A
Austin Shackles
Guest
On or around Sat, 19 Mar 2005 15:41:36 +0000, MVP
<mr.nice@*nospam*softhome.net> enlightened us thusly:
>it'd have to be an LPG as I have not won the lottery hence couldn't
>afford to run it on petrol, but I understand the running costs of a V8
>on LPG is about the same as a TDi, am I right there?
near enough, specially for a 3.9. 3.9s, it seems get slightly better
mileage than 3.5s, presumably they don't have to work so hard.
>Also I can't afford to lose any boot-space, and I want to have the
>option of petrol also, so, is there sufficient room underneath to have
>a reasonable size LPG tank and a hundred-or-so-miles worth of petrol
>tank?
there are 2 under-floor options: replace the petrol tank, or fit sill tanks.
The former gets you about 8 gallons of reserve petrol tank in the wing, and
(in my case) 64l useable LPG tank in the middle there the petrol tank used
to be. This tank option costs a lot, thanks to the cost of the replacement
petrol tank.
sill tanks, as Tim said, can be put in. You can get twin 40s, now, which
give you the same capacity as my single 80, (about 64l useable, 80% of the
total water capacity). 'course, you can add this to the setup I have and
get 128l useable, which one day I may be able to afford... This option by
itself is slightly cheaper, as the 2 tanks aren't quite as pricey as the
single 80 plus the petrol tank.
>Are there any servicing complications with a V8 & LPG system? I do all
>servicing myself and have never delt with a V8 nor an LPG system.
not really. extra filter (in the LPG line from tank to front of motor), and
the vapouriser, depending on how it's installed, may accumulate heavy ends
which need to be drained, say about every 24K miles.
waterproofing is a bugbear - good leads and a bit of work can get it OK, but
it's till possible to drown it. Mind, 18" with an unmodified one is not
unreasonable, with care, so I expect you can achieve what you're looking
for. An unmodified diesel won't safely do 2½ foot, anyway - air intake's
too low - so you'd be looking at a snorkel anyway...
As regards kits... check out an already-converted one very carefully,
ideally get someone who knows about gas conversions to look at it.
Things to avoid like the plague:
* anything that runs noticeably worse on gas - you shouldn't notice the
difference except at maximum welly, in normal driving it shouldn;t be
possible to tell which fuel it's on
* iffy starting or changeover. I proper conversion should change over
without dying at least 95%. if it habitually dies on changeover, it is at
least badly tuned or setup.
* insist on starting it on gas. It's a myth that they won't start on gas;
I've had a gas-only V8 on a simple open loop system, and my current disco
(also open loop) is currently having to start on gas as the petrol pump is
dead.
Personally, I'd tend to buy an unconverted one, and convert it meself or
have it done by someone who knows what they're doing. Given the choice and
the budget I'd hunt a 3.9, or failing that, a 3.5i - the hotwire is not bad
to convert, and gives less problematic answers than carbs if run mostly on
gas. Carbs can be a sod if you do a lot of gas-only, they tend to refuse to
go again on petrol without faffing around.
Should easily be doable in your budget. Kit to convert mine with
replacement tank and wing petrol tank was something around a grand, add
about 200-300 for fitting if you're not doing it yourself. I'd guess about
2-300 less for twin sill tanks.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that
"Brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio" (it is when I struggle to be
brief that I become obscure) Horace (65 - 8 BC) Ars Poetica, 25
<mr.nice@*nospam*softhome.net> enlightened us thusly:
>it'd have to be an LPG as I have not won the lottery hence couldn't
>afford to run it on petrol, but I understand the running costs of a V8
>on LPG is about the same as a TDi, am I right there?
near enough, specially for a 3.9. 3.9s, it seems get slightly better
mileage than 3.5s, presumably they don't have to work so hard.
>Also I can't afford to lose any boot-space, and I want to have the
>option of petrol also, so, is there sufficient room underneath to have
>a reasonable size LPG tank and a hundred-or-so-miles worth of petrol
>tank?
there are 2 under-floor options: replace the petrol tank, or fit sill tanks.
The former gets you about 8 gallons of reserve petrol tank in the wing, and
(in my case) 64l useable LPG tank in the middle there the petrol tank used
to be. This tank option costs a lot, thanks to the cost of the replacement
petrol tank.
sill tanks, as Tim said, can be put in. You can get twin 40s, now, which
give you the same capacity as my single 80, (about 64l useable, 80% of the
total water capacity). 'course, you can add this to the setup I have and
get 128l useable, which one day I may be able to afford... This option by
itself is slightly cheaper, as the 2 tanks aren't quite as pricey as the
single 80 plus the petrol tank.
>Are there any servicing complications with a V8 & LPG system? I do all
>servicing myself and have never delt with a V8 nor an LPG system.
not really. extra filter (in the LPG line from tank to front of motor), and
the vapouriser, depending on how it's installed, may accumulate heavy ends
which need to be drained, say about every 24K miles.
waterproofing is a bugbear - good leads and a bit of work can get it OK, but
it's till possible to drown it. Mind, 18" with an unmodified one is not
unreasonable, with care, so I expect you can achieve what you're looking
for. An unmodified diesel won't safely do 2½ foot, anyway - air intake's
too low - so you'd be looking at a snorkel anyway...
As regards kits... check out an already-converted one very carefully,
ideally get someone who knows about gas conversions to look at it.
Things to avoid like the plague:
* anything that runs noticeably worse on gas - you shouldn't notice the
difference except at maximum welly, in normal driving it shouldn;t be
possible to tell which fuel it's on
* iffy starting or changeover. I proper conversion should change over
without dying at least 95%. if it habitually dies on changeover, it is at
least badly tuned or setup.
* insist on starting it on gas. It's a myth that they won't start on gas;
I've had a gas-only V8 on a simple open loop system, and my current disco
(also open loop) is currently having to start on gas as the petrol pump is
dead.
Personally, I'd tend to buy an unconverted one, and convert it meself or
have it done by someone who knows what they're doing. Given the choice and
the budget I'd hunt a 3.9, or failing that, a 3.5i - the hotwire is not bad
to convert, and gives less problematic answers than carbs if run mostly on
gas. Carbs can be a sod if you do a lot of gas-only, they tend to refuse to
go again on petrol without faffing around.
Should easily be doable in your budget. Kit to convert mine with
replacement tank and wing petrol tank was something around a grand, add
about 200-300 for fitting if you're not doing it yourself. I'd guess about
2-300 less for twin sill tanks.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that
"Brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio" (it is when I struggle to be
brief that I become obscure) Horace (65 - 8 BC) Ars Poetica, 25
)
