I have no association with DieselGas, and am unaware of any conflict of interest. I know which is the pointy end of a screwdriver, but no mechanic. My observations are purely unscientific and are impressions only, I may be imagining things that are there or not for other reasons.
Had the brother-in-law take the Nissan 4.2TD Cab Chassis to Melb last Wednesday. The specifications for the sales people were:
1. Tank front centre of tray
2. Chassis Mounted
3. 50l usable gas or as near as you can fit
Gas system to be fitted Thurs and put on Dyno Fri morning. Don't think this is how it went. Office rang Thurs late and gave me final price inclusive of $250 of exhaust work.
Lunch Friday vehicle not ready, but should be OK 5.30. B_I_L had to wait for it to come off dyno after 6pm.
Rang me when he got
home and said, tank not where you asked for it, it is under tray across back and attached to tray. Apparently 50l useable gas. Cannot see where there is any modification to exhaust.
Well I fumed all weekend and headed for
Melbourne Sun night to sort things out.
Within 5 min of inspecting vehicle all my fears dissolved. The tank was not visible from rear, guage was easy to read,
well inside departure angle and overall a neat job. It would not have worked as
well where I wanted it. On reading receipt, the only instructions given to installation staff had been 50 useable litres, and receipt did not include exhaust work.
Called in at dealership on way
home, and they immediately rectified my overpayment with a cheque.
End result is, more than happy with the installation.
Now the initial impressions:
1. First thing to notice is starting. The TD was not hard to start before, but usually turned over about 4 - 6 cylinders before it fired. Now it fires on 1st cylinder. This is surprising as gas is only injected under load and not at idle. Maybe something to do with carbon deposits removed from cyclinder. Maybe it had something to do with being dyno tuned. Whatever, it is noticeable.
2. The cabin is noticeably quieter. I thought it must have been me. You could hear the radio clearly. The usual tickle, tickle, rattle noise you associate with diesels is gone. Just audible sometimes at idle. You cannot hear the turbo spool up; the air rush whistle is missing. Don't know what the technical reasons are for this, but it is too dramatic to be imagination. The gas port is in the pipe between the air cleaner and turbo intake. Perhaps the gas being cold kills the turbo whistle. This is the only intrusion on motor other than a couple of sensors. One thing the installer mentioned was that the fuel mix at cylinder is 100ºc colder than straight diesel. Perhaps it is like driving permanently on a clean cold morning and that quiets the diesel noises.
3. The dyno tuner tells me the power at rear wheels, on gas, goes from 84kw to 103kw. I would have no dispute with that figure on feel. It is a very smooth power too.
4. Torque is noticeably lower. Comes in under 1500rpm, originally close to 2000rpm.
5. Don't know about fuel consumption as yet, and will not be doing a scientific analysis. Have some rough figures from the last 4 fills I will work out when I get around to it. Usually the TD uses 1/4 main tank on trip from Melb, and when I got
home this time was just short of the 1/4. I did however give it some stick coming
home through the Black Spur (because I could). It may be some time before I can make any difinitive judgement, although if it is 20% as claimed, it should stand out.
6. Dash control consists of 1 small unobtrusive switch with 4 green bars for full that graduate off, until last green turns
orange for low. You can either have the gas on or off, that's it.
Overall very happy at this stage. Feels weird; heaps more grunt with less overall noise. Doesn't seem to make sense.