Technical LPG Conversion / '97 Marea Weekend

[gnu]

Hello, does anyone know if the engines on the '97 series Mareas are suitable for conversion to LPG? Or has anyone already done this?

I believe that as of '99, most of the Marea / Brava motors can be converted, but I dont know about the earlier ones.

Thanks in advance.

 

[loveshandbags]

Hello, does anyone know if the engines on the '97 series Mareas are suitable for conversion to LPG? Or has anyone already done this?

I believe that as of '99, most of the Marea / Brava motors can be converted, but I dont know about the earlier ones.

Thanks in advance.

Did you get the fuel consumption issued sorted on the 1.6 ?
I have a 2000 weekender 1585cc petrol and I found that after the 'last' service (it got another oil & filter change this w/e) it was more economical. As pointed out on the other thread it might be the MAP sensor - mine had to be done as well. But new plugs & air filter can make a difference.
You mentioned that your are doing 65 miles round trip a day => 20K+ a year of which it involves a lot of motorway work. Would you not consider a diesel ?
There is a guy on the FF called Most Easterly Pandas who runs a Stilo on LPG and he seems content with it. Not too sure how much he's doing a year.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

I'm doing 20,000 miles a year and LPG is the most viable fuel.

Any engine ultimately can be converted, it's just a question of the effencey of the conversion. Is your 97 a MPi engine or SPi

Jon.

 

[bpetersb]

Not sure why you want to spend around £2000 plus converting a car that is probably worth less than £1000. I would put the money towards a more modern and more economical car.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Not sure why you want to spend around £2000 plus converting a car that is probably worth less than £1000. I would put the money towards a more modern and more economical car.

What a silly statement. You don't convert a car to increase its value, you do it to save fuel costs, and it's nowhere near £2k for a conversion so all is good

Plus newer cars are not better economy wise to Warrant replacing the vehicle against getting an LPG conversion.

 

[bpetersb]

Not a silly statement at all, the car is 15 years old! Fifteen year old Fiats, no matter how much we like them, are not worth spending that much on. Just look back on the postings here at all the people saying goodbye to their Mareas, many of them younger than this one, for a variety of reasons, mechanical, electrical and body/chassis, where the car was just not worth repairing.
And, as a person who has a certificate saying I can install LPG systems, I still say a good system will cost close to £2k. Even if you get one at half that price the break even point will be at least two years away by which time the car will be 17 years old!

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Not a silly statement at all, the car is 15 years old! Fifteen year old Fiats, no matter how much we like them, are not worth spending that much on. Just look back on the postings here at all the people saying goodbye to their Mareas, many of them younger than this one, for a variety of reasons, mechanical, electrical and body/chassis, where the car was just not worth repairing.
And, as a person who has a certificate saying I can install LPG systems, I still say a good system will cost close to £2k. Even if you get one at half that price the break even point will be at least two years away by which time the car will be 17 years old!

As for people defining what is and isn't worth repairing is down to them. You've failed to point out that an LPG system can fairly easily be moved to a replacement vehicle at a later date should an owner decide to.

Not having met you I'm not wanting to slate to much but you're not very good at selling systems and their benefits IMO. At current fuel prices most LPG systems will pay for them self in 20,000 miles and most looking at conversions I'd have thought are knocking on that sort of annual mileage, and with regards to fitting, as to what you charge and others charge obviously isn't going to be that same but if your charging £2k for a decent 4 pot sequential system and people are willing to pay that then more fool them, I suppose it all depends upon local competition.

Out of interest what would you say is a good system

 

[MrMigs08]

All the marea 1.6's are MPI, the only real change is the manifold setup for the inlet, the 97 mareas feature a pure (Aluminium?) manifold with i think a different module slot layout (Sensors seem to be prone to oil from PCV) as long as the manifold reaching some pretty toasty heat as the heat rises from the engine so plastic in term should derrive better power unless you wrap your metal.

IMO a setup for LPG would easily be fine on our models, heck would be worth shielding the inlet mani too for some better results, but the mafs on our models easily effect fuel economy!! *Cleaning mine weekly*

 

[gnu]

Well, I seem to have started a bit of a debate on this. I understand that it doesnt seem to make much sense to LPG a 15 year old car, but I had a Toyota Corolla that was 14 years old when I converted it, and put another 200,000 Ks on it after conversion, with no real major problems.

I considered a Diesel, the problem is that I live in Germany, and the Guv. has introduced 'environmental zones' that most diesels are banned from, unless the car was bought yesterday, and, of course, I work in one of those zones.

Unfortunately, most of my driving is cross country, not autobahn, that would mean an extra 40K a day.

I am looking into getting a later model fiat, I'm tired of paying the equivalent of half my rent just to get to work. Of course, another option would just be to move house, which I'm also looking into.

Basically, I'm just trying to save money. I worked out that the cost of conversion would be repaid in 12 months at current petrol prices, but, as I say, it all depends on whether this model can be converted or not. I talked to Fiat, they say no, because the manifold gets too hot or something. (I'm not a motor tech)

I havent been able to do anything at all on the car since the cold weather started, we've had -20 celsius and snow here.

But, thanks for the advice and input. i guess for the time being I'll just have to keep lining the pockets of the Oil Multis.

 

[gnu]

Hi, how do I find out if it's an MPi or SPi...or is that a stupid question??

 

[Venters]

I thought all Mareas were MPI.

 

[bond777]

My hlx 20v mk2 has a conversion kit, brc plug&drive and I never faced any problem for around 40k miles