Hey guys and girls,
I've decided to pick up Four-wheel-driving as a hobby, but I know that most 4WDs use lots of petrol, and give off lots of emissions. While most 4WDs do have diesel options, it's common knowledge that diesel emits more particles than Unleaded petrol.
Here in Australia, LPG is fairly common, cheap fuel (about half the price of regular Unleaded), and most of the taxicabs run on the gas. LPG also gives off less particles than both diesel and Unleaded. The government offers a relatively large rebate to get cars switched over to gas (around AU$2000), which makes the conversion a lot cheaper.
Converting petrol powered cars to LPG (or at least a dual fuel system) is relatively widespread, (in fact, the Ford Falcon has an optional straight LPG system from the factory, and most Toyota and General Motors Holden dealers convert their cars to dual fuel as well), but I have never heard of it being done to a diesel vehicle.
Is it possible to do this conversion? Or is the diesel engine incompatible with an LPG system?
Would I be able to run the diesel part on vegetable oil (if the engine is modified for SVO)?
Also, what would be a good 4WD to use? I am thinking of the
2nd gen Toyota Hilux Surf (basically a JDM 4Runner with a diesel engine), a
Y60 Nissan Patrol or a
Land Rover Discovery. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Please note, here in Australia, the Big Three (Ford/GM/Chrysler) don't have a large selection of 4WDs (Ford had a rebadged Patrol for a while, Holden had rebadged Isuzu Troopers and Rodeos, and Chrysler had the Jeep Cherokee), so a Japanese suggestion would be better.