is a gas system worth the investment?

[Liighthead]

hey misses is looking at getting a new car

should get about 10L per 100km on petrol
and about 14l per 100km on gas
petrol is around $1.60 per liter
gas is around $0.80 per liter

gas system is around $4000..

so if i worked this out right
$16 per 100km on petrol -> 16 cents per km
$11.2 per 100km on gas -> 11 cents per km?


so it would save around 5c per km depending how she drives
how many km's would it take to make up the $4,000 outlay :/

if i could get her to average 7 - 8l per 100 would pretty much be the same, but thatll take a bit of time with her lead foot haha

[cbaber]

Gas = petrol

You must not be talking about gasoline vs petrol.

The answer is 80,000 km before you save any money. How many km do you average per year? Are there any significant maintenance requirements that would increase/decrease the cost?

[Thenorm]

i think he means CNG or propane

[Liighthead]

oh sorry LPG, just use to calling it "gas"

umm averaging about 15,000 per year
from what i can tell / heard lpg has more wear and tear on the engine

[Simonas]

Over here LPG is a common conversion that pays off. Our gasoline/petrol is more expensive though.

If an engine is designed for LPG, it can outlive a gasoline/petrol engine. The propane/butane mix is a vapor when it enters the engine, and vapors don't really wash the oil off the cylinder walls.

If you were running an older car that was back when cars had distributors, the conversion would be relatively simple to make the car run optimumly on LPG. You'd want a cam that is for torque, raw torque, not high rpms. If I remember correctly, the big deal was with the "lobe separation", not the profile of the actual lobes. If I remember correctly, you'd also want colder spark plugs, and the ignition timing should be advanced somewhat because LPG has a higher octane rating. Ideally, if running straight propane, the compression ratio should be something like 12:1, though it should be somewhat lower if running propane/butane (LPG that most filling stations have).

$4000 is really expensive for LPG. Around here a high grade LPG system would cost aout $1400 AUD or so. We don't use CNG except for on busses. I could get a fully approved LPG system for a carburetored engine (without any lambda sensor) installed for about $400 USD with everything. Tank, reducer, hoses, wiring, valves, fill up tube, etc.

As for more wear on an engine, that is possible if using gas on a gasoline/petrol engine that does not have hardened valve seats i.e. was designed for leaded gas.

I don't think a new car is intended to run on leaded petrol...

[Liighthead]

the car is a 2012 fg xr6,
they do come in a straight gas but decided against it, was going to install a dual fuel
but yeah $4,000 is installed..
would be nice to get it cheaper but just not going to happen over here..
not sure about a carbie system but yeah no carbie anyway

but yeah doesnt look like its going to be worth it on this car, though might have a project car thatll need it haha