :winky::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: Bob and Jane.
 

hilldweller

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I don't know what you drink, but I'll have a pint.

Well, maybe not, must be 100% Russian Vodka.

How else could anyone decide to convert that beast into a MH.

I hope I see it one day. And a small Vodka might help me get my head round it :Smile:

Do you wear parachutes in it ?

If you get fed up with going to Switzerland to ski, just hook Switzerland up to it and tow it to Calais.

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Sundowners

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Hi Colin and welcome:thumb:
The aggressive appearance of your camper wil not be everyones cup of tea !!!!!!!!:Eeek:
BUT there are quite a few of us that will REALLY love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!::bigsmile:
We have no plans to need that amount of off-road ability so it would be wasted on us:RollEyes:
I know that 'PAT4NEIL' will watch it like a hawk---------they are not going down exactly the same route as you--------but are building a 4x4 truck 'World Cruiser'
What are your future plans (travel-wise) for the truck------I see all attention is put on cold camping---------do you intend to search for the Sun ? ! ? !
We are really hopeing you will attend one of our meets ? ?
Nigel & Pamala

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Carol

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Hello and welcome to motorhome fun, that really is a serious looking piece of kit, look forward to hearing how you get on with it, the photo's are great, my hubby looking on with admiration.
 
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Zoltan Gaz66

Zoltan Gaz66

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Dec 28, 2010
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Thanks for your welcoming comments. It always gets plenty of attention when I go anywhere in it, especially at the filling station where it likes to spend a lot of its time :RollEyes:


What a beast!!!!:thumb:
I would love to be behind you in the Caravan Club site office when you try to book it in!!!
Have you thought of an LPG powered conversion? Or dual fuel,for when you go to Morocco?

I might do a tour of CC sites and see just how many I can get turned away from :)
The beauty of it is its ability to take wild stealth camping to a new level

I'm debating LPG at the moment. It is a very low compression motor so LPG won't be achieving anything close to the levels of 'price advantage' I see with my LPG Land Rover 110. It is an easy installation and far easier than fitting modern after market EFi on which is the alternative to get the petrol consumption down.
With LPG I also lose one of the (2) 105 litre petrol tanks to replace it with perhaps a 120 litre gas tank. I can get maybe 90 litres of gas in at a fill up so it is quite a short range between fill ups. I like to take the Gaz off road quite a lot so I definitely can't afford to have two great big tanks dragging the ground and the heating is by a petrol Eberspacher 4 kw Hydronic so I need plenty of petrol on for a weeks stay in resort. The Eber drinks 0.6l at full chat per hour and 0.2l per hour on slow. Over a cold week I'll probably average 0.4 l per hour if I am very lucky so I will need at least 60-70 litres of petrol. I might be grossly over estimating the fuel required for the heating, maybe by day the consumption will be much lower. I have learnt to expect the worst and be delighted when it turns out better than that. I'd be very interested to learn from others their experiences of heating fuel consumption in ski resorts.

I was doing some calculations this morning on the length of trip (1400 mile round trip) versus LPG and petrol fuel costs, balancing that against buying another one or possibly two LPG tanks
Presently the Gaz does a scarily low 10 mpg :Eeek: The EFi will improve that to maybe 12-13 mpg but still not the quantum leap required to compete with an engine on LPG

Why did I buy it?

I wanted something different
 
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Zoltan Gaz66

Zoltan Gaz66

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Dec 28, 2010
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What are your future plans (travel-wise) for the truck------I see all attention is put on cold camping---------do you intend to search for the Sun ? ! ? !
We are really hopeing you will attend one of our meets ? ?
Nigel & Pamala

Iceland is one place I really want to visit in a few years

I normally head down to France in the summer so it will see some sun as well. I think if I can get the cold weather sorted the sun should take care of itself ::bigsmile:

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haganap

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Variety is the spice of life and you have come to the right site to get real people and not the snobby caravan club type ::bigsmile:

We are skiing in the alps in February, and will know what to look out for to recognise you. Hope you invite us in for a coffee and a look around...

Happy travels, just don't get shot at any of the borders. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Zoltan Gaz66

Zoltan Gaz66

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Variety is the spice of life and you have come to the right site to get real people and not the snobby caravan club type ::bigsmile:

We are skiing in the alps in February, and will know what to look out for to recognise you. Hope you invite us in for a coffee and a look around...

Happy travels, just don't get shot at any of the borders. :ROFLMAO:

Will hopefully be brewing up in Alpe D'Huez over half term in February :thumb:
 

Sundowners

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We feel that the c&cc sites are less starchy !! especially the 5 van sites (CS sites) But it depends on the site warden----------------------you will look different --but not as though you will be a 'problem'
Nigel

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motor roamin

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Hi and :welcomefunster: I can think of a couple on here who wouldn't want to park next to you on a cc site, so park it next to mine.

You must come close to the least to the gallon on here. :ROFLMAO:

Have a great new year I am sure you will with that toy.

Rick.
 

wivvy's dad

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And we'll have fun fun fun till our Daddy takes the T-Bird away


I do like that, but 10 mpg.............:Eeek:


Still, if you're gonna burn fuel, what a way to do it...................:thumb:


How about an alternative to the Eberspacher? A pot-belly wood burner.....:winky:

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Zoltan Gaz66

Zoltan Gaz66

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And we'll have fun fun fun till our Daddy takes the T-Bird away


I do like that, but 10 mpg.............:Eeek:


Still, if you're gonna burn fuel, what a way to do it...................:thumb:


How about an alternative to the Eberspacher? A pot-belly wood burner.....:winky:

There is nothing I'd like more than a wood burner but I have used all my allotted space and short of mounting it in the back door it is one item too many :(

I've just twigged the 'thanks' thing so I'll spread a few around in future :)
 

wasp

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Hiya Zoltan and welcome , like the truck that is a proper off roader, it looks like one of them I used to watch on Eurosport truck trials.
There was a couple parked next to us on the aire in Calais this year with something similar I think they were from Sweden. Nice bit of kit.:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
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Zoltan Gaz66

Zoltan Gaz66

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Thanks,

It loves a bit of mud, I try to be careful on how deep I go in water though because I don't want my heater getting soaked inside. It's really quite amusing to be able to take a camper offroad but I learnt the hard way about having to strap down the toilet :Eeek:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUhhADXZJcc&NR=1[/ame]

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Pat4Neil

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Hi Zoltan Gas

Great vehicle.

As the Sundowners have said we are building an expedition vehicle from an Army truck next year. So its great to see another beast on here.


Hopefully our will do about 15mpg, but the thought of filling her up regularly will be frightening. We often thought of buying one of the radio shack models but couldnt easily put out motorbike on as a lot have a rear door entry.

We are going down the ersbatcher route of heating too, but will have lpg fitted for cooking only.

Good luck on the usuage of your truck, I am sure you will turn a few heads in the UK.

Pat
 
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Zoltan Gaz66

Zoltan Gaz66

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Thanks!
Which truck are you looking at? I started off looking at the Bedford MJ which I reckoned could be down plated and driven without HGV. Then I was recommended to look at the DAF 4x4 45/150 which are coming out of service in large numbers. Although this was much heavier it had air brakes, 5 speed gearbox a tipping cab and power steering. The problem was that I would definitely have to get an HGV license initialy and I doubted I could build an insulated box and get it all on the road at less than 7.5 tonnes. Doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the MJ though but much more 'sensible'
Then I saw the Gaz at a much lower weight but with so much done as standard and as soon as I saw what they were capable of off road I was sold on them!
 

Heyupluv

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Hi.hardhat::bigsmile:riving2: this was parked next to us on a Aire in France called Ondres Plage near Biaritz.....a German foursome....two old guys two young females on there way to Morroco....

Good luck:winky: and do'nt forget your fuel bowser:Doh::ROFLMAO:
Mel :thumb:

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Pat4Neil

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Heyuplus

Love that bus,the red and white strips are fantastic, and it has a side opening door.

Zoltan, we are looking at a MB 1017a because it comes with the pivoting subframe. Plus on the positive side there are thousands of Mercedes Benze trucks out there, so theorotically more parts available around the world.

Absolutely love the look of your truck it looks mean, which will be great for wild camping.

Pat

We were originally going to try and get our under 7.5 tons, but Neil has taken his HGV licence just in case. We have friends who have managed to convert theirs to under 7.5 tons. But with the plans we have I think it will be under 7.5 tons without water and fuel.
But were are constantly looking for ways of achieving the under 7.5 tons mark.
 

Heyupluv

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Heyuplus

Love that bus,the red and white strips are fantastic, and it has a side opening door.



Hi is it male"Pat" or female "Patricia"..............Well beware as the pictures I put on of the Red Russian......must have been a BIRD puller:Eeek: as the two old male farts :man_in_love::man_in_love::whistle: living inside with those two very beautiful young German ladies !!!!!!!:lipstick::lipstick:say no more:yeah:


Mel
 

Pat4Neil

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I am a female, Neil is the Male.

I think I will go for diaroheea colour, hopefully that will put them off.

Pat

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