LPG fuel

A friend of mine has just had his Volvo converted to run on LPG and he
is, to say the least, extremely pleased with the conversion. He has no
obvious loss of performance and his fuel bills have been slaughtered.

He's trying to convince me to convert a '96 840 (4.4L) to run on LPG
too. I remain to be convinced.....

Anyone else thought about this? Any success stories (or horrors)?

Griff

> A friend of mine has just had his Volvo converted to run on LPG and he
> is, to say the least, extremely pleased with the conversion. He has no
> obvious loss of performance and his fuel bills have been slaughtered.
>
> He's trying to convince me to convert a '96 840 (4.4L) to run on LPG
> too. I remain to be convinced.....
>
> Anyone else thought about this? Any success stories (or horrors)?

I know of quite a few large BMWs running on LPG. If you do a reasonable
annual mileage in the car it's well worth it.

--
Who needs a life when you've got Unix? :-)
Email: , John G.Burns B.Eng, Bonny Scotland
Web : http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk - The Ultimate BMW Homepage!
Need Sun or HP Unix kit? http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/unix.html

In article >,
John Burns > wrote:
> I know of quite a few large BMWs running on LPG. If you do a reasonable
> annual mileage in the car it's well worth it.

But it would depend on the taxation on fuels in the country as LPG isn't
intrinsically cheaper than petrol.

--
*Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Okay - so am I right in thinking that there isn't a significant risk of
knackering the engine or catalytic converters etc?

....or is the main risk not being able to find a garage that sells the
fuel?

John Burns wrote:
>>A friend of mine has just had his Volvo converted to run on LPG and he
>>is, to say the least, extremely pleased with the conversion. He has no
>>obvious loss of performance and his fuel bills have been slaughtered.
>>
>>He's trying to convince me to convert a '96 840 (4.4L) to run on LPG
>>too. I remain to be convinced.....
>>
>>Anyone else thought about this? Any success stories (or horrors)?
>
>
> I know of quite a few large BMWs running on LPG. If you do a reasonable
> annual mileage in the car it's well worth it.
>
In Germany, due to the high fuelprices, people are converting E38 740s
and other big BMWs to LPG; Prins VSI appears to be the favorite setup,
with Vialle also mentioned. Conversion prices run around 3k Euros for a
V8, slightly less for a I6 (for a 728i for instance). So, in principle
it shouldn't be a problem, unless the engine bay of an E31 doesn't leave
room for the components.
With fuel at E 1,40 and LPG at E 0,50 in Holland it's worth looking into...
Hans
The Netherlands

Hans wrote:
> John Burns wrote:
>
>>> A friend of mine has just had his Volvo converted to run on LPG and he
>>> is, to say the least, extremely pleased with the conversion. He has no
>>> obvious loss of performance and his fuel bills have been slaughtered.
>>>
>>> He's trying to convince me to convert a '96 840 (4.4L) to run on LPG
>>> too. I remain to be convinced.....
>>>
>>> Anyone else thought about this? Any success stories (or horrors)?
>>
>>
>>
>> I know of quite a few large BMWs running on LPG. If you do a reasonable
>> annual mileage in the car it's well worth it.
>>
> In Germany, due to the high fuelprices, people are converting E38 740s
> and other big BMWs to LPG; Prins VSI appears to be the favorite setup,
> with Vialle also mentioned. Conversion prices run around 3k Euros for a
> V8, slightly less for a I6 (for a 728i for instance). So, in principle
> it shouldn't be a problem, unless the engine bay of an E31 doesn't leave
> room for the components.
> With fuel at E 1,40 and LPG at E 0,50 in Holland it's worth looking into...
> Hans
> The Netherlands
>
>

Hmmm... 3k Euro to convert? Whats' the difference work out to be per
mile of fuel and how many miles do you have to drive to break even on
that gem?

--
-Fred W
Toys for sale, Hey get your toys he
<http://users.adelphia.net/~fredwills/>

Malt_Hound wrote:
> Hans wrote:
>
>> John Burns wrote:
>>
>>>> A friend of mine has just had his Volvo converted to run on LPG and he
>>>> is, to say the least, extremely pleased with the conversion. He has no
>>>> obvious loss of performance and his fuel bills have been slaughtered.
>>>>
>>>> He's trying to convince me to convert a '96 840 (4.4L) to run on LPG
>>>> too. I remain to be convinced.....
>>>>
>>>> Anyone else thought about this? Any success stories (or horrors)?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I know of quite a few large BMWs running on LPG. If you do a reasonable
>>> annual mileage in the car it's well worth it.
>>>
>> In Germany, due to the high fuelprices, people are converting E38 740s
>> and other big BMWs to LPG; Prins VSI appears to be the favorite setup,
>> with Vialle also mentioned. Conversion prices run around 3k Euros for
>> a V8, slightly less for a I6 (for a 728i for instance). So, in
>> principle it shouldn't be a problem, unless the engine bay of an E31
>> doesn't leave room for the components.
>> With fuel at E 1,40 and LPG at E 0,50 in Holland it's worth looking
>> into...
>> Hans
>> The Netherlands
>>
>>
>
> Hmmm... 3k Euro to convert? Whats' the difference work out to be per
> mile of fuel and how many miles do you have to drive to break even on
> that gem?

Depends on the respective prices of fuel and lpg, which differ per
country. Also, mileage is about 20% less on LPG, so you'd have to
calculate that as well.. And finally, road tax which is also different
per country. So no easy answer, you'd have to do the math with your
variables. In Holland, you'd be looking at about 15000 miles or so to
berak even on the install.

Griff wrote:
> ...or is the main risk not being able to find a garage that sells the
> fuel?
>

There's no risk to cats or anything else if your engine normally runs on
unleaded petrol. You need to get a list of LPG garages though, even if
only for peace of mind. If you're in the UK then there are a couple of
web sites that have details.

--
Regards

Steve G

Griff wrote:
> A friend of mine has just had his Volvo converted to run on LPG and he
> is, to say the least, extremely pleased with the conversion. He has no
> obvious loss of performance and his fuel bills have been slaughtered.
>
> He's trying to convince me to convert a '96 840 (4.4L) to run on LPG
> too. I remain to be convinced.....
>
> Anyone else thought about this? Any success stories (or horrors)?
>
> Griff
>
Griff, I can't comment on BMW's running on LPG, although I'm seriously
considering it for my '92 730. I do, however, have a 3.9V8 Discovery
which was converted a couple of years ago ... and it's brilliant. This
vehicle currently does about 800 miles per week with about 100 of those
off-tarmac.

My observations a
1. There is no apparent loss of power on LPG. This may be because the
Disco engine is only mildly tuned anyway and not as "highly strung" as a
BMW engine.
2. I get almost exactly the same fuel consumption on LPG and petrol (16
vs 17 mpg) and at just £25 for 80litres I can live with the difference ;-)
3. The engine is notably smoother on LPG. Don't know why but it is.
Acceleration is smoother with no flat spots - it just pulls like a train
all the way to the red line :-)
4. Running low on gas can promote backfiring in the air intake. This
would probably wipe out the air flow meter but you should install a
simple flap valve to prevent this from happening. When we first
converted the Disco I had a blow-out valve put in the air box (the afm
is pretty bullet-proof) but after the first blow-back found that it
couldn't handle the volume of air involved. Fitting another one has
cured the problem but if I was doing it again I'd go for the simpler
flap valve.
5. You need to have the engine running almost perfectly on petrol before
doing the conversion. If there are any weaknesses in the ignition system
they will be more apparent with LPG, which needs a stronger spark to
ignite. Make sure the plugs, HT leads and distributor are all A1. On the
Discovery I fitted Magnecor leads which have better insulation and
conductivity properties than the standard Land Rover ones. Poor HT leads
can aggravate the backfiring problem mentioned in 4 above.
6. You need to run on petrol ocassionally to stop the fuel injectors
getting all gunged up. I usually start mine on petrol and let it switch
to LPG automatically when the revs go above about 1800 (the switch point
can be adjusted via a laptop). Even in winter you can start up and blip
the throttle straight away and it'll run fine. I never get a power drop
at the change-over point.
7. Choose your installer with care. Make sure he is LPGA approved and
can give you a CofC for the installation because your insurance company
will want to see it. The most expensive is not necessarily the best.
Talk over the installation with the installer and get agreement about
how things will be done - remember it's your car and your money so get
the job done that you want. Also, get agreement up front that they will
tweak the system for free over the first few weeks of use.

HTH

If you have any specific questions then feel free to ask.

--
Regards

Steve G