Realistic cost of LPG

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.

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)

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

Probably no more than 3000 a

loads about that my Subaru

this conversion (which, lets

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!

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

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.

On or around Tue, 11 Oct 2005 20:45:51 +0000 (UTC), "TonyB" enlightened us thusly:

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.

On or around Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:50:29 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

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.

Probably no more than 3000 a

loads about that my Subaru

this conversion (which, lets

It takes a few years to get back the cost of the conversion, how long depends on your milage. and the cost of LPG is creeping up so that in a few years the running costs will, I feel, be equal to petrol. I'm currently driving a jaguar that I bought ready-converted and doing about 500 miles a week, as I can get 200 miles for £24 of LPG I'm a happy bunny.

-- Mark.

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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.

During stardate Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:20:06 +0100, "Nige" uttered the imortal words:

Probably no more than 3000 a

Nice calculator on this page.

Lee D

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

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