Realistic cost of LPG

N

Nige

Guest

• Oct 11, 2005

• #1

System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles. Probably no more than 3000 a
year. Dependant on cost & performance/space losses- is it worth it?

I need this car to use lugging big heavy (not really heavy, but heavy enough) loads about that my Subaru
can't even think about. Tends to be local or less than 60 mile trips.

I'm not sure that I would financially benefit (I know the eco benefits) with this conversion (which, lets
be honest is the real reason folk have it done)

Cheers for any advice for a subject I really do know NOTHING about!!

Nige

--
Subaru WRX
Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)
WTB a clean RRC pref 3.9 or LSE 4.2

'"gimme the f*ckin' money"

 

B

Badger

Guest

• Oct 11, 2005

• #2

"Nige" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles.
> Probably no more than 3000 a year. Dependant on cost & performance/space
> losses- is it worth it?
>
> I need this car to use lugging big heavy (not really heavy, but heavy
> enough) loads about that my Subaru can't even think about. Tends to be
> local or less than 60 mile trips.
>
> I'm not sure that I would financially benefit (I know the eco benefits)
> with this conversion (which, lets be honest is the real reason folk have
> it done)
>
> Cheers for any advice for a subject I really do know NOTHING about!!
>
> Nige

Only you can do the maths and decide whether it's worth it or not, but as
for a system here's my tuppenceworth. Fit an OMVL Millenium (Formerly AEB
Leonardo - AEB make the electronics, OMVL apply their badge!) based front
end setup, with the OMVL R90 vapouriser. A tried and tested solution on any
pre-Gems v8, simply weld a boss for a lambda probe on vehicles not
originally fitted with them. Just make sure the engine's cam isn't worn
beforehand, at that mileage, and that the ignition system is in A1
condition.
Badger.

 

L

Larry

Guest

• Oct 11, 2005

• #3

I figured out, (may be wrong) that I would never recover the initial cost of
converting. I thought about it with my limo, and had I done it I would have
been right, as I would have disposed of it before I made any savings.

Right now if I were to convert I would want a dual fuel system and a tank
under the front seat somewhere out of the way not intruding.

Eventually if we wait long enough we will be able to run on alcohol (well
perhaps I run on alcohol already)


--
þT

L'autisme c'est moi

"Space folds, and folded space bends, and bent folded space contracts and
expands unevenly in every way unconcievable except to someone who does not
believe in the laws of mathematics"



"Nige" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles.
Probably no more than 3000 a
> year. Dependant on cost & performance/space losses- is it worth it?
>
> I need this car to use lugging big heavy (not really heavy, but heavy
enough) loads about that my Subaru
> can't even think about. Tends to be local or less than 60 mile trips.
>
> I'm not sure that I would financially benefit (I know the eco benefits)
with this conversion (which, lets
> be honest is the real reason folk have it done)
>
> Cheers for any advice for a subject I really do know NOTHING about!!
>
> Nige
>
> --
> Subaru WRX
> Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)
> WTB a clean RRC pref 3.9 or LSE 4.2
>
> '"gimme the f*ckin' money"
>
>

 

T

TonyB

Guest

• Oct 11, 2005

• #4

> > System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly
miles.
> > Probably no more than 3000 a year. Dependant on cost & performance/space
> > losses- is it worth it?

I reckon you'll save about 500 quid a year on 3k miles. So whatever the cost
of conversion is, divide it by 500 to find out how many years before you are
in profit. Est: conversion 1500/500 = 3 years. It may be possible to get the
conversion a bit cheaper.

TonyB

 

T

Tim Hobbs

Guest

• Oct 11, 2005

• #5

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:20:06 +0100, "Nige"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles. Probably no more than 3000 a
>year. Dependant on cost & performance/space losses- is it worth it?
>
>I need this car to use lugging big heavy (not really heavy, but heavy enough) loads about that my Subaru
>can't even think about. Tends to be local or less than 60 mile trips.
>
>I'm not sure that I would financially benefit (I know the eco benefits) with this conversion (which, lets
>be honest is the real reason folk have it done)
>
>Cheers for any advice for a subject I really do know NOTHING about!!
>
>Nige
>
>--?
>Subaru WRX
>Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)
>WTB a clean RRC pref 3.9 or LSE 4.2
>
>'"gimme the f*ckin' money"
>

Well, let's say you are going to get 15 mpg on petrol. By price,
you'll see 40mpg on LPG (local station has LPG at a third of the price
of petrol, but you'll burn a little more per mile).

3000 miles per year is 75 gallons at 40mpg and 200 gallons at 15mpg.
Call it £4 a gallon and you save £500 a year.

A decent conversion will probably cost you at least £1000 - you'll
need to fettle the ignition system, buy the kit, have it installed.
You might even want to fit a new cam. All told the install on my
Disco cost about £800-900 fitted I think, but I did well. You want
underslung tanks so unless you stumble on a good kit at a good price
it could well cost more.

So, two years payback at least. It may retain a little value in the
vehicle, but only a few hundred quid at most. It will also take you
time and hassle - I don't think these things are ever right first
time, especially on a vehicle with god knows what secrets to hide!






--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'03 Volvo V70

 

S

Steve L

Guest

• Oct 12, 2005

• #6

We converted a Zafira a few years back (Landie is TD5, so no help there),
and reckoned 15000 miles to break even (we did get a grant to help with the
costs, can't remember exact figures now). However, if you happen to have a
local Morrisson's or Jet station nearby, they're selling LPG for 29.9p litre
(at least, up here in Edinburgh), so that reduces the figure even further.
Figures wise, we notice a small reduction in MPG whilst on gas (about 2 or 3
mpg at most, so around 10%), and almost no difference in performance, but I
can't comment on any of the systems available for the various Land Rover
engines.
Steve

"Tim Hobbs" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:20:06 +0100, "Nige"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles.
>>Probably no more than 3000 a
>>year. Dependant on cost & performance/space losses- is it worth it?
>>
>>I need this car to use lugging big heavy (not really heavy, but heavy
>>enough) loads about that my Subaru
>>can't even think about. Tends to be local or less than 60 mile trips.
>>
>>I'm not sure that I would financially benefit (I know the eco benefits)
>>with this conversion (which, lets
>>be honest is the real reason folk have it done)
>>
>>Cheers for any advice for a subject I really do know NOTHING about!!
>>
>>Nige
>>
>>--?
>>Subaru WRX
>>Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)
>>WTB a clean RRC pref 3.9 or LSE 4.2
>>
>>'"gimme the f*ckin' money"
>>
>
> Well, let's say you are going to get 15 mpg on petrol. By price,
> you'll see 40mpg on LPG (local station has LPG at a third of the price
> of petrol, but you'll burn a little more per mile).
>
> 3000 miles per year is 75 gallons at 40mpg and 200 gallons at 15mpg.
> Call it £4 a gallon and you save £500 a year.
>
> A decent conversion will probably cost you at least £1000 - you'll
> need to fettle the ignition system, buy the kit, have it installed.
> You might even want to fit a new cam. All told the install on my
> Disco cost about £800-900 fitted I think, but I did well. You want
> underslung tanks so unless you stumble on a good kit at a good price
> it could well cost more.
>
> So, two years payback at least. It may retain a little value in the
> vehicle, but only a few hundred quid at most. It will also take you
> time and hassle - I don't think these things are ever right first
> time, especially on a vehicle with god knows what secrets to hide!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Tim Hobbs
>
> '58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
> '03 Volvo V70

 

P

PDannyD

Guest

• Oct 12, 2005

• #7

On Tuesday 11 October 2005 21:20, Nige([email protected])
wrote in message <[email protected]>

> System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles.
> Probably no more than 3000 a year. Dependant on cost & performance/space
> losses- is it worth it?
<snip>

In addition to the other replies, make sure you get the engine tuned by
someone who knows their stuff. I don't mean by a mate who tunes by ear, get
it done properly.

My flatmate got his 2.25 litre IIA SWB converted to LPG recently. On the
first drive out I remarked that it sounded like it was running a little
rich. Power was way down but it started and ran reasonably well and sounded
sweet enough but was getting **FIVE** miles per gallon!

After a visit to the local garage for a proper tune-up and a severe
leaning-off he's now getting marginally less MPG than he does with petrol
and just as much power. Cost-wise it works out as an equivalent of 40-50mpg
on unleaded.

--
2001 FZS600 - Silver/Black
1974 SIII Land Rover - Hardtop 2.25 Petrol, Green
1954 Ford 100E Prefect - Black

 

A

Austin Shackles

Guest

• Oct 12, 2005

• #8

On or around Tue, 11 Oct 2005 20:45:51 +0000 (UTC), "TonyB"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>> > System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly
>miles.
>> > Probably no more than 3000 a year. Dependant on cost & performance/space
>> > losses- is it worth it?
>
>I reckon you'll save about 500 quid a year on 3k miles. So whatever the cost
>of conversion is, divide it by 500 to find out how many years before you are
>in profit. Est: conversion 1500/500 = 3 years. It may be possible to get the
>conversion a bit cheaper.

closed loop with underfloor tank and replacement petrol tank ain't gonna
come in much under 1500, I wouldn't think.

Can't fit sill tanks on an airsus one, although I think there's a plan
involving steel springing, so if you remove all the airsus stuff you may be
able to fit sill tanks.

Mind, personally, I reckon it's a pity to take the airsus off it, but then
it's not my vehicle.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Too Busy: Your mind is like a motorway. Sometimes it can be jammed by
too much traffic. Avoid the jams by never using your mind on a
Bank Holiday weekend.
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

 

A

Austin Shackles

Guest

• Oct 12, 2005

• #9

On or around Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:50:29 +0100, Tim Hobbs <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Well, let's say you are going to get 15 mpg on petrol. By price,
>you'll see 40mpg on LPG (local station has LPG at a third of the price
>of petrol, but you'll burn a little more per mile).

You can't actually rely on 1/3 price unless you have a local supplier and
don't travel far. 'round here, it's more than 1/3, and some motorway ones
are more still.

ballpark figure is that you save about 40% of your petrol costs, you might
do slightly better with a closed loop system.

taking the idea of 15 mpg, and petrol at about 99ppl, I get about 29 p/mile.
Which equates to something around 13,000 miles to pay back the install cost,
using the above figures and assuming 1500 quid for converting it.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25

 

T

Tim Hobbs

Guest

• Oct 13, 2005

• #10

>
>You can't actually rely on 1/3 price unless you have a local supplier and
>don't travel far. 'round here, it's more than 1/3, and some motorway ones
>are more still.

Nearest LPG is 400 yards away - Jet. Last time I checked it was 29.9
lpg and 90 odd for unleaded. OP said 'local usage'. If you fill up
on the M1 or similar then you'll likely find 42p and 95p or
thereabouts.


--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'03 Volvo V70

 

L

Lee_D

Guest

• Oct 13, 2005

• #11

During stardate Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:20:06 +0100, "Nige"
<[email protected]> uttered the imortal words:

>System on an older 120K 4.2 LSE engine? I aint gonna be doing silly miles. Probably no more than 3000 a
>year. Dependant on cost & performance/space losses- is it worth it?



Nice calculator on this page.

http://www.car-gas.co.uk/

Lee D
--
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam.
Winston Churchill

www.lrproject.com
'76 101 Camper
'64 88" IIa V8 Auto
'97 Disco ES Auto LPG'd
'01 Laguna