LPG vs Diesel..

Yes - it's really good. If that was 17 quid for 210 miles on petrol, it would be 64mpg, on diesel it would equal getting 72mpg. I'm actually getting 30mpg. That's all based on my local prices of 114.9 and 127.9 with the gas being from 48.9 to 53.9.

Anyway, it's the range thing that you have to consider. 210 miles is my absolute range on lpg. I do still have my petrol tank, but the last time that had more than a fiver of petrol in it would have been maybe a year ago.

Incidentally, based on your figures, your Corrado does around 22mpg. If that fell to 20mpg on gas, those 180 miles would cost you 22 quid. I'm in an obsessive mood this morning, so I'll continue.

Sequential injection kit costs 400 quid, tank costs 100 - I'll assume you have tools. I'll also assume your own labour is free.

That's at todays price. The prices will all increase, but if lpg stays at roughly half of the other fuels costs, then the saving will actually increase.

Right I've even bored myself now.

I'll shut up.

Heh! What screws it up for me is that I don't know one end of a spanner from the other, nor do I have a spanner, nor do I have anywhere to use aforementioned spanner. So having a sequential kit installed in the 9-3 takes a fair bit longer to pay for itself.

The range issue could be a bit of a pain. The donut tanks that fit into the

Anyway, 25,000 miles a year at 30 mpg and 60p a litre means £2,273. Same mileage, 38 mpg, 115p a litre means £3,439.

Why not LPG the B3? Ok you still need a little proper fuel as the ignition source but you'd still get better results.

Ok, one thing at a time.

Firstly, the actual spannering bit isn't that tricky. The most important part of the installation is the planning. Where can I fit the tank, what route will my fuel lines take, where can I fit the vapouriser, where can I mount the ECU, how do I get the loom into the dash, where am I putting the mounting switch, where can I fit the filling point. None of these things are actually difficult, but they all need thinking about.

Mechanically, the only even slightly difficult bit is tapping the inlet manifold for the injectors. I used one of these and it just sailed right into my inlet manifold and left a perfect thread for the injector nozzles.

Regarding where to do it, although I have a garage, that's where my Sylva lives and seeing as it has no front axle on it just now, it was going nowhere. So the whole job was done on the driveway.

There really is no reason not to do it yourself and although I shouldn't admit to it, I do love it when people ask the inevitable "who did you get to do the installation" question.

Anyway, all this talk of spannering has got me all energised again. Must clean out the shed and get the new engine into the Sylva. If I get to drive it just once this year that would be great. I can then fettle and fine tune it in preparation for some motorsport next year.

"DervMan" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I do...

I do...

I do...

...but I wouldn't even attempt to LPG something modern and multiplexed and stuffed-full-engine-bay myself. That way lies madness and a shitload of fault codes.

I'd have a crack at something older, accessible and meccano - I'm toying (again) with the idea of doing the c900, but even then I'd probably point- and-pay, purely because I've just never mucked about with LPG and I don't much fancy making it run like s*it then burst into flames.

It's good on cost grounds, but given that the whole point of LPG is to save money, that makes a diesel the other best alternative, which'll have a much bigger range, and ultimately use a lot less litres, meaning a lot less time spent at the pump. Especially when, litre for litre, LPG takes a lot longer to pump into your tank than diesel does.

Which is my point really. My workmate spends a bit more cash than me with his 52mpg Golf TDI, but visits the pumps much less.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

LOL! You raise good points. There's something smug about dropping the car off and collecting it a week later running on LPG...

...assuming it works of course.

Surely the better option is LPG injection on the Golf... :)

While you are at it fit a bigger turbo. :)

Aye. This is why I really want a BFO 250 litre tank for the van. Granted, it'd take about a day to fill, but it'd reduce the number of visits to petrol stations and all the associated queuing etc etc. It'd take out some of the loadspace, but I reckon I could live with it. That's the big problem with LPG though - most everyday vehicles can't have any properly decent size tank as it'd just completely cripple the interior space, which is why I guess it's most popular with stuff like Rangies.

Multiple tanks are possibly a better idea in the case of the van. Where is the existing tank ?

Nah it's popular with bigger 4x4s because most diesel versions are weany or stupidly expensive, whereas a V8 sounds great but has a bit of a thirst issue.

It is possible to replace the standard tank with a dual type. If you usually have 80 litres of capacity, you might have a 20 litre petrol tank and a 60 litre LPG tank. Then throw in another 80 litre odd one somewhere else.

But you're right - the range issue is potentially a killer. One of the things that I've always liked about my fleet car diesels is their ability to put >600 miles onto a tank.

Underneath the back of it, where the drop-down spare wheel cradle would normally be.

Would it be possible to have multiple tanks, but still just fill up from the one filling point?

Absolutely, it's not uncommon for a range rover to have twin sill tanks along with the usual boot mounted cylinder.

Because it was a magazine article and those are the cars they had, I didn't get to choose them myself.

"DervMan" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I wonder how easy it is to have that second tank so that it's removable?

The 900 has a bloody long, but fairly shallow boot. Most of the time, I don't need much of it - but every so often, it'd be nice to have the full space.

c.20l underfloor petrol, underfloor LPG, big tank in boot for most of time. Then, if I need the boot space, half an hour to remove the boot tank...

Hmmm...

Nope, never heard of that. The pipework from the multivalve on the tank is not even remotely designed to be quickly demountable. It's a compression joint which would need to be made and remade every time.

That's a non starter. Only forklifts have removable cylinders, but that's a different thing.

"Bob Sherunckle" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Bum.