Natural gas conversion

[nb11]

Has anybody done it? Know anybody who has? The other day a friend was telling me it's about $3500 to convert your vehicle to run on natural gas (compressed propane), and you get like a $1000 rebate if you do it. And fuel costs approximately $1.30 a gallon! And he said the first year you do it you get a rebate of $.45 a gallon. And you get about 25% better fuel economy, about 20% more power, and have green emissions. Anybody know anything else about this?

 

[straycat]

Just google it. It is dangerous if not done right and if in an accident it has a possibility of exploding (it has happened before). One of my off road mags had an article about an off roader who had it done and the tank sits in the truck bed. I can't remember which mag it was...but it was a green Toyota Tacoma if I remember correctly. It looked sharp with prerunner fenders if I remember it right. If I can find the mag (got it the last 1-2 months ago) I will let you know.

 

[Snoranger]

Propane will NOT give you a 20% increase in power. With a propane conversion you will lose about 12-14% of your power. (unless the engine is built for propane, ie: higher compression)

You will also get LESS mpg's. The cheaper cost per gallon will make up the difference and it should be a little cheaper to run on propane.

You will get better emissions (if its tuned right) and your engine will last longer. propane is a cleaner fuel and your oil will be cleaner, longer.


FYI: I'm a forklift tech with over 12 years of propane experience. I've converted everything from a 1.1L to 460 fords.

 

[pontiacfieroguy]

do it, if you ever get hungry you can just throw some burgers on your grill

 

[bobbywalter]

well. natural gas and propane conversions are not the same.


the compressor and tanks for natural gas will be 5000 dollars as its high pressure.


i looked into this 6-7 years ago and was going to use the whole 5.4 power train and system as the costs were perfect to buy the components. i could not figure out a way to compress the gas at home cheap enough to warrant the investment. i regret not buying thge componants and powertrain though. cant find them cheap anywhere now.

good place to find operational ngv is airports and city auctions. they had a whole load of ford 15 passenger vans come in all ngv/gasoline duel fuel.

i could have stripped the whole running systems for 1500 bux. i feel like an idiot for not doing it now.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Here's a site that has answered a few of my questions;
http://fuelsforum.rasoenterprises.com/index.php?sid=b9df94d5e909574a153594d1f2154148
Use the search feature for answers first though.

Richard

 

[bobbywalter]

dude....cool site. thanks

 

[mentalbreakdown00]

what snoranger said. but around my area propane is more readily available

 

[Snoranger]

a friend was telling me it's about $3500 to convert your vehicle to run on natural gas (compressed propane)

Lets go back and start with the basics, which one do you want to run? Compressed natural gas (cng) or Propane?

 

[nb11]

I'm not really considering doing it, mainly because I don't have the money to make the investment to swap. I was just wondering if anybody had and if they could say whether or not it was worth it. And I I believe he was talking about compressed propane, I just said natural gas because I thought it was the same.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've run a '77 f-150 w/460/auto [300,000 km]and a Chev 1-ton van w/350/auto [570,000 km] on strictly propane. It was fine for what I needed. It always started, even at -35C. At -42C the liquid will no longer turn to vapor but I'm sure a battery blanket on the vaporizer would cure that. My research tells me that it's not economical to convert to propane until the price of gas is 2x the price of propane. If/when I was/am rebuilding a carb engine and had/have a local source of propane I would/will build the engine for propane @ ~ 13-1 compression ratio [I need to do more research on this, I want to run the highest compression ratio feasible], as propane has a very high octane rating I could then have my rumpity-rump cam in a street driven hot rod and not have to pay through the nose to run it. This conversion makes a lot of 'cents' when you start pricing racing fuel. Another benefit for 4x4ing is that the motor will run at any angle... no float bowls to screw up, but you should also run a kill switch for the same reason.
I have not researched efi set ups too much but I know they are out there, check the link in my previous post.
This is not a do-it-yourself project unless you are very knowledgeable about the different systems involved, and you may need an inspection... in Canada you will. This is not to say you can't learn what you need to know, that's the route I'm taking.

Richard

 

[feellnfroggy]

There was a guy in last months petersons issue that converted to propane, He got rid of all computers and got stand alone ignition, then puthis propane injector in the intake right behind the airbox, so it wil mix prior to entry kinda like old carb setup. Leave the old plug and injectors in place, just unplugg them. It was really simple, but yeah all in all he paid 2400-3000 something like that.

 

[adsm08]

. And I I believe he was talking about compressed propane

I believe not.

There are two types of systems here. CNG and LPG. Compressed Natural Gas, and Liquid Propane Gas.

Liquid doesn't compress last time I checked.

 

[nb11]

Sorry, I didn't realize that propane was the liquid version. Then it must have been CNG he was talking about.

 

[adsm08]

Sorry, I didn't realize that propane was the liquid version. Then it must have been CNG he was talking about.

Propane is always stored as a liquid. It's one of the odder physical properties of that particular hydrocarbon chain. When you try to compress it or put it under pressure it reverts to it's liquid form pretty quick. CNG doesn't do that.

Watch any random hour of KotH and you will learn at leas that much about propane.