Most economical driveble engine combination

[badgerfax]

Ok as the title suggests and I'm sure has been asked before & I've had a good look at the wik

Just want to be able to overtake a lorry, uphill preferably I'm no longer a boy racer
I don't have a LPG garage on my doorstep but this would not put me off as I'd make sure I passed one one when taking a long journey. My T4 is currently running on bio diesel & smells of chips!


Can you do much to get more mpg from an air-cooled engine? i'm guessing LPG

What about diesels, seems a baffling load of choice there

I'm thinking if you have a water cooled van you have more options to transplant, am I right.

This is affecting my choice of van right now, I'm not thinking that as soon as I buy a bus i'd be into swapping engines but as a long term view it would be good to know the options, and the sort of MPG i'm likely to get.

Hope you guys and gals can shed some light on the matter

[ninja.turtle007]

Buy a diesel at least then you have a choice of TDI, golf gti etc. Going to an inline four from a WBX requires a lot of diesel parts, engine bars, bell housing etc.

I get 30-32 mpg from a TDI westy Syncro. Not that I'm a boy racer either, I raced a new transit from the lights and left it standing. It doesn't slow on the steepest and longest of motorway hills even with the longer gearing.

[Ian Hulley]

I get 30-32 mpg from a TDI westy Syncro. Not that I'm a boy racer either, I raced a new transhite from the lights and left it standing. It doesn't slow on the steepest and longest of motorway hills even with the longer gearing.

I get 30-32 equivalent running a 2.1 DJ on lpg, plenty of power for a heavy camper, perfectly happy when running at 65 for hours on end. Gas station is 10.6 miles away but on the way to the motorway/supermarkets etc etc so we just take the Bus to fill up. As a daily driver I used to let it run out once a month and run on petrol to the gas station. Never had any real issues finding lpg except in Switzerland (What the blithering heck ! of all places ??) and rural Brittany where we just ran on fool's gold.

I can't comment on the Tdi other than the 110bhp AFN in my Passat is great and does 46-48mpg.

Ian

[ninja.turtle007]

I've never driven a DJ, my westy was previously an MV and I hated it. No power and very juicy. Admittedly my van is over geared. But the tdi pulls it with longer 3rd and4th no problem. That's just my opinion I don't want to upset the petrol lovers.

I carefully considered all of the options, golf 2.0 8v, audi 20v turbo, Subaru 2.5 but what put me off was finding somewhere to put the LPG tank of a decent capacity and without losing any interior space. we need every bit of space available. Plus I would generally have to go out of my way to fill up.

I considered 1z tdi, AHU, and AFN. What I have is an AHU block, VNT15 turbo, AFN ECU, and .23 nozzles. I guess it may be around 120BHP. But really it's the torque that is the best bit.

With the longer gears I sit at 70mph or a little faster on the autobahns, weather and road conditions permitting. It would happily go faster but in a heavy, lifted syncro it just wouldn't be safe.

It's not as quiet or as smooth as a WBX but if I had to start again I would go the same route.

[New Kentish Campers]

I thought that the wbx gearbox would not take too much ooomph from a powerful diesel?

As much as they are nice and original, etc wbx's aren't - in my opinion anyway - exactly reliable and can be a bit pricey to rebuild. That's rebuild, and not 'repair' btw On the alternative engine site, I'm sure I read about a special bellhousing that would then allow an in-line petrol [golf, etc] to be fitted. If I'm right on that one too, then that would be my preferred option, better still, gassed as well.

[mark]

ive got a dj, still running injectors i dont know about economic but its quite, if you want to hear the motor you have to wind down the window. mine is fast and ive never noticed it struggle at motorway speeds up hill.
as for lpg its not for me, with the cost of fitting, loosing cupboard space. and i prefer to run it on petrol. when i bought it i thought it would be more expensive to run, but once i'd got it running right ive never given the cost of the fuel a second thought.
the cornwall trip this summer cost about £50 more in fuel than using the v40. but we had more gear and an extra body.

mark

[Pilks]

If your buying a t25 who cares about fuel eff!!! Got a 2ltr air cooled running on gas. But don't care about cost of fuel vs the fact I'm getting away and using it life is to short to worry just enjoy it

[lloydy]

I've owned a 1.9 petrol= found it fine, ok mpg cruised at 65mph
1.9 petrol,gassed= same power as above, better equiv MPG, but personally I always found myself looking for LPG stations.
1.6 TD JX= good mpg, ok ish power, noisy
1.9TD AAZ= slightly less mpg than above, slightly more power, slightly quieter.
1.9TDI AFN = better MPG than any above, MILES more power/torque than any of above, quietest of any of the diesels.
I love the AFN, to be fair though it is not a cheap conversion, you could buy a nice van for the cost of the engine/gearbox.
The 1.8T petrol engine appeals to me as well, but again would be costly.
All comes down to how much disposable income you have, many people are happy with the WBX (I was) but you won't overtake much going uphill in one (that goes for WBX, JX or AAZ)

[ninja.turtle007]

If your buying a t25 who cares about fuel eff!!! Got a 2ltr air cooled running on gas. But don't care about cost of fuel vs the fact I'm getting away and using it life is to short to worry just enjoy it

Depends on how much you use it. I do about 10k miles a year. I caliste it now costs me 20p per mile before it was 36p per mile.

[faggie]

i have a Aircooled engine bigger than stock and i get 30 mpg on a run if i keep to a sensible speed something my standard 2.0 engine or 1.9 wbx motor could never manage , with the bigger engine you dont need to thrash it everywhere and change down at every incline , most of the time i just put it in top gear and leave it there

[Wychall]

I have the standard South African installation of a straight 5 cyl in-line 2.5 litre which is converted to run on LPG. Over the last 4000 miles, use as a daily runner on mostly short hops of 3 or 4 miles (work!) has returned an mpg equivalent of 36 mpg. I'm certainly happy with most of it, although I perhaps need to look at the fact that it starts to wander a bit when I go above 90mph

[billy739]

general driving i can get 450 miles from mine from a full tank.

did a motorway trip yesterday , unladen between 60-70mph and got 38mpg , but dropped to 28 when i was loaded and towing another camper at 50-60mph!

peugeot 1.9td , AAP box , 215 80 14 tyres

also my high top camper , towing small caravan , 4 people with all gear averages 34mpg - this has been constant on trips to europe including st tropez , monaco , firenza , pisa , barcelona , benidorm
2.1td peugeot / aap box / 215 /75 / 15 tyres

[discipleofsketch]

general driving i can get 450 miles from mine from a full tank.

did a motorway trip yesterday , unladen between 60-70mph and got 38mpg , but dropped to 28 when i was loaded and towing another camper at 50-60mph!

peugeot 1.9td , AAP box , 215 80 14 tyres

also my high top camper , towing small caravan , 4 people with all gear averages 34mpg - this has been constant on trips to europe including st tropez , monaco , firenza , pisa , barcelona , benidorm
2.1td peugeot / aap box / 215 /75 / 15 tyres

Sounds good - did you do the conversion yourself? I don't have the time, space or skills to do an engine conversion myself, but I'd be interested in finding someone to supply and fit a peugeot td conversion to my 1.6d next year - asked before on here but no-one offered their services. Probably going to go for a 1Y (golf/caddy 1.9 non-turbo) to keep it simple and close to the factory set-up.