I've heard directly from the CEO of my Official Ferrari Dealer, here in Italy, that many years ago (1991) a man ordered a new 348 tb. When after many months, the car arrived in the shop, the new owner asked the dealer to put a LPG system on the car. The dealer called immediately the Ferrari commercial department in Maranello and the answer was: "we would be really pleased to satisfy the owner, and we're happy that he has choosen one of our product, but... give him the money back and keep the car in the shop. Perhaps he was wrong in ordering a Ferrari!" Sorry, but that's a true story... (and, if you want my opinion, I think that Ferrari was right).
Amazing isn't it? There is a thread in the 308 section for this car Sy. Many years in the making and it's very very cool.
LPG is a very viable fuel, if you can stand a few oddities. I have been a happy user of it on a number of daily drivers. Jaguars, BMWs, Range Rovers. No servicing cost of any kind by the way on most systems apart from a filter replacement every 60000 miles. With injection systems there is no power loss. I would not convert a low miles original car, but a driver condition car I do not see an issue with. I am also not afraid of buying a converted car but that is not common, a lot of people will shy away because of the relative bad rep of it in terms of reliability; mostly caused by poor conversions. There is also a 456 that has been converted out there. Look it up on YouTube.
to me it is a stupid Idea, especially on a 25 year old engine with tight tolerances. it is not an old Volvo engine where it doesn't harm. engines running on LPG run hotter. so what happens to your gaskets, expansion and dimensions of pistons etc.
LOL, yeah this thread jumps from ridicule to serious and back. LPG on a Ferrari, so it has really been done before... The thermal load is not higher if the engine is properly tuned to all of the fuel's characteristics. The mixture burn speed is a little slower so if the petrol ignition timing is used, it is late for LPG. As the virtual octane rating of LPG is very high, 110+, ignition timing can be advanced on LPG and in fact, it should be for power and efficiency. If not, the efficiency goes down and then heat loss into the engine and exhaust is indeed increased. Many but not all modern fuel injection systems recognise the better octane and adapt some of the advance automatically. It is quite common for a converted engine using the modern systems and tuning to be more powerful. Perhaps better to move this to a non-april fool's thread though
I think it is even cheaper to rebuilt your car to a pedalcar. Think about the savings in tires as well. Only problem that will remain is the front becomming a bit light on high speeds. ;-)
