LPG discussion / Convert Fiesta 1.25 Zetec?

that is a pretty fair comment, pre converted there seems to be plenty about, hmmm food for thought

Zetec's are usually unsuitable for lpg due to their marginal valve seats, is the 1.25 the yamaha engine? you may be alright if so, if not beware!

Never found the 1.25 (yamaha) engine very good on fuel with motorway driving the gearing is setup for town driving always found polo's get better mpg.

Why not get deisel will be much better for mpg?

You'll also loose a bit of power aswell so will have to work the engine harder. Also if your mileage is near 100k you are going to be racking up the mileage on that engine.

I would consider another car. For the cost of a conversion you could get a good Pug 306 HDi for that money. They are quite frugal and mega cheap to tax. Insurance is not too bad either.

As the for Sigma engines and mileage they can take it. My Focus with 160k on the clock (1.6 V plate) still produced near enough stock power (when compared to others) on a rolling road day and that was with a slightly leaky exhaust too! As long as they see a regular service they are sturdy units .

I went to a lecture by Leoni (used to be Lucas Rists) who make automotive wiring harnesses about the changes in electrical power requirments and the Prius came up in the discussion. We asked was there any reason why Toyota didn't use a diesel instead of a petrol and answer was the North American market was the original projected main area. Turns out at the design time N American tended to go for petrol vehicles leaving diesel engines for commercial vehicles and big SUV's. As such they tended to be more crude designs than the common rail etc we, and the rest of the world, get so the fuel is also not as refined. The diesel fuel that was widely available wasn't suitable for a high technology small capacity engine hence Toyota decided to go with a petrol lump. Things will now have now changed with small petrol engines now getting almost diesel economy so Toyota have stuck with petrol power for their hybrids. To me LPG hybrid is actually quite a sensible route if you are a "tree hugger". Personally I'm a petrol head and like carb'd V8's.

Paul H

Intrigued by this... what is the current cost of vegetable oil, and how would the MPG compare?

I understand Ben has ventured this way, but have never really looked into it any more.

I've been pondering a bit more.. Have you thought about a 1.5 isuzu engined Corsa? I say that rather than the 1.7 Astra/cav as it's in the lower tax bracket


I've not been running very high percentages of veg. Maybe 30% or so. It'll have a play with higher percentages when the weather is a bit warmer. The only noticeable differences are the smell, the time taken to fill up and the funny looks you get when doing it in a supermarket carpark. Hardcore and Colonelk both run practically pure SVO thinned with Petrol and get on fine with it. Colon's is a 1.7 Isuzu td Cav, and Hardcore a VAG 1.9tdi in an Audi 80.

Supermarket prices of SVO annoyingly seem to practically track the price of pump diesel but there are offers. Morrisons has some 3litre things on 2 for £6 at the moment, which is 90p a litre after you've borrowed your Dad's discount card To make it viable to do full time, you'd need to find a regular supplier (blag cash and carry access or whatever) but it certainly seems to be worthwhile doing. I carry a spare fuel filter just in case but haven't had to use it yet.