[Joey Diesel]

I have a 95 gq tb42 with 200 000km on it. Do you think its worth putting on gas. I mean it can be done, but would you do some head work before hand just in case? Or just leave it and wear the fuel costs. Looking at doing some long haul trips and I would like to get at least another 100 000 out of it trouble free.

 

[the evil twin]

Kinda up to you man...

Fit an upper cylinder lube kit and you will easily get 100,000 no worries assuming something wasn't going to fail anyway.

If the trips are where you can get reliable supply of cheap LPG then no worries it will pay for itself... if you are going outback then maybe not such a good idea... a loaded 'Q will only get about 350 to maybe 400 out of a tank of LPG and the LPG will be goddam expensive out bush IE around 1:20 to 1:30 a litre... its already $1:10 around Carnarvon, Pilbara and the Kimberley on the highway.

You loose some performance as well but IMHO unless you are going to save a significant amount of $ don't do it. Why bother complicating something if the bottom line is the same cost. I had a duel fuel GQ and still had to carry jerries of petrol on some bush trips that I wouldn't have needed if it was straight petty.

 

[Joey Diesel]

Yeah ok, thanks for that I didn't give the remote gas prices much tought. It is average around $0.65 here in Newcastle.

 

[the evil twin]

Yeah ok, thanks for that I didn't give the remote gas prices much tought. It is average around $0.65 here in Newcastle.

Similar price in Perth but go a 100K's in any direction (cept west ) and the price takes off like a NASA moonshot

 

[Brunsy]

I wouldnt say its too late for gas........ Most TB42's that I have had the pleasure of pulling the head off are usually around the 250-300 thousand Kay mark, and a combination of on gas or recently converted. That is not to say LPG makes them spit head gaskets.
LPG burns hotter than ULP and as alloys particularly head material, gets fatigued from heat it kind of chafes the gasket as it expands and contrancts over and over again. Eventually orrosion sets in and a head gasket fails, but at those sort of kays its not surprising. Later model engines seem to hold up better with iron block/ alloyhead combos.
By all means put your engine on LPG, but factor in a head somwhere down the trak. They are considerably cheaper now on ebay than a few years ago. Easy job even for the novice.. The bottom end is bullet proof, they will last a lifetime.

 

[green troll]

Gas prices are high as soon as you hit bush, but I think it's relative,you still pay more petrol aswell.
Cheaper to run around close to home and cities.it's nice seeing that gas is almost half the price of fuel.almost...x2 on head gasket. Will eventually go, but happens to the best of us,I haven't noticed any power loss but mine is tuned more so for gas, and runs a little rough on petrol. Especially in reverse-some one tell me y?? Up to you mate, if the rebate is still going from the gov then y not?

Just to let u know bout fuel economy.that's the next question.lol
When. Was rolling stock with auto trans and at tyres I was getting between 370 and 400k per 90l useable gas

Now with 33's muddies, roof racks, awning,and 5 inch lift it does round 320 per tank.not too bad.
Needs a service for gas.but runs great

Good luck mate.either way they chew fuel.

 

[Joey Diesel]

Thanks alot for all of your replies, it has been very helpfull.

Another way I was looking at it is; if I were to purchase a long range (petrol) fuel tank ~90L it would be around the $1000 mark. By having a gas convo i get the extra tank (gas) and I get the extra range and save at the bowser. I estimate around 700km from both gas and petrol.

 

[GQ WAGHOON]

Thanks alot for all of your replies, it has been very helpfull.

Another way I was looking at it is; if I were to purchase a long range (petrol) fuel tank ~90L it would be around the $1000 mark. By having a gas convo i get the extra tank (gas) and I get the extra range and save at the bowser. I estimate around 700km from both gas and petrol.

That was my way of thinking as well. And really, for the amount of times you head out bush for extended trips, does carrying a couple of jerry cans really end up being that much of a hassle. You will be saving a truck load of cash by running on gas anyway. Seems to make sense to me.

 

[the evil twin]

That was my way of thinking as well. And really, for the amount of times you head out bush for extended trips, does carrying a couple of jerry cans really end up being that much of a hassle. You will be saving a truck load of cash by running on gas anyway. Seems to make sense to me.

It's not quite that simple... and it will depend where you want to go... up and down the Hume no brainer do it... do the Great Central/CSR/Simpson/Kimberley and all of a sudden a lot of other factors come up.

First range... 700 K's is really pushing it on decent roads/tracks and leaves very little safety margin. Slot it into 4X and you won't get anywhere near that. Indeed you can expect to use 30 to 35 litres per 100.
... then when you do get to the 600K's/700K's you have to be able to get LPG. No LPG means you now have a range of 300 K's on Petty alone. Expect to see maybe a 40 cents per litre saving or around 25% but you are using 20% at least more LPG

Now cost... once you get away from the cheap cap city Autogas blends the price skyrockets because the LPG mix is different plus transport. Work out the increased consumption on LPG over Petty and it isn't a lot of difference so you are saving very little. Expect to see maybe a 40 cents per litre saving or around 25% but you are using 20% at least more LPG

I did around 100,000 K's in my GQ duel fuel and it was a grinner in the city or environs and a total PIA in the bush having to carry 3 or 4 jerries for safety. Pretty much what I did if I opted not to carry Jerries was run on LPG for about 100 K's and then use the Petrol. This meant I had 150 K's of LPG to find Petrol and about 100 K's safety margin

LPG runs hotter and you have to detune your engine for petrol OR pay extra for dual mapping ECU... a further disadvantage

Bottom line - if you can get assured supplies of LPG every 500 K's that is about 45 - 50% the price of Petty then do it for sure... if not then think long and hard as it could end up costing you more and for lower performance. NOTE that even every 500 K's you will still need to run 100 to maybe 150 (or around 25%) on Petrol anyway.

 

[green troll]

Evil twin sums it up good. It's all bout what ur going to do. And I haven't even tought bout different blends.can someone fill me in. I did notice a difference in performance from the city gas to the more remote location gas.love some info on this.thanks

 

[GQ WAGHOON]

My point is, how much remote touring are you really going to do? Fair enough, if you go a few times a year then stay on straight petrol, but if it's once a year or two, with lots of city driving in between, then wouldn't the savings on LPG be worthwhile?

 

[steve34]

Apart from the cost ( witch is getting out of control ) there are ways around the distance . I have a 75 lt petrol tank ( belly tank ) gives me around 350 klm .
Also have a 90lt LPG tank giving me around 350-400 klms . Add to that a 65 ltr LPG tank behind the rear seat at 65 ltrs = just over 200 klms .
Gives me a grand total of between 900 and 950 klms .

Low range work removes about 25% of klms ( that is low range for the hole trip )

Not a bad option i think .

However , you must plan your trip according to LPG stations .

Plus you dont get the bad stench of diesal

Most of the above figures are based on an average of around 80 kl/p with a carb engine .

Lpg is still a good option with good setup and carefull planning .

Cheers

 

[green troll]

Would love to see a pic of the tank inside cab.how much room u loose.do u have a draw system aswell..think someone even posted a website that lists lpg stations so you can plan ur trip better.

As for the diesel smell.- I used to hate ppl running gas driving behind them. I hate the smell of burnt lpg. And now I'm one of them.and there's always a line up of cars behind me.lol...

Would love a range that big but the loss of space suxa bit.but top idea I might look into it.cheers

 

[Joey Diesel]

. Expect to see maybe a 40 cents per litre saving or around 25% but you are using 20% at least more LPG

From the figures I have seen on this forum people have stated that they are getting the same mileage from gas and petrol. Is this true?


I think I will make my rig my daily driver, and also use it for camping/exploring/fishing localy around Newcastle with 1 or 2 big trips a year. I did a calc and worked out I would need to do 17 000km before the gas installation payed off.

 

[Joey Diesel]

Would love to see a pic of the tank inside cab.how much room u loose.do u have a draw system aswell..think someone even posted a website that lists lpg stations so you can plan ur trip better.

x2 on the cabin tank installation

I will have to do a search for that lpg location website too.

 

[the evil twin]

From the figures I have seen on this forum people have stated that they are getting the same mileage from gas and petrol. Is this true?


I think I will make my rig my daily driver, and also use it for camping/exploring/fishing localy around Newcastle with 1 or 2 big trips a year. I did a calc and worked out I would need to do 17 000km before the gas installation payed off.

Never seen a truck yet without dual ECU mapping on a mixer LPG system that gets anywhere near the same fuel economy between LPG and Petty. Pretty much against the laws of physics actually unless the engine has been tuned so far towards LPG the Petrol consumption is so poor it has caught up... but who knows, maybe it was someone with LPG injection

LPG Gas injection will improve the economy and LPG Liquid injection is the bees knees of LPG efficiency but both are waay more expensive.

If the rig is a daily/local/odd big trip useage then its a no brainer... do it... but I think it will take more than 17,000 K's to "pay" for the conversion.

You will most likely need to change to very good quality plug leads and Platinum plugs as well as any weak spark issues will make LPG run like a dog

 

[Esses]

My GQ was my 7th LPG vehicle. It was a dead-stock TB42, no ignition mods, no extreme tuning, no extra lube systems, just extractors & a 2 1/2" system recently. It always did a very consistent 16 mpg on petrol & 12-13 mpg on LPG. The conversion including fitting, tuning & the belly-tank cost $3500-00. Over the last 4 1/2 years it saved us $12 000-00 (conservatively - probably more) in fuel costs. If you're going to spend even half your time in town you can't go past it.
Our last trip to Fraser we filled both tanks up at Rainbow Beach & used the petrol first, on the premise that we could always fill it up on the Island but not the LPG, which we kept as a reserve. After we'd done our "Touring Musts" we'd just about emptied the petrol-tank (200 km approx) & spent the last 2 days lazing around, swimming, bush-walking, fishing etc so ended up NOT paying the $1-82.9 cpl for ULP & used the LPG to drive down the Island to the Ferry. Total range would've been about 500 km using both tanks/fuels.
Don't forget that the Commonwealth LPG Rebate still applies - $1500-00 now I think - but also bear in mind that the long-threatened excise (tax) is also due to be applied to LPG this year. Could be 4cpl, could be 14, I've heard both figures mentioned. Personally, I think that the Taxi & Courier Industries will utterly revolt over such an excise. Be interesting to see if it also applies to CNG as that's what my current truck runs on - straight MPI CNG.
Good luck with whatever you decide.