To LPG or not to LPG?

[andy05]

I was just wondering if any of youse has installed a LPG system into a VN. How much was it, what did it involve, and are you satified? I am thinking of putting a system in, so I can afford my lead foot

[Doctor Sodways]

there is a guy on here, "bez" or "bezz" something or other that is trying to sell his VN on gas, last he told me he was getting 300-400km's out of a tank, and was really pleased, im gunna do mine, when i get around to it

[aokman]

Many people looked into it and it aint worth it unless you buy a car with LPG, as the conversion is like $2000 in general it takes roughly 2 years to recover the money apparently.

[saint_matrix]

Hey, my car had a LPG system in and was removed before I got the car but still has everything in it except the tank itself. Do you think it would be worth buying another tank and putting it back in? The only problem is it took a mother load of boot space.
But Andy when it was on gas, alot of shit stuffed up. There was a new problem every week. The gas system was blamed but the engine had 300k on it so who knows.
Good luck

[Doctor Sodways]

Many people looked into it and it aint worth it unless you buy a car with LPG, as the conversion is like $2000 in general it takes roughly 2 years to recover the money apparently.

Thats exactly right, will you keep the car long enough to recover the money you inveseted into it to put it onto gas, If you dont plan on keeping the car for a LONG time, its not worth it

[aokman]

Thats exactly right, will you keep the car long enough to recover the money you inveseted into it to put it onto gas, If you dont plan on keeping the car for a LONG time, its not worth it

Also just as important, will the car last that long on gas

[potshots007]

i woudl suggest setting up a flash lube setting when putting gas on, i think mine was a great investment, i do a lot of km's, it cost me about $1000 to put mine in as i did mine at work. just make sure you get it tuned properly.
although i think i did lose some power running dual fuel, so in a few months time, i will be running straight gas with twin tanks, where the fuel tank normally is, will see how it goes
anyway i think it is a wise investment if ou do alot of km's

[Doctor Sodways]

Flashlube is great stuff. A motor tuned to run gas makes more power than a motor on petrol, but, if its tuned for gas and you run it on petty, it runs like shit.

[CSL]

the inline mixers they use pose a great deal of a restriction, so unless you run strait gas with as mentioned a good tune and uper cylinder lube dont bother

[pandaman]

LPG isn't as bad a fuel as a lot of people seem to think. Admittedly the ring type mixers can be very restrictive, but if you're just after an affordablle average run around with a fair bit of low end grunt, LPG is the thing for you. There are options if you want more power out of it, including twin mixer setups or a single throttle body type mixer (gas research or the like).

The initial setup is very expensive, hence it might be better value to be looking at a second hand vehicle with LPG already installed. There's a fair bit of uncertainty in the price of fuel at the moment, you may have noticed. :-) In some places the gap between LPG and petrol prices is closing, if you live in one of these areas, it might be worth doing your own calculation as to how long the payback time will be.

A lot of people worry about the loss of valve lubrication running LPG which is gaseous when it enters the chamber, as opposed to vaporous. I used to drive an XE falcon on LPG. It had run for around 150,000km on LPG before I got it (I think) and I put on another 60,000. No problems. My father used to have an XC on LPG, 300,000 km on gas no problems, well apart from the usual falcon six things, no valvetrain issues though. I have never met someone who has ended up with top end problems from running LPG. Hell, for those who reckon LPG shortens engine life, take a look at the average falcon taxi. 600,000km on the clock and the damn things are falling apart around the engine which is still going strong (head gaskets don't count on those things :-P).

All in all, like others have said, it's only going to save you money if you hold onto the car for a loooong time. If you are though it's not a bad option.

[pandaman]

the inline mixers they use pose a great deal of a restriction, so unless you run strait gas with as mentioned a good tune and uper cylinder lube dont bother

Ahh another good point, straight gas is the go. Dual fuel is an absolute pain in the arse. An engine tuned for dual fuel is a compromise between the two fuels and will not perform to it's potential on either (if it runs at all).

[fazz1977]

All good points. Really.

Personally I'd never run my VP on gas. It's not that thirsty on petrol to begin with. How cheap are we all getting? Really? My 250-300kms a week costs me about $40-$45. Big deal. My old sigma used to cost me more than that. The VP runs sweet on petrol, it's had a reco about 90,000kms ago and isn't rattly like so many gas VN/VPs you see (or hear for that matter).

Good petrol is the key. Avoid ethanol and run half a tank of premium through every few weeks. Mine hates a full tank of premium, it pings and overheats.

So yeah, go LPG if you want, I wouldn't, but that's just me.

[NVE_069]

i bought my vq v8 on gas. no probs im even thinkn about taken the fuel system off all together an gettn her build for gas as i heard u can get some power with straight gas correct me if im wrong. thats wot i ahve heard yet to ask about it b4 i do anything. but at 49.9c for gas an 1.21 for fuel i no wot i would rather. this is in qld.

Whats the highest i have seen gas for. well when i went to work at roma in qld went through a small town looked at gas an im like WTF 78c im like glad i dont live there ahaha

cheers

[fazz1977]

Straight gas is definitely the path to take if you want to go down that road.

[NVE_069]

yeh i would like to. not sure but i have been told u can get better performance out of it as in power. again from wot i have heard. but yeh id definitely wonna go down that path n remove the fuel tank all together n maybe get something made up liek a gas tank to take its place.

[HoZy]

All good points. Really.

Personally I'd never run my VP on gas. It's not that thirsty on petrol to begin with. How cheap are we all getting? Really? My 250-300kms a week costs me about $40-$45. Big deal. My old sigma used to cost me more than that. The VP runs sweet on petrol, it's had a reco about 90,000kms ago and isn't rattly like so many gas VN/VPs you see (or hear for that matter).

Good petrol is the key. Avoid ethanol and run half a tank of premium through every few weeks. Mine hates a full tank of premium, it pings and overheats.

So yeah, go LPG if you want, I wouldn't, but that's just me.

$28 = 460-540km's average.....

$71 Optimax extreme with my custom memcal = 300-400km's.........

I see quite a difference lol

[saint_matrix]

You guys are saying its only worth converting to gas if you keep it for ages due to cost of installation. My car was on dual fuel but had the gas tank removed from the boot but all the existing pipes and switches are still there, does this mean i could avoid those costs and only have to fork out for a gas tank? If this is the case is it expensive to have the car only run on gas and to cut of the petrol?

[NVE_069]

i would think taken fuel off would work out cheaper in the long run, but im no expert. anyone know there gas lol

[potshots007]

correct me if im wrong but isnt the heads on the V6 soft, ive heard of a lot of ecotecs on gas where the valves have embedded into the head, mine runs pretty good on gas, but i have a slihgt bent pushrod so i will have to fix that, but i want to get my heads reco'ed to suit gas and run straight gas, has anyone seen a gas tank in a falcon taxi? how big are they? would they fit where the fuel tank is in a VN? also with gas you can up the compression but if you do up it dont go to much as they have a tendency for detonation (i heard this from gas research) but yeah they say you can go a little higher than petrol.
www.gasresearch.com.au
thats where i get all my info from anf all of my gas equipment

cheers, nick

[bezz]

I've got my vn running lpg, only a marginal power loss and got a bit over 400kms a tank, costing under $30 to fill! Personally I wouldn't pay to get it installed, but if you can find a car with it on there, go for it! That being said, I'm getting a VT put on gas for a nice mates rates price

But yes, if you or anyone are interested in buying my car, click the link in my sig and send me a pm! It will be gone in the next few weeks as I finally have enough ca$h to buy my new car!