Guess you seem a bit confused by the LPG conversion bit of my sig file. LPG Liquid Petroleum Gas, "Propane".
As to why, up till recently, the car was my daily driver. Seeing that the cost of Petrol in England is around £3.77 per gallon, at todays exchage rate that is $6.99 US.
My wallet is not a bottomless pit of money and i refuse to be priced off the road by our TAX hungry Chancelor. So the only option to drive the American dream over here is to convert to LPG. Either that or drive a rice burner, and i would rather walk.
LPG as motor fuel has been around for many, many years. I'll start be commenting that I know of nobody that ran LPG in the 70s and 80s that is running it today.
The infernal (sp) combustion engine is basically a heat pump.... the more heat generated in the cylinder, the higher the cylinder pressure, the higher the power output. While I am sure that modern systems have been developed that can take better advantage of LPGs characteristics, the lower BTU per pound content of LPG will leave users with less a than impressed opinion of LPG systems. While LPG is less per liter/gallon than gasoline, one can expect to use more liters/gallons to do the same work. In it's defence, LPG will offer better economy at steady cruise (a condition that can be rare for some) since much of a motors available power is unused at steady cruise.
LPG filling stations can be few and far between if we stray from our usual routes. Extreme cold weather affects vehicle driveability more than gasoline. Fuel tanks are bulky, heavy and have little capacity. The fuel is contained under fairly high pressure and underground parking may no longer be an option. It can be difficult finding anyone qualified or knowledgeable in repair. Parts can be hard to find.
In 35+ years, I have yet to see any substantial savings using LPG in normal day to day driving without taking some kind of power/mileage/longevity hit. Even Fords LPG and CNG offerings haven't been considered where I live.
Something I've said for many years..... if you're not about to cook that $12 rib-eye over a gasoline fire, why would you run your car on barbecue fuel???
My tongue has only been partially in my cheek for this...
LPG is less than half the price of gasoline. I probaly loose about 4 MPG and about 10 BHP. For everyday drivng this is no problem and if I need to scare the living daylights out of a rice burner, a quick flick of a switch on the dash and I'm back on regular unleaded instantly. The only real downside has been the loss of space in the boot where the spare wheel used to live. Sorry guys "trunk" :-). Apart from that, the car starts and runs just as well, if not better on LPG.
Every time I fill the tank on LPG I save £25 or $46 US. So until Gordon Brown Chancellor starts to screw us on LPG tax, I can't loose. And that $12 steak in England would probably work out more like $30 over here. Emigrate, I wish I could. Even after paying import duty and tax, I still saved nearly $1200 by importing a load of bits from
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the price in England. That's why we call it "Rip Off Britain" becauseeverything is so bloody expensinve. Anyway, rant over with.
Well I don't have a boot, it's a hatch, and with the squishy tires I have I really need a spare. Flop of a switch huh? I wonder if I could do the same thing with Nitromethane? Heh.
Many of the cop cars and mail trucks run LPG around here. Have been for years. Don't know what the performance is like, but if it saves me (the taxpayer) money it's a good thing.
Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC
"Jim Warman" wrote in news:dG2Hc.7659$2i3.5701@clgrps12:
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