Thinking Of Converting My ZT 190 To LPG - Costs And Recommendations ?

[nickpscott]

I used to have LPG in my old Freelander and thought it was the bees knees, but as it was already there when I bought it, Ive got no idea of cost of installation.

I live in Devon and there is only a handful of companies that do the work round there, and the cheapest quote Ive had so far is -

1. With AC-ISA2 Multipoint SGI System - £1083.33 + VAT (will suit this car for general use)
2. With BRC-Sequent Multipoint SGI System - £1333.33 + VAT (recommended for Racing/Heavy accelerations or High mileage users)

They both come with a spare wheel tank and two year parts and labour guarantee, the chap has photos of a previous conversion on a V6 ZS & ZT so he has done them before.

Any thoughts on price and brand, any good ?

Thanks

[rover54]

IMO worth a trip to South Wales, I have used this company on a number of occasions http://www.professautogas.co.uk/prices.html. Other installers slag them off, but you don't see on the web that they have poor customer satisfaction, in fact customers return time after time when they change their cars and need a new conversion.They only fit Stag systems with all their fitters trained by Stag and it comes with a lifetime warranty which is honoured.

I have two cars, one with a BRC system and the second a Stag 300 ISA, there is no difference in economy or performance between the two systems; the only difference was the cost of fitment.

BRC around £1750 and the Stag system £950.

I have contributed to a number of threads on LPG with greater info on http://www.professautogas.co.uk/prices.html. Personally I would recommend them, they know what they are doing and only do LPG conversions and are busy with customers coming out of the woodwork.

Distance no problem for repairs as they can look at how your system is working whilst you are a home, the software and lead is available on the bay for about £15 and using teamviewer with your laptop connected to the car they can see what is going on and make adjustments from South Wales. My friend's Galaxy had a problem within the warranty period, we connected my laptop to his car and Andrew (the owner) looked at the problem, diagnosed what was wrong and sent out the right sensor, 10 mins fitment by me and he was up and running, we didn't leave London. Only something major would require you returning to them and it will be fixed that day. No problem with spare parts, they order directly from Poland with supplies by the artic load and have hundreds of systems in stock. From what I have seen, if you need to return to them with a problem, they will fix it while you wait as they know what they are doing. All the fitters are Polish, being factory trained, and like most other Polish worker, they know how to work.

I have seen their setup, experienced how they work and how they deal with problems and now I will not go anywhere else. I live in North West London, 151 miles from them and would have no hesitation if I had another car to convert, in getting on the M4 to South Wales.

By they way after Christmas for about 3 months they drop their prices to keep work flowing in as they want to keep their trained fitters. I paid £950 for my Stag conversion in Feb this year.

[guru]

Well given my recent bad experiences with an LPG garage (http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=119080) I would say don't just go on price, look for recommendations and maybe even ask the garage if they can put you in touch with some other customers to get their feedback. At the end of the day an LPG system is a pretty extensive modification to you car and if it goes wrong you might not only loose money but also end up with a car which can't be used or is dangerous.

I would try to use someone relatively local so that any bedding in issues don't involve a long trip back to get them resolved.

On the whole even with my recent poor experiences I'm still a massive fan of LPG, for a petrol head it's the only way to get the V6 fix without going bankrupt!

[mikeart]

I have the STAG system, and despite some folk decrying STAG I have only had good results, with economy and very little "if any" difference between petrol and gas regarding performance, My STAG man did a re-tune on the computer yesterday, and it just flies along

[Simon.h]

1. With BRC-Sequent Multipoint SGI System - £1333.33 + VAT (recommended for Racing/Heavy accelerations or High mileage users)

Recommended for raceing/heavy acceleration or high mileage users???

Don't get that??

The only difference between your chocies are BRC and also Prins are the top end systems and use injectors which are suited to the BHP of the engine, Stags etc use cheaper injectors for which are drilled/opened out the suit engine bhp.
They are work the same and as long as its set up right will be no difference in mpg/performance.

I have fitted 3 Stag systems, 1 Prins and have just fitted a Landirenzo (which is the same as my ZTs so called factory lpg) to a Jaguar s type.

[rover54]

Originally Posted by Simon.h

1. With BRC-Sequent Multipoint SGI System - £1333.33 + VAT (recommended for Racing/Heavy accelerations or High mileage users)

Recommended for raceing/heavy acceleration or high mileage users???

Don't get that??

The only difference between your chocies are BRC and also Prins are the top end systems and use injectors which are suited to the BHP of the engine, Stags etc use cheaper injectors for which are drilled/opened out the suit engine bhp.
They are work the same and as long as its set up right will be no difference in mpg/performance.

I have fitted 3 Stag systems, 1 Prins and have just fitted a Landirenzo (which is the same as my ZTs so called factory lpg) to a Jaguar s type.

Stag systems like most other systems can use different manufactures injectors. Injectors are cheap as deplicted here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Valtek-Typ...item3a6f645c4a. Valtek injectors as fitted to my Stag system, plus they take about 10 mins to change. If they give trouble and cannot be cleaned, think of them as throw-away.

Never heard of injectors being drilled/opened out. Apart from the ECU injector opening setting, it is important to have a vaporiser that can deliver sufficient gas vapour for a given BHP required. With BRC plus other so-called high end systems, you are paying for the name. Think of them as branded, whereas a Stag system is more like a supermarket brand. Both high-end systems and supermarket brands perform the same, its just the price you need to pay for them that is different.

[Simon.h]

Sorry, I mean the nozzles on the injectors rail.

The good thing with the cheap injectors is cost for replacing them on a v6 is under 100 point unlike 700 for top end ones.

[SapperGB]

what sort of mileage are you doing to justify the outlay and how long are you keeping the car? the conversion will not add a huge amount of value to the car once you sell it.

LPG is 58p a litre cheaper around here although i expect that to change as the government trend on increasing taxes on items as they become more popular continues.
At £1600 quid to install, that's a lot of 58p's you would have to use to recoup the outlay, roughly 606 gallons or 20,000 miles.

personally if i was planning on shelling out so much in the name of economy, i would be adding it to my car value and chopping it in for a diesel and synergy.

[rover54]

Originally Posted by SapperGB

what sort of mileage are you doing to justify the outlay and how long are you keeping the car? the conversion will not add a huge amount of value to the car once you sell it.

LPG is 58p a litre cheaper around here although i expect that to change as the government trend on increasing taxes on items as they become more popular continues.
At £1600 quid to install, that's a lot of 58p's you would have to use to recoup the outlay, roughly 606 gallons or 20,000 miles.

personally if i was planning on shelling out so much in the name of economy, i would be adding it to my car value and chopping it in for a diesel and synergy.

Government has pledged to maintain duty in line with other fuels, i.e 1p per litre is just that on all fuels.

As a proportion of the motor cars on the road, LPG converted cars are but a small fraction, around 150,000 compared with 34million overall. There is not danger of the number increasing to the extent that government consider raising duty to cover losses from petrol/diesel. Government are committed to alternative fuel to help with greenhouse gases and pollution.

As for the installation costs, there are cheaper installs, around £1000 which do the same job. It is also wrong to consider this as a capital expenditure that adds value to the car. Think of it as revenue expenditure as you would be paying this money out anyway on other fuels, all you are doing is paying it out in one go, and after the number of miles covered to recoup the costs, you have the benefit of running a petrol car for diesel prices. Longer term it is more cost effective to LPG a car than swap it for a higher price diesel car as you still have the up-front costs of purchasing a higher value car.

I am a convert, I get diesel economy from my two 2.5 litre 75's, but still keep the power of 2.5 litre engines.

[Simon.h]

Well the outlay for the Landirenzo system which i just fitted to my Jaguar S-Type was-
- £110 for the full system from a breakers (i removed it from a Jeep)
- £230 for a new 94 litre tank
- About £40 for new pipe/hoses
- Sold Jeeps rare Vertical tank on ebay for £115.

So my outlay was £265, so i think it took about 6 weeks to pay for itself.