Interesting.

Do TC systems that apply brakes ever go wrong in a way that sees them apply brakes when you wouldn't want them to? Wouldn't want to be driving along, some electronics or valve go wrong and cause brakes to come on hard at one corner.

I learned something else about P38s there. I know the model after my old BMW750 did the same, my model year just backed off the electronic throttle. Substitute for a LSD on the beemer but I reckon the braking system will be better than an LSD on a 4x4?

4 Wheel traction control... Do they brake a spinning wheel (that's lost traction) then?

Morat wrote:

Make him feel better, go on :)

Should have taken a few pics and posted them up Gilbert lol.

I once bought a Volvo V70 from Ebay, one company owner and LPG converted but the LPG system was broke, had a dent in the passenger side front wing and wheels were scabby. Fixed the LPG in about 5 minutes of getting it home but ran it with the dent and wheels as it was. Kept it a couple of years before selling it for more than I bought if for to a local old gent. Few weeks later saw him driving it around with it looking immaculate, dent and wheels sorted, only cost him £200 to sort, wished I'd never sold it.

I've converted a few that owners bought from scrapyards and fixed up, some apparently didn't need much work to pass an MOT and those owners much preferred classics over other models. Each to their own, these days getting out of a P38 into a classic seems to me a lot like getting out of a plush executive car into a series Landrover... but back when dad was a bit obsessed with series Landrovers there were many times when I'd have been very pleased if he'd bought a posh comfortable classic with a 'massive and thirsty' V8 that was probably just as economical as his 2&1/4 or 2&1/2 Landrovers and a lot more comfortable. My uncle bought a new E reg Rangerover diesel which ate it's manual gearbox with less than 1000 miles on the clock towing a mid sized caravan.

Didn't realise you used 19kg Calor bottles Bri.. You could fill them without raising forecourt staff eyebrows by attaching another fill point to the car and running pipe to the 19kg bottle in the car, suppliers sell fill fittings for the portable bottles. Potentially unsafe but not for you/us because we know to always run the bottle completely empty and then only put 38 litres in. Probably save around £17 on each refill plus have the convenience of filling the car and bottle on the same visit ;-)

But the real reason for me coming back to this thread was to ask Strangerover how much it will cost an 18 year old to insure a V8 P38? No wish to put a dampener on things but interested to know. I used to run V6 stuff when I was around that age a lot of years ago when insurance was a lot cheaper but even then it cost me an arm and a leg to get insured.

Parts arrived this morning. Going as well as I could have wished for really, looks like I'll manage to hide the entire air suspension gubbins that were previously in the centre of the spare wheel well still under the flap in the boot.

The owner opted for the square filler centre rear below bumper level, just made the bracket for that and waiting for the paint to dry before I can fit the tank.. but obviously I've already made sure it's all going to fit etc. Fitted the injectors and did some wiring yesterday, just about to route LPG and petrol return pipes while the paint is drying.

This morning I bought both sizes of fittings and piping plus a cutting tool, total £71.60 with free next day delivery. Never needed a cutting tool for this kind of thing before but for £6 why not.

The pipe we use in some types of modern straw type injectors is 6x1 and I have a few metres of that in stock, could probably use that for the 6x1 but still bought 20m from RS and another 20m from TinleyTech. Eventually I'll use all the 6x1 bought from TT but may never use all the 6x1 from RS, info on their site doesn't say whether it is compatible with hc's like oil, petrol or LPG but I'd be kicking myself if I didn't buy it and found that for some reason the 6x1 from TT wouldn't work with the inline joiners or Jag end fittings.

Besides extending the piping and re-mounting the reservoir and valve block there'll be quite a few wires to extend to the valve block too.

Thanks for the help.

Short reply for tonight... Thanks for that Gilbert, just the response I was hoping for.

Hadn't thought to check truck dealerships... you reckon they'll keep narrow gauge pneumatic pipe joiners in stock?
Been looking on RS Component's website but their search facility doesn't seem great when looking for this type of thing.
Ideally I'd prefer something like a simple push-in inline pipe joiner, the type where you just push the pipe into a plastic grommet before pushing into the hole job done... The joiner(s) need to be physically small so that I can either make the join between the tank and wheel well floor or make the join externally (after pushing the pipes back through the grommet - there's a space forward of the wheel well protected from the elements by a plastic under-tray).

Didn't enjoy converting a supercharged L322 last week.This week I'm converting an XJ8, more or less the same engine but without the supercharger, still needs a fuel return fitting, still needs a lube (but at least not electronic type)... But I wasn't counting on this car having air suspension stuff in the middle of the spare wheel well and it seems this air suspension stuff is going to be much more of a pain to shift than it is on an L322. Some pipes run through a rubber grommet in the wheel well floor to the suspension, pipes also run internal in the wheel well to the pump, so to shift it from the spare wheel well so I can fit the tank I'll have to extend the pipes.

Pic of the air suspension stuff in the wheel well

But how to extend the pipes... I don't want to have run new lengths of pipe to each suspension corner, pump, etc... I just want to buy more of the same types of pipe and use pipe joints. Can anyone help identify what type of pipe joints I need and where to get them in a hurry?

Here are some close up pics of the pipes marked 6x1 and 4x1 (which I take to mean 6mm diameter x 1mm wall thickness etc) and the end fittings which use little collets. Reckon I don't need to worry about the end fittings as I should be able to re-use them on the pipes I add as extensions, but I do need to buy some of this 6x1 and 4x1 pipe and fittings to connect 2 lengths of 6x1 together and 2 lengths of 4x1 together.

Anyone know where to get those bits in a hurry? I'm not sure what thread they are etc but I thought perhaps they're usually a standard type and some of the knowledgeable people here might know.

I didn't mean to post this in Opening Time, had a look to see if I could shift it but seems beyond my moderation powers... Higher mods feel free to shift this thread.

Thanks, Simon

RutlandRover wrote:

Doesn't that then give you a very unbalanced pulley that will vibrate more?

Just get it bang in the centre and put equal weight of weld at opposing sides. Often see old V / ribbed belts with bits missing out of them, the belts rotate equally as fast as the pulley but around a much larger diameter (because belts route around all the ancillaries)... usually isn't vibration from this condition which is probably a much more out of balance condition. Probably a bit harsher on the first driven ancillary (often AC) than with the rubber in place... but rather than £450 extra to fit a pulley with a rubber dampener that will go wrong again eventually I'd weld it up... That's if it's steel, mind you I'd probably try if it was any metal.

I've welded vibration damper type pulleys up before, works out even cheaper than scrapyards. Also welded up freewheeling type pulleys on alternators.. They never fail again after that!

I accidentally put a self tapper through a wire on Morat's P38, that was one of only 2 occasions I've ever done that on any of my LPG installs.
For a moment when flicking through this thread I got a bit worried, thought it was RutlandRover with the possible short circuit and I converted RutlandRover's car... But I didn't convert Strangerover's car so not guilty! Made it up to Morat since lol.

Sometimes get a brief spurious reading when you first connect up a digital multimeter, probably more of a reflection of it's sampling speed and averaging the reading between open circuit and load.

Anyway mate.. Is it all back together and running well now, oil and water leaks etc?

I know them as clocksprings too. Got to be careful fitting them as apparently once you've unleashed it to unwind there's no winding it back, which is why there's little point getting one from a scrapyard. A bit along the lines of fixing a petrol lawnmower's self returning pull start cable setup except there's no access.

Agreed, given the symptoms started back in October it does seem you needed the lambda probe.

Good, getting somewhere now...!

Worth saying that with that pipe off it obviously must misfire on LPG because that cylinder won't have been getting any fuel when running on LPG. Power would obviously be down running on 7 cylinders. You'll have pulled the pipe off yourself during engine work (hg's etc)?

When I first fit the system I fit an overly long length of pipe to each manifold spud, being longer makes it easier to thread through the holes I make in the plenum and of course it's better to fit too long a length of pipe and cut it down to size than fit too short a length and find out the plenum has to come off again to fit a longer bit. To make it easier to thread the pipes on 2nd fit you can push a length of wire into the end of each pipe and push a short M6 bolt into the end of each pipe to hold the wire, that way you can thread the wire through the holes with the plenum higher up and pull the pipes through when the plenum is almost down, this also helps to prevent kinking (but still do the blow and vacuum checks just before and after bolting the plenum down when the pipes are fully routed to the position they'll be in when connected to injectors... it is possible to pass blow and vac checks but still have a problem if pipes are pushed/pulled later). You could use different colour wires to denote which cylinder each pipe feeds but for this purpose you only really need 2 bits of the same colour wire because the 4 pipes come through 2 sets of holes (so you only need to know which pipe feeds the most forward cylinder through each hole)... To save a bit of time ensuring routing was correct when ECUs didn't feature ability to switch cylinders back to petrol I used to do the 4 different coloured wire thing, then did the 2 same coloured wire thing, these days I'd quickly identify correct routing anyway and just swap injector plugs around to achieve it. Could use stripes of tippex on pipes to denote which cylinder they run to.

With that pipe off at the manifold end it will have been causing some upset for the petrol system too... fuel trims will have been more positive (mostly on the directly affected bank but also on the other bank), the cylinder with the missing pipe will have been running way leaner than the other 3 on the same bank, the other 3 would have been running a slightly rich mixture. All these effects would have diminished with increasing engine load as a vacuum leak has more effect when there is more vacuum but when an engine management system has a limited number of fuel trim ranges if fuel trims become high at low loads it can have the effect of initially causing too rich a mixture at higher loads and if that initial mixture is rich enough it can cause misfires which then cock up the closed loop functionality.. and then open loop at idle the mixture is very lean (without positive trims) due to the vac leak. You probably didn't need the new lambda probe.

Simon

davew wrote:

But how did you know I was a Scouser with a 'tash ??

Maybe I didn't... Or maybe I searched for davew on BT's website and a detailed profile with address etc came up lol ;-)