Natural gas conversion

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flynfrog

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With the price of CNG at $0.63/gge right now the $4000 to convert my car over to is looking better and better.

http://www.mycngkit.com

looks pretty strait forward my only concern would be that there mixer wont fit on a mark 8 throttle body and you would be pumping fuel air mix through the intake manifold.
 
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flynfrog said:
With the price of CNG at $0.63/gge right now the $4000 to convert my car over to is looking better and better.
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Make sure you do the math right. ;)

Convert the costs to dollars per mile to determine the payback period and don't forget you are 'speculating' the cost differences will remain the same.

Technically, I would be concerned of the compatibility with our intake design. You would not want any chance of fuel pooling in the intake.
 
my math is right gge is gallon of gasoline equivalent

the fuel is in gas form not liquid so im guessing that pooling is not a problem

and with the flick of the switch its back to a gasoline engine

the best part is CNG has a higher octane rating than gasoline

the kit kind of piggy backs your ecu so you still have your factory ecu controlling timing and spark all emission equipment remains in place
 
All else being equal, it comes down to payback period.

According to AAA, the average cost today for premium fuel in Iowa is right at $4 per gallon. At 25 mpg, this is $0.16 per mile. CNG at your stated $0.63 per GGE will cost you $.03 per mile for a difference of $0.13 per mile assuming the same mileage.

At such rate, it will take you 30,000 miles to recoup the investment cost of the changeover before you begin to realize any 'savings'.
 
What kind of range would you get on natural gas? I think it will be less then the equivalent in gas.
 
driller said:
All else being equal, it comes down to payback period.

According to AAA, the average cost today for premium fuel in Iowa is right at $4 per gallon. At 25 mpg, this is $0.16 per mile. CNG at your stated $0.63 per GGE will cost you $.03 per mile for a difference of $0.13 per mile assuming the same mileage.

At such rate, it will take you 30,000 miles to recoup the investment cost of the changeover before you begin to realize any 'savings'.
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Im now in UTAH I should really update my location. and i do about 15-20k a year so it would pay off in a year in a half.

The way I look at it is I was looking at buying a TDI for around 15k but the price of diesel is high enough now that the difference wouldn't pay off. I like the idea that most CNG is local and the fact its $0.63



Also the kit is not EPA certified so cali is out even though it would be cleaner than gasoline go govt.



Steve: the range is about the same some see a loss in town and a gain on the highway or vis versa but its not really anything worry about. The fuel has a higher energy density than gasoline as budpytko said.
 
budpytko said:
If it has more BTU's, why would you guess that?
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Because of what i read in the past. Here is something i just read:

However, travel away from home will require mapping out a network of CNG stations, particularly since the range of NGVs tends to be lower than their gasoline or hybrid counterparts. The Civic GX, for example, stores 8 GGE at 3600 psi, giving the vehicle a maximum range of 312 miles. This is in contrast with the Civic Hybrid, which theoretically can manage 627 miles from the 12.3 gallons of gasoline it its tank. The reduced range results mainly from the difficulty of storing the pressurized fuel on board the vehicle. While a bigger tank could be used, the existing tank in the Civic GX already intrudes into the vehicle’s trunk, reducing cargo room by about 40 percent.
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http://www.hybridcars.com/compressed-natural-gas/cost.html
 
Thanks for posting this... it is great food for thought. I have a 98 Crown Vic and I know they run on Natural gas here in San Francisco as taxi cabs... I'd be curious to see what kits are available for that car.
 
from what ive read the CARB EPA approved kits are 15k-20k.

The unapproved kits are 2500 plus a tank also the price of cng varies a lot here in UT its 63 cents in Calli its $2.40 there is a video on the site in the first post I made it looks pretty easy to install my main worry with the mark is the intake tube is not round but im guessing there is some other sort of injection nozzle that can be used
 
flynfrog said:
The way I look at it is I was looking at buying a TDI for around 15k but the price of diesel is high enough now that the difference wouldn't pay off. I like the idea that most CNG is local and the fact its $0.63
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Yeah, diesel fuel has suddenly outpaced premium gas to the point you lose on that bet.

I hope you can count on the huge price break for CNG if you go that route. The less the price disparity, the longer the payback period.
 
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driller said:
Yeah, diesel fuel has suddenly outpaced premium gas to the point you lose on that bet.

I hope you can count on the huge price break for CNG if you go that route. The less the price disparity, the longer the payback period.
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even if it goes to the price of premium gas 120 octane sounds like blower food to me :D
 
I think it has great merits, one concern road tax and if you don't pay and get caught how much is the fine? my brother just picked up a complete dual fuel propane syst. off of a taxi (4.6 sohc) for 35.00 at las vegas pick-a-part. he plans to install it on his mark.I'm waiting to see how well it works(we commute 65 miles a day one way to work)
 
Didn’t I read somewhere that it takes several hours to fill up due to the high pressure requirements?
 
merkurmadness said:
I think it has great merits, one concern road tax and if you don't pay and get caught how much is the fine? my brother just picked up a complete dual fuel propane syst. off of a taxi (4.6 sohc) for 35.00 at las vegas pick-a-part. he plans to install it on his mark.I'm waiting to see how well it works(we commute 65 miles a day one way to work)
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as of now its road tax is waived in UT and if you buy a $10K EPA certified kit you get a $3000 credit
 
LeoC2 said:
Didn’t I read somewhere that it takes several hours to fill up due to the high pressure requirements?
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this is true for liqud NG but this is only compressed NG so its fill times are much less since you dont have to cryo the gas into liquid

it also requires a heavier build tank to go to liquid
 
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