LPG Prices - Concerns

Message

sm200sx · #41 Post by **sm200sx** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:08 pm

Yes and no. The OMVL system I have was badly specced by the initial installer, so switches to petrol (SUL, mapped for high octane) at 4000rpm "on boost" and 5000rpm crusing. Richy_boy has a similar car with full-rev useage on gas, I suspect his car is also 280bhp, although its not been on a rolling road. I hope to find some funds at somepoint to uprate the 6mm pipework to 8mm and install a second, or larger vapoursiser and have full-rev capacity on LPG. It works out I use around £15 SUL to every £100 of LPG. I use SUL only on the track. The LPG is there for the 110mile commute I do every day, there is only the odd time I need to use petrol for the odd overtaking manourver, most of the time, and most of the overtakes are done on gas. 4000rpm is 100mph in 5th, peak torque is at 4100 @ 295ft/lb its not slow on gas

richy_boy · #42 Post by **richy_boy** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:03 am

Did I hear my name mentioned? <IMG SRC="http://www.my90.co.uk/lpgforum/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0> My car certainly can't produce 280bhp at 20+ mpg.. I'd be a very happy man if it did! However, I think the point Kev was making was that his car is capable of both, depending how he chooses to drive - which is really making the best of both worlds. If you drive carefully then mine will return somewhere around 22-23mpg on LPG during normal driving, however when doing enthusiastic driving this mpg figure will drop dramatically. If I head down to Cornwall then I can see much better mpg again - around 26 on LPG! Like Kev, mine is a daily drive so a good pence/mile value is vital to enable me to keep running the car. More recently my LPG has been falling back to SUL petrol at high revs due to some new modifications, but I'm hoping this will be rectified by the original installer once he gets a chance to take a look. <IMG SRC="http://www.my90.co.uk/lpgforum/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0> Rich

sm200sx · #43 Post by **sm200sx** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:04 pm

Well it does produce 280bhp on the way to work, just not all the way - redlining is not often needed. Use the power all the time - on a trackday lapping with supercars - and I get around 7MPG, but dont use LPG on the racetrack.

richy_boy · #45 Post by **richy_boy** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:22 pm

Kev will be along in a bit, but his system bums out of LPG at ~4k rpm due to a poor initial install, so is pretty useless on the track! My system DOES work throughout the rev range, although I think I'll be using Super UL too as I'm worried about the LPG creating additional engine tempretures and valve damage. Has anyone got experience with LPG on a race track here? Rich

sm200sx · #47 Post by **sm200sx** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:12 am

I had planned to eventually use the LPG on trackdays, combined with Water Injection for some inlet port cooling. However, there were a number of obsticles. 1) Full range of revs on LPG 2) Low Gas alarm on hard cornering (even on the road with a full tank). I expected to have to get a bigger tank, twin 8 mm pipework and 2 banks of 8 injectors, and was aiming for ~350bhp not my current 280bhp. However I have now bought a second car to use for the track & sprint events I intend to do this year, and my S14a will only now be used for my 110mile daily commute & holidays - although I make take it to Nurburgring in August. I thought that it was 2 years ago that Calor/Greenfuel had a LPG Civic (Dream, 2 vapourisers & 8 injectors), last year they swapped to a Bioethanol Astra

richy_boy · #48 Post by **richy_boy** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:37 am

I guess that's the problem with high power 4-cylinder engines as the injectors have to be both large and fast, which as far as I've read aren't available right now (if ever). Is it worth starting another thread on performance tuning with LPG as it's not related to this thread, yet is particularly interesting! Rich

grant · #53 Post by **grant** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:23 pm

I've been watching the prices closely on <a href="http://www.petrolprices.com" target=_top>www.petrolprices.com</a> for a while. LPG seems to have settled under 45p litre (well, until the 2.5ppl tax rise). Petrol and diesel had a bit of price war which has now eased off and prices are now shooting up- they've gone up 2-3ppl in the space of a few weeks! going to be £1 litre average very soon so its not all bad news running on LPG!

ianhatten · #54 Post by **ianhatten** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:00 pm

Local Shell place to me has dropped their price by 1p to 44.9, but I still get it elsewhere at 37.9.

brianm · #55 Post by **brianm** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:46 pm

Personally, I'm paying slightly less for my gas now than I was 4 1/2 years ago when I first converted, now that a second outlet has opened up localy.}

richy_boy · #56 Post by **richy_boy** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:30 pm

Current prices in Reading - joy! LPG see the cheapest stations: - 49.9p - 48.9p - 47.9p Rich

go_lpg · #57 Post by **go_lpg** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:13 pm

BP wrote to me recently to ask me to modify the freely placed link on my website and make it point to a new page they have showing all their sites UK wide. "Fine" said I......"And BTW, how about a little financial support for the website and your link?" "Not allowed for in my budget" Hmmm. Check out the revised BP link on my site <a href="http://www.go-lpg.co.uk" target=_top>www.go-lpg.co.uk</a> which now conforms with BP's request in that it more accurately reflects BP's attitude and placing in UK forecourt Autogas supplies. You might think that a national boycott of their sites would be a good idea, and they surely deserve it. Trouble is that if they sell less and decide to take out all their pumps then others will follow and the death knell for LPG might just be heard.... Oh what a tangled web we weave! It should be simple, simpler even. We have UK produced fuel (LPG) that creates far less pollution, prevents the import of expensive Petrol and Diesel (that will run out one day) and we merrily export 3 million Tonnes of it every year (on the cheap) whilst only using 100,000 Tonnes in cars. That is crazy! I do have good news though - Right now, in Wales, a new pipeline is being constructed to pump vast amounts of LPG to Gloucestershire for distribution in the UK. Could be good methinks....

go_lpg · #58 Post by **go_lpg** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:45 pm

Entry for smallest vehicle; My Lawnmower, 250cc V twin. £10 a week on petrol. Cost doesn't register on gas. Have a wild guess at what it gets....?

chobson · #59 Post by **chobson** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:54 pm

Asda High Wycombe this morning - LPG 39.9p per litre!

lebesset · #60 Post by **lebesset** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 6:46 am

am afraid go lpg is right on the button ; the only reason that filling stations install lpg pumps is that the profit margin is so high ; at the low volumes they wouldn't bother otherwise and here in france , lpg at less than 50p/litre is but a memory