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

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.

Trickle · 10 Jul 2006 at 19:11

[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.

The couple of 200sx guys I know running them made it back in just over a year - but they are doing 20K+ per an.

IIRC the cost for a 200sx setup /w injectors for up to 200bhp was about £1.75K (inc installation). The result is mpg/pence equivalent of a 50pmg diesel so a nigh on 50% reduction in petrol costs.

That setup could be taken over to a 4 cyl scoob or Evo or most 4cyl turbos so its not as if you lose the whole of your £1,75K outlay. There is a little 2nd hand salvage value there too.

penski · 11 Jul 2006 at 14:36

I've dug out that PPC article - November 2005 if you're interested...

Basically, with LPG, you need to really advance the ignition on the engine because of the lower calorific value meaning that it takes longer to burn...BUT(!) the higher octane level means you can ignite it earlier anyway

As for cost...

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.

Certainly far from £2k for a 4-pot engine

It also cites LPG-only being feasible and possible - the Alternative Fuel Centre run a Alfa 164 V6 on LPG-only and it cold-starts with ease.

*n

Hawk Tuah · 11 Jul 2006 at 15:07

A guy called KingPleb has done an LPG conversion on his Fiat Coupe 20vt. It cost £1600 for the conversion. I think he also has some other modifications.

From what I've heard it's been quite a successful conversion. Apart from some trouble he keeps having melting a piston, everything works fine. Power wise, I think there is very liittle in it.

paradigm · 11 Jul 2006 at 15:23

Bug One said:
it's been quite a successful conversion

Bug One said:
Apart from some trouble he keeps having melting a piston

Yeah, sounds utterly successful there :confused:

penski · 11 Jul 2006 at 15:29

paradigm said:
Yeah, sounds utterly successful there

Sounds more like a setup problem than a conversion problem...

*n

Hawk Tuah · 11 Jul 2006 at 15:46

paradigm said:
Yeah, sounds utterly successful there

Well, he's had it done and been driving a couple of years. However he is having problems with his 5th piston overheating. AFAIK the problem isn't because of the conversion though.

penski · 11 Jul 2006 at 15:48

Blocked water channel?

Is it a common thing on hi-po FIAT 5-pots?

*n

D4VE · 11 Jul 2006 at 16:11

Is it running lean on that cylinder? What does the plug look like?

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.

Trickle · 11 Jul 2006 at 17:54

The_Dark_Side said:
re-mapping for more boost when on LPG that's on my mind.

What difference does it make? You can switch between fuel types in an instant, either by automatic exceeding a max power level (foot to floor etc) or by manual on/off switch.

Although the chap I know running the 200sx says he now wishes he'd gone for the slight extra cost of larger injectors and setup for 200bhp rather than 170bhp. I remember him saying he'd barely touched petrol between two track days so more performance using gas must have been important to him.

penski · 11 Jul 2006 at 18:04

The_Dark_Side said:
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.

Drop Emerald an email.

With LPG, you can run more ignition advancement. You can run more boost without detonation and with a proper ECU (the reason I mentioned Emerald is that they cans et you up with a map for petrol and one for LPG that you can flick over straight away) make more power.

*n