The plan was to get it gassed and give it a good going over before putting it into daily use, I used it for a few weeks before getting very tired of seeing these messages -
So laid it up for a couple of months while I got the LPG parts ready.
With help fro Grrrrr on here I had a Stag front end kit bought direct from Poland at a very nice price, the tank however took a lot longer to sort, as I wanted the biggest tank possible, and a bit more..... My previous LPG chariot would only take 50 litres of gas, and as such you soon get fed up of filling the thing, so I was aiming for 100 litres especially considering the MPG of this beast, after stripping the boot out, remounting the SLS airpump above the battery and cutting plenty of useless steel out of the spare wheel well id measured up and found a single hole tank that would 'just about' fit with a bit of persuasion, only trouble was nobody stocked it, I eventually found an LPG shop run by a Polish chap who agreed to import me a tank, 6 weeks later the 108 litre total capacity lump landed and I grafted it in
Throw in a BMW factory fit detachable towbar while were on
Here is where the gas goes in
With the adaptor fitted (steel thread innit)
With some careful bending of the float level arm I can now fill to 100 litres
At the business end of the car id stripped the inlet manifold off to fit the injector nozzles
Whilst in there I took the cam covers off to fix the oil leaks with new gaskets and bolt seals and a tube of loctite gasket sealer
Nice and clean in here -
I also removed the lower sump to have a potential wipe round, but it proved worthless as the bottom end was also just as clean as the top, no nasty stains anywhere, thanks for the servicing to the previous owners
Random shot of a proper alloy T piece
Also dropped the auto box sump, changed the filter and expensive oil there.
Fuel filter, air, oil, pollen filters etc etc
And this is how the engine bay looks with gas conversion complete
Not much different apart from the reducer hiding down behind the headlight
Next job was the brakes, well past their best with very little meat left on the discs I stripped them all off and found the rear back plates were also shot
To change them the wheel bearings need to be removed
Replaced with new dealer supplied back plates which I had sandblasted and powdercoated to give them a better than average chance
New wheel bearings
I stripped down the brakes and had them de-rusted and zinc plated along with the new discs
The rear calipers are cast aluminium so I had them stripped of corrosion and anodised grey, built up -
Now the brakes were looking better than new, I couldnt fit the 7j 16's back on, they felt quite loose with spirited driving to say the least!
So a set of staggered 8j and 9j 17" M sport wheels were bought and I had them refurbished at a local wheel specialist
Much better
I bought some privacy shades from vanstyle
Cant fault them at all, very nice fit and quality parts.
And finally, before the first real outing I planned to the Isle of Wight I changed the leaky condenser rad so we could have some cold air blowing inside
Blatantly obvious hole right in the middle
Not a bad job to do with the rad out of the way
But with the rad removed it also was screaming "replace me"
Its now at just over 90,000 miles and another recent oil/filter change (10,000 mile intervals for my cars) and air filters, currently averaging 13.5mpg on the gas, at 59 pence per litre its the equivalent of approx 30mpg on petrol
Will add more soon
and with 300 odd Lbft to soak up its no wonder they gave up, you can see how worn out they were
