LPG - Pros & Cons

spade if youve had the car a while it might work out better to sell it and get a car with gas already on it

stamp duty would be the killer though

spadge also remember that you should only get it if you are planning on keeping your car a few years. i worked it out wiht my old car, conversion cost me $1300 (was a carby v8 not fuel injected), an i worked out at the average price of gas then (35c) it would take me a good year of driving x amount of kms to get the money back. today with the higher gas price and more expensive conversions for fuel injected cars, it will take longer, prob closer to 2 years.

one other thing im not happy with, is the way the government keeps the cost of gas propotional to the price of petrol! its fkn gay! just coz fuel goes up doesnt mean gas should. it is a hell cheap to make product and should always be in the 30c a litre range. gone are the days when i would fill up my tank with less than $20

To be honest i dont notice much of a performance difference between LPG and Petrol (VS 6), not that I fang it often, if at all.

It gets about 330-350k out of ~50 lt of gas, the only problems I've had with the gas is backfiring but changing the gap on the plugs fixed it. Actually had more problems with the fuel system than the gas, dead pump x2, dirty injectors etc etc.

Could be, we go through a 1/3 of a tank per month on average, just following what the sticker says ;)

i never been a fan of LPG/Petrol combos. but on something like a VX u wont have many problems. comapred to some old clapped out vn or something.


just make sure u go to a decent place that does the conversions,not some cheap back yard dude.

if it was me i would be finding out who does the majority of the Goverment and taxi commodores and go there.

they would know the conversion inside and out.

ok well my boss decided to call the RAA for me when i was away for a couple of days last week to find out about whether it was worth me getting a conversion

apparently he was told that its not recommended to get a VX put on gas, and pretty much the same with any car with aluminium heads due to valve seats recessing
also said about backfiring being a problem

reckons it could cause head problems and possibly could cost a couple of grand to fix

he also told my boss that if i did decide to go for gas anyway that i would need to go for a system which was direct gas injection which costs around $3000-$3500..

now my boss has taken this as gospel and reckons i'd be a dick to get gas put on.....

harry? anyone else?

i really want to put gas on but i dont really want to run into probs down the track and theres no fucking way im spending 3 grand on a system

I know stuff all about VX commodores but I ran an XE falcon on LPG for years without even servicing it other than the occasional oil change and I never had a problem, or so much as a backfire.

It's noticeably cheaper to run, and the power difference isn't noticeable unless you're pulling a caravan or trying to flog someone off the line.

I've still got the car and the gas system I could flog you for stuff all if its of any use to you, it wasn't an E.F.I vehicle tho so i'd be surprised if you could use the whole gas setup.. tank is fine tho ;)

I payed $500 to get the gas system put in, as the tank/parts came with the car when I bought it but wasn't installed so I only had to pay for the conversion.. if you can hook up a similar arrangement and you just need the tank etc then maybe it would be of use. It took about 65 litres from memory, dual fuel switch and LED LPG gauge under the dash.

Pity you can't run ricers on lpg, I miss that lpg price tag ! 30c a litre used to be considered expensive.

softy - nail on head..

they may be factory jobs though with different valves etc.

call Holden Steve... may even be able to get it done there.

dont go the cheapest option - u will ALWAYS pay for wat you get.

$2000-$2500 im keen... over that im not keen at all
i'll ring the RAA myself and holden... but im asking around for those who have had conversions done as well

spadge!
come down to my work anytime and i will take you to the GURU of gas my mate hugo.
he has been doin it for over 20 years has records for the fastest gas car in australia.
does goventment cars
cops cars
taxis.

save yourself the headfucks and listning to wankers come and see me.

end of story option is there for you.

i was talking valve seats harry not seals

and jimbo might take you up on that offer

good point alex

i,d say NO CAR comes out with a cast iron head things of the 70,s and 80s maybe early 90s

on the valve seats they are ususally hardened steal inserts anyway. which you replace when you recon heads. NOT in the lifetime of your car mate.
unless your unlucky and have to do it BUT i would say you would get atleast 150,000 out of it before then.

and by then you would be trading up anyway. :)

This post has been edited by metal head!: Jun 20 2006, 05:02 PM

i dont believe that mate you telling me that they get the motors and pull them apart just to put hardened valve seats in? sounds like crap to me.

+ i couldnt see them stopping a production line and changing a machine just to fit hardened valve seats.

I COULD BE WRONG........... BUT USUALLY NOT! (modest eh)

just come see me whenever you want hes in the same street as me i,ll ask him in a minute when i go past if hes there and post up what he says after 6pm.

Its much easier for a manufacturer to make all cars with something like hardened valve seats rather than having it as an option on some of them.

so basically everyone is saying this guy from the RAA is full of shit

thanks for all your help and advice guys
its much appreciated

i also asked the same thing on a different commodore forum and they pretty much said the same thing although one guy said to combat valve seat recessing he had a flashlube kit installed

what the fucks a flashlube kit and what does it cost and is it needed

flash lube is the stuff u can buy to keep lubrication levels up for cars running lrp and want to run unleaded, or for lpg applications too

think most servos sell em for about $3 which is enough to use with 1 tank of fuel. but its definately not needed, I hav enever used it with my new car and most ppl i know that run lpg dont use it. Supposidly lubricates valves etc and keeps the top of the engine clean.

Sometimes I flash lube on my VH SLE V8 tho. which was running duel fuel.

This post has been edited by Betterman: Jun 21 2006, 09:50 AM