LPG or Diesel?

[DuckDoc]

Would appreciate your thoughts on this.

What would be more desirable? A friend's 1984 110 has a 3.5L V8, but has an LPG conversion. The truck has only done 90k km (56k miles) from new. Should he replace the engine with a rebuilt, recon petrol engine, or, should he rip out the lpg and replace the current engine with a diesel, a 300 tdi? He'll put in a recon gearbox, appropriate to whichever engine he chooses thereafter.

The vehicle will be sold at some point in the next few months following this?

Personally, I would utilize the LPG and put in a powerful petrol engine, but he wants to know what the wider world thinks on this.

[Shannon.cummins]

Diesel all the way. Much better economy, torque, an availability for fuel. How much is he selling it for? Just curious.

I am currently doing a similar swap, with a Cummins 2.8l, and an Allison 1000 six speed tranny into a 2003 Disco.

[DuckDoc]

Diesel all the way. Much better economy, torque, an availability for fuel. How much is he selling it for? Just curious.

I am currently doing a similar swap, with a Cummins 2.8l, and an Allison 1000 six speed tranny into a 2003 Disco.

I'll be really interested to know how that works out.....are you doing it yourself?

You should drive the 110 with a V8......a friend put in a 3.9L (not a 3.5) V8 into his 110.....it can become very addictive, however, you are absolutely correct about the availability of fuel issue.

My line of thinking was this.....
I heard....now, I have no knowledge of this.......that the LPG conversion can easily be modified to allow the system to use CNG instead. CNG here is about $1 a gallon. There is not much difference between LPG and gasoline, at least the last time I checked, but with CNG costing less than half the cost of gasoline, I figure......not a bad idea!

I came across something on a UK website about the relative cost of LPG, and it make's very interesting reading....now, in this example, for us at least, I would substitute CNG for LPG, as in the UK, LPG is a lot cheaper than gasoline.

From autogas.co.uk:

Off road large 4x4 car:

Averaging 15 mpg over 30000 miles.
Petrol price 1.19p per litre
LPG price 0.63p per litre
You lose twenty percent MPG due to the calorific difference of LPG against petrol so with this worked out you will save based on the above £3654.70, which is an equivalent mpg of 23mpg.

[yorker]

Have you ever driven a CNG vehicle?

[scott]

i worked for the bia years ago. they bought a fleet of cng trucks for the maintenance crews at the elementary schools out on the reservations and it wasn't 'til the recieved the trucks that they found they didn't have the range to make a round trip from albuquerque to a lot of the schools. albuquerque had the only fueling station.

does lpg have a decent range? it's good for extreme angle running but so is efi and di

[spacemutt]

The most important factor is, what's he using it for?

If he's off-roading, or doing long range driving, then go diesel. They don't mind getting wet, they give better consumption, better range, good torque, etc. And I'd choose a 200 Tdi over the 300. It's a more straight-forward engine, and slightly tougher in my opinion. The 300 has one or two little factors that can cause problems (heat sensor in the head that won't tell you if it's overheating because it's low on water, leaking P gasket, etc).

If he's cruising about and sticking to tarmac, stay with the V8. They are more powerful, smoother, sound better, quicker to accelerate, etc. Plus you can pull out the 3.5 and stick the carbs on a 3.9 block, or even a 4.6.

[DuckDoc]

Have you ever driven a CNG vehicle?

Never, but I assumed it was the same......I am guessing that I am wrong to assume this?

[DuckDoc]

i worked for the bia years ago. they bought a fleet of cng trucks for the maintenance crews at the elementary schools out on the reservations and it wasn't 'til the recieved the trucks that they found they didn't have the range to make a round trip from albuquerque to a lot of the schools. albuquerque had the only fueling station.

does lpg have a decent range? it's good for extreme angle running but so is efi and di

I believe you can switch back and forth between LPG and gas, so, if you run out, you just flick the switch to allow gasoline, and there you go!

I would assume that it's the same for CNG. Or is that completely incorrect?

[DuckDoc]

The most important factor is, what's he using it for?

If he's off-roading, or doing long range driving, then go diesel. They don't mind getting wet, they give better consumption, better range, good torque, etc. And I'd choose a 200 Tdi over the 300. It's a more straight-forward engine, and slightly tougher in my opinion. The 300 has one or two little factors that can cause problems (heat sensor in the head that won't tell you if it's overheating because it's low on water, leaking P gasket, etc).

If he's cruising about and sticking to tarmac, stay with the V8. They are more powerful, smoother, sound better, quicker to accelerate, etc. Plus you can pull out the 3.5 and stick the carbs on a 3.9 block, or even a 4.6.

I had posted the question before I left for Europe and he made his decision shortly after that. He decided upon a recon 300tdi, however, he had it rebuilt as a 2.8L. He's very pleased with it! I am looking forward to seeing it!

[spacemutt]

Did he have a stroker kit fitted? Why didn't he go for a new 2.8 TGV engine?

[NRutterbush]

Why do the conversion just to sell it?

If you do the conversion well, you will spend much more than you will ever recover, as nobody on the private market will trust the work.

It is probably better to sell it as is and let the new owner handle all of the needed work.

I might be in the market for a 110, and am more than happy to strip, convert, and restore it when I get my hands on it.

-Nate