Travelling Oz

The Nissan GU Patrol, or Tinkerbelle as Marlene has now nicknamed her, towed very well and was as steady as a rock, even when road trains went past.

My only wish list was for a little more power for overtaking and to hopefully make it a bit more economical on diesel.

More Power and Better Economy:

After extensive research, I was in luck as I could get 20% more power with this, and 15% more power with that and so the claims went on and if I believed everything I read, I would have ended up with more power than a jumbo jet and would be getting better consumption than a scooter.

I do know a bit about engines from the many years I spent racing both cars and bikes in my younger days and how to achieve the efficiencies required for performance and economy. I couldn't get any evidence or feedback on the internet and forums from people who had actually done modifications to the GU Patrol, so knew I had to rely on my own experience to hopefully make the right choices. After many nights deliberating over a bottle or two of red, I finally decided to fit a Taipan 3" exhaust system and a Rapid power chip.

The results were not immediately apparant and I was a bit dissapointed when I first drove it. Anyway, hitched up the new 23ft 2.5 tonne caravan and immediately noticed the difference. More power in the 70 to 100kph range and we used 4 litres less per 100kms sitting on 100kph, so was well chuffed with my choice.

After 12 months on the road and 56,580kms, I'm glad I did it as it's made towing a lot more comfortable and easier on the hip pocket.

Storage:

Next major item was a storage system to keep everything in it's place, yet still remain easily accessible. I looked at a few sliding draw systems and for me, they didn't have enough storage height. Then there was the sliding tray for the fridge which was too big. I spent a few weeks deliberating over this and finally after a few more bottles of red, shiraz this time, I designed my own system. Off to Bunnings to get all the necessary bits and I custom built my unit in under a day and for less than $500.00 including the carpet to cover it so that it looks original and part of the Patrol. 12 months later including the Gibb River Road etc, it's still working a treat and not a single rattle or squeek. Details of how I did it all are on the soon to be released DVD.

Tyres:

Now that's a bit of a sore point with me at the moment.
Once again, after extensive research, I decided on Coopers. Went into the local distributor in Perth, told them I was travelling oz, towing a caravan, going bush, doing some off road tracks and on the beach and they recommended the Discoverer H/T and "make sure you run them at 30psi". If you've read our travel notes, you'll know that we destroyed 3 tyres at Karajini and the Cooper dealer at nearby Tom Price told us that the H/T's were mainly bituman tyres with almost no off-road capability. "You need the Discoverer ATR ones, specially if you're doing the Gibb River Road" so we reluctantly fitted 5 new ATR's and "you must run them at 40psi except on sand"

Besides the normal run of punctures, we have now had 5 tyres blow out on us on both tarmac and dirt. I'm fanatical about checking tyre pressures etc etc, so either I'm having a really bad run or the tyres aren't what they're supposed to be. I'm sick of changing tyres, so we'll see what happens on the rest of the trip before I make further comment on the Coopers.

18th November, 2008 Update on tyres:
After returning from our trip to Cape York and another blowout:
First thing next morning, off to the local Tyrepower dealer to discuss these Cooper tyres and replace another two tyres.
"What size are they mate?"
165/60/17
"Go and check again mate, coz those are underated for the Nissan Patrol, it's illegal to run that size tyre on your vehicle, should be 165/70/17."
But that's what the dealer recommended and fitted in Tom Price.

To cut a long story short, James at Tyrepower in Cairns sorted everything for us. A few calls to the Cooper distributer and to the guy in Tom Price who fitted the tyres and "We're fitting 5 new Cooper tyres the correct size coz these are illegal, they should never been fitted in the first place and all it will cost you is the modest price increase that's occured over the past few months, no contribution whatsoever for mileage and wear and tear covered so far". Further more, they sat me down and discussed all the terrain I would be covering and the caravan weight etc etc and suggested I should have fitted the ST's right from day one. Followed their advice and all it cost was $350.00 for the 5 new tyres, including the upgrade to the heavier duty ST. At least we know why we kept blowing tyres so good onya James at Tyrepower Cairns and Coopers for the no quibble backup and replacement. 
June, 2009 Update on tyres:
Since fitting the new correct size ST's, we haven't had a puncture or a problem and would definitely recommen the Coopers ST's.

General Comments:

We driven on everything from thick mushy sand to the worst of outback roads and Tinkerbelle has performed like a dream, ultra reliable, comfortable and she's a pleasure to drive, so good onya Nissan. My only gripe is the dust leaks, especially around the rear doors which I, nor the Nissan dealers haven't been able to stop.