Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jay140285]

4.7V8 Jeep GC 2002.

Whats the best conversion to look for, Multi point??? Sequential??? I am new to all the LPG stuff but know I need it. Just filled up tonight and it cost me £92, at 15ish mpg it isnt going to last long.

Also some places say they need your car for a week other say it can be done in a day, both I have seen offer 2 and 3yrs warranty all parts and labour.

I dont mind travelling to get the conversion done but closer to home would be preferable incase of future issues and needing to use the warranty. So Worcester / West Mids and 100mile away preferable.

Cheers, anyone on LPG??

[tim_aka_tim]

The 4.7 isn't the best candidate for LPG. You'll find lots of abused (knackered) 4.7 motors around
that have been LPG converted. Don't let that put you off though. There is a kit available that
improves the top end lubrication that the LPG ruins. I believe scrw is your man....

[scrw]

sequential injection it the way, don't bother with SPI on the v8. Also you MUST get an in line oiler for the v8, LPG seems too dry for the 4.7 and kills the heads (insist on this, if they say it doesn't need it still get it fitted!), there seem to be alot on ebay with bust engines after LPG because of this.

I have run a BRC system on my 4l WJ for over 100k miles with zero issues, has saved me around £12000 after the conversion.

[scrw]

Oh, & I used Flintshire Autogas near chester, so close enough for you. Took them 4 days, anyone taking less than 2 days either have a dozen people working on your car or are rushing it. One thing though, get a 100 litre tank, means you have the same range as the petrol tank, well worth losing an inch in height in the boot.

[Bulldog67]

  biggest tank u can find, its a pita keep fillin it otherwise

[Bishops Finger]

Its shit...even bigger shit on a 4.7 don't bother..

[Mike Pavelin]

Sell it and get a 2.7 CRD

[ChrisS]

FWIW, decided to go for a Prins system on my recently acquired WK 5.7  102l 4 hole tank. It goes in next week so I'll report back when it's done.

What makes you say it's shit BF?  I'd like to know what you think on it/what your experiences have been.   

I'd certainly heard that the 4.7 needs valve protection, and there are plenty of bodged installs out there...but in thoery at least...a modern system, properly installed, should work just fine and give a decent saving without any significant loss of performance. Latest ones are talking 1%, which is nothing.

[jay140285]

Thats for all the info, Chester isnt to far at all and have family up there as well.

Is Flash Lube the same thing as an inline oiler to protect the valve stems??

I would rather pay decent money and know I am getting the correct install,

[ChrisS]

The Flashlube kit dispenses a small measured amount of some wonder-fluid that lubrictes the valve seats & heads when the engine is running on gas. The guides will be fine, the problem is much like running a leaded car on unleaded it seems - no lubricating properties at all in LPG, and no cooling effect either (although I'm not convinced how this would matter to the exhaust valves either way).

I looked at the Flashlube PR stuff - it looked fine and is cheap insurance. The Prins system has it's own version of the same deal, but it's fully integrated with the LPG ECU rather than being an after-market add-on like the Flashlube kit.  Both systems seem to have much the same consumption of the fluid when properly set up and offer the same claims.

Seems to be essential on the 4.7 based on various comments I've seen while looking into this.

[Bishops Finger]

Flash lube is I believe Rioja..

LPG is shit coz its something else to go wrong The tanks use up space  Pumps are rare so you waste fuel trying to find them Prices are on the rise SCRW tates it so its got to be odd

etc

etc
etc

[jay140285]

Flash lube is I believe Rioja.. WTF is Rioja???

LPG is shit coz its something else to go wrong worth the risk, and as mentioned a decent install with warranty shouldnt be a problem, The tanks use up space granted on that one, just loose the spare wheel or look into mounting in the boot some how,  Pumps are rare so you waste fuel trying to find them got 2 within less that 1mile and 90% of my driving in the jeep in around the area, Prices are on the rise currently 78.9p and 72.9p still cheaper that Petrol and I know the arguement about miles to get the money back but If I put the money I have got the conversion in the bank as a fuel fund, approx £1600. I use on average £60per week so that fuel fund will only last 32weeks covering on average 180mile per week.

Now on gas the same miles and loosing a couple of MPG running on gas will cost approx £39 per week. So in a year I have saved nearly £1100 on fuel, planning on keeping the Jeep for a few years so will get my money back no problem and part of the purchase price of the jeep included saving some money for the conversion.

Just my opinions and not having a rant at anyone,

SCRW tates it so its got to be odd

etc

etc
etc

[ChrisS]

BF,

Can't argue that there's more to go wrong - pretty much a total duplication of the exisiting EFI system...but have to expect (and hope) that it's as well made as the OEM kit. No real reason for it not to be, as long as you avoid the cheap-as-chips stuff.

Space-wise, of course, but spare wheel is 99.9% wasted space...until you need it. A can of squirt will do for me.

Prices - again, agreed, they are going up...but not as quick as petrol and FWIW, the Govt. has stated a commitment to keeping duty low on LPG as it's 'green'. I'm not one to disagree with that sort of half-arsed pseudo science if it benefits me - it usually doesn't so win while you can. Always a gamble I suppose, but I'm including the conversion cost in the purchase price budget as well, so figure I get a decent Jeep that's more economical and quicker than my Alfa 166. Not quite so good round corners....but better in the snow & floods I'd guess


End of the day, it's one of those personal preference deals I think - assuming it's a decent conversion of course. First owner of the Jeep I now have must have spent near to £20k on fuel......

Don't get me wrong, I didn't buy a 5.7 for it's economy, I bought it for the grunt and the resulting grin factor, while still having an exceedingly practical car.  Doing the LPG conversion means I can run it a fair bit cheaper.  I hope!


Not sure I'd put Rioja in it though. Merlot maybe?   

Appreciate the thoughts though.

Cheers

[ChrisS]

Jay, I'm near Worcester - taking mine to Prins Autogas UK in Wolverhampton to get it done.  Did consider Gasotronics as they are a bit closer, but they never got back to me and I figured another 20 miles to go to the 'main dealer' was probably well worth it in the end.

[JamesH]

From the experience of running an OMVL sequential system of my 4.0 XJ for 65k miles I would say that you shouldn't need to worry about more things going wrong, I change the plugs and HT leads a bit more often that I could push it to on petrol only but nothing has needed fixing on the LPG kit.

Get the biggest tank possible as it helps massively when LPG stations are harder to find. With LPG stations as POIs on a satnav I don't really find it a problem.

Get FlashLube or similar for the 4.7, not from personal experience but echoing the above having seen the resulst on various forums and classified ads.

[Panic mechanic!]

when i ran lpg cherokee I found there were loads of places to get it, people assume you have to go to a petrol station only but there are plenty of private retailers out there,coach companies etc that you can buy from.Even a few farms have it. IF you have a decent sat nav like tomtom or garmin you can actually have a poi  as a lpg filling point and you then realise you have been driving past loads with out ever knowing they are there.

[jay140285]

Jay, I'm near Worcester - taking mine to Prins Autogas UK in Wolverhampton to get it done.  Did consider Gasotronics as they are a bit closer, but they never got back to me and I figured another 20 miles to go to the 'main dealer' was probably well worth it in the end.

Hi Chris, if you dont mind letting me know how you get on as I am about a month away form getting my conversion done.

I have had a quote from GS Autos / EGC Portway, there work seems good but always prefer to know how someone has got on else where.

[scrw]

BF talks too much BS, anyway he is on a mission to spend his lottery win, as I have said, done 100,000 miles with no faults, saved a shit load of cash

[ChrisS]

Jay, I'm near Worcester - taking mine to Prins Autogas UK in Wolverhampton to get it done.  Did consider Gasotronics as they are a bit closer, but they never got back to me and I figured another 20 miles to go to the 'main dealer' was probably well worth it in the end.

Hi Chris, if you dont mind letting me know how you get on as I am about a month away form getting my conversion done.

I have had a quote from GS Autos / EGC Portway, there work seems good but always prefer to know how someone has got on else where.

Certainly - no problem.  Happy to share. Plan is to have the car back on the 19th.

I've done a few successful and reliable aftermarket ECU installs on assorted kit and race cars over the years so have a vague clue as to what's going on with this tech. I did briefly consider a DIY install but although it'll be cheaper, there's a much bigger hassle factor involved, plus a few unknowns like how much to get it certified for example. While I may think I know what I'm doing, there are undoubtedly many things that need doing a specific way to satisfy an inspection and you can bet I'd get some of them wrong though simple ignorance. Plus the fact that I'd be doing my first conversion, so everything would be new to me, so it would take me a very long time compared to giving it to a pro who has done loads, and loads on the same vehicle as well.  It's not that I'm scared by the challenge - I've developed a supercharger installation for one of my cars that works fine, it's more than I'm getting too old and grumpy to spend the time and effort on a bread-and-butter road car as opposed to one of my sunny day toy cars. There would be some practical issues as well - like where the hell do I put the Jeep while I have it in bits and not running.  Maybe 20 years ago...but not now

[jay140285]

Chris I know where your coming from, I understand ECU and their set ups - in the summer I carried out a Turbo install on my MK1 MX5, now running 240bhp on a link ECU, sequential  440cc injection etc etc, before I did this I was daunted by the challenge but its not my daily driver and having it off the road for a few weeks wasnt an issue.

The Jeep is my daily driver and the MX5 isnt going near the road in the wet.

Look forward to hearing how you got on and hope to god it is ok.

[scrw]

Thread hijack !

YAY another 5 owner 

I just sold the supercharger I was going to stick on mine, decided to play with some NA tuning first 

[Tragic]

Turbo....... MK1 MX5...... 240bhp......... isnt going near the road in the wet.

And why the hell not?

people assume you have to go to a petrol station only but there are plenty of private retailers out there,coach companies etc that you can buy from.Even a few farms have it.....you then realise you have been driving past loads with out ever knowing they are there.

I used to work for a crash repair centre tucked in a little industrial estate near Hemel Hempstead who used to do a sideline in LPG. We used to get 30-40 customers everyday, however all the interesting stuff would show up on saturday mornings. CJ7s, Hummers, a Chevy SSR, a '61 Chrysler Imperial, lots of modern yanks, 'Bagos, heavily modded 4x4s, Kylie, Harvey Keitel and a certain Vince Bentley all paid us a visit

[jay140285]

Thread hijack !

YAY another 5 owner 

I just sold the supercharger I was going to stick on mine, decided to play with some NA tuning first 

HIJACK Accepted - always good to find another 5 owner.

Its to lairy in the wet, and I dont fancy finding a ditch after all the money spent on it. Brought it standard and told the Mrs it was staying standard. didnt work out though!!

[scrw]

oh, I got one like that too, not turbo'd though 

Have a DIYPNP sat on the shelf, waiting for some jenvey TBs and a '99 head to go on it, mine now has a 1.8 in it too

[ChrisS]

Took the GC in to Prins Autogas UK on Saturday. Got a very good impression TBH. Chap was very keen to show me work in progress on a Ram truck with a 5.7 hemi engine, plus other cars completed and waiting for pickup, including a brand-new Mazda they'd just done. Very nice standard of work. No high-pressure sales BS, just a chap running a decent business and keen about what he does. How refreshing.

I spotted the Ram had the Valvecare system fitted so pondered whether I should have it on mine as well, and while I was considering it, was offered it at half price..so I went for it. Given the low miles I generally do, it'll cost me between £30 & £60 a year extra. Less than the cost of an oil change.


...and back off topic

My on-going DIY money-pit......