Cape York in a Petrol Disco

[Shanoss]

Hi all, I'm thinking of joining a trip with some mates up to Cape York Next winter and was wondering if anyone has any technical advice on doing this with a Petrol Disco. The blokes i'm going with all have Diesels and i'm a little concerned about the water crossings with a petrol motor. Has anyone here done this trip with a petrol, and if so, Did you do anything extra to be able to handle the water crossings? obvioulsy i'll be fitting a snorkel. Thanks in advance.

Shane

[Mudnut]

I have just returned from Cape York in August. At the end of the season, the crossings are not too dramatic. There was only one crossing where I put the blind on, and again it was not an issue. I do have a Deisel Defender. Your biggest concern will be fuel Probably only about 250k longest distance between servo's, but the cost will be a bit. There were plenty of petrol cars up that way, and they did not seem too fussed. The Disco will do well on the OTL track. Storage inside might be tight.
Coming from Melbourne it was about 10,000k round trip.

[mudmouse]

Shane. DOn't worry about it too much - there were heaps of petrol vehicles (without snorkels) doing Cape York long before diesels became as affordable and reliable as they are now. Having said that, it's always wise to do your homework and know your vehicles limitations.

We (wife and me) did it in October/September 05 in our '91 V8 Disco. We did a few creek crossings and although that wasn't something new to us, every crossing should be taken as an unknown quantity. Our bus has a Safari snorkel which I checked was still sealed correctly (silastic is the go) and I made a water resistant box out of a tupperware container for the coil etc. For the dissy you could make a shroud for it or blob grease around the lead couplings or wrap it up in a rubber 'glove'. Another option is to run an air line to it from a small compressor to give it 'positive' pressure so any water blows out and away from it.

I'll post a pic or two of the plastic box for the coil tomorrow - it's getting a bit dark now - and anything wlse i can think of. I'm sure the other guys will have their experiences on here soon too. It's a top trip and as you'll find out it's generally a lot easier than it would have been even 5 years ago. The OTL is a must - great history. The biggest think we learn about trip preparation (we went for 3 months) is that we took waaaay to much crap. we ended putting stuff in storage in Cairns for a month on the way up... Anyway, I'll get back to this tomorrow arvo.

[Shanoss]

Thanks Fellas. Thats the sort of response i was hoping for. I figured pertol cars must do it. Thanks for the advice on sealing bits up Mudhouse, look forward to seeing the photos.. thanks again.
Mudnut, read your post on your trip this morning. Makes me wanna go even more.

[redrover3]

We were up there in June/July for a month. I used a makeshift snorkel as couldn't afford a proper one. Only needed it for one crossing - Nolan's Brook.
We had to take a modified trailer as couldn't get all our gear in the car which is a tdi discovery by the way. Admittedly, there is five of us though.
Fuel up at every opportunity, especially at Archer River if you're going out to Lockhart River, Portland Roads. I don't think fuel was available at LR, probably because it was a weekend. From memory, fuel was rationed at Bramwell Roadhouse too, maybe 20 litres or $20 maximum. Further north, fuel was cheaper at the Jardine crossing than Bamaga/Seisia. Telegraph track is a great drive.
Tony

[numpty]

You wont have any problems at all as others have said. We did the trip in '94 (last century :o) in a Stage 1 V8, including Frenchmans Track with no worries.

[wovenrovings]

My dad did the trip mutliple times in the 70's in Series 3 6 cylinders, i hope you won't use as much fuel as they did!!!! Later on in Acco's. All that is needed is a little planing.

[redrover3]

i hope you won't use as much fuel as they did!!!! All that is needed is a little planing.
I think WovenRovings has hit the nail on the head there.
Once you get your Land rover up on the plane, it'll use heaps less fuel. I know my boat does.:D
Tony

[Shanoss]

I'm not worried about fuel at all. will have plenty of room to take extra in any case. I was about to buy a ford bronco before i bought the disco, so i figure i'm still way out in front in the fuel economy stakes. I'd pay just about anything for that V8 rumble.
Thanks for the advice fellas. Have been watching some videos on U tube and the V8's seem to handle the water crossings as well as the Diesels. I'm just hoping that the trip is on. Still need to spend a bit of time convincing the finance dept.
Shane

[mudmouse]

Shane, sorry for the delay in posting these photos. As you can see I had to remove the window washer bottle and replaced it with a generic Holden $30 job from Super Cheap - the LR version held about 8 litres and this one about 1 litre which can be a pain but at least it forces you to look under the bonnet a bit more often. Anyway, the tupperware box is a 'Sistema' brand. I think my wife bought a few of them from Woolies or Coles - then I stole one of them. It's a bit fiddly but it just involved a few holes being drilled in it - 1. two to mount it to the inner guard, which also mounts the coil, 2. one for the HT lead with a grommet around it, 3. one for the ignition/power lead also with a grommet and 4. a few smaller holes between the base of the coil and the bodywork to act as a breather. No dramas so far and the clip on lid makes it easy to firstly check there are no leaks after a dip and also for maintenance.

The crossings we did were all over the bonnet (with a bow wave) and had no dramas. The biggest issue we had was the dust - it got EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING.

As for the decision to go or not....We did it for our honeymoon and although it had been in the pipeline for about a year, the decision to do it was made about a week before we left. That meant the prep was rushed but the car was an okay set up in the first place - winch, snorkel, fridge, good battery, some spares etc. My missus is or was a Kiwi so she wasn't that keen on spending 8hrs a day in the saddle but she loved it. This country is massive and a trip like that is an amazing experience. It's not cheap but it worth every cent. It's good too that you got some mates for a support vehicle if you need it. I've got some trip photos in my gallery - we went Sydney, Dubbo (zoo), Bourke, Tibooburra, Birdsville (races), Kurumba (top seafood), Cairns, Chilli beach, Bamage via OTL, then the main road back to Cairns then coast to Sydney via Fraser Island. Took 3 months and cracked 10,000km. Fuel ranged from $1.10 when we left to $1.66 at Moreton Station in the Cape, but as you know, you can't go past a growling V8 boring it up a dirt track. If you can think of any questions let me know. Hope you get to do it mate.

[Shanoss]

Thanks Matt. The Tupperware idea looks the goods. I just checked the cupboard and funnily enough, my kiwi wife also has a couple in there.
Your trip sounds amazing. I reckon i'll have to be retired though before i'm allowed to take three months off work. At least i wont have far to get there from townsville.
Thanks for taking the time to help out. I really appreciate it.

Shane

[camel_landy]

I used to overland a 3.9 V8 RaRo classic. All I used to waterproof the thing, other than using a raised air intake, was to use a thick silicone grease spray. Applied liberally around the electrical components (coil, plugs, dizzy, etc...) and a thick layer around the bottom of the dizzy cap and you should be OK.

It was fine for plenty of water crossings and it never missed a beat, even when I almost completely submerged the car!!!!

HTH

M