VS Wagon - Convert to LPG or not?

[levymetal]

commsirac, i believe i have a petrol leak... so i decided to just never use petrol at all in my car. i always start on petrol and switch to gas, but i used 15 litres of petrol last week doing that which is totally rubbish, so i'm just going to leave it. it makes a funny sound when i start it on gas like fast clicking... no idea what this is but it goes away when it warms up. any reason not to start a car on gas when cold? or is it just something that people say for the sake of saying it?

 

[Nanos]

I have had both Wagons on gas on wagons not on gas. the only thing i found to cause problems was the location of the tank in the back. In the wagons i had on gas they where mounted along the side of the car not along the back (LIKE IN A SEDAN BEHIND THE SEAT).

the problem this created was the added weight onto one spring and the load was not shared across both springs as you find in a sedan.

i ended up having to get pedders to put a stiffer spring in one side that was slightly raised as to handel the fall tank better and that fixed the problem.

maybe worth while considering this as before i did suspension upgrade it handel like cra. The tank was installed on drivers side as well so when i was travelling alone all the weight was on one side.

 

[Cheap6]

commsirac, i believe i have a petrol leak... so i decided to just never use petrol at all in my car. i always start on petrol and switch to gas, but i used 15 litres of petrol last week doing that which is totally rubbish, so i'm just going to leave it. it makes a funny sound when i start it on gas like fast clicking... no idea what this is but it goes away when it warms up. any reason not to start a car on gas when cold? or is it just something that people say for the sake of saying it?

commsirac may wish to add more but there's no reason not to start on gas, it's just that it can take extra cranking time to fill the vapour tube between the converter and mixer and to fill the manifold with gas. There are various "fixes" available for dedicated gas cars but it's easier just to start the car on petrol if it's dual fuel.

(For everyone else, levymetal has an Impco LPG system to which the following applies).

The clicking sound might be the fuel control valve (FCV) which is used to fine tune the gas:fuel mixture. It works by bleeding vacuum onto a diaphram in the gas converter (pressure regulator) lowering the reference pressure and hence the pressure (density) of the gas passing through to the mixer = fuel mixture control. If the FCV(s) is (are) working, you will hear it tick like a really loud fuel injector. Just how loud depends on where it (they) is (are) mounted. If the FCV fully open or fully closed ie. duty cyle 100% or 0%, the mixtures are outside the range that it can adjust (ie. there is a fault with the mechanical components of the gas system), you won't hear it as it's no longer moving. This may only be happening when the converter is warm.

 

[Old Colts in Oz]

Hi guys,

Thought I'd update the thread on my progress. Over the past couple of weeks I've rung around and obtained about 15 different quotes. Options I've discussed with people are :
- Wheel well versus side tank
- Second hand versus new tank
- Different types of equipment

Because I was taking a while to decide, my brother got sick of paying for petrol on his VT and got his converted to LPG with the tank in the wheel well. The cost was $2500 with a second hand tank. He's happy with the job except the tank sits up higher than the floor and the tank is only 45 litres. The spare is mounted on the side and does take up a little bit of room.

So what was my decision? I've booked the car in to get a second hand, tested tank fitted to the right side of the wagon for $2100. Booking is in 3 weeks so I'll let you know the result. Basically it all got a bit too hard. Cheapest quote was $1950. Most expensive was $3450. I don't know how long I'll have this car ( be nice to trade up to a VX/VY one day ) so it's hard to justify paying more than I have to. About 70% of the workshops recommended against the round "donut" tank so I reckon I'll just have to wait and see if I've made the right decision.......

 

[Old Colts in Oz]

Another update. Got the LPG fitted on Thursday. Seems to be ok so far except for a couple of things:

- The tank itself was a bit rough cosmetically - the guy must have ripped it out of another car, tested it and installed in mine. It was fairly scratched and a bit rusty here and there. Being in the wagon it is highly visible so some cheaper silver spray paint sorted that.

- I forgot to mention to the installer that I occasionally put the Cargo barrier in. If anyone gets their wagon done, probably a good idea to mention this. I managed to fix it by loosening off the tank clamps and sliding the tank back an inch.

- The biggest issue - was towing my boat up the river yesterday and the car lost all it's coolant and cooked. Not sure if it was the LPG guys fault but he had to run a new hose to the Heater tap and one of the fittings snapped in half. For such a small thing it caused all sorts of grief ( stuck on the side of the road with a boat isn't much fun ). $80 worth of tap and hoses got it fixed and I'll be replacing the coolant this week. If you're getting your VS done, keep an eye out for this.

So far the car seems to run alright but I'll be checking the fuel consumption and getting the settings checked after a couple of tanks of gas.

 

[tezza]

Did it cost $2100 all up, less the government rebate?

 

[Old Colts in Oz]

Yep, the government should be paying the $2000 so I got away with it for $100 . I've submitted the forms so just waiting for the cash to come through.

 

[mcnmn]

just bought a vs and as a p plater with only a part time job im thinking about doing the conversion so that i can keep the thing filled up.,., just a few questions...
where did you get it converted for $2100??
and im thinking of maby doing a few mods like a cat back exhaust system. are you able to do mods with lpg? will the exhaust sound different on lpg? and if you run it on petrol (duel fuel) do you get the original power?

 

[Cheap6]

im thinking of maby doing a few mods like a cat back exhaust system. are you able to do mods with lpg? will the exhaust sound different on lpg? and if you run it on petrol (duel fuel) do you get the original power?

You can do to a car fueled by LPG whatever you can do to a car fueled by petrol to make it quicker. There are some mods., such as a cam change, where there is some benefit to making choices specific to one fuel or the other.

The exhaust sounds the same .

The power difference with a mixer (gas carb.) in the intake path is slightly less whether on petrol or LPG. It is not noticeable during normal driving while on LPG and even less so when back on petrol. The difference between a full tank of LPG and an empty one is more noticeable.

If you really just want to go fast, stick with petrol. If you want to go the same speed as everyone else does in traffic but for half price, and go nearly as quickly when you choose, consider LPG.

 

[Old Colts in Oz]

Hi mcnmn,

The place is I went through isTrevor Jones Auto Gas at Hackam. He fitted a second hand tank for just over $2000 - it cost me a little more because I paid by credit card - cash would be about $60 cheaper.