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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> LPG
        
(Message started by: Allen on May 14^th, 2006, 10:48pm)

Title: LPG
Post by Allen on May 14^th, 2006, 10:48pm

Has anybody got any experience converting and running their Scorpio on LPG.
I have a 2,9 12 valve and seriously considering the DIY conversion route with assistance from a registered installer. I have the mechanical knowledge to complete all the 'hands on' work and will have the software loaded by the installer when they check and certify the installation.
i would like to do more miles than i can currently afford in the car and the future of oil prices does not give any indication of becoming sympathetic to my wishes.
Just curious about anybodys experience to date with a fully sequential injector LPG setup.
Kit that i am looking at is retailing at 1300 quid give or take and that includes everything including the ecu reprogramming and certificate of confornity.
Anybodys thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Title: Re: LPG
Post by jonnycab on May 14^th, 2006, 11:47pm

Good post Allen.....Thinking about having a gas coversion on my 2.3. Seems expensive though.
Considering how much us car drivers pollute the atmosphere, I think the government should be encouraging cleaner running cars by starting up some kind of scheme to convert all cars to run on LPG.
Lets face it...it ain't gonna happen. If it did then LPG would be 95 pence a litre.
If the government were really worried about the air that we breath then fossil fuels would be illegal & all cars would be running on LPG type fuel!!

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Allen on May 15^th, 2006, 12:01am

Your spot on with that comment however i'm afraid my intention to convert comes about purely as a result of my self indulgeant desire to drive this fine machine over greater distances without emptying my bank account whilst doing it.
My main reason for deciding to do it is that i have a one off oportunity of being able to afford it and this will then enable me to be able to afford the future daily running costs even when the financial side of things is somewhat strained (which it often is).
The car is worth spending the money on. Where else am i going to get this level of motoring luxury with the finances i have available?
The answer we all know to be...nowhere.

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Bren_K30 on May 15^th, 2006, 12:31am

Allen, pm sent

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Baz on May 15^th, 2006, 1:09am

Mine goes in fo its conversion on 25th of this month to a company called Wains Classic Rebuilds in Norwich. I got all the kit from a breaker but the system is the same as the one shown on the main site and is about £2000 worth It was only a few months old before the doner car was written off and as Mr Wain was the only guy willing to give me all of his expertise and diagrams etc when I was looking to fit the system, I asked him if he would fit it for me. He is doing so and will keep the car for a week or so to ensure it is all fully working prior to me getting it back. It will be fully certified so no insurance issues either

I fly back from Norwich airport to Manchester for less than the car will take in fuel to get me there and then fly down a week later with my 4 year old son Connor and have a nice long winded drive back on gas!

I must admit that I would find it hard to justify an outlay of £2000+ on a car worth not much more than that, but doing it this way will cost me about £500-£600 in total

Baz

Title: Re: LPG
Post by scorpio_man on May 15^th, 2006, 5:36am

hi there

lpg kits are now about £1700 fitted. the price of lpg is 40p pre litre (motorway about 45p), petrol about 96p per litre. it soon pays for it's self.

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/lpg2_3.htm

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Spannerdemon on May 15^th, 2006, 12:11pm

I think that jonnycab's post would be my biggest worry about converting to LPG. ???

Yes, sure, it's cheaper NOW, but we all know what these money-grabbing politicians are like. Once they saw that more and more people were migrating to LPG, I'd put a VERY big wager on them increasing the price of it (under all sorts of pretexts) to "bring it into line" with other fuels.

Just like they did with diesel.............which is now DEARER than petrol. Thank the "Chelsea taxi drivers", as I understand they call these 4X4 drivers in London, for that one!!

Just out of interest, I wonder how long would it take to recoup the £1700.00 quoted for fitting.........would you still have the car by then even?

I'm looking at running my 12v 2.9 on Seagull poo. I seem to scrape enough of it off the car each week to be able to set up a processing plant!! ;D

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Bren_K30 on May 15^th, 2006, 1:11pm

The duty on LPG was always, and as far as I know - still is, set by legislation at 50% of the duty of other road fuels.

Even this morally bankrupt government would find it an uphill struggle to change this in the "green" climate we presently have.

They would give the great blue hope, David Cameron, who cycles to Westminster, an open goalpost at a time when their popularity is at a marvellous low.

I hope this post didn't give any indication of my own political sympathies, which I try not to broadcast openly. :)

Title: Re: LPG
Post by martin_rowe on May 15^th, 2006, 1:20pm

LPG duty frozen for 5yrs, due to increase by 1p per liter per year, thats 5p over the next 5 years. shop around for gas, 32p per l here in stoke, savings add up very fast, most people dare'nt work out how much they pay for fuel, a saving of over £2.50 per gal is easy, it may be a bitter pill to swallow to convert but is worth it in the long run, Range Rover 4.6 pays back in approx 6000 miles, most 2.0 saloons 15-20000 miles is a rough estimate.
conversion costs can range quite a bit, be very carefull what you are getting / who fitted by, dont go for the cheepest, you may save a couple of hundred on the kit, but loose out in the long run with economy & performance. good kit & fitters are out there.
on the bad side, over the last 3/4 years I have removed more 'bad' kits than I have fitted good ones.

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Spannerdemon on May 15^th, 2006, 1:26pm

I don't have ANY faith in ANY politicians. Biggest load of liars in the wordl. Most/All of them have more faces than Big Ben!

It was precisely one of the 'green' issues that persuaded more people to convert to diesel.

Legislation can be changed overnight by these clowns, (in a budget for example).

Vote for me next time round!! I'll abolish Tax on Fuel, and abolish Road Tax on Ford Scorpio's!!
Furthermore, there will be free MOT's (parts and labour included) for all Scorps!! 8) 8)

Title: Re: LPG
Post by jonnycab on May 15^th, 2006, 8:08pm

Spannerdemon- If you were to make it that I didn't have to pay road tax on my 29 year old MK1 Granny as well...then you would get my vote...also I would like my money back every time I don't win the Lottery.

Title: Re: LPG
Post by music_master on May 15^th, 2006, 9:03pm

so in the long run the lpg conversion is worth it but some ppl say the car looses some power when running on lpg is this true ;) cos i was thinking about having this done on my 2.3 ultima estate

Title: Re: LPG
Post by scorpio_man on May 15^th, 2006, 9:24pm

no!

see my car on the site....http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/lpg2_3.htm

great reading my write up again. especially the bit about petrol costs!! 2 1/2 years ago!! ;D

Title: Re: LPG
Post by sector-9 on May 15^th, 2006, 11:21pm

Makes me wonder whether or not I should have bothered with the diesel - wouldn't be so bad if it averaged more than 31mpg!

Darren

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Bren_K30 on May 15^th, 2006, 11:44pm

on 05/15/06 at 21:03:59, music_master wrote:

but some ppl say the car looses some power when running on lpg is this true ;

I ran a '82 Granada 2.0L (XFA 629X) on LPG for many many taxi miles, both local and longer distances. This was the older single point system. Yes it did lose a small amount of power, but realistically this was only noticeable when switching back on to petrol and feeling the difference. The car was still more than capable of doing anything I needed. In fact when on LPG it had a much smoother power flow and better low end torque. It was a far better towcar on LPG because of the better low end, and wasn't the Mk2 a pig of a car for towing to start with!

Todays conversions are now more advanced and I for one feel you will have no concerns at all about power loss once it's fitted.

I fitted this kit on to my next car, a Volvo 1.7 saloon and continued using it for 300,000 miles. Another benefit is it being transferrable from vehicle to vehicle, although some parts then needed to be model dependant each time and doubtless you would find the same with the new sequential kits. Even with that, the cost of transferring will still be a hell of a lot less than "new car - new kit" each time.

Bren

ps .... Mike, Tesco garage Winwick Rd (near pizza hut) sell LPG now

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Thunderchild on May 16^th, 2006, 11:05am

I can definitely recommend the change to LPG. I converted my last Cossie to LPG by myself and had the job certified by an installer. Like yours it's a sequential injection setup by Landi. Daunting when all the bits arrive and there's no diagrams telling you how to fit it to the car. However if, like me, you take it one bit at a time it all comes together, just be careful when drilling and tapping the manifolds. Took me 4 days in total and I was lucky enough to have the use of a corner of my mate's garage. I've since removed it from the old car and installed it in the new Cossie. No power loss and real cheap!!! Lovely!! Happy to give any advice or help that I can.

Thunderchild

Title: Re: LPG
Post by derekne on May 16^th, 2006, 2:34pm

on 05/15/06 at 21:24:27, scorpio_man wrote:

no!

see my car on the site....http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/lpg2_3.htm

great reading my write up again. especially the bit about petrol costs!! 2 1/2 years ago!! ;D

Hello, Scorp man
Hows your lpg conversion going now are there any
other problems?
I have been looking everywhere for an. LPG rolling road
test near myself. However theres none here. So Im seriously considering going down to leeds for a tartarini setup.
I asked at my local in Morpeth (Northumberland tyne and wear) Can you set my lpg up for me? They replied We have got rid of the software. I said but why. The reason I got was tartarini is to old for us now. We have moved on. Bloody charmin ???
So basicly im stuck in a rut. After reading your update on your lpg problems (regulator). Im thinking on a moosy down sometime soon.

Title: Re: LPG
Post by scorpio_man on May 16^th, 2006, 8:38pm

hi there

car is running great. can't see why they said tartarini was old. they have some of the newest stuff around. more likely they didn't want to pay to use the software. :-/

Title: Re: LPG
Post by Simmo on May 20^th, 2006, 6:25pm

As Car Mechanics magazine has been mentioned elsewhere it may be of interest to know that the June edition is featuring an article on LPG and in particular the ability to DIY. The firm mentioned is Tinleytech of Bourn near Cambridge (Tel 01954 719002) on www.tinleytech.co.uk.