33916
General Discussion Area / Re: doggy dog
« on: 16 November 2007, 16:11:03 »
Makes a Tech 2 session at a dealers sound cheap. Still, glad to hear there were no trouble codes stored.
Kevin
Kevin
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33917
General Discussion Area / Re: Ford Escort Zetec review
« on: 16 November 2007, 12:01:43 »Quote
But they never break down
Emma's 1.1 fiesta ended up with a hole in the block the size of her fist. Does that classify as a breakdown?
Granted someone probably should have cleaned out the breathers, which were woefully inadequate for an engine with such heavy breathing!
Oh, and then there's the alternator cable that burns out if you've got the cheek to drive it with the headlights and the wipers on at the same time.
Kevin
33918
General Discussion Area / Re: Ford Escort Zetec review
« on: 16 November 2007, 09:36:41 »
If it's the old 1.6 Zetec you have my sympathies. Build a 2 litre engine and put tiny bores in it to make a poverty spec model out of it. Sometime I'll give you a ride in the Westfield so you can sample what the 2L one's like when breathed on a little!
The newer (all ali) Ford engines are quite good, I reckon. Emma had a 1.25 16v Fiesta and it was a cracking engine. Really free revving and plenty of poke. Not too noisy and pretty frugal too. Quite possible the larger capacity ones weren't as good though.
Whilst I find most Ford mechanicals are at least tough and quite well put together, if agricultural, it doesn't extend to the rest of the car, I'm afraid. Well, maybe the agricultural bit does. Still, when the bodies rot away or get bent they provide a good source of parts for us kit car types.
Never driven a Ford of the focus era. Can't say my life feels incomplete as a result. They should bring back the Escort Mk 2 IMHO, with a Duratec I4 engine.
When you service it, the Zetec wants a 30 viscosity oil ideally. Some of the early Zetecs get problems with lifters pumping up on thicker oil, although mine seems happy on VX Semi.
Kevin
The newer (all ali) Ford engines are quite good, I reckon. Emma had a 1.25 16v Fiesta and it was a cracking engine. Really free revving and plenty of poke. Not too noisy and pretty frugal too. Quite possible the larger capacity ones weren't as good though.
Whilst I find most Ford mechanicals are at least tough and quite well put together, if agricultural, it doesn't extend to the rest of the car, I'm afraid. Well, maybe the agricultural bit does. Still, when the bodies rot away or get bent they provide a good source of parts for us kit car types.
Never driven a Ford of the focus era. Can't say my life feels incomplete as a result. They should bring back the Escort Mk 2 IMHO, with a Duratec I4 engine.
When you service it, the Zetec wants a 30 viscosity oil ideally. Some of the early Zetecs get problems with lifters pumping up on thicker oil, although mine seems happy on VX Semi.
Kevin
33919
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 13 November 2007, 15:31:56 »Quote
Between 39p and 45p everywhere I go... except Brackley
I'll have another look, but pretty sure I'm going to be sh@fted round here.
Quote
Is it possible to have the small tank in the wheel well and a removable cylinder tank behind the seats?
I don't think there's any provision for a tank to be removable in the LPGA regs. You can have 2 tanks with valves to ensure they don't crossfeed but It looks like no one's crossed that particular bridge yet.
Incidentally, can you remember how much capacity you had in you spare wheel tank and what range it got you?
Cheers,
Kevin
33920
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 13 November 2007, 15:10:19 »Quote
Ive just spoken to my local LPG supplier and its 40p a LTR. Time to get it converted I think
OK. this is the other thing that has been confusing me. LPG around my way is 55p per litre or more at the couple of places I am aware of who do it. Still better than nothing but 40p will make a conversion pay back much more quickly. Who sells LPG for 40p?
Kevin
33921
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 13 November 2007, 12:46:59 »
It's very tempting. Much as I would like to do the job myself, in some ways, looking at it like like that it doesn't make a lot of sense. :-/
Kevin
Kevin
33922
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 13 November 2007, 12:33:00 »
That is interesting. Makes it look like it's hardly worth the bother of fitting it yourself. Once you've bought the kit and paid for someone to certify it.... :-/
But then the main attraction of doing it myself is that I know it's been done well. I'm not happy to let people hack holes in the bodyshell, etc. because I know they will scrimp on rustproofing them. Had it before when I've had towbars fitted.
Kevin
But then the main attraction of doing it myself is that I know it's been done well. I'm not happy to let people hack holes in the bodyshell, etc. because I know they will scrimp on rustproofing them. Had it before when I've had towbars fitted.
Kevin
33923
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 09 November 2007, 09:51:29 »Quote
Once they have got the mixture at idle correct......most places (i know my local installer does) will take the car for a spin with laptop sitting on passenger seat so they can see whats happening over different throttle positions. Something you could consider doing
True, but you haven't got anything to measure the mixture. A narrow band lambda sensor will tell you if you're rich or lean of a stoichiometric mixture (14.7:1 on petrol) but you want a richer mixture than this at full load (around 12.8-13:1 on petrol). All they can do is watch the Lambda sensor output and make sure it indicates "rich" on hard acceleration.
Kevin
33924
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 07 November 2007, 18:08:33 »Quote
I think my main concern is getting the system running properly before something gets damaged.
You have to try hard to damage an engine. As long as you get the mixture right under light load / idling conditions before you start giving it large it will be fine.
Most LPG installers probably don't do much more than run the self-adjustment procedure on the SGI system. This is Ok to determine the mixture at idle but they probably end up with no idea what's happening at wide open throttle and high revs as this requires a rolling road and / or a wideband Lambda sensor. The dangerous scenario is that the SGI system can't deliver enough gas and the mixture goes lean just when it needs to be quite rich to prevent knock and keep temperatures under control.
If we want to get really involved I have a wideband Lambda sensor which I would rig up to plug into an Omega. It will take some doing (just accessing the sensor is not that easy on a V6) but I'm sure we can do just as good a job setting it up as a "professional" would. In any case, we need to get the systems commissioned / certified so we could entrust the setting-up to whoever does that.
Kevin
33925
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 07 November 2007, 16:07:55 »
I'm not too shabby at electronics so I have no real worries about that area. Have also played around with fuel injection systems a bit, and mapped a few of these systems so I know what makes them tick. Principles are the same for SGI.
I have done my fair share of drilling and tapping, making holes in bodywork, etc. in the past. I prefer it if it's my own bodywork, tbh, but I'm happy to loan people hole saws, taps, dies, drills, etc and stand back.
A good idea to mention the areas where we have concerns and the areas where we may be able to help each other out
Kevin
I have done my fair share of drilling and tapping, making holes in bodywork, etc. in the past. I prefer it if it's my own bodywork, tbh, but I'm happy to loan people hole saws, taps, dies, drills, etc and stand back.
A good idea to mention the areas where we have concerns and the areas where we may be able to help each other out
Kevin
33926
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 05 November 2007, 20:57:52 »Quote
QuoteJust out of interest, there's a guy in Cannock breaking an Omega with LPG fitted. Cheap kit ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAXHALL-OMEGA-EST-BREAKING-FOR-SPARES_W0QQitemZ330181454961QQihZ014QQcategoryZ10404QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Ken
New SGI kits are so cheap it's not worth messing with older stuff......
Agreed. Doesn't say what kit it's got on it. Probably a mixer though. Might be worth it for the tank but they're not huge money in comparison to the total cost anyway :-/
Kevin
33927
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 05 November 2007, 20:36:46 »Quote
Definately interested .. but wouldn't know where (or how) to start !!
Well, neither would I have until I started to dig around a little. I'm hoping we will be able to get together for an LPG party somewhere, by which time a couple of us will have tackled the major issues so we'll be able to share a bit of knowledge around. Once a couple of cars have been tackled we'll know exactly where to drill the holes, route the pipes, etc. and it should be straightforward (as long as we don't all go for slightly different tank options, etc). I'm not sure we'll be able to get together and convert cars en-masse but we can certainly tackle the challengine parts of each install, make up any required bracketry in advance, etc. It remains to be seen how much time is required for each car but I'm sure there'll be plenty of advice available.
Kevin
33928
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 05 November 2007, 20:12:38 »
Right, we have plenty of interest so I'll get back to the guy tomorrow and see what gives regarding a discount and how we can organise payment, delivery, etc.
There's quite a cluster of us in the South so I'm thinking I'll pick up those kits and distribute (possibly at an LPG party TBA).
Cheers,
Kevin
There's quite a cluster of us in the South so I'm thinking I'll pick up those kits and distribute (possibly at an LPG party TBA).
Cheers,
Kevin
33929
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 05 November 2007, 20:02:13 »
Would be an impressive range. Full petrol tank gives 400 miles plus 800 out of the two LPG tanks?
As Martin says, I wouldn't want to try it with a car full of passengers though
Kevin
As Martin says, I wouldn't want to try it with a car full of passengers though
Kevin
33930
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party
« on: 05 November 2007, 19:16:49 »
Just popped out for a measure.. and found a nice list of some tank sizes here: http://www.tinleytech.co.uk/sizes.html
940mm available between rear suspension turrets so a 400x930 tank gives TDs 100L maximum.
Spare wheel area looks like it'll take up to 250mm depth and will probably take 630mm diameter, maybe more, so that's a 60l vertical tank.
Kevin
940mm available between rear suspension turrets so a 400x930 tank gives TDs 100L maximum.
Spare wheel area looks like it'll take up to 250mm depth and will probably take 630mm diameter, maybe more, so that's a 60l vertical tank.
Kevin