I’m in pieces … or rather this valve is

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(Click for larger version)
We changed a multivalve on my friends Range Rover a while ago, one of his tanks wasn't opening the outlet valve and so he was carting a tankful of unusable gas about. … So new multivalve fitted, everything put back together, and the tanks refitted in the vehicle.

Anyway, being curious I decided to take the old valve apart and see what's in it. This is what I found - what a lot of bits !More...

That’s fixed it for you

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One of the more mundane topics that doesn't always get a consideration is how to fix stuff in place. There’s no real secret to it, but there are one or two tricks that can help.

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All pumped up

In response to my previous articles here and here, not to mention the disaster story here, I've had a few queries about my hand pump. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised – there’s obviously a fair bit of interest in alternative ways of filling up. The reasons vary – for some it's a matter of availability because they don't have a forecourt locally, for others it’s a matter of cost. Whatever the reason, here is a distillation of what I’ve told those who've enquired.

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Bangers and smash

Now I don't normally do this, but there's a report from Stockholm of a car exploding while filling up. There's a reports in local papers here and here, and a discussion on the LPG Forum here. One of the LPG Forum members has posted a pic up here, and I think you'll agree it is a bit of a mess.

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All tooled up

A thread came up on the LPG Forum recently about tools required for LPG installations. So I thought it might be useful to some of you if I opened up my tool box and let you have a peek. …More...

At your service

I've had a few emails, and it's a topic that comes up regularly on the LPG Forum, people want to know how to service their LPG system. …More...

All in vane

A bit more on pumps, a topic I’ve had a number of emails about. …More...

Pumpin’ up the volume

Several people have asked about my home-made pump, so this time round I’ll give a few details about it. …More...

System Setup 2 - tuning a closed loop mixer system

In the previous article, I explained how to tune an open loop system. Now we’ll build on that and deal with a closed loop system. …
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System Setup - tuning an open loop system

It's been longer than I planned and several people have asked me how to tune/adjust their system, so here's part one.

Now how I am going to present this is different to most instructions you'll find. Usually you will find instructions that say "twiddle this, turn that, set the other", you will find those at the end, but first I intend to explain what it is that you will be adjusting and why — hopefully it will then make sense and you'll understand what each adjustment is doing. ...
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How not to BIY it !

Another reader sent me some photos of a conversion he acquired in a used vehicle. In his email he wrote “I recently purchased a Nissan X-Trail auto, with what I found out later, to be a home install LPG system.
It did not appear to work when I bought the car, (The dealer has washed his hand of it, even though the only reason I bought the car is because it was advertised as LPG.) So, I took it to a LPG approved installer who said he would take a look.
He proceeded to point out a list of a dozen points (listed below) as to why the car was not satisfactorily converted…
” …
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A good wheeze

Following on from an earlier article on Myths and Old Wives Tales, and also a common topic on various forums, I return to the issue of power loss when converting to LPG. …
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Rising Damp

A reader contacted me with this tale of woe … and not related to dodgy landlords stereotyped by Leonard Rossiter’s character Rupert Rigsby. He had a problem with his Mundaneo (his description). We’d conversed a couple of times before and he told me this story. …
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Installation Rules and Bits Part 2

Following on from part one, we take a look at the front end equipment for a conversion …
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The Big Freeze

I’ve read or heard a few questions along the lines of :
“Why does my car cut out after a few miles on gas, and then refuse to start unless it’s been left for half an hour ?”
“After a short distance, it judders and then stops”
“It cut out, I looked under the bonnet and found the reducer was covered in ice”
Well I think the answer in all these cases is that the reducer has frozen up, …
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Installation Rules and Bits Part 1

The other day well I was filling up, someone was using the pump on the other side of the dispenser, and as I tried to make conversation over the top of the unit, he mentioned that he was disappointed to have got his conversion back with a spare wheel well donut - and that he intended adding a cylinder in the boot. “It just bolts in” he said.

His tank was now full and that was that, but I wonder what he meant by “it just bolts in” ? …
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Legalities of LPG Conversions

The law doesn’t actually have much to say, unlike gas installations in buildings there is no legal requirement to be a member of any body, nor to hold any form of certification. That is not to say that there are no laws covering a conversion, I’m fairly certain that some of the construction and use regulations could cover unsafe conversions. …More...

Hacking the EFI Loom

In my last entry, I mentioned having modified the efi loom to make life easier for the LPG conversion - in this article I’ll detail what I’ve done and why. …More...

My 110 V8 (updated)

Yet another “no lost boot space” conversion, this time in 110. I bought this from a friend in the trade who had taken it in part-ex - it was an MoT write off with a failure sheet too small to list everything ! As it happened, it was a nice summer and I had some spare time, so it got repaired and, of course, gassed. …More...

So what is this LPG stuff anyway ?

First off, LPG does NOT, I repeat NOT, stand for Low Pressure Gas ! It stands for Liquid Petroleum Gas. So just what is it ? …
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EFI conversion for the 110 (part 1)

Well it had to come sooner or later, the 110 has over 200k miles on the clock and the engine was getting tired. Depending on how they’ve been looked after, they reckon a Rover V8 will be getting tired by 50k to 100k miles - so this one wasn’t doing too badly. …More...

Why “powder coating” sucks !

Don’t be fooled by the promise of “powder coating” as being better than paint. It has it’s advantages in the right place, but for bits to be bolted onto a car (or Land Rover) I’d have a proper paint job any day. …
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Myths and legends and Old Wives Tales

Over the years, just like in many other fields, a whole library of Old Wives Tales and Myths has grown up around LPG conversions. A few of these have their roots in fact, but many are born of nothing but ignorance. …
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Rally Prepared Series II/III

I think you’ll agree that this is not an “average” vehicle ! How many people would choose an old Series II/Series III (it is kind of a “bitsa” vehicle now, you know, bitsa this and bitsa that !) to go rallying with. …
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Range Rover 1989 3.5 V8

This vehicle marked the real start of our journey into LPG conversions - my friend had just bought this and naturally asked me about conversions. …
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The Taxman Cometh !

In an earlier article (see Fill ’er up) I wrote that you can legally fill your car from the red cylinders of industrial propane - another of those things you might have been told you can’t do. But of course, you have to do it right so as to keep the taxman happy …
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Fill ’er up

Of course, having converted the vehicle, you then have to fill it up. If, like me, you are lucky to have a local filling station then you’ve no problem - but of course, going back a few years there were large areas with no facilities at all. …
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1989 Discovery V8

This was my first V8, and first LPG conversion. I bought the vehicle in late 1999 and converted it in early 2000. Back then, LPG was this strange stuff no-one had heard of and so V8 Land Rovers & Range Rovers took a beating on their values due to the running costs …
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