85L Irene tank, KME Nevo, MJ reducer, Hana 2002 injectors on rails of 3, valvelube system. I also de-cored the rear cats for the owner.
This model Elgrand has 4 catalytic convertors, apparently what can happen is that when the front two cats start to break up or dust from them comes away, the debris can block the rear two cats leading to all sorts of problems.
Decat was done first
The driver side rear cat can easily be de-cored without having to cut into it..
The passenger side rear cat has a long section of pipe at each side of it, so needs to be cut into to de-core...
Job completely done engine bay pic. The white wire to the right is just my interface cable. You can make out the wires running to the passenger side Hana LPG injectors. These injectors are on rails so are remote from the ports on this install (as opposed to discrete injectors that are fitted directly to ports on the Skyline), I selected this option for the E51 because access to the engine is so much more difficult on the E51 than on the Skyline - No difference during the install but to service injectors in future (if ever necessary) means taking off the the full plenum with port located discrete injectors, much more of a job on the E51 than on the Skyline, injectors in this case can be accessed without dismantling any of the engine at all. The lube bottle is very securely fitted on a welded thick steel bracket to the wiper assembly housing but I made it very easily removable (to remove the battery, as otherwise it might be in the way a bit for removing the battery) by simply undoing one M8 bolt halfway across the bracket.
job done but still got wiper assembly to refit and valvelube to fit
Rear filler beside fog light. Originally the foglight was flimsily fitted to the plastic bumper with a bit of thin bent steel, now it is fitted to the same bracket that secures the filler (shiny metal like the exhaust!), and this in turn is fitted to the towing eye... the fog light isn't flimsily held in place any more. I think this all looks rather neat and the bit of shiny metal on the offside balances the shiny exhaust.
While I'd got the plenum off the engine, before putting it all back together again I forgot to reconnect this vacuum pipe. Right at the back of the engine and inaccessible (with my big hands and arms anyway) without taking the upper half of the plenum off the engine again, so that's what I had to do! Managed to take this pic with my phone camera after I'd removed the upper half of the plenum again...
lower half of plenum
Plenum off, so now we get to see the engine itself (which you probably don't often get to do). The wires to the right of the pic run to the petrol injectors, here I was probing them to confirm which wires ran to which petrol injectors and making notes for later, because two of the wires change colour before they get to the petrol injectors. Also, on the E50 Elgrand I recently converted (*another thread on this forum), the petrol injector wiring went through 2 plugs which also carried other wires, on the E51 there is only one injector plug which only carries petrol injector wiring so in this respect the E51 is simpler from a wiring perspective (but more complicated engine bay work overall than the E50). On the Skyline I recently converted (again another thread on this forum, again same engine) it made more sense to wire directly to petrol injectors. Incidentally, if an installer fits injectors all at the same side of the engine on one of these engines (like on most I've seen converted elsewhere), then unless they fitted 'straws', the 'spuds' for one bank of cylinders will be several inches further away from the inlet valves (so in far less of an ideal position) than the other bank, which can lead to poorer (less smooth) idle and poorer throttle response even if they used appropriate components and calibrated it all properly.
see the throttle body removed but still in the bay in this pic too
Lower plenum in place
top of plenum on
don't forget the evap purge valve. Not much space around here.
again job done
I didn't take a pic of the reducer in place but it is below the air filter housing. I have seen a few Elgrands lately where the installer has fitted the reducer high in the engine bay where it is easily the highest point in the whole cooling system and hence might suffer shortage of hot water flow thus causing problems running on gas or premature failure of the reducer or injectors, plus causing problems with the cabin heater or with airlocks for the overall engine, not good. I've also seen an Elgrand lately where the installer had secured the reducer directly to the engine, very not good... This may lead to premature problems with that reducer (suffering vibration from the engine) - This would have been a complete no-no a few years ago but when we all started fitting Faro pipe instead of copper lines it seems some installers saw this as a license to fit reducers to engines, in my view it is still very bad practice though. I chose the MJ reducer that I fitted on this vehicle for this model vehicle, precisely because it would fit in the ideal location. Installers that fit the same parts on every vehicle cannot make such choices, which will sometimes lead them to fitting components in far from ideal locations or in far from ideal ways.
Another vehicle I converted that runs perfectly on either fuel. All components selected on merit and on suitability for the vehicle and fitted in the most ideal locations, a well thought out technically correct install while at the same time very tidy.
* Link to thread on Skyline I just converted http://www.lpgforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14199
* Link to thread on E50 Elgrand I recently converted http://www.lpgforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14190
Simon
