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33931

General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party

« on: 02 November 2007, 16:38:20 »

I take it having the filler inside the boot is a no no?

Unfortunately it appears so. Any gas connections must be isolated from the vehicle interior and vented to the underside so my interpretation is that you can't have a connection to the tank that is accessible from the boot.

Kevin

33932

General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party

« on: 02 November 2007, 11:41:00 »

If not far from Worcester I could attend, haven't got the room for more than two visiting cars unfortunately

Thanks, Martin. Input from those who've been there before and lived with an install for a while would be much appreciated.

Kevin

33933

General Discussion Area / Re: LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party

« on: 02 November 2007, 11:39:51 »

The filler can go through the rear bumper....  :-?

No? Didn't think you'd like that one

They can be mounted on a towbar so I would imagine it's acceptable to mount it on some kind of bracket just under the bumper. I think it needs to be 200mm off the ground.

Kevin

33934

General Discussion Area / LPG kit bulk buy & / or install party

« on: 02 November 2007, 11:13:12 »

Hi All,

As discussed in other threads a few of us are considering LPG conversion, and with Jay W having gone for one of these kits, pleased with it and getting on nicely with the install by the sounds of it, let's see what firm interest we have.

This is the kit:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330170356040

I have spoken to the guy about the possibility of a discount for buying in bulk and something is on the cards. Probably not much and depending on numbers but there is at least the potential to save a little. We shouldn't need as much of his time by us not all buying individually and requiring support individually.
 
For the really keen here is the manual:
 
http://www.ac.com.pl/autogaz/programy/pliki/Instruction%20of%20Stag-200,%20Stag-300%20controller.pdf
 
If you have a 4 pot I don't doubt that he'll be able to supply a kit for that, so don't let that put you off.

In addition, an LPG party has been mooted. I'm not sure what format this would take. Having had a look over my car last night the install is going to be quite involved and I wonder if we could make that much progress on a number of cars over the course of a day / weekend, however, we could regard it as a day to share experiences of the wrong and right way to do things, we could ensure that cars are prepared with pipes run and holes drilled beforehand and regard it as a "finishing-off" session. Comments welcome.

So, let's see who's interested.

I think what we need to gather is the following:

Your name
Your location
Your engine
Front End required? - the bits under the bonnet (evaporator, injectors, ecu, sensors, wiring loom)
Back End Required?  - the bits in the boot (Tank, straps, valves, filler)
Preferred tank type? - just out of interest (Cylinder, toroidal (Estate), vertical toroidal (saloon))
Interested in an LPG party?

So, I'll set the ball rolling:

Kevin Wood, Alton, 3.2 V6, Yes, Yes, Cylinder / V. toroid, Yes

Over to you....

Kevin

33935

General Discussion Area / Re: Dilemma

« on: 16 November 2007, 10:50:38 »

I've just been all around the insurance sites. That vauxhall one IS the direct line website
also quote me £83 more than direct line direct  :-/

I wouldn't be surprised if the Vauxhall one is Vauxhall in name only. It'll be underwritten by one of the major insurers and just rebranded. Probably means that come repair time it'll be off to the usual "approved repairer" with the usual standard of work and parts supply.

I view insurance as a pure commodity these days. There are only gimmicks to choose between the companies and who knows what any of them are actually like until you make a claim? Go for the cheapest, I say.

Kevin

33936

General Discussion Area / Re: LPG insurance

« on: 16 November 2007, 09:46:45 »

To be honest, if you're doing a DIY conversion, I wouldn't tell them at any cost, that you've done it DIY. If they say "who converted it" My reply will be "It's all been sorted out by blah...(whoever certified it).... and send them the certificate. Chances are, some monkey administrator will put the certificate on file without looking at it, and tick a box to say it's been recieved - job done!

This is my plan. They can stipulate what they like but if it's got a certificate and it doesn't specifically say it was a DIY conversion I can't see how they can get arsey about it.

Whilst lying to insurance companies is a very bad idea, so is volunteering more of the truth than they specifically extract from you, IME.

Kevin

33937

General Discussion Area / Re: LPG insurance

« on: 15 November 2007, 21:33:02 »

Even if an LPG tank ruptures I reckon it'd disperse quickly enough that it's less of a hazard than petrol.

Kevin

33938

General Discussion Area / Re: LPG insurance

« on: 15 November 2007, 20:44:19 »

What appears on an LPGA certificate? I've never seen one...

Does a DIY one look any different to one from a LPGA installer?

TBH, there must be enough LPG cars on the 2nd hand market where the owner has no clue about the history that it's probably acceptable to just have a certificate.

Kevin

33939

General Discussion Area / Re: Wiring colour help

« on: 15 November 2007, 21:37:06 »

Thanks, Mark. Good info. I'll have a prod around and see what's what.

Kevin

33940

General Discussion Area / Re: Wiring colour help

« on: 15 November 2007, 20:48:16 »

Have you got the wiring for the Y32se handy, Mark?

Maybe you could cast an eye over it.. I'm pretty sure it was 4 wire, with +12v going to the heater, heater return straight into ECU and both sensor cell connections straight into ECU with no indication which is signal and which is 0v (if any).

Kevin

33941

General Discussion Area / Re: Wiring colour help

« on: 15 November 2007, 09:08:51 »

i was going to pull the RPM signal from the green wire on the Dispak

That's presumably one of the coil feeds? I figured the feed to the dashboard tacho would be a cleaner signal but I think the system can be configured to take pretty much anything.

Wish I hadn't left my laptop with the diagrams at work!

Kevin

33942

General Discussion Area / Re: Wiring colour help

« on: 15 November 2007, 09:03:21 »

I was looking at this yesterday. The Y32SE engine wiring (don't know if it's the same for earlier systems) shows the 2 sensor wires from each of the Lambda probes going straight into separate pins on the ECU. This is true for all 4 sensors and there's no indication of a common ground reference or if the sensors are "floating" in some way. There may well be a common ground for all 4 inputs but this will only come to light by checking for continuity at the pins on the ECU, I fear. Failing that get it idling hot and see if the voltage is cycling 0-1v on one of the pins.

I suspect some cutting of the looms will be required in this area. Only other option is if there's a piggy-back connector at the sensor end. Not sure if the SGI system actually needs the Lambda signal other than for display purposes while setting up.

You'll need an RPM signal as well, which will have to come from the ECU's tacho output I believe.

Kevin

33943

General Discussion Area / Re: My facelift - cambelt failure

« on: 14 November 2007, 23:03:51 »

Bu66er!  

I once had a starter motor come loose on me (just as I was trying to out-drag someone off the lights ) and the noise sounded terminal. The fix was easy - tighten the 3 retaining bolts and carry on. It's not always as bad as it sounds. Given a little clutch judder preceded it it's possible something came apart in the clutch I guess.

Either way it's going to involve a bit of work to fix it I'm afraid. The offer still stands in a weekend or two - to help get it mobile again rather than to spectate at the LPG fitting

Kevin

33944

General Discussion Area / Re: Central Heating Woes...

« on: 14 November 2007, 23:54:34 »

How does that work Kev, does that mean you are washing etc with hot water thats in the heating system or is that part of the system independant,

Well, both systems initially fill via the common header tank, the radiators fill via their connection to the boiler and thus the hot water tank.

Once the hot water tank is full, air is trapped either side of the direct connection to the boiler, which exists inside a cylinder shaped insert in the main tank. So, the two systems are separated by air, which takes up the expansion and contraction as they heat and cool and, assuming everything is working OK, the radiator water doesn't mix with the hot water.

The problem is, if something goes wrong, or even if the tank didn't fill quite correctly and the air barrier was not established, the waters do mix, which doesn't do the heating system and boiler much good because it's a constant source of hard, aerated water. The hot water can also be discoloured by sludge from the primary system.

This is compounded because you can't treat the primary system with an inhibitor in case it gets into the secondary.

The systems were popular in the 60's and 70's but are totally obsolete now. If I had one, I'd assume that the tank was probably pretty full of scale as it'll be 30+ years old and I'd replace it with an indirect one and add a second header tank in the roof for the heating. A fairly straightforward DIY job.

Kevin

33945

General Discussion Area / Re: Central Heating Woes...

« on: 14 November 2007, 23:15:43 »

Either the primary circuit is pressurised (does it have a filling loop, a pressure gauge or a pressure vessel anywhere?) or you have a primatic hot water tank where the two systems share a header tank, the heating system fills via the hot water tank and the systems are not entirely separated. I'm guessing it would be a lot more than 5 years old in this case.

In the latter case, the hot water taps wouldn't drain the hot water tank, only the header tank, so you have probably drained the hot water tank via the radiators!

If it's the former, you need to find the filling loop and pressure gauge and fill and bleed the system to the correct pressure before firing the boiler as just filling the header tank will leave the boiler dry.

Either way, it sounds like you're in a position to fit your rad now. Once that's done, seal the system up, fill the header tank and see if you can bleed air from the radiators. If you can it's a primatic system and you're away. If not you need to find the filling loop.

... and you can't add an inhibitor to a primatic system.

Kevin