Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Phil on 09 July 2008, 17:22:51
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Right thinking VERY seriously of getting the CDX and MV6 LPG'd up
Who does the cheapest RELIABLE/ NON COWBOY conversion?
Who should i steer well clear from?
I'm in Essex but will travel within reason to get a deal.
BTW i'm not fishing for someone on here to do it for me i'm after a fully certificated drop it off and pick it up completed type job, as there maybe a V8 Discovery to do as well :)
Any help/ advice would be appreciated
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Forget cheapest
I'd suggest DIY with the forums support
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Entwood got his done here: http://www.amsautogas.com. I'm sure he'll be along shortly to tell you more but he's the only installer in the South to receive praise on here AFAIK.
Kevin
EDIT: It won't be the cheapest conversion you'll find. If price is an issue I would recommend DIY'ing rather than going for the lowest quote. It's a week's work for a proper job to get done, and the labour won't come cheap.
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I is here .... :) very potted history ...
Research over 3 months came up with ...
Polish guy in Cardiff would do an OMVL system in a day for £1300 total (now as everyone says its at least 3 days work he was getting nowhere near my motor !)
BRC system comes out near the top in reliability and quality but can't be done DIY - cost is around £1850 + VAT ( £2200 ish)
and many different options inbetween.
Now, when it comes to spannering I'm capable but not stupendous, I can take things apart and generally put them back together and they work, but tapping/dieing/drilling is getting out of my reach ....
As we changed the car to LPG it, the cost was budgeted for, so I opted to have it "done" rather than DIY. This lead to the next bit of research ... who and where.
The one thing I found out early .. a cheap install is a rubbish install, as a single example .. read Martin Imber's posts regarding his problems
http://217.155.56.220/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1215544598
there are many other examples on the lpg forums.
From all the reading I've done on many forums .. the only way to get a decent job, apparently, is by personal recommendation. The guys in Alresford came recommended by a Rangie driver and a Disco driver, so I contacted them, they willingly gave me details of a Miggy 3.2 conversion, I contacted the client, all was good.
Result is .. I have an expensive, but well installed system ( folks at the lakes meet seemed impressed), with a 2 year warranty and excellent back-up. On my calculations it will have paid or itself in 20 months at present prices.
The other option is DIY, there is a growing wealth of experience in the forum, and those who have done it carefully, seem to have no problems. General consensus seems to be ... many folks will HELP with your conversion ( in great depth sometimes) but their work is not guaranteed, it is YOUR conversion with their HELP. Cost seems to be around £700 + tins of brown liquid for the helpers :)
Last point to make .. on my 3.2 Elite ... running costs before conversion 26.37 p/mile (petrol) after conversion 15.73 p/mile (LPG) .. I'm saving 10.64 p/mile .. or 40.35 %
HTH
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I had a look at a couple of cars converted by LPGA approved installers & decided I would do a better job myself. Kit cost just under £700. The drilling & tapping is easy because it's aluminium - no more difficult than screwing a screw in.
My insurance company not really bothered - they just wanted to know it had been installed in accordance with COP-11 so I sent them a signed checksheet.
DVLA just told me to send section 7 of the log book off - no proof required.
If you're confident enough to strip the top of your engine down to the inlet bridge, the rest of the work is just drilling, fixing and common sense. You can break the job down into smaller chunks too. I did this so the car was never off the road. I installed the vapouriser and ecu one night. Routed the wiring harness the next. Fuel tank, underfloor pipe & wiring the next. Then I did the manifold and final plumbing in about 4 hours last Sunday.
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I had a look at a couple of cars converted by LPGA approved installers & decided I would do a better job myself. Kit cost just under £700. The drilling & tapping is easy because it's aluminium - no more difficult than screwing a screw in.
My insurance company not really bothered - they just wanted to know it had been installed in accordance with COP-11 so I sent them a signed checksheet.
DVLA just told me to send section 7 of the log book off - no proof required.
If you're confident enough to strip the top of your engine down to the inlet bridge, the rest of the work is just drilling, fixing and common sense. You can break the job down into smaller chunks too. I did this so the car was never off the road. I installed the vapouriser and ecu one night. Routed the wiring harness the next. Fuel tank, underfloor pipe & wiring the next. Then I did the manifold and final plumbing in about 4 hours last Sunday.
top work fella :y
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Mine wasn't a cheap conversion.
My kit is middle of range rather than cheap or top end.
Basically same AEB controller but the injectors are quite fast
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Cheers for the replies, i have had a quote from The Green fuel company and they want £2300 inc VAT fully installed with a 'check up' after 1000 miles.
Based on my current millage 'if' i only use LPG (which obviously i won't as it runs on petrol until warm) then in theroy it will have paid for itself in about 9 months, so even with a relitively high installation cost it make alot of sense.
I'm not really interested in DIY mainly because i've heard so many 'horror' stories and want 'proper' back up.
Just looking to see if i can get a reliable install any cheaper
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Just looking to see if i can get a reliable install any cheaper
The parts for a decent conversion are going to be 700 quid plus (maybe a little less to the trade). It's going to take 5 or 6 man days for anyone to do the conversion properly IMHO so anyone who charges significantly less is either a charity or cutting corners somewhere.
After all, that works out at about 30 quid an hour to provide a mechanic in a suitable working environment, not including any post-sales and warranty work. Not unreasonable money IMHO. :-/
Kevin