S1 MPG?

[Bercilac]

I've covered the first 250 miles in my freshly rebuilt S1, and my fag packet calculations indicate that it consumed 40 litres of unleaded or 2 jerry cans worth. I just brimmed it at the petrol station yesterday for the first time.

This includes garage time fiddling with the fuel injection and a Gunson gas analyser, and some very light trundling about rural lanes with the odd burst of 6000 rpm but no proper thrashing time, and 30 miles of dual carriageway at 70 mph.

That would be an mpg of about 28 in old money, so I wondered what other folk get from their 2.8 TVRs?

[WotnoV8]

Last time I bothered to check, my S1’s consumption was somewhere around 27 mpg with mixed driving. (Although I’m sure i can get it lower!)

Edited by WotnoV8 on Tuesday 19th May 07:42

[Bercilac]

Ah good so about where it needs to be, thanks!

[Spanish S2]

Some people say 30 mpg is achievable, but I have an s2 and i average 25 mpg but i do like to reach the speed limit now and again.;)

[v8s4me]

That's roughly what I got from the Tasmin which had the 2.8i engine.

[mentall]

I read the thread topic as '51MPG'. Don't you wish?

[GreenV8S]

That figure sounds about right for a car driven gently - my 2.9 S2 would be in the high twenties during a motorway cruise.

[Bercilac]

All very reassuring, thank you chaps.

[WhatamIgettingmyselfinto]

I once got 37mpg from Edinburgh to Hereford on one tank with my S1.
Brimmed before and after, obviously there are some other factors like fuel expansion and whether the tank was completely filled when the nozzle cut off etc.

I was sat at ~56mph more or less the whole way, very boring...

[Bercilac]

Wow! That must have taken some self control ;-)

[ChimpOnGas]

mentall said:

I read the thread topic as '51MPG'. Don't you wish?

My 4.0 litre V8 LPG Chimaera makes 250hp and 260ft/lbs, yet turns in the petrol cost equivalent of 51mpg.

That's a Dynolicious App confirmed 0-60 in 4.8 seconds and a Sat Nav confirmed top speed of 153mph, while when driven sensibly (80mph cruise on the motorway) the car serves up the petrol cost equivalent of 51mpg.

She's smoother driving on gas too as LPG mixes better with air than petrol, I carry 63 litres for a respectable 300 mile touring range with no real loss of boot space.

What's not to like?

[Bercilac]

Those are excellent numbers. I did wonder about converting the S but for the miles I'm doing I don't think I can justify the cost. Second tankful of Mr Esso's finest has been dispatched at 27 mpg. I think I must have found the carpet with the throttle a couple of times, but that was all Cheshire lanes and a bit of dual carriageway.

[ChimpOnGas]

My LPG conversion paid for itself a couple of years ago, after that its basically been like having a petrol car that averages 50mpg.

The car runs a Canems Dual fuel engine management system that allows me to map the fuel and spark tables for each fuel type separately and independently of each other, this allows me to get the best from both very different types of fuel chemistry. LPG is 110 Ron so you can run a lot more ignition advance early on, this and the better mixing of air and gas delivers a more complete burn which translates to superb torque and instant throttle response.

I run the car on a V8 Developments Stealth cam and took almost 10 lbs out of the flywheel mass which is considerable, with a full de-cat she properly sings as the engine delivers it's 250hp and 260ft/bls so don't let anyone tell you LPG is a performance killer. Yesterday I took a mate out across three counties in an epic warm evening roof down blast where A & B roads were devoured at full chat as we crossed the beautiful Chiltern hills from Oxfordshire to Bucks, and on into Herts.

The countryside rang to the glorious sound of my gas powered V8 howling to 6,000rpm, we must have covered well over 100 miles like this in a relentless no holds barred main line injected petrol head nirvana experience, and all for £20 worth of LPG

Don't let anyone tell you LPG is just for fork lift trucks and taxis folks

Here she is cooling down after an evening of proper TVR exercise

[phillpot]

ChimpOnGas said:

Yesterday I took a mate out across three counties

Good 'social distancing'


All good stuff with excellent performance and economy but you don't mention the hundreds of hours of work, research and development that went into getting there. Not exactly a 'bolt on kit'

And of course you do a lot more miles than most TVR owners, giving a much quicker pay back time

Edited by phillpot on Tuesday 2nd June 11:15

[Bercilac]

My first LPG motor was a wheezy 1.1 litre Ford Escort van (yes, they made a 1.1!!!) with a whacking great tank behind the driver's seat. I did 700 miles in one day in that thing (I had a courier business back in the early eighties) and it sipped the stuff, really impressive and back then LPG was really cheap.

[ChimpOnGas]

phillpot said:

Good 'social distancing'


All good stuff with excellent performance and economy but you don't mention the hundreds of hours of work, research and development that went into getting there. Not exactly a 'bolt on kit'

And of course you do a lot more miles than most TVR owners, giving a much quicker pay back time

Edited by phillpot on Tuesday 2nd June 11:15

Oh well lets just call it a load of rubbish then while you burn me at the stake.

It works, it works really well, and I made it happen... but I appreciate innovation is not for everyone

And your point is?