Hello from Italy

[Jordi]

At least its not rusty. Most of us have had to do various of these job and contend with tin worm.

Mine is a bit of a money pit, mainly by choice.

Something like £2500 so far this year on parts and mods and other "bit and pieces", worth every penny!

[dominic]

I remember that being on ebay, and I thought whoever buys that will be one lucky happy bugger.

Its really a nice, clean and pure.
Keep it like that and it will last along long time.

Dom

[SteveR]

Hi again all

Still been regular visitor here and using all the info within. Thx all

See the attached pics and spot the updates !!

So decided this was a long term keeper and now my local daily driver.

filled everywhere with cavity wax 1 hot summer day.
changed the original tyres as they had almost 28yrs and in the wet were lethal .

Last year I finally managed to change the reg plates for Italian ones ( DO NOT TALK about the bureaucracy and cost involved)

This year sj turned 30 years old so now classed as "auto storica" which means classic car. 30 euro tax a year and cheaper ins.

Biggest News
Also just had installed a brc LPG system !!!!! ( by law here have to have it installed by certified garage )
Petrol 1.55 / ltr
diesel 1.40/ ltr
lpg 0.55/ ltr

Only had the system 1 month so far but works ok. Starts straight on lpg but in the cold weather there is no choke as such so also no way of raising the idle at first apart from blip'ping gas pedal, I live on a hill so fun 1st thing trying to blip throttle use clutch and brakes all together !! Once warm no issues

APART FROM, 30 years ago on petrol had 45 hp, 30 yrs later lets be kind and say 42 hp left on petrol, on lpg about 20% less soooo

Approx 35 HP on lpg

I live in the hills, hair pin bends etc, I am now the slowest thing around here, I think when off road up hill in 4x4 will be switching back to petrol.


Now does 200 miles (320 kms ) on 18euros

SteveR

[Tramp]

Great work, nice and tidy. With the lpg, don't you start it up on petrol then swap over to lpg? I thought that's how uk systems work? And if your starting on petrol the choke should still work? I like the tank install, it's very neat and you still have your back seats too! Did they have to move them forward at all to accommodate the tank?

[twiss]

I think you are supposed to start on petrol and then switch over, as LPG runs a bit leaner so makes for hard starting....
However, my mate had LPG on his RRC and it always managed to fire up on it!

[ScottieJ]

Loads of people in the US run on straight gas....http://www.gotpropane.com/p541.html

[SteveR]

Bit more info for those interested.

Tramp, yes back seat moved forwards 10 cm still enough legroom for the kids.

LPG starting. Here in Italy they know their lpg ( gpl here ) . installer said no probs starting on lpg with carb engines, I can start on petrol if I want and would be easier to maintain revs as there would then be normal manual choke.

I have also got a 2009 2ltr petrol ford focus with BRC lpg installed. Obviously that is fuel injected both petrol and lpg with a stand alone ecu. The focus always starts on petrol and changes to lpg after 1 min or 500 meters as it does need a bit of heat in the "thingy" before switch over.
I've had the ford for over 6 years from brand new ( 1st new car ever ) with lpg from brand new and never had a problem with it.

Tramp, have seen your posting also on RR, I've been a long time reader there also but never posted anything, thinking should post about the SJ there also to spread the good word about them.

[Anton]

Scottie from HPOC has an LPG only Hilux, starts pretty easily on gas. He has no choice though, there's no petrol tank in the thing.

The "thingy" you speak of - the evaporator? LPG has to turn from a liquid into a gas, and that consumes a lot of heat energy meaning that LPG evaporators get incredibly cold. However, LPG runs hotter than petrol, iirc, which balances the problem somewhat. Subzero intake temps don't matter so much if the block is hot I guess? I'd think that cold climates would be a real problem though, not such a problem in Italy.

[Tramp]

Bit more info for those interested.

Tramp, yes back seat moved forwards 10 cm still enough legroom for the kids.

LPG starting. Here in Italy they know their lpg ( gpl here ) . installer said no probs starting on lpg with carb engines, I can start on petrol if I want and would be easier to maintain revs as there would then be normal manual choke.

I have also got a 2009 2ltr petrol ford focus with BRC lpg installed. Obviously that is fuel injected both petrol and lpg with a stand alone ecu. The focus always starts on petrol and changes to lpg after 1 min or 500 meters as it does need a bit of heat in the "thingy" before switch over.
I've had the ford for over 6 years from brand new ( 1st new car ever ) with lpg from brand new and never had a problem with it.

Tramp, have seen your posting also on RR, I've been a long time reader there also but never posted anything, thinking should post about the SJ there also to spread the good word about them.

Ha, have you been internet stalking me!? Yeah I visit RR I started maybe a year or so ago, I don't post as much there as do here though, I like how much traffic it gets and usually browse the readers rides and readers other modifications. You should join in, the thing with forums is that it's all about its members, sometimes just a small comment can inspire someone to do more in their build. I did have a post for my SJ in the readers ride section but it doesn't seem to get much love, but then again it's not a forum like this, I know a lot of people are there for big modifications and things that are different, they don't always have that much time for standard 'retro' cars although I've found brand/model specific owners groups/forums are much better for that (like here) I should update my thread though, the more people that see it, the more people realise how good suzuki's are!