Hirst Cabs (Motoring Chaos Edition)

[andrew e]

Hirst daft question, but have you a UK type filler? In my Polski-LPG I screw an adaptor into the filler. But it only fits one type of UK pump*. However it is behind the filler flap, nice and tidy.

 

*Apologies to the man in sainsburys who had to isolate the pump so I could mole grip the adaptor out of his pump

 

http://www.go-lpg.co.uk/how.html

[dollywobbler]

Finally had chance to sit down with a box of Cadbury's Heroes and read this thread. Well worth it! Many thanks for an entertaining read, and a top quality purchase Mr Hirst!

[sporty-shite]

For emergency fuel is it possible to do something with a calor gas bottle in the boot where other folk have a spare 5-ltr can of pez?I would have thought it would be possible, just not sure what fittings etc would be required.Woud be a bummer if you cant go anywhere new without having to find out where the gas shops are first.

I knew a bloke a few years ago who had done a homebrew gas conversion on a petrol Transit which involved ratchet strapping a gipsy spec orange calor bottle into the back of the van. Quality!

[Hudsonpie]

For emergency fuel is it possible to do something with a calor gas bottle in the boot where other folk have a spare 5-ltr can of pez?I would have thought it would be possible, just not sure what fittings etc would be required.Woud be a bummer if you cant go anywhere new without having to find out where the gas shops are first.

I knew a bloke a few years ago who had done a homebrew gas conversion on a petrol Transit which involved ratchet strapping a gipsy spec orange calor bottle into the back of the van. Quality!

A guy around here used to carry a forty five gallon drum in the back of his Transit full of red for various tractors and bits of plant. One night some scrote holed his tank to pinch some diesel, so he stuck the feed pipe in the drum, patched up the tank and filled it with diesel mixed with water and piss etc......in case they tried it again

[Guest]

Adaptor is already screwed-in. Not gone to gas it up yet - might do it on Friday evening.

[Spottedlaurel]

Do you think the LPG installation is a factory thing? I have a brochure or two on other Nissan taxis (by Autech, maybe?) and I'm pretty sure they show an LPG option. Not going out to the shed right now to check though...

 

In the meantime, have an LPG conversion in a Laurel C31 found in a scrapyard in 1996/97:

 

[Ratdat]

I'd be almost certain the LPG is factory. Nissan sold 510's fitted with LPG and meter etc for the taxi market. Here's a brochure for one...

 

 

 

 

[FredTransit]

Yep the yellow one that was in the Jamie T promo was LPG factory.

[Guest]

The LPG system looks completely factory to me. I'll take some pictures of it over the weekend.

[VWPowered]

have you managed to fill it yet

[Guest]

It'll be this evening unless the weather turns nasty.

[STUNO]

I have run several LPG and Natural gas powered cars over the years without a problem, with petrol as a backup though ! Always with a carb. not injected. Ford Falcon is available here with factory LPG, I think it is the only new car you can buy with it. BUT LPG is now not much cheaper than petrol now, and conversions are expensive so it is slowly dying. Nat. gas has all gone now, that was very cheap to run although there was a noticeable power loss and range per tank was about 60 miles from memory.

[Guest]

Filled up - pleasingly, I didn't die. Though it wasn't much fun fiddling around with the safety catch thing in the cold.

[pandamonium]

You HAVE to get this notice...

[VWPowered]

For emergency fuel is it possible to do something with a calor gas bottle in the boot where other folk have a spare 5-ltr can of pez?I would have thought it would be possible, just not sure what fittings etc would be required.Woud be a bummer if you cant go anywhere new without having to find out where the gas shops are first.

I knew a bloke a few years ago who had done a homebrew gas conversion on a petrol Transit which involved ratchet strapping a gipsy spec orange calor bottle into the back of the van. Quality!

A guy around here used to carry a forty five gallon drum in the back of his Transit full of red for various tractors and bits of plant. One night some scrote holed his tank to pinch some diesel, so he stuck the feed pipe in the drum, patched up the tank and filled it with diesel mixed with water and piss etc......in case they tried it again

*snigger*

[Guest]

Been cruising around Dewsbury in it today, the roads aren't completely covered in snow so I've been able to put my foot down a little bit more than I have been able to previously. Engine has a nice tone to it, somewhat gruff. I really like the gearchange. Just enjoying it for now, will probably have to tuck it away again on Sunday night due to planned SNOW CHAOS.

 

 

Here's the sign which is inside for safekeeping.

 

 

And here's the factory fit radio. You're a taxi driver in 1992 and you still don't deserve a tape deck. Tight!

[M'coli]

Is this coming out to play tomorrow afternoon?

[KruJoe]

Cut your finger nails, ya dirty urchin!(Or you could keep one of them (probably on a little finger) long and beautifully shaped, just like a Thai tuk-tuk driver, ideal for dealing with earwax, smog-bogies and blackheads.)

[ChinaTom]

Cut your finger nails, ya dirty urchin!(Or you could keep one of them (probably on a little finger) long and beautifully shaped, just like a Thai tuk-tuk driver, ideal for dealing with earwax, smog-bogies and blackheads.)

GR8 4 peeling pomello

[KruJoe]

...and those weird rambutans that look like hairy bollocks.

 

[Guest]

I'll cut my fingernails as soon as you wash your smelly feet.

[KruJoe]

[Guest]

Drove the car to work this morning without issue, came back later on and went to start it, it just made a click and displayed a light which looked somewhat like burnt toast. Various attempts and it did the same, just making no effort to start at all, but I could hear the gas pipes going.Fiddled around looking for my breakdown details for 5 minutes and decided I'd just give it another shot, this time the starter went and it fired straight up with no bother. Wonder what that was all about, is there some kind of bizzare cold-start procedure or something? If so, I've been starting it in much colder weather without issue. Drove back fine anyway.Any thoughts?

[Tayne]

.

[whitevanman]

is it an auto? if so check the inhibitor or move the stick around next time see if that helps the connections....

[Guest]

Nah it's a manual.

[whitevanman]

in that case check the wires coming out of the back of the ignition barrel....my Cortina gets that sometimes and thats the cause of it.

[whitevanman]

or maybe it has an inhibitor system that needs it to be out of gear and the clutch down or similiar..

[Timewaster]

Is there some sort if glow plug style pre heater?I only ask as above, petrol/lpg tend to switch over when warm.Maybe someone could translate a manual for you

[Guest]

No idea to be honest, plus there's no manual to translate. Anyway, I've been driving it around a bit this evening and it cracked up fine each time so I'll just keep using it and see if it does it again. Maybe it's just grumpy because I drove it to work instead of around town picking up fares.I've had the chance to have a decent look under the bonnet at last, looks pretty good! Oil is fairly clean with no mayo, coolant could do with a change, couldn't be bothered opening the airbox but I'm told it was done fairly recently. Reckon it would benefit from a mild service though.Also made another discovery - the engine isn't a CA20, it's actually a CA18P (P is for LPG) with a rip-roaring 76ps! Considering the car weighs about 1360kg and has the aerodynamics of a brick, that explains why you need to floor it to get it past 100km/h. I'll have to edit all those thread titles now to make it an 1800, what a ballache!