If you're knowledgable on Turbo Petrol engines, this way please

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 17:15

this has been on my mind for a while, and it's not a question that i've ever seen addressed in here so i thought i'd post and see what happens.
there are members of this forum that are well versed in all matters engineering, dogbreath, Simon, Johnnycoupe to name but three, so i'm fairly sure i can get a definitive answer.

Turbo's and LPG.
how do they respond to being paired up and to take things further what are the effects of a re-map on a FI motor running LPG?
is it even possible or is there some inherrant problem that will only allow a standard Turbo car to run on LPG?

i'm asking this specifically with the 20v 1.8T VAG lump in mind but i'm curious to know if this is possible on other engines.

thanks in advance.

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 17:23

so do we know that , for the sake of argument, you could run a standard WRX on LPG?

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 17:24

penski said:
but if the engine is built for LPG-only (none of this warming-up on petrol malarky)

i'm not sure what you mean penski....there are LPG only engines???

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 17:47

so if we convert a standard turbo'd petrol engine to LPG, then increasing the boost+re-mapping it would all be taken care of by the re-mapper himself?

this is sounding interesting but more to the point why aren't more people doing this?

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 17:58

FakeSnake said:
Personally I think people are still wary of converting a car, which is a silly shame.

don't suppose you have any idea on current prices for LPG conversions do you?
i know that now the powershift register has gone any Govt. assistance has evaporated.

[TW]Fox said:
Becuase it takes YEARS to make the money spent on the conversion back and get to a stage where it is actually saving you money.

i'm not so sure once you factor in the higher resale value your vehicle will have.

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:07

[TW]Fox said:
Good looking selling a 1.8T with LPG conversion for the same as one without, let alone any more.

what leads you to say that? :confused:

The_Dark_Side · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:50

[TW]Fox said:
Unless its a car where an LPG conversion is generally accepted to be a popular and good thing, for example V8 Land Rovers, it doesn't increase the residual value of the car.

as "popular and good thing" seems a little vague to me, i'd say that in my opinion that any car that is typically thirsty or is a good choice to put high miles on (beemers, volvo's, audi's etc) would see it's resale value increase with an LPG conversion.

The_Dark_Side · 11 Jul 2006 at 16:47

[TW]Fox said:
Becuase it takes YEARS to make the money spent on the conversion back and get to a stage where it is actually saving you money.

thinking about this logically, it basically means that the less economical your car is to begin with the quicker you will recoup the costs of conversion.
probably a good reason why you don't see too many Yaris'/Corsa's etc running on the stuff.

The_Dark_Side · 11 Jul 2006 at 16:48

paradigm said:
Yeah, sounds utterly successful there

if Bill Gates shared your sentiment, you'd have written the above with a pencil and not with a keyboard.

The_Dark_Side · 11 Jul 2006 at 16:51

Bug One said:
A guy called KingPleb has done an LPG conversion on his Fiat Coupe 20vt.

the thing i'm curious to know however is, is the car running standard BHP?
i know converting pretty much any vehicle to LPG isn't THAT much of a task, it's the feasibilty of re-mapping for more boost when on LPG that's on my mind.

The_Dark_Side · 11 Jul 2006 at 17:26

penski said:
Trevor Berry of the Alternative Fuels Centre in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire cites his cheapest conversion as a VW Caravanette costing £800 whilst his most expensive a new Ford F150 using the latest equipment at a cost of £1550.

sounds to me like for that kind of money, a trip up to ayrshire would save a fortune in conversion costs.