lpg or long range?

[airlock]

hello again guys and girls.

seeing as the fuel economy on the V8 Grand is akin to pouring gasoline down an open drain i'm looking at ways to increase the range for touring. ive noticed there are a few threads regarding LPG conversations where you seem to be having trouble finding companies that will fit duel fiel systems to the later models 2000 onward, i was wondering if this has been resolved yet and if any one can recommend somewhere in Victoria. the other option im considering is installing a long range fuel tank witch seems to be the intially cheaper and easier option. can any one give me an idea of how much space this will take up and a rough idea of how much it will cost me. i would prefer duel fuel as it will reduce cost as well as boosting range but I'm not willing to pay some of the prices you seem to have been given in the past ( in excess of 5k). any hekp would be great as i'm not going to be able to do some of the trips ive planned with out one or other of these options as im not overly keen of karting fuel around in cans for long periods, i new the car would be a little heavy on fuel but i had no idea it would be getting through it at the rate it does.

[fester]

How bad is your economy, they really aren't that bad (try a 6cyl petrol Patrol or Cruiser). Maybe you should clarify that with the petrol guys here before proceeding. As far as I can see oyu have a couple of issues. Given the norm these days is for sequential injection gas (and rightly so) the prices you see are where it's at.
A long range tank if still available is going to be around $1400 and will give you about 65 litres.
A gas conversion will reduce your $/km cost but will not improve your range unless you get a donut tank where the spare goes or traditional tank eating up your cargo space.

Gas converrsions are good for cost/km depending on how long your pay back is but they do very little for touring range as mosst gas tanks are not overly big and consumption on gas is worse than petrol, although at least in the Jeep it is an add on.

In the Patrol it was useless. You had to remove 95 litres fo petrol to replace with a gas tank that got you about 350k's at best, then you had to spend more to add another 35 litres of petrol back in if you wanted your range back up a bit. I live 2hrs from Brissy and go down for the day quite often and the thought that I could not make a return trip on one tank of gas really put me off it for touring so you need to work out what you want to achieve most.

I guess your ultimate set up would be original fuel tank + donut gas tank + aux fuel tank but that's going to be your dearest option too.

[GMEMUD]

Have a think about where you will be touring before making up your mind on this one, I live in regional QLD and do a fair bit of country running around and the price of gas in most centres around here is above 90c and a lot of places don't have gas anymore due to small volumes. When using gas I believe you will use aprox 30% more gas than petrol, so that takes the price upwards of 120c when compared to petrol,add to that the installation costs, space needed for tank ................do your sums.
I know it is a different story in the city's where gas is under 80c and petrol usage is worse.
Just my 2c worth.

[timbotrog]

Both have their good points and bad points.

LPG,
Pro- extended range above standard petrol range, cheaper running cost
Cons-Excessive initial outlay, ($5k+), higher engine temps, (the 4.7V8 doesn't like too much heat), smallish LPG tank, need to relocate spare=loss of cargo or roof space

Petrol
Pro-available anywhere, easy to carry extra in jerry cans
Cons-Long Range tank whilst advertised as not being the lowest point of the car seems to be where it gets hung up the most besides transfer case plate. Adds a lot of extra weight without a huge gain in range

A decent roof rack with a quality dual horizontal jerry can holder is the cheapest and most efficient method of gaining extra range. It is also removable for normal running around town and can also be used for the carriage of water whilst touring, (one jerry of fuel, one of water).

http://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com...LDER-p241.html

If you were to go with the long range fuel tank either petrol or LPG you would almost certainly have to upgrade the suspension due to the extra weight.

[KKnut]

GMEMUD makes some good points although I suspect the newer LPG systems now loose less than 30% compared to unleaded. My local servo is selling gas for 74.9 and E10 for 129.9 as of this evening, but I see the price of gas can rise by as much as 50 cents litre out in the country, whereas unleaded may only rise by 10 cents. Despite this, the LPG on my Cherokee has been great, just would have liked a bigger tank. My spare now sits in the garage until I go off-road. Dual fuel has saved me a packet and I've had very little issue with it. Lately the installation prices have been falling due to reduced demand as the govt rebate is now only $1k. Here's a link if you've not read the KK LPG thread:

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...d.php?t=108579

Here's a pic of a landcruiser with LPG tanks tucked underneath, seems like a good idea so long as they're protected?

[roscoea26]

I owned a 2002 WG V8 and did extensive touring around Oz towing a Jayco Offroad , loaded it was around 1.2 tonne. I only used Premium unleaded and was averaging 550k. The fact is that you will find that service stations are within 400k of each other. I only carried 2 x 20l Jerry cans so I had some premium in reserve in case I couldn't get it. If you keep your speed to around 90k when towing the V8 is pretty good, in fact it will match a 3.0l diesel patrol, they average around 20+ l per 100k towing.

[fester]

Originally Posted by timbotrog

Both have their good points and bad points.

LPG,
Pro- extended range above standard petrol range, cheaper running cost
Cons-Excessive initial outlay, ($5k+), higher engine temps, (the 4.7V8 doesn't like too much heat), smallish LPG tank, need to relocate spare=loss of cargo or roof space

Petrol
Pro-available anywhere, easy to carry extra in jerry cans
Cons-Long Range tank whilst advertised as not being the lowest point of the car seems to be where it gets hung up the most besides transfer case plate. Adds a lot of extra weight without a huge gain in range

A decent roof rack with a quality dual horizontal jerry can holder is the cheapest and most efficient method of gaining extra range. It is also removable for normal running around town and can also be used for the carriage of water whilst touring, (one jerry of fuel, one of water).

http://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com...LDER-p241.html

If you were to go with the long range fuel tank either petrol or LPG you would almost certainly have to upgrade the suspension due to the extra weight.

ARB do one of those dual jerry holders as well. Fitted a couple to a mates rig, well made work well.