Post
by Geezer » Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:30 pm
Right I’ve been driving my LPG converted 4.6 for almost 3 weeks now and have covered over 600 miles.
Overall impressions are fantastic! I just wish the tank was bigger, but that isn’t possible without loosing any boot space.
I had the AEB King system installed by Nationwide LPG based in Walsall near Birmingham. The system cost £1500 to install and the work took 3 days for the LPG installation, but then another couple of days an additional £350 as I had the rocker cover gaskets changed and a full service done. I received a discount on the cost of the service as the engine was already being worked on and paid mainly for parts.
I had the indicator fitted on the ‘lip’ at the bottom of the dash, just above the accelerator. This has five LED lights at the top to indicate the fuel level and two at the bottom, one to indicate it is running on Petrol and the other to indicate it is running on LPG. There is a button in the middle of the gauge which if pressed switches between LPG and petrol.
The engine starts up on petrol and switches over to LPG after about 2 min. The transition is very smooth and I cannot notice it at all without looking at the gauge. The filler is hidden under the tow bar cover, so no unsightly caps on the bumper.
The installer, Abdul Muhit, was very knowledgeable and said he was happy to drive the ‘X’ around for a week to ensure there were no problems. He was also very thorough when showing me around the car, opening the engine cover to show his handy work, which I admit was very neat (I’ll upload some pictures soon). He has been in the business for over 12 years, his personal car was an M5 he had converted himself. When I went to pick up the X, he had just bought himself a Mercedes C55 AMG which he had just converted.
The tank holds 77 litres of LPG and this lasts me about 200miles of spirited driving. I’ve found the cost of LPG to vary quite a bit, with the cheapest being 63p a litre in Birmingham (61p if you buy a pre-paid tag) to 72-78p per litre in London.
As part of the installation, he had to move the air pump to make space for the tank. This now makes an audible noise on start up only. I’m told this can be insulated, but to be hoes the noise doesn’t bother me.
All in, I’m very happy with the installation, It takes full throttle no problem and is a dream to drive.
As stated above, it’d be nice to have a bigger tank as I do a fair amount of mileage. It would also be nice to have Birmingham priced LPG in London.
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