LPG opinions needed

Richard Brookman · 2004-01-05T20:40:31+00:00

I'm now seriously considering getting the RR (1997 4.6 V8) converted toLPG - a couple of long runs over Xmas persuaded me that it was worth lookingat, at least. I'm looking for real-life opinions before I commit a largeamount of dosh. I've followed all the arguments in this NG over the lastcouple of years, but they seem to generate more heat than light. Can anyonewho has actually had the conversion done (on this or a similar engine)relate their experiences and offer advice?FWIW, this is the current stuff going round my head:Pro:*economy (no question - and I can do the maths to workout the paybackperiod)*availability (I have an LPG station about 2 miles away)*capacity (doubling the rather measly range sounds good)Con:*cost (I've seen quotes between 1500 and 2500 GBP)*loss of boot space (I want to keep the spare wheel and I do go off road, sounderfloor tanks are out)*general running (this is the big one - the engine runs well on petrol, andI don't want to lose the character of the motor - and I've spoken to anumber of people who have said the car has never run well since theconversion.. I sort of really like it just the way it is and don't relishmessing it about)*convenience (the nearest approved conversion garage is about 30 milesaway - I've heard it can take a lot of return trips to get it running justright, and I am a fussy b*gger)Annual mileage is about 10K, and I get 16-17 mpg average. Mostly commuting,some longer journeys, and I tow between 1.5 and 2.5 tonnes regularly.Over to you, group - what should I do?

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Tim Hobbs 22 years ago

The real beauty is in his ability to use the tax system to pay benefits and the benefits system to penalise those with incomes. I cannot imagine how taxation could be less complicated or more poorly linked to usage or ability to pay than it currently is.

I never did the Discovery largely because I couldn't be confident that anyone actually knew what they were doing. The only people who inspired any confidence for EFI systems were RPi, but they advised against underslung tanks and wanted to sell me loads of additional stuff which was quite possibly necessary but equally possibly snake oil. Their quote was about £2500, which made the payback fairly long.

That's socialism. A concept which can only prosper by keeping the poor poor, because once nobody is poor you have a nation full of capitalists! And you have to keep the capitalists rich, because they fund your party coffers in return for favours.

You also have the additional maintenance liability to consider - what is the lifetime of the various bits?

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Mother 22 years ago

For some reason I thought you had a few RaQs hosted in your offices...

Yeah, and I hate it when customers are bigger than me, or know what they're talking about... :-)

Chris has been in the game a fair while and also doesn't strike me as a box shifting dodgy geeza who'll take the money and run. He made a very wise choice by going with the Iwema crowd as, now I have met the Cloggies, have a great deal of respect for them and their capabilities.

A mate of mine had a few problems with his LPG install (Kevin, the chap with the 6x6 101) as he'd gone for a slightly different setup. The chap from Iwema spent a lot of time physically looking over the install - even though he hadn't sold it to him directly. Sorted the problem in no time.

Martyn

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Tim Hobbs 22 years ago

Used to have four HP boxes, but the cost of a leased line didn't really stack up. Over ten grand annually. We've now got 2 lots of

2Mb ADSL coming in, plus a few other ADSL lines doing other stuff plus the RAQ's for a quarter of the price. Security is easier as we just don't allow inbound connections to our offices (well, we do, but only for specifics).

They are rarely bigger than me, and it could be argued that those who buy from us must be generally a bit daft in the first place ;-)

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balloons 22 years ago

Here in Ireland, LPG was very popular in the 70's/80's and, in recent years, the cost of LPG has crept up to within striking distance of UNL. The net result is that nobody is having LPG conversions done (only one company left in the whole country) and some garages are having their LPG tanks removed due to lack of use. Tourists are the main users of forecourt LPG. I use one garage in Co. Carlow and the owner says that I am the only user of it (about once every 2-3 months) plus a guy in the town who has a forklift truck. The tank takes up almost half his spare forecourt.

Malcolm

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Paul S. Brown 22 years ago

Jump Networks

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Zero support, but as I say - the same level as I got from UK2. If something blows up I can drop a mail to them and get access within an hour.

I'm told that BlackCat are pretty good for the money too. Bogons would be, but they seem to only take Sun Netra boxes.

The only problem with Jump can be getting installed in the first place. They run a zero overhead operation so they have periodic "installfests" when they have space.

You pay £40 per 1U per month which gives you IIRC 40GB transfer, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Terminal Server port and a remote switched power supply. You supply the server. Their turnover is low enough that these prices are without VAT as well.

They aren't LINX members, although they do have pretty good peering (BBC.net, LoNAP) and the guys who run it are pretty good.

A long while ago I was with Nildram which cost me £2k per year for an arbitrary sized box (I had an Ultra 2 in) with 5GB per month transfer and stupid (£27 per GB) excess transfer charges. Went to UK2 from their on their £700 per year deal and when all hell broke loose last year with a cabal trying to sue them for RaQs when they came to the end of their contracts and their management getting stroppier and stroppier and their official mouthpiece playing both ends against the middle I bailed out.

You might want to look at Netrino as well. They were doing some damn good deals for people moving from UK2, basically you paid for a server which was something like an Athlon 2400+ with whatever loadout you wanted at cost and then it was £40 per month plus VAT for the same basic deal as Jump.

Check the RaqList archives on Yahoo Groups for details of this one.

P.

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Austin Shackles 22 years ago

On or around Thu, 08 Jan 2004 10:07:00 +0000, Mother enlightened us thusly:

ah yes, the infamous landytrike project.

so you *are* getting another 101 then... as well.

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Austin Shackles 22 years ago

On or around Thu, 08 Jan 2004 10:15:10 +0000, Mr.Nice. enlightened us thusly:

used to be a damn' good pub at Altarnun, which is only just Cornwall, but Cornwall nonetheless. dunno if it's still there/good.

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Austin Shackles 22 years ago

On or around Thu, 08 Jan 2004 10:12:49 +0000, Mother enlightened us thusly:

C&E will have no problem with you running your heating or cooker or wotever on duty-paid gas, however, and since we have oil-fired heating, the amount used for cooking would be trivial, duty-cost-wise.

but they say it can't be done. They also say you can't just screw a regulator onto the top outlet of the tank. This I fail to understand. It's a vapour outlet, so how is it different to the outlet on a cylinder?

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Mother 22 years ago

Sort of, but it does look a bit like a Harley Renegade...

Mebe... ;-)

Martyn

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Mother 22 years ago

Well I seriously reckon Malcolm had the simplest answer. All I need to do is go register sheffield-balloonies.co.uk or somesuch and presto!

Martyn

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Mr.Nice. 22 years ago

Twas Thu, 08 Jan 2004 18:53:42 +0000 when Austin Shackles put finger to keyboard producing:

I don't know it but I know where it is..

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

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mrniceATmrnice.me.uk

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Andy.Smalley 22 years ago

I reckon that's a typo shouldn't it be "to do is go register sheffield-loonies.co.uk or somesuch and"

Andy

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Tim Hobbs 22 years ago

I don't know if you have heard the proposals for a halo of light above Barnsley (no, really), but how about a big ballon with four 101's suspended beneath. Solves your LPG and car storage problems in one go, and probably cheaper than the x million it will cost to do something less stylish over Barnsley town centre.

What planning permission do you need to float a big balloon above your house? Temporary structure shurely...

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sylva 22 years ago

Same thing happened here in UK about 1976, my first RR had the conversion in and we removed the kit to save space. From memory it looked almost identical to the kit I put in the 110 2 years ago.

AJH

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Steve Taylor 22 years ago

Who got the Rapier equipped 101s ? I want to shoot down the bloody lights.

Steve

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Mother 22 years ago

Oh no, not another 'Popular Front of Sheffield' verses the 'Sheffield Popular Front (Bastards)' type scenario...

come fly with me...

Martyn

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Mother 22 years ago

Can I get a grant from the Arts Council to do it, though?

Martyn

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Mother 22 years ago

I tend to have constant on-going discussions like this with all the local astronomers. Driving out of Sheffield for a few miles to see a clear night sky used to be a joy many years ago. Fecking impossible now - light polution has never been so bad :-(

Martyn

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David G. Bell 22 years ago

And where American cities, such as Flagstaff AZ, have taken account of this, they find the electricity savings an streetlighting pay for the lighting rigs which illuminate the road rather than the sky.

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Steve Taylor 22 years ago

Fortunately, up where the astronomy centre is (Todmorden, open Saturday evenings, and its FREE BTW), we are surrounded by hills and that still allows naked eye observations of the Milky way, and the mag 5 stars in the "little dipper" - ursa minor are also naked eye objects.

Steve AKA 62FL19 101GS

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