I know most of us like our motors running like champs and running on gasoline but I was just curious if any of you have converted over to CNG? Any problems, Pros/Cons? Hows the millage?
Pros: fuel can be cheaper, if you run out just switch back to gasoline, burns cleaner and fewer deposits. Cons: availabilty, another fuel tank and lines and more parts in the engine bay to break, troubleshoot, and fix. limited fuel capacity due to fitting an additional tank wherever it fits. up-front cost of the conversion, limited availability of fuel. If you can afford the up-front cost AND have a refuelling station nearby AND fuels cheaper there (which you'll have to do the math to convert miles per unit fuel and price per unit fuel into price per mile) it's not a bad idea.
I used to work with a guy who had a 60?gallon propane tank in the back of his chevy 1500..... When I asked him if he was running propane, he told me he never finished the conversion, because you get less mpg with cng. So I'm only assuming the price to mpg comparison isn't too far off when compared to gasoline?
My dads ford f150 work truck runs on propane. 80 gallon tank in the bed. 300 I6 and manual transmission. truck only gets maybe 1-2 mpgs worse than it did running on gas. propane has been nearly $1.00 gallon cheaper around here than gas until just recently..now its only about $.60 cheaper per gallon. Definitely burns cleaner. Most places that can actually fill (and not just exchange) a regular propane cylinder can fill your tank. Some places will charge you bottle price and not road fuel price. Bottle price is normally a little bit more. Reason why it is common amongst crawlers is because unlike gasoline carbs, no angle of inclination will cause sputtering/fuel cutting. Tanks are all cylinders so it can make a tank setup tricky if you really dont want one in your truck bed.
CNG and LPG are different. LPG is a dry fuel so you need to run an oiler in the intake tract or the valve guides will wear out and you'll start burning engine oil. It has a natural octane of at least 103 or so allowing much more ignition advance and raised compression numbers. You will lose power and mileage if you convert a gas engine to LPG due to a lower btu rating but if you build an engine around the fuel you will have a ripper on your hands for sure. CNG shares some properties with LPG but it's octane rating is much higher up in the high 120's. Again build your engine to run on it and you'll have something. Slap a conversion kit on there and be prepared to be disappointed.
Sounds interesting but I was just wondering if anyone has done it to theirs. 31 mpg is good enough for me in a little truck. Ha ha better than a car with a usable bed lol.
Probably because I mentioned it.... lol. Honestly I thought cng was a fancier way of saying "propane"
