Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

I got the phone call on Monday that all of us 4x4 enthusiasts can't wait for...."Your accessories are arriving in SA on Friday"...Woohoo!

I ordered my Browne Davis Long Range Fuel Tanks ( https://browndavisafrica.com/) to replace both the main and aux tanks. I will add another 110lt of capacity to the Troll. The order was placed late last year and was shipped over from Australia. Airfreight was just way too expensive. Installation will be done by R&D in Brackenfell Cape Town.

The courier should arrive with the tanks in CPT sometime during the coming week and then installation will start early Feb that should take more than a day or two. I will share pictures when it's done.

Some may ask why I dont just use Jerry Cans? Well I have done that. We did a 7,000 km round trip from CPT to Epupa Falls in June 2018 where I was towing my Conqueror Comfort Trailer (did Van Zyl's pass with it too) and I carried 6 Jerry's on the roof rack and two on the trailer and there were two instances where I ran close to running out of fuel due to unavoidable circumstances. Carrying that amount of fuel on the roof is bloody heavy and takes up a lot of space that I would rather use for storage of other items.

I'm also converting the Troll to a touring vehicle so that I dont have to tow for overlanding and this means that I need space on the roof rack and I also want to get as much weight as possible under the vehicle.

I should also clarify that I have almost 4" of lift so the extra depth of these tanks will not affect my clearance as much as a vehicle with a lower or no lift. I no longer actively seek out grade 4 & 5 tracks to test my skills. If it's part of the journey then all good, but not something I will actively plan to do like I did in the early days.

Nice one! Can never go wrong with more fuel space in a Patrol. So can you clarify, you will add another 110l? So you will be able to carry ±250l in total just in tanks?

Rhett wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 08:24 Nice one! Can never go wrong with more fuel space in a Patrol. So can you clarify, you will add another 110l? So you will be able to carry ±250l in total just in tanks?

Correct. Should hopefully get close to 900km of range if I'm not towing or driving in low range in heavy sand.

Kirbster wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 08:26

Rhett wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 08:24 Nice one! Can never go wrong with more fuel space in a Patrol. So can you clarify, you will add another 110l? So you will be able to carry ±250l in total just in tanks?

Correct. Should hopefully get close to 900km of range if I'm not towing or driving in low range in heavy sand.

I reckon even more, upwards up 1200km a tank even with a roofrack

Rhett wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 08:32

Kirbster wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 08:26

Rhett wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 08:24 Nice one! Can never go wrong with more fuel space in a Patrol. So can you clarify, you will add another 110l? So you will be able to carry ±250l in total just in tanks?

Correct. Should hopefully get close to 900km of range if I'm not towing or driving in low range in heavy sand.

I reckon even more, upwards up 1200km a tank even with a roofrack

That will make me a happy man!

Hi Hugh

very cool, almost did the same after my Epupa trip, but the costs were outrageous back in 2010. Maybe prices have come down with scale, can you give us an indication of costs for the Browne Davis tanks?

Thank you
John

JohnBoyZA wrote: ↑22 Jan 2020 10:54 Hi Hugh

very cool, almost did the same after my Epupa trip, but the costs were outrageous back in 2010. Maybe prices have come down with scale, can you give us an indication of costs for the Browne Davis tanks?

Thank you
John

R39k all-in. R28k for the two tanks. The rest is import, courier, and fitment. It's still expensive as you can see, so it's not a logical modification if you only look at cost. However, I'm in the process of building for touring and need the space on the roof so there is no other option.

Blixem, that's a lot, but I think we are in the same boat. I have also moved away from trailing and am slowly building up the trol as a long-range overlanding vehicle. Let me know when it's done, would love to check it out.

Thank you
John

@kirbster, was that your silver patrol with the gull wing windows rear at r and d?

Northern Offroad sells a stainless 139lt tank that fits in the place of your old standard tank. There is a heck of a lot of wasted space in where that standard tank fits. I fitted that on my previous 4.2i SGX Automatic GQ Y60 Patrol, with an additional 70lt (self designed, made by Uys of Stofpad Products) tank where the sub-tank sits on my current Y61. The 139lt tank cost me about R3995 fitted, at the time.

Uys charged me about R2000 for the additional tank

That gave me a total fuel capacity of 210lt on the vehicle. Back in 2010 when I did Faces of the Namib Tour, I needed that (plus 2 x 2lt Jerry cans). At the end of that trip from Solitaire, I had 33lt of fuel left (when we got to Walvisbaai) of the 250lt I started the trip with, returning 2.23km per litre!! To fill it, was about R2500 in 2010

I think that Northern Offroad currently charges about R10k for the tank, fitted.....