From Russia with love!

[OJMaxwell]

Hi there!

So, I'm Orson (my real name confuses English speakers so I'm shy to reveal it).

I live near Moscow and I've just acquired a GAZ-66-05. I've been reading up on the subject for a couple of years, and the time has finally come for me to become a happy owner. The vehicle was manufactured in '82, it is in a good shape and is equipped with a K66 type van. I intend to build a living space inside and travel around our wilderness for short autonomous trips. I'll be also attending our local offroad club events as a rescue vehicle I suppose.

I love music, guns and being outdoors. I enjoy making things myself. I'm a HAM radio hobbyist as well. I like when something is engineered and manufactured with love and much thought - that is why I'm into soviet engineering school and that is why I chose the 66 of all the vehicles in the world.

Cheers!

P.S. my present coordinates for the members map: 54°52′39″N 38°7′25″E

[funkypete]

Welcome along.

A newer Gaz than many here, your English is good 2nd language?

[OJMaxwell]

Hey, thanks!

Yeah, I was lucky to lay my hands on that particular truck, but then again - it is not that hard to find newer trucks here, I guess.

English is indeed my second language, but I've studied hard to learn it as well as I could. I'm working part time as an English teacher here in my hometown as well.

[Gaz-lad2]

Welcome to the forum.

Kieran

[gaz 66]

Hi Orson,

sound like a real good choice, especially as you have probably easier access to all necessary information and parts.

We bought our GAZ 66 one and a half year ago and had to learn a lot until we were able to make our first trip to Kaliningrad last summer. Our GAZ also has a KUNG box on top that we use for camping and travel purposes.

Details can be found in our GAZ 66 blog, unfortunately it is in German but includes at least English summaries.

By the way: We are located in Germany, close to Frankfurt airport.

Best regards

Marcus

[OJMaxwell]

Hi, Marcus!

I actually was going for 66-14 (the newer 11-based model with a winch), but ironically it became exceedingly difficult to register a Gaz-66 here in Russia after some changes in the laws that occured in 2013. I had to look for a vehicle that still had the factory painted number on its chassis intact, otherwise it would be impossible for me to register and therefore use the vehicle. The new law was bound to decrease corruption bla-bla, yada-yada etc.
So I looked through about 50 advertisements in the course of 2.5 months, went to see about 12 trucks and found only three of them that I could safely buy and register. So it wasn't really a free choice, but I don't regret anything anyhow
I had the air heater installed and working along with the original filter-vent system. It even has the stock engine pre-heater and tyre pressure regulator in place. Those usually get stripped and sold first from what I saw.

Anyway, I don't know how many other Russian guys are registered here, but if you need any advise or information - I'll be glad to help. I'm a long-term reader of our own Gaz66.ru resource, so I may know a thing or two

Cheers.

[Grommet1]

Welcome Orson. Great to have another owner to compare notes with.
Does it all run ok or have you got work to do on it before you start fitting out the box?
Might need your help translating what the electrics do in my box on the back.
Best wishes
John

[OJMaxwell]

Hi!

Yes, one of the conditions for my search was that the vehicle could be driven to my house. I had to tune the carb and the brakes (just to be sure), also there is a small motor oil leak somewhere, but otherwise it runs very well.
I've never driven a 66 before, and frankly the only truck I have driven was the one I drove in school, but after some 10 minutes I kind of adapted and enjoyed the rest of the ride home (about 100 miles).

My KUNG box looks ok inside and I'm very glad that I don't need to do any additional renovations. It has a workshop table in it, the usual electric stuff and nothing else - ideal for remaking to taste.

Feel free to PM me for that translation - I'm trying to decipher the electrics myself now so hopefully I could be of assistance.

Cheers!

[zoltan]

Hi Orson,

Welcome to the forum.

I have just got back early from a trip to go skiing, we didn't get any skiing as I had an engine breakdown so I repaired the engine and drove back home
As you can see elsewhere, this is an engine that is freshly rebuilt. I had the same failure as before with the fibre timing gear. I am looking at a new solution now that doesn't use this gear. Is there lots of discussion on the fibre timing gear on Gaz66.ru?

[OJMaxwell]

Hi, Zoltan!

Yes, actually there is. There are more than one way the ZMZ factory marked the gears, so it confuses a lot of owners. Some of the the metal timing gears have both "0" and "3" markings, some of them have only the "0" one, in some rare cases there are no markings at all. Some manuals add even more chaos to the matter by stating different settings in different re-issues.
As far as I know, there are two main issues with the timing gear setup:
1. Fibre gear notch corresponds to a wrong crankshaft gear tooth.
2. Watch out for that fuel pump mounting bolt - in some cases if you use a longer replacement it can go all the way to the fibre gear and strip the teeth right off of it.

The fool-proof method to counter the first issue would be this: if you take both gears and start counting teeth on the crankshaft (metal) one and notches on the fibre one starting from the shaft keys and going CCW, then you should set them up so that the 12th tooth on the crankshaft gear corresponds to the 20th notch on the fibre gear. This way you can completely ignore the markings and all the fuss around them.

There is actually a cool video of a guy talking through a Gaz 53 engine assembly here: YT link.
The part about the gears starts from around 24:00. If you like I can translate some commentary if you see something interesting in the video.

[zoltan]

Do the Russian guys still use the fibre gear or is something else available?

I took the rocker cover of to time mine and with cylinder one on TDC the two rockers on cylinder one were just closing and opening whilst the distributor was firing cylinder 6. That worked OK as I couldn't work out what the mark on the cam gear was to align with

[Mike-13]

Welcome to the Forum.

Enjoy your Gaz and let us know your progress

Mike

[OJMaxwell]

Do the Russian guys still use the fibre gear or is something else available?
I took the rocker cover of to time mine and with cylinder one on TDC the two rockers on cylinder one were just closing and opening whilst the distributor was firing cylinder 6. That worked OK as I couldn't work out what the mark on the cam gear was to align with

We do. I don't believe anyonw would want to manufacture a custom part for a V8 that old. I think there are plenty of NOS gears still out there.

Unfortunately I cannot comment on the second part of your message - I haven't done this myself. But if you're interested, you could check what tooth sitrs in what notch there just for common wisdom.

Welcome to the Forum.
Enjoy your Gaz and let us know your progress
Mike

Hi! Thanks - I'll try to. Currently not much is going on - I'm servicing the air heater and the vent right now while it is still too cold to work outside (I don't have a garage that big).

[[RA]FW200]

Hi and welcome ! I've got the GAZ-66's engine bigger brother, the GAZ-41 in my BRDM-2

The GAZ-66 is definatly a lot more practical (and was my second choice for a vehicle should getting the BRDM fail)

[OJMaxwell]

I found BRDM just too damn heavy