Thread: $2000 LPG conversion subsidy - who's interested ?

generally yes. my rule of thumb is as the gas has less bang power a longer stroking engine suffers more from it, The IIA I had on lpg/gas was an utter pig at anything under 2k on the tacho when running on gas.

Ive had a few rides in LPG 3.9 v8 efi discos and next door to mine without dyno testing Id guess at maybe a 5% loss of power but with the cost of fuel on a similar trip being $40 for my petrol and $25 for the LPG disco Id take a 5% loss.

Dave

"In a Landrover the other car is your crumple zone."

Originally Posted by Ace

Dont dwell on things like that ron, its like buying something and then seeing it a week later for half the price, only bad things can become of it.
As for LRH's cheap d1 v8 idea its a good one, if anyone is after a cheap weekend off roader which could now be used more often nows the time to buy.

I didn't really want to sell the County but I suppose it was the right thing to do - I really enjoyed driving it. If I'd had a bit more brass I might have kept it. One day I might buy a Defender.

Ron

I have been doing a LOT of research into a dual fuel conversion for my 99 series 2 V8 and the system I am waiting for, just about ready for release I am told, is called sequential injection system which has been available in the UK for some time apparently. I posted an enquiry a little while ago on the technical forum to find out if anyone had fitted gas to a vehicle similar to mine and got a VERY helpful and indormative answer from a gentleman in England describing this system and how well it worked in his V8. With the multi point systems now available, even though they are better for the more modern engines, they ignore the engine mamnagement computer. The new system has an engine management system so you get the best of performance. Quite a few of the better informed gas installers are aware of this. Parnell Gas say they have a system about 4 weeks off being ready. With a $2000 subsidy and travelling 30-40,000 ks a year I am installing one ASAP( when I get to the head of the daily growing queue that is!). Parnell gas also have a dandy calculator on their website which calculates how cost efffective a conversion actually is.

Has anyone tried to book in a DII V8 auto in Sydney for conversion, or recently had it done? Interested to hear comments about how long the queue is, or if completed, the quality of work, effect on fuel consumption etc.
I'm getting the impression that the complexity of DII electrics had stumped converters but now they know how to deal with the DII's various sensors.

I'm looking more seriously at LPG since the rebate offer as it means that even with minimal kilometres usage the conversion will pay itself off quickly (in about 2 years at 10,000km per year). Another way of looking at it is (if you're about to buy a Disco V8 or have just purchased it since the values plummeted), factor in the cost of conversion as part of the purchase price of a Disco V8 2nd hand and you're ahead with both purchase price and fuel running costs (not to mention maintenance) over a Tdi or Td5.

(you don't get a completely free ride, of course, as you're adding complexity - the 'something more to go wrong' factor - and reducing fuel range and suffer lesser fuel availability. But if you're either stuck with or simply prefer a V8, and are unlikely to do remote area travel, why wouldn't you convert?)

Just a couple of things.
1: with the cost of an install going up, won't the $2k be negated, how would that help, it just means more saving to pay the higher up front fee.

2: the scheme runs until the 30th june next year. If the line is already into feb next year, and they only just announced the rebate, then you'd better book in quick and worry about the reseaching later, as you will miss the boat.

3: If you book in now, but due to the increased demand it does'nt get installed untill July, would you be out of pocket for the whole amount.
And considering that the cost has already gone up thats a lot.If you wouldn't do it before the rebate why now (carrot ?).

4: If you don't do many k's or it does cost a lot more and puts people in the same situation as before,and it takes 2yrs to get in front well now your behind cause gas goes up in 2008, and don't say yeah but it will never be more than petrol, that used to be said about diesel. If millons of people have just paid for an lpg install when the price goes up then they can charge what they won't cause now you have to use it.

I don't like being the pessimist here as i would love the extra power for my Tdi and that would be why i got it not because it would be cheaper as i can't see how that will be.

I can speculate that the world will end, too, but here is what we can safely say today: with a degree of accuracy

1. Cost of install as quoted by various suppliers today is $3750 or less. I do agree that cost of Disco II conversion appears expensive, (Disco I with a 60L tank is $2950) and I am budgeting $4k as a realistic price. That's $2k after the rebate.

2. Scheme is until 2014. Wait for conversion is 2 months, primarily because of wait for kits; one converter has closed his books until Dec, with work until Feb. He was the only one of about 8 I called who has had to do this.

3. See 1 and 2

4. Excise introduced at 2.5c per year from 2011, not 2008.
"Last year the Federal Government announced Autogas would remain excise-free until 2011. Even after that date, excise will be gradually applied in annual increments of 2.5 cents per litre until it reaches a ceiling of 12.5 cents per litre in 2015.In comparison, the current excise on petrol in 38.1 cents per litre"
(See www.lpgautogas.com.au)

Originally Posted by ex8rarsig

I have been doing a LOT of research into a dual fuel conversion for my 99 series 2 V8 and the system I am waiting for, just about ready for release I am told, is called sequential injection system which has been available in the UK for some time apparently. I posted an enquiry a little while ago on the technical forum to find out if anyone had fitted gas to a vehicle similar to mine and got a VERY helpful and indormative answer from a gentleman in England describing this system and how well it worked in his V8. With the multi point systems now available, even though they are better for the more modern engines, they ignore the engine mamnagement computer. The new system has an engine management system so you get the best of performance. Quite a few of the better informed gas installers are aware of this. Parnell Gas say they have a system about 4 weeks off being ready. With a $2000 subsidy and travelling 30-40,000 ks a year I am installing one ASAP( when I get to the head of the daily growing queue that is!). Parnell gas also have a dandy calculator on their website which calculates how cost efffective a conversion actually is.

I hope for D2 owners' sanity this is true. When I bought my D1 at the beginning of this year I was told this system would be ready in a month or so. After all this time the last phone call I made I was told it may be anything from 12mths to 2yrs before they will have a system in Australia talking to the LR computer. This is the crucial bit as although all cars after 1996 are OBD2 compliant for the sake of fault finding, each car is still slightly different and this system talks directly to the ECU which basically thinks it's still controlling the petrol injectors. It all then has to be dynoed etc.
I've given up waiting & gone with a conventional converter but of course D2 people don't have the choice. I wonder if Parnell are just importing the Tartarini or something, maybe the home grown version is nearly ready afterall, for a D2 anyway.

Dan

Originally Posted by p38arover

If this had been announced earlier, I'd have kept the County.

Ron

hey Ron - I know where there is a good one