I am a relatively new reader of this excellent form of motoring exchange so forgive me if this is old hat.
I have just read an article by a motoring journalist extolling the virtues of LPG from economy to environment. What are the views of the backroom boys ?. Are there any users who have converted to dual fuel who can pass on their experiences. How is it on high performance motors ?.
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There are some useful bits of info and telephone numbers on the LPG FAQ answer at www.honestjohn.co.uk
Seems to be a problem converting Hondas to LPG.
HJ
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Try "belsay-workshop@supanet.com" He's a mate and has converted a Merc, BMW, Range Rover and lesser mortals woth no problem. They are really nice to drive because they are very smooth. Nobody tells you that. Try it. It's incredibly SMOOTH. Tell him TC said to try him. Probably give you a good quote. He's a good man too. Very careful and fully qualified.
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As for performance motas - a friend of mine (D&N Autogas) has converted a 1989 BMW M3 Evolution, a BMW 750i and soon to be a BMW 1993 M5. No probs. Get it fitted properly, get the biggest tank u can reasonably fit and lug about (heavy!) and fit a fart-flap or risk ur air-flow sensor.
Mpg about 10% less but at 35p/L - who cares?
Performance similar. (with 340bhp M5 - who's going 2 notice any difference?)
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I have owned and driven many LPG converted cars Mel. The first thing to determine is how much range do you need? The tanks which sit in the spare wheel well only hold a useable capacity of around 40 litres so with a car consuming fuel @ 28-30MPG you will need to refuel every 200 or so miles - a real pain - I've been there! The best tanks to go for are the larger sausage shaped tanks which take up loadspace but hold much more fuel. Driving an LPG car is no different than a conventional petrol powered vehicle. It is heart warming to see the engine oil stay a golden colour mile after mile, as it is a cleaner burning fuel. LPG fuel prices will not rise much above what they are now as the Government wants to be seen to be endorsing the use of 'clean' fuels, so don't worry about that too much. LPG availablity is increasing day by day. If you shop at Sainsbury's and spend over £100, you get a voucher for 4p off a litre at the petrol station, bringing the cost down to below 30p a litre!! There are many 'cowboy' LPG converters out there, my advice is take your time selecting somebody and look for LPGA Approval. Some cars can be more troublesome to convert to LPG than others, but anything's possible!
Performance-wise, there is very little difference, some people say their cars perform better on LPG than petrol!! The general rule is, the bigger the engine, the better the conversion performance will be.
Keep us posted on your progress Mel
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Volvo produce a gas and petrol combined car that has enormous gas tanks ,they are moulded to fit just about every conceavable spare
bit of space and will run on natural or lpg .I had a close look at the Leipzig motor show and was very impressed.They have a combined fuel range of about 1500 kms and are to be aimed at the taxi market .Earth gas,lpg and Bio diesel at filling stations are becoming quiet the norm in Germany infact you can buy a Bio diesel franchise quiet cheap it is not regarded as a flamable liquid so storage is no great problem attach a pump and your away.
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I have a 98 1.8 Mondeo GLX which I converted with a powershift grant back in Dec'99. I've had no problems and fuel is easy to find these days. I'd agree that the drive is smoother on LPG and for mostly urban driving I get about 25 to the gallon and 30 on a run at fast mostway speeds, overall it costs about 6.5p per mile overall which is cheaper than diesel of comparable size and cleaner too, though range is less about 250 to 330 with a spare wheel tank.
When I looked into converting I became aware that not all conversions are as effective as others. eg I noted that one car with kit A qualified for a full grant whereas same car with kit B only qualified for a lesser grant. Also for peace of mind a powershift approved conversion has be tried and tested to be effective so even if your donor car is more than a year old I'd go for one off the list. I bought from a Ian Shipton Cars on an HJ mention in a review of car supermarkets in Torygraph. Saved 1 yr depreciation and got a EURO IV emmisions compliant car for £8.5k :-)
I would recommend LPG to anyone for general use, however I'd think carefully about fitting to a "performance" car. Not for any problem from the engine but you will add about 100kgs to the weight of the car, most of it at the rear. That will not only affect acceleration but also handling, so IMHO it could blunt the appeal of the car.
2p
Jon
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It will not add 100kg to the weight of the car.
It will only add the weight of an empty LPG tank which I would say is about 40kg.
Don't forget - your petrol tank will be virtually empty (gallon or so) so no real difference.
However, I transported my 100ltr tank empty back from the garage the other day plus full tank of petrol + 2 *big* adults and my lights were kindly illuminating the moon. That is why something like a BMW is such a good conversion as they are well balanced and the biggies are long wheelbase.
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IIRC the kerb weight of the Vectra and Astra dual fuel models is +60kgs (~10 stone ~1 small adult) compared with petrol version. I estimated 100kgs as the donut tnaks only hold 48L of gas which would probably give inadequate range for a large engined car.
On the mondeo I have found that the car handles better with an extra 5 psi in the rear tyres, it rides a little lower at the back which is why I maintain that it will affect the handling, don't forget that the weight is (for my tank anyway) behind the rear wheels.
Also power is down by ~5% on gas.
For normal road use it may not make an appreciable difference but in terms of resale I would have thought it would be significant minus point for a performance car that was finely balanced before conversion.
2p
Jon
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LPG is not a cheap solution for cutting fuel costs. I have several thousand miles experince in diferent dual fuel cars. In real world motoring the equivalent mpg can fall into single figures especially on motorways and with a load. This removes the price advantage of LPG. In addition, one car received a mild rear end shunt and it was off the road for three months. Only specialist workshops will repair LPG cars and the nearest one willing to accept the car was 80 miles outside London. The cars cannot be put back on the road until a qualified LPG engineer has inspected the vehicle. There is an accute shortage of these engineers and an a small shunt which should have taken around 10 days to sort out turned into something very unacceptable. Diesel is the only way to go to reduce fuel costs.
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