Marrelli LPG complete *under the bonnet* kit

[Junosi]

Well I've committed. I've bought a Marrelli 8Cyl LPG *kit* which apparently has everything required for *under the bonnet*.

It's come in at about $980aud and another $125aud for postage from the UK, the vendor initially didn't want to send overseas but as I'm organising my own courier he's gone with it. I've been communicating with the supplier in the UK (Steve) and he seems sure I'll be able to install it myself if I chose to. I'm still keen on pursuing the government grant so I'll try to get it professionally installed. After calling my local installer (also named Steve) he won't commit to whether he'll install it or not until he's eyeballed the entire kit - his first question was how to get the software to tune it, which the kit comes with thankfully.

Fingers crossed. Just have to sort out a tank and filler etc now (and a fitter ). Still deciding between a few options, 70L (90WL) donut is simplest (cheapest?) but manifold offers biggest capacity approx 110L (135WL). The conformable tank from PPI isn't going to work out for the cavity very well I think.

There's more info at HYTEK Product 1 and quite a bit more on their eBay store (link on their site)

[adm333]

I'll be interested to see how you go with that.

My system has a 100L cylinder tank, which takes up a significant portion of the load space, but has never really stopped me from doing anything.

I think 80% of capacity is the most you can use / fill a tank.

My advice would be this - think carefully before putting in a 70L tank as you will spend your life at the servo filling up the gas, or alternatively you will use a lot more petrol in between fills, which will kind of defeat the purpose.

Dave

[p38arover]

Dave's right re fill ups with a small tank. I have one. I changed from a large cylindrical tank owing to the space it took up.

My wife was in a wheelchair at the time and I couldn't get the chair in the back. Not enough room due to the sloping rear window.

[Junosi]

Agreed, my last vehicle was a 3.9 V8 Discovery with a venturi lpg system and a 70l underslung manifold tank. It was using about 25l/100km or 260-270kms per 70litre tank. Was a pain in the proverbial at times filling up so frequently, but liveable at that range, wouldn't want to go less though... and don't want an interior tank. Got used to refilling at that range anyways from motorcycling all my years

Should of said in my previous post - those figures are gas litres not water litres. 70l (gas) donut appears to be the biggest you can get in the tyre well without cutting the well right out and fitting a manifold type in there.

[willem]

Agreed, my last vehicle was a 3.9 V8 Discovery with a venturi lpg system and a 70l underslung manifold tank. It was using about 25l/100km or 260-270kms per 70litre tank. Was a pain in the proverbial at times filling up so frequently, but liveable at that range, wouldn't want to go less though... and don't want an interior tank. Got used to refilling at that range anyways from motorcycling all my years

Should of said in my previous post - those figures are gas litres not water litres. 70l (gas) donut appears to be the biggest you can get in the tyre well without cutting the well right out and fitting a manifold type in there.

72l donut tank in the spare wheel well gives a range of 300 - 35 kms in my 99 4.0

Willem

[bee utey]

Well I've committed. I've bought a Marrelli 8Cyl LPG *kit* which apparently has everything required for *under the bonnet*.

It's come in at about $980aud and another $125aud for postage from the UK,

Excellent value, I hope Customs don't sting you. Last V8 injection kit I bought in Adelaide cost me around $1800.
Fit the 72L donut because you can change your mind when you're rich again, and sell the donut to get some money back. The floor cut and twin stuff looks very pricey... and not reversible.

[Junosi]

I've bought an as new ex-demo 90litre donut tank for $560 - they're about $800 new. Comes with fitting and vent kits. Hunted high and low for second hand donut (all over the country) but sadly could only find small literage ones or the occasional largish one that was out of date.

As an aside I found this company in the UK that make a 'combo-tank' for the P38 - although they don't have P38 listed on their website or brochure yet. The P38 design incorporates a 36 litre petrol tank (steel) with a skid plate designed to house 2x 40litre LPG tanks. The whole unit replaces the standard (plastic) petrol tank and fits to the same mounts as the orginal tank. Downside is obviously reduced petrol capacity - but possibly made up for by how much LPG you could carry. I imagined myself with 80 (WC) litres by the petrol tank and another 90 (WC) litres in a donut in the back for a total of 170 (WC) litres and still having 35 litres of petrol on board with no lost luggage area. I had a similar setup in my Discovery with a reduced petrol tank, worked out very well for me and I could always carry jerry cans if I felt paranoid about lack of petrol.

Auto Tanks - Replacement petrol tanks for Autogas conversions

Anyways, after a little investigation - they're £350 and around 27kg. Pretty expensive to get freighted over =/ They don't supply the LPG tanks with it. I wondered about getting a fabricator here to give it a go.

[bee utey]

Check APA and see what tank sizes your UK conversion might need: http://www.apamfg.com.au/Downloads/A...hart_07-09.pdf
Their range is quite good.
Building petrol tanks is not that hard, good clean 1.6mm steel, mig welder, and lots of time. I air-pressure test petrol tanks with a barbeque regulator and soapy water, usually takes 10 to 20 goes to kill all the pin holes but you get there in the end.

[Junosi]

Kit arrived today. Looks DIY'able enough to install the hardware, the software on the other hand.... soooooo many options and things to twiddle - its a bit daunting Some of the features sound good though (not sure if all SGI installs are like this) all the parameters you can set to tell it when to run on petrol or on lpg - based on revs, times, temperatuers - whatever parameters you like really, so if you're giving it the stick and you hit say 4500rpm it can switch to petrol on the fly and take you up to 5500 with no power drop off like lpg can have at high revs. I forget the rest, but it sure looks comprehensive

Talking to my local installer Thursday and hoping he'll come in with a reasonable figure to do the install - if so I'm still good to make use of the grant

ps No problems with customs, got picked up in UK on Thursday and was at my door Tues morning

[bee utey]

Kit arrived today. Looks DIY'able enough to install the hardware, the software on the other hand.... soooooo many options and things to twiddle - its a bit daunting Some of the features sound good though (not sure if all SGI installs are like this) all the parameters you can set to tell it when to run on petrol or on lpg - based on revs, times, temperatuers - whatever parameters you like really, so if you're giving it the stick and you hit say 4500rpm it can switch to petrol on the fly and take you up to 5500 with no power drop off like lpg can have at high revs. I forget the rest, but it sure looks comprehensive

Talking to my local installer Thursday and hoping he'll come in with a reasonable figure to do the install - if so I'm still good to make use of the grant

ps No problems with customs, got picked up in UK on Thursday and was at my door Tues morning

Get it on and pm me so I can run you through some of the easier options on the menu

such as: min temp to change over: 35C . Select: petrol addition on load, when over 11ms petrol time, add 2ms petrol when on gas. Works a treat!