LPG installation

[5988]

just posting this incase its of any use to anyone in the future, as i couldnt find any pics of an instilation on the forum and kept having to ask people for help (thanks Richard and Mark)


mounting of the frame - removed the galv strip the holds the spare wheel mount as it wont be of any use, and allows the tank to sit abit further forwards, and more room to get behind it with pipes later.
frame needed several attempts to possition so the bolts didnt come out on the edge of one of the tub strengtheners or through one then onto the chassis, so the nuts couldnt be got on-measure better next time  :yes

also its worth strapping the tank to the fram before fitting it to get the straps the right shape-its dificult otherwise especialy when you cant get hands behind to bend them


mounting of the vaporiser between the rad pannel and inner wing to allow easy routing of the pipes to it (following brake lines to the front ) and a convienient place to mount it.



mounting of the fuel stop solenoid - made up a bracket from one of the thermostat housing bolts and a water pump bolt to get it as close to the carb as possible




modified air intake elbow to house the mixer, just above the carb


mixer fitted to the carb with rubber hose from the mixer to carb - low pressure lpg pipe from the vaporiser also conected


hole cut into the tub to house the filler


plate to attach the filler to a normal landrover fuel filler shroud


filler fitted - oposite of petrol one so it looks reasonably normal from both sides


varpoiser mounted and with pipes connected to it
also lpg stop solenoide mounted below the vaporiser to make the pipe routing easier and with a loop to allow for vibration of the wing


valve fitted into the low pressure lpg pipe to control the fuel flow to the mixer


valve block and fuel gauge fitted to the tank, with the air tight box arround it


gas tank in the vehicle with vent pipes fitted, and cliped to the bulkhead using existing bolt holes and large p clips
the grey one goes to a fitting in the rear floor behind the tank


tank and filler fitted,

[Wittsend]

So........if I hear a loud bang and shudder from the Lincolnshire direction it might not be an earthquake 

Only kidding, well done  :em

I'm sure you're going to save loads of petrol money....

 :mexicanwave

[cjbailey1]

Looks excellent mate  :em

[DasLandRoverMan]

I know this will sound critical, but i'll say it anyways.

Firstly, why a single hole tank and multivalve? If it's on grounds of cost I can understand why you got a single hole (marginally cheaper) however, a 4 hole tank is a better option, especially for a tank that size.

The 4 hole tank has provision for a big bore 'Fast Fill' pipe, which means the tank will fill faster, something you appreciate when you've got to shift upwards of 80 litres of gas. My 101 takes about 3 minutes to fill (100 litre tank, 77 litre average fill) on a big bore pipe. 8mm adds a couple of minutes to it.

Also, the 'airtight box' on the tank is a rather more substantial aluminium affair, if nothing else a bit more suited to being in the back of a Land Rover where it's likely to be bashed about. I would perhaps also have considered mounting it with the box against the bulkhead, although space may have prevented it, it would have allowed you to have shorter pipe runs, and make things look neater.

Secondly, Fill point; I cant argue that the exterior job you've done is very nice, and looks in keeping with the vehicle, however, the fitting of the fill point leaves the inside looking (to my mind) rather untidy. I would have either used a straight fill point, or have pointed that one forward toward the front of the tub.

Thirdly, Vapouriser mounting. You've got all that space on top of the passenger footwell in which you could mount the thing. You can also run the water pipes in series with the heater (off the top of the enigne, through the vapouriser, and then into the heater)

That way you'd keep the water pipes short, not have to worry about T's, an easily routed gas pipe, along with a shorter (neater) run to the mixer and shorter lengths of wireing to hide.

Just my thoughts. I know it sounds critical, and I'm sure you've done a better job than some professionals, but as I've mentioned, it does look a bit untidy.
Doing these conversions on a professional basis at work we always work with the objective of leaving the vehicle in such a state as you either cant tell it's gassed (not possible with everything) or at the very least make the gas system blend in as such you'd think it was always meant to be there at a glance, or indeed you didnt know what you're looking at.

Yours, hoping yo dont take it the wrong way.......

[Maltelec]

I see the tea mug was put into propper use  :P

[5988]

the 1 hole tank instead of 4 was down to cost - the fill time doesn't really bother me atm (ill time it next time i fill up )
i didn't think of putting the air tight box on the bulkhead side- though wouldn't that make it very difficult to get spanners on to fasten the pipe fittings
the water pipes been done with t-pieces- i was just following the instructions with the kit which said to do that, so I did though the pipes are going to be done properly with copper piping when i have time
The filler has the outlet at 90 degrees to itself so  the pipe would have to go through the bulkhead if it were the other way around hence coming out where if does, and there wasn't room to turn it around the other way (again thats what was supplied in the kit)

im going to be covering all of the tank and pipes anyway with some space for tools around them so the plastic box, and pipe routing wont be visible (if i ever get around to it)

I put the vaporiser at the front as thinking i had to do the water pipes in parallel that looked to be the best place to put it for pipe routing to avoid the exhaust and throttle linkage with the water and gas pipes.
maybe with them in series the routing would have worked better, but then its probably much easier to see how things will work after doing several of them

[5988]

I'm sure you're going to save loads of petrol money....

well ive only lost about 1mpg over petrol (18 instead of 19) when driven quite hard (for a s2 -60-65 for a couple of hrs) so be saving plenty of ££'s

[DasLandRoverMan]

the 1 hole tank instead of 4 was down to cost - the fill time doesn't really bother me atm (ill time it next time i fill up ) Not a major issue granted, but it's a pain after a while
i didn't think of putting the air tight box on the bulkhead side- though wouldn't that make it very difficult to get spanners on to fasten the pipe fittings  It's probably doable, or you attatch the pipes before you mount the tank.
the water pipes been done with t-pieces- i was just following the instructions with the kit which said to do that, so I did though the pipes are going to be done properly with copper piping when i have time
The filler has the outlet at 90 degrees to itself so  the pipe would have to go through the bulkhead if it were the other way around hence coming out where if does, and there wasn't room to turn it around the other way (again thats what was supplied in the kit) you could however angle it downward.

im going to be covering all of the tank and pipes anyway with some space for tools around them so the plastic box, and pipe routing wont be visible (if i ever get around to it)

I put the vaporiser at the front as thinking i had to do the water pipes in parallel that looked to be the best place to put it for pipe routing to avoid the exhaust and throttle linkage with the water and gas pipes.
maybe with them in series the routing would have worked better, but then its probably much easier to see how things will work after doing several of them This is very true. However, advice is free. Also, if you're planning on re-doing the pipes at a later date, then you could also move the vapouriser.

[Calum]

Very nice job, well done. I'll be putting the Carawagon onto LPG when that is rebuilt, but I want to put a tank in the normal place of the petrol tank (rear tank being a six pot), as there isn't any room anywhere else.

Slightly off-topic, but are homemade tanks legal provided they are pressure tested and then checked by an LPG Engineer person?

[DasLandRoverMan]

Buy a specially made tank. Don't make your own.

If you're thinking of making a square tank to fit the hole available then you might also consider that tanks are either cylindrical or doughnut shaped for a reason. That being they're much stronger that way, and require less welding to manufacture.

If there was a way of making square tanks to fit specific spaces then you might suppose there would be a company making them already?

[5988]

I couldnt point the exit of the filler down as i was told the bayonet pins had to go forwards or back, though i suppose i could have got one that came strait out.

i cant realy see in my head how mounting it on the footwell would tidy up the piping routes-will have to have a look at one there see how its done when there.

i would hav easked you for advice, but didnt know you fitted them as part of your job till now,

oh and calum-it would probably cost you more to get one made, and then get it past safety tests etc than buy one id think-looks like there is quite a bit involved in making one.

[oscar225]

This set up appears very similar to that fitted in my landy, the fuel gauge on the tank is a bit of a pain though, can they be moved onto the dash area at all?

[5988]

on mine there is a feed from the gauge on the tank to the switch which should light a row of led's on the bottom of the switch to show reserve,1/4,1/2,3/4, fuel levels-not very accurate though
on mine the gauge couldn't be moved

[oscar225]

Yes the switch on my dash just lights with an LED to indicate if its running on gas or petrol

[Sunny Jim]

well ive only lost about 1mpg over petrol (18 instead of 19) when driven quite hard (for a s2 -60-65 for a couple of hrs)

I assume this is without an overdrive? My definition of driven hard (with an overdrive) is a bit faster than this, and I still managed 19+ on the trip to Coventry and back last week with a standard petrol soft top!

Sunny Jim

[5988]

no thats with an overdrive - but i tend to make it work quite hard accelerating-foot to the floor in 1st to about 15mph then 2nd to 35 3rd to about 50-55 then top to about 60 then overdrive and the throtle pedal stays on the floor till then -when cruising so although it doesnt go to fast running its the way i get there that burns lots of fuel

when being a bit more gentle i can get about 22mpg on petrol running at that sort of speed, dont know on gas yet as havent tried it

[DasLandRoverMan]

I couldnt point the exit of the filler down as i was told the bayonet pins had to go forwards or back, though i suppose i could have got one that came strait out.

The filler doesn't know which way the bayonet pins are pointing, so why should it matter? We often fit fillers with the bayonets vertical. Its a lot easier to get the filler nozzles on if its mounted low down, or you've got the filler on the towbar and are towing a trailer.

i cant realy see in my head how mounting it on the footwell would tidy up the piping routes-will have to have a look at one there see how its done when there.

You run the top heater hose into the vapouriser, then run the bottom hose from the vapouriser into the heater. I'm afraid I dont have a II like that to illustrate, but I'll quite happily show you what you mean when I see you next.

Yes the switch on my dash just lights with an LED to indicate if its running on gas or petrol

You're lucky. The switch on the 101 is just a 3 position switch marked B and G. FES Autogas sell switches with an integral level gauge. Not too expensive, and pretty easy to wire in too.

The gauge should have 2 wires coming off of it, usually one green, and one white. If not you'll need to get a new sender too. It screws onto the outside of the tank and gets its level with a magnetic pickup, so is quite easy to change.

How you connect the gauge depends on what you've got, but the wireing instructions tell you what you need to know.

[sparky230]

for a bit of information, Tinley Tech, Make a gas tank that will fit on the passenger side of a 88, like a 2nd fuel tank

Helped a friend do one like that

[DasLandRoverMan]

It's a cylinder tank that fits under the seatbox and hangs down to level with the bottom of the chassis rails isn't it?

[5988]

Got arround to making some box's to go arround the tank now to hide it all, and make more use of the space
not got arround to tidying up the water pipes yet



generaly getting between 17-18mpg driven at 55/60 ish on a mix of arround town and long trips (best so far of 21mpg on a long motorway trip)
the gas system seems more sensative to driving style than petrol as well
going to be upgrading it to a vacuum controled mixture for better running/economy soon

[kernowcam]

roughly how much is a gas system these days?

[5988]

that kit cost me £422 in april + £25 for the check and set up (but that was covered by the club discount)