Big Cat with Gas by mark morgan

Whilst it becoming increasingly popular to convert XJ8’s to run on LPG with many completed successfully (others not so successfully) We were surprised to learn of one XK8 owner who had taken the LPG plunge

Mark Morgan who lives in Somerset has owned his 96 XK8 since October 2005 and bought it specifically with the intention of converting it to LPG.  I think we have all heard horror stories of LPG conversions gone wrong
(but most of the sceptics cite anecdotes from unknown 3rd parties) and several of the Jaguar forums were full of these…with no hard evidence such as “I had my XK8 converted in 2006 and had to have it removed as it
was unreliable”  A few members of a forum that Mark contributed said it was sacrilegious.  Mark laughs at this when he remembers reminding them that 10yrs ago the same people would have said that about a diesel
Jaguar and 20yrs ago about a supercharged Jaguar :O)

Mark says “I’m reasonably lucky as I bought a launch colour (Antigua blue) XK8 which benefited from a full main dealer service history and had the original Nikasil engine changed by Jaguar in 2004, it’s only
covered 35,000 miles since so it was an ideal candidate.  Mark usually covers over 20,000 business miles each year and (due to recently adopting two toddlers) had to sell two of his cars which were strictly two-seaters. Mark says “I was now restricted to two cars with the prospect of the same number of miles… so both cars had to be economical”.

LPG conversions have only been widely available for around 10 years.  At the start systems were crude (single point) and mostly imported from Eastern Europe, however as with everything else there have been significant advances mainly because the public have wanted more and of higher quality.  7 years ago LPG availability was sparse however today most people have a petrol station selling LPG near them.  And with
LPG at between 40-48 pence per litre it’s less than half the price of unleaded.

OK we’ll start with some facts

•    LPG cannot cause Nikasil failure as it has zero sulphur content. 
•    LPG’s not as economical unleaded (minus 5-20%) dependant on system
•    LPG offers far lower emissions/particulates than either unleaded or Diesel
•    LPG only kicks in once the engine is warm so you start up with unleaded
•    When your LPG runs out it automatically switches back to unleaded

Now to the vehicle itself  before conversion 

•    XK8 with 93k miles
•    Engine changed at 59k miles by Jaguar, so steel lined
•    FJSH
•    Auto-RX treated at 78k miles
•    MotoVac Carbon Clean at 75k miles
•    McLeod X-pipe (performance exhaust) fitted at 75k miles
•    Apexi dual funnel intake (yet to be boxed in)
Average MPG 22 urban/33 motorway (Mark’s covered 500 miles on a tank!)
As Mark regularly travels to London from his home in Somerset (300-360 miles) he knew that the conversion should pay for itself in a couple of years based on 12k miles per annum.

What Mark Wanted

•    Unobtrusive installation
•    No drilling of metal bodywork and ruining those beautiful lines
•    An installation company with integrity who were customer friendly
•    The latest Multipoint sequential vapour injection system
•    Small injectors so that engine covers could stay
•    60lt fill ‘donut’ tank as to make a 320 mile trip without refueling
•    The ability to do a combined 700 miles if needed

“None of the above seemed a problem except one…finding a company with good customer care skills.  Indeed the owner of one companies I contacted drove around in a non-LPG vehicle (Ferrari) so they were immediately ruled out as you could see where the profits were going…nothing worse than rubbing your customers noses in it!" Others just didn’t seem to be that bothered. Mark says “I can only call it the mechanics view of customer care with quotes like “that’s going to be
expensive” or “I don’t think it can be done”

“I then contacted a company called ‘Gas Power UK’ in Exeter and spoke to the owner (Steve Fricker) Steve was both friendly and informative and had a very useful website and newsletter (www.gaspoweruk.co.uk).
I duly booked my car into have the work done Wednesday 27th June and was advised that it would be ready for collection on Friday 29th June (the conversion would take 3 full days).  I dropped the car off and asked
Steve to take pictures of the install at as many stages as possible.

The finished conversion (3 x pics filler, tank &switch)