for those thinking about LPG here is my feedback

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Originally Posted by bee utey

I believe the issue is that LPG is a slow burning fuel so that the peak temperature is lower but heat load overall is slightly higher. It is mainly the lack of lubrication in LPG that causes wear with soft valves and seats.
Traditional Rover V8's all seem to be able to handle the extra heat loading due to the alloy heads being a good heat conductor and are with hardened seats. Some at-risk engines benefit from upper cylinder lube such as Flashlube. Modern engines with gas injection can be set up with petrol addition under load or electronic metering of lube with the newest Flashlube computerised kits.

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Found out recently that the 350 in my POS has done about 400k on gas with a very basic Impco system, no flashlube or anything like that ever.

The guy who put it in told me it had 'gas heads' and it will be interesting to see what combination of valves and seats were originally used when I reco it sometime in the next year or so. Runs fine apart from a couple of tired valve stem seals that cause a little smoke on start up sometimes.

Costs about the same to run as an Isuzu 110.

cheers, DL

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Originally Posted by Ausfree

LPG is indeed more cost effective and if you are doing the K's to warrant it go for it. However LPG burns at a higher temperature than petrol and so damage can be caused to the valves if they are not made of hardened metal as in the case of Ford six cylinder motors. Check to see if your motor is able to handle the higher temperatures before converting!!!:)

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My last Falcon (EF) had 310,000 when I sold it. It was on gas and running like new.

My current NL Fairlane has 307,000 and still going strong on gas. Did the head gasket not long ago and the cross hatch pattern was still visible on the cyl walls with no ridge at top of cyl. This is due to not having petrol wash the oil off the cyl wall.

Dave.

G'day Folks :)


I think that Ausfree may be getting his motors mixed up, with the iron head Holden's and early Falcon/Ford 250ci iron heads both of which need hardened valve inserts, as with a lot of other vehicles and motor types.


cheers

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Originally Posted by pop058

Which motors would that be. :confused: Ford have a factory (dedicated) Gas option for thier 6 cylinders. I can't see them not being suitable

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Yes, the factory option is set up with hardened valves for LPG, but if you convert a standard 6 cylinder to dual fuel, the valves are not hardened steel. They may handle it OK if your'e lucky and then again they may not as we have found out with cars at our work.:)

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Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

My last Falcon (EF) had 310,000 when I sold it. It was on gas and running like new.

My current NL Fairlane has 307,000 and still going strong on gas. Did the head gasket not long ago and the cross hatch pattern was still visible on the cyl walls with no ridge at top of cyl. This is due to not having petrol wash the oil off the cyl wall.

Dave.

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It's amazing how much better for an engine LPG is. Just gotta look at how clean the oil stays to see why. I have courier mates who have over 1million k's on toyota 4cyl engines with only having the heads done.

Our Disco runs so well on LPG I wouldn't consider having a V8 without it. LPG was installed from new in early 1994. 275,000km later it's still running superbly.

The issue with the excise is poppycock. It will be capped as mentioned earlier and still vastly more cost effective than ULP, but more on par with overall running costs for a diesel.

The ONLY drawback for us is having to carry a jerry of ULP if we go properly bush. Standard policy is to fill everything at the last fuel stop with LPG, then run the ULP down to use the 20L jerry as soon as possible, then continue running ULP until empty. This means that we have a safe 250km left on LPG (nearly 350km on highway) and can fill ULP again at the first little servo we find. It means we're not stranded if we can't find LPG. For outback touring it will be a problem, but we're not at that stage of our lives where we can do it anyhow. By that time we anticipate the Disco will be too small anyhow so we'll look at a diesel something or other. The rest of the time, we have a cheap and clean running town and country car. We've toured Tasmania without too much concern and done a road trip all the way to Coffs Harbour. Both were running LPG nearly all the way.

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Originally Posted by Ausfree

Yes, the factory option is set up with hardened valves for LPG, but if you convert a standard 6 cylinder to dual fuel, the valves are not hardened steel. They may handle it OK if your'e lucky and then again they may not as we have found out with cars at our work.:)

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Quite right, both Falcon 6's and Commodore V6's of the era will handle light to medium duty without fuss, heavy/commercial use will see valve wear. My glazier had a factory approved Impco system on his VY 1 tonner and it fried a valve under warranty. Boy was the dealer grumpy.

I saw a commercial VS ute with valve seat wear so bad I fitted flat washers under a couple of valve springs to maintain closing tension until he could afford a new motor. It had done 270K though.

The gas only Falcons really are designed for reliability under hard use. For commuter use the standard engines on gas are quite reliable.

and is easy to plan your trips using sites like LPG Autogas Australia

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Originally Posted by bee utey

My glazier had a factory approved Impco system on his VY 1 tonner and it fried a valve under warranty. Boy was the dealer grumpy.

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whats the best system going for the carby v8's these days?

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Originally Posted by incisor

whats the best system going for the carby v8's these days?

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OMVL converter, NEW GEN mixer for Holleys is a good combination, one that works on up to 5.7 litre engines. The NEW GEN mixer can be modified for improved flow, and a decent size air cleaner adapted to it.
Other carb types require a critical look to determine the best available mixers. I am quite fond of the MGA/Zavoli branded converters, with a little tweaking they can run a 5 litre carb engine reliably.
All large engines will benefit from LPG processors, with a couple of micro switches you can mimic a TPS to allow automatic mixture control on cruise throttle. The oldest car I have fitted a GASTEC processor to is a ZC 302W Fairlane, the owner loves it with a passion.