Desert Splitty made it to Darwin again!!! \"Pics added 1-4-05\"

G'day,
The Desert Splitty arrived in Darwin on Good Friday (PM) after leaving Billiluna (at the junction of the Tanami Rd and The Canning Stock Route, Great Sandy Desert, WA) at lunch time on Tuesday 22nd after 3 days of torrential rain. We left a day early because of the weather and as I had to take a truck to Kununurra, I hooked the "A" bar onto the Splitty and towed it with the trailer on behind 160ks up The Tanami Rd (dirt) to the highway. We had a good run from then on with the Victoria River Crossing opening 1/2 hr before we got there (it had 1.3m of water over it 24hrs earlier).
I think I worked the Splitty a bit hard as it is blowing a bit of smoke now but is still running strong.
It goes down to the Barge tomorrow for its' trip over to Gove (n/e Arhnem Land) and we fly over Wed AM.

Cheers, Ian.

[Edited on 2-4-2005 by Desert Bug]

Did you fabricate a top gearbox mount for the splitty?

sweet as ian far out ya splitty must do some k's!!!
cheers
rhys

Legend...

amazing bus !

G'day all,

Well we got the phone on today so back on line again.
Gear arrived yesterday and mostly unpacked, the Desert Splitty arrived today and unfortunately the boat trip didn't cure the smoke problem, so looks like engine swap time (got a spare 1600 Tp packed in a trunk) in the next couple of weeks.

tedegans - no top mount, I set it up same as early bay (early front nose mount and late engine bar and mounts), it has worked fine so far, considering the offroad pounding it has had.

Rhys, we've done about 13,000ks in 9 months, mostly with a trailer on behind.

I've got to give it a thorough wash (scrub) tomorrow to get all the salt water spray off it as it has already (2.5 days at sea) showing signs of rust on any exposed metal (BUGGER!!!!).

Cheers, Ian.

why the move ian

Neil,
here a bit from another post-
(I was on a 12 month contract (renewable) but was prepared to stay here for 2-3 years but after recent situation down south that required my wife to stay down for a while (six weeks) after I came back up here, we realized just how hard it is to get in and out of here in an emergency as we have only one plane into here a week that you can book a seat on. Realisticly during the wet season it could take up to 10 days to fly to Melbourne whereas over at Yirrkala the Gove Airport is only 13ks from home and you can be in Melbourne in a day so when you get the chance to live and work in a place like Yirrkala you take it)

Cheers, Ian.

Pic of truck towing Splitty and trailer on the Tanami Rd Western Australia.

Splitty and trailer at Katherine, Northern Territory, covered in mud.

Splitty loaded!!!

Thanks for that Ian > I missed you other post sorry .
Thats the same truck my mate pulled out from the ( tip ) near you , he had to buy it from the abcom but needs some work as it was trashed , he towed it out as well .

I have a adapter plate for a subaru if you would like to up grade that motor in the split :thumb

That bus is legendary!

Neil,
Thanks, but will stick with TP1600 for now and maybe look into a Diesil transplant sometime in the future. Won't be towing a trailer much anymore as I left it in Darwin, so motor might survive a bit better.
Cheers, Ian.

Ps. Those Canters are very capable offroad and would be even better with singles on the back.

hey mate
bloody awesome!! just tell me when u want to sell this baby as i loved the work that has been done!!! u know u want to sell it to me one day :P man you must love just cruising around the northern areas !!! would be awesome!
chers
rhys

G'day Rhys,

I'll let you know when I'm done with it!!! Still got a lot of offroad touring and camping to do yet and yeah we love travelling around up in the north and really enjoy the surprise on other peoples faces when they see the old Splitty at their fave camping spot after using 4 wheel drive for the last 10ks getting in there, it blows them away.

Cheers, Ian.

ahahahahahaha ti would blow me away too!!! thats why i love it!!
have one for me mate :beer:beer
cheers
rhys

gday ian i think a 1776 wiil do the job well and the 1.9 tdi engine is a very good option...4 times the torque, don says gday.....we found the oil consumtion problem. looking forward to the simpson crossing 3 splitties to go! dsk member

rhddlxbd,

Good to hear from you, yeah a 1776 would be good. What caused the oil problem. You better get stuck into those Splitties as time is flying by.
Wish I could be there for the Simpson Desert trip but will have to be satisfied with the memory of the Beetle across the Simpson trip in 2000, you guys will have a ball.

Cheers, Ian.

hi ian ,the oil prob was the inlet porting that a company did in melbourne...they over ported near the valve spring boss and made a hole thru to the rocker area...this caused the oil to be sucked in and burnt ????? go figure. the barrel and pistons were shot as the dust just demolished the rings...but we have worked out A solution, change the kadrons to dellorts and use the claude buggies turbo tops plumbed to the factory 1600 oil bath one on each side???this is what i will also use. the 67 is being wheeled out as we speak and the irs kit is now fitted...managed to use a 85 brazilia g/box which has the rhino castings and 5.1 diff ratio,this slips straight into the frame horns . just working on the lsd..we have our mission and that to climb BIG RED anyway I'll keep in touch

G'day Steve,

Sounds great, gotta have a "MISSION", it helps to "keep the dream alive".

Here's a little inspirational saying for BIG RED,
"You never fail until you stop trying".

Another for the Outback Offroaders,
"Do not follow where the path may lead - go instead where there is no path and leave a trail".

Cheers, Ian.

as long as its not a trail of oil!!!! the count is 3 splitties and 3 bays talk of taking a t3 syncro ..what are the flys like in sept,how cold at night? 800ks and 1300 dunes already counting them in my sleep, how tall is big red? cheers steve

G'day Steve,

Big Red is called a 90 metre dune according to the info board on the eastern side of the dune, but I think it's more a 90 m climb than how high it is. I put the Beetle on top first run but bogged down on the crest when I backed off with everyone taking photos and had to back down.
I can't recall the flies being a problem when we were there but were told they can be.
I heard of the possibillity of a Toureg, that not happening?

Cheers, Ian.