LPG Is the change over worth it?

[Daz27]

Ok, any australians here that have converted there car to lpg due to the rise in petrol costs? And If you have, have you lost horsepower, and is it making a difference in the hip pocket? Oh, and if you have converted, have you got dual fuel or straight gas? Be nice to know what kind of car too.

[nota]

We had two LPG cars last year but have since updated, unfortunately to non-LPG vehicles. Our previous cars were an XF (carby) Falcon auto that already had dual-fuel (Impco by Unigas) the other a '70 Mercedes 280S manual which I had converted to a GasResearch mono-gas system

Power loss was no issue with the Falcon as it was still powerful enough on LPG, and no real loss when on petrol. But I did feel the torque loss in the Merc due to the smaller motor. Both engines ran much smoother on gas

Regarding $$ savings of petrol vs LPG, the crucial factor is the diference in price between the two fuels, in your local area. So the greater the price-disparity the greater the savings, and the more rationale to convert

I monitored consumption closely and if driven in similar energetic fashion let's say the Merc used to get around 22mpg on petrol, and after conversion it would return 19mpg on gas. However I recall buying LPG for under 30 cents per litre, when petrol was over 80 cents p/l at the same garage. So the small loss of economy was irrelevant when compared to the dramatically lower LPG price, because due to the price-disparity I could travel more than two and a half time further in miles on $10 of gas than I could on $10 of petrol. Hence my actual 19mpg became an effective cost-equivalent of well over 50mpg

But it all depends on the price-difference between the fuels, as available to you in your local area. I was always a fan of LPG and my experiences have only cemented my enthusiasm, and we hope to convert at least one of our newer Mercs to gas (prefer dual-fuel) sooner rather than later. A friend with Ford BA XT V8 also plans to convert

[Daz27]

The reason I ask is I have a 98 Au 4.0l and Im getten p**sed off paying $1.47 a litre, and seeing as gas is still hovering below 60 cents, Im thinking of converting to pure gas, no petrol. However, Im also working on getting hold of a smashed BA XR6 turbo from the auctions, and dropping the motor and box and computer etc into my car. Just to be different ya see...

Does anyone know if a turboed car will run on gas alone??
If not, stuff it I'll run methanol lol....

[h00t_h00t]

Also add in the amount a conversion will cost, the car would have to work that off before you start saving and if you don't do alot of miles that will take a long time.

Also if you can't afford to fuel a V8 don't own a V8.

[matek]

LPG conversions all depend where you get them in the UK its not but in Mainland Europe its really is as the Gas is considerably cheaper and so are the actual conversions.

[Daz27]

Also add in the amount a conversion will cost, the car would have to work that off before you start saving and if you don't do alot of miles that will take a long time.

Also if you can't afford to fuel a V8 don't own a V8.

Im guessing around 1500 t0 2000 dollars for the conversion to gas. However I do roughly 50 to 60 thousand k's a year so I figure I'll make my money back fairly quick.

Does LPG work through a turbo though?

[2ndclasscitizen]

yeah, I remember seeing a 600hp VL Calais Turbo with a GasResearch conversion IIRC in a Street Machine or a website

[Daz27]

Yeah Ive been told Ford use the stock injectors on their gassed Falcons...

[nota]

yeah, I remember seeing a 600hp VL Calais Turbo with a GasResearch conversion IIRC in a Street Machine or a website

Here's their site for Daz

http://www.gasresearch.com.au/

I'm guessing around 1500 t0 2000 dollars for the conversion to gas. However I do roughly 50 to 60 thousand k's a year so I figure I'll make my money back fairly quick.

Does LPG work through a turbo though?

Anything is possible .. but not for $2k on a late turbo

LPG pics
#1: Ford OHV 250-6 turbo. #2: Holden 308-V8 blown

Also if you can't afford to fuel a V8 don't own a V8.

Seems to me that because V8s use more fuel, they will obviously gain more benefit from being converted to gas

V8 performance coupled with 4cyl economy - yes please!

[Daz27]

Thanx nota, do you know of any BA turbos being converted to gas?

[nota]

I wouldn't know about BA gas turbos (somebody else might) and for mention my mate is still waiting for a kit to become available for his BA V8 SOHC

You could ask these guys http://www.parnell.com.au

I'd guess that wrecker XR6Ts are in high demand and not cheap. Hence there's a big risk imo of overcapitalising on the '98 AU .. especially after you've paid a healthy price for a BA wrecker, paid for the installation (including engineer approval & related upgrades to brakes/suspension etc) and then paid still more for a (possibly custom) LPG conversion. Kinda seems like an expensive way to save money imho

Other options for you might include turbo-gassing your existing SOHC AU donk. I imagine its easier and more feasible to achieve/maintain ADR and rego compliance on modified, late-model engines if they run on cleaner burning mono-LPG. But again, a custom job and not cheap. It's a lot of money to inject into an AU 6cyl and resale might be tragic

You could simply gas your existing car while keeping it otherwise stock (they go ok anyway) and start saving $ sooner rather than later. Or update to an existing late-model gasser. If more performance is a must, its a great time time to buy a cheap recent V8, and then gas one of those.

[h00t_h00t]

Here's their site for Daz
V8 performance coupled with 4cyl economy - yes please!

It would need to be, if he does 60k a year he won't be passing many lpg stations unless they are all over the place down there.

[Daz27]

First up got the message with the resale being crappy, but an AU is only worth about 6 grand now, so not really worried about that. Over capitalising isnt much of a worry, its not something I'd do to a car I was going to sell in 12 months and to be honest I dont think Id sell anyway, if another car come along Id just stick this one in the shed for later. Ive also got an XA 2 door to finish rebuilding so Im not in a huge hurry. I work in a garage here in South oz so doing anything remotely technical isn't an issue, and I have a mate who is a qualified engineer so basically with all those issues Im set. At the moment its just in the planning/feasability stage, like the coupe was 3 years ago. Granted the BA XR6 donk might not be the way to go, however, a standard BA 6 cylinder pushes 185 odd kilowatts, and I imagine theres a under bonnet blower kit for a BA on the market now so that may be an option as well. Im also failry keen on having the sequential shift fitted as well. I already have planned for fitting some huge brakes on it, front and rear, and besides, 18 inch rims look gay without massive rotors filling them up. Im budgeting for around 20 grand on mechanicals.

[Daz27]

It would need to be, if he does 60k a year he won't be passing many lpg stations unless they are all over the place down there.

LPG is everywhere Hoot, I dont think Ive been to a service station anywhere in OZ in the last 5 years that hasnt had a LPG bowser. Youre more likely to find LPG than Premium Unleaded in some places.

[Sporish01]

Thanx nota, do you know of any BA turbos being converted to gas?

i was going to buy a turbo for my xf and the guy told me that i was goona get more power out of gas ...250kw worth!!! so yes gas works on turbos
probably chews a bit more tho