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Gas conversion
- Thread starter vdrbruce
- Start date
Nickodell
Donation Time
If you mean propane, it's been done for decades. The downside: expensive and rare to find a propane refuelling station. Most conversions are done on fleets, like city-owned vehicles.
http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=623
http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=623
alpine_64
Donation Time
Do you mean LPG? I have seen a triumph 2000 on LPG last weekend.. really nice conversion but apparently took a fait bot oh head scratching to get the tune right.
As for the alpine.. not sure how wel it would go.. i can see it working well on a Tiger though.. lots of Ford V8's have been converted to run LPG
MikeH
Diamond Level Sponsor
nickraymond
Donation Time
What are your reasons for conversion?
The twin tanks are an obvious advantage for this but I question how well any car could run (without an ECU) on two different fuels. I expect the octane in the LPG (or equivalent) is different to petrol.
Nick
The twin tanks are an obvious advantage for this but I question how well any car could run (without an ECU) on two different fuels. I expect the octane in the LPG (or equivalent) is different to petrol.
Nick
Converting to LPG would do two things, neither of which is good. You would gain about 50 lbs. of weight, and the engine would produce even less power than it already does. It would pollute less, but the cost of converting and the things I just mentioned before, would make it not viable, IMHO.
Jose
Jose
nickraymond
Donation Time
agreed.
'even less power than it already does' you couldn't resist a little dig at us non V6'ers could you Jose!
alpine_64
Donation Time
Think he meant "fair bit of". Hav e a simular probem wirh my keyboatd.
I keep forgetting to send all my posts to nick before I submit them to the board. But its ok.. in the last few days he seems to be doing the great service and pointing out any errors. I guess its nice to be so idle that you have nothing better than to do that with your time.. some of us respond quickly as we have real things to do.
alternatively mike.. he is just so slow he cant sit there and work out a typo by reading the rest of the sentence.. cheers to you nick..
I PROMISE TO TYPE NICE AND SLOW AND IN CAPS SO YOU DONT STRUGGLE ANYMORE... DO YOU NEED YOUR MEDS NOW DEAR?
lgurley
Donation Time
I don't know the mechanics of doing it but I do know that this conversion can be done to any internal combustion engine. Your local gas company most likely can direct you to the process.
Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!
No. I wasn´t going there; just stating a fact. I live where there are plenty of LPG powered taxis and they sometimes can´t get up a steep hill near my hose. The little 1,100 c.c. engines just don´t have enough power with the gas. LPG has only 60% of the BTU´s that gas has.
If you build an engine expressly for the purpose of burning LPG, Like using higher compression, it can work better. An engine that was meant to burn gasoline has the compression too low to produce enough power efficiently. The taxi drivers here do it only because gasoline is so expensive and LPG will save them half of their energy costs. they aren´t doing it to be green.
Jose
No. I wasn´t going there; just stating a fact. I live where there are plenty of LPG powered taxis and they sometimes can´t get up a steep hill near my hose. The little 1,100 c.c. engines just don´t have enough power with the gas. LPG has only 60% of the BTU´s that gas has.
If you build an engine expressly for the purpose of burning LPG, Like using higher compression, it can work better. An engine that was meant to burn gasoline has the compression too low to produce enough power efficiently. The taxi drivers here do it only because gasoline is so expensive and LPG will save them half of their energy costs. they aren´t doing it to be green.
Jose
agreed.
'even less power than it already does' you couldn't resist a little dig at us non V6'ers could you Jose!
RootesRacer
Donation Time
Assuming the LPG is mostly propane (it is round here), it has about 87% the BTUs of pump gas (95k vs 110k).
That and an effective octane rating of about 115.
Doesn't that just mean it will burn more fuel? Years ago, a lot of farmers switched tractors over to LP, never heard anybody complain about loss of power.
But then we still don't know for sure what type of "natural gas" the original poster was referring to. Methinks it is the kind that is transported around the country in pipes.
Bill
RootesRacer
Donation Time
Not sure what you are asking Bill.
the lower BTU per gallon means all things the same it will use a bit more fuel, but with the higher octane, added compression, or extra timing (on a knock limited engine) will yield higher efficiency (lower brake specific fuel consumption BSFC).
The type natural gas that you use in your house in USELESS in a car since its predominantly methane which has a room temp vapor pressure TOO high to run as a liquid in a practical holding vessel. Running a gas even at 4000psi yields a relatively low amount of stored moles of the gas.
Only Liquid Petroleum Gas (IE propane based) has practical usage in a car.
MikeH
Diamond Level Sponsor