I know Deere sold CNG engines for buses and some other commercial veh's. Maybe you can check their website and see if they have anything useful for you to use? Just an idea.

 

Perhaps we are looking at it the wrong way. I found dozens of articles on conversion from gas to CNG. All said it was not challenging technically, so maybe figure out the steps to get to CNG and run it in reverse. The big interest has always been to convert to CNG, maybe no one has done the other direction?

 

Yeah Gasoline to CNG is everywhere. Very easy to see those articles. The other way around is sparse.

 

The reason that there's no info on the conversion back to gas is that it makes no sense economicly , to put it bluntly it is a waste of time , money and resources to consider the switch back . If you want a van with a gas engine a deisel engine or a cng engine buy the van with that engine in it .

 

There is a reason now.
Let's just say you got a van essentially for free in close to perfect shape?

Would you take it? Yes, you would.

And if there are problems with the tanks and CNG is a pain in the ***, you would think about converting it over to easy gasoline.

This post would be better suited to skip advice about not making sense, sell the van, buy another one etc...

If I want to get advice where to purchase a new van or asking a poll about the thoughts on buying a CNG van etc... I will certainly post that as a thread (don't hold your breath). Not to be cranky about this, but I'd prefer to stick to the original question.

 

there were conversions that allowed the use of gasoline and some still kept the gas option for emergency use. So there has to be commonality of parts and stuff. I was refueling my bus a year or so ago and a guy pulled in for cng. Spoke with him for a bit (cng fueling very slow) and he had that capability also. had a small gas tank however! May require install of a gas tank and fuel pump with a switch for crossover. My BIL used to have log truck that ran propane or gasoline and he had such a set up to switch over one to other. Read the install for the cng and see what they require, that will let ya know if any special pieces were required and go from there as recommended earlier.

 

Yes, I have seen "Bi Fuel" Ford 5.4L engine from the factory.
Interesting yes.
The little CNG pamphlet from Ford seems to hint at some of the differences.

 

seems like your idea of free is pretty expensive,

 

Here's another question - let's go off topic - why not?
If I posted "My computer crashed how do I get my data off of the crashed hard drive - it doesn't power up" will I get a reply " You should have backed up all your data?" That's a helpful answer, yes?

I think what would make far better sense is to buy a totaled Econoline van or one with a seized motor for example, and then gut the parts off it I need.
That's better for resources, and financials then dropping this one and buying a gasoline one at $2500
And after buying a Cali one without rust I'm not going to settle for a rotted out salt country one. I grew up just north of you, I know a thing or two about our horrible salt.

Should I spend time here detailing the superb maintenance on this van I have a full file folder for? The two owner van, always in Cali, never salt, vinyl wrapped exterior the 2nd day it was owned with now brand new looking factory paint, strong as hell motor, 10,000 new transmission etc etc... Should I go on why I think this is a great van? Does this matter? I also LIKE this van. I like it. I've taken an interest as they say in Barton Fink. It's already saved my *** from a bad situation.
It shouldn't be that hard to make it engineered back to gasoline. I like a challenge. I like wrenching on my vehicles.

 

I think the project makes total sense, but then I got a 27 year old, 120K Club Wagon from my pop, dumped $3K in it as a retirement project, then sold it for $2500. Your idea makes way more sense.

I did some surfing and found lots of F-150s being converted to CNG so following those guidelines in reverse should help a bunch. I also read the dual fuel setups and I did not find anything about switching over ECMs and such so other than fuel plumbing and fuel gauge issues, it should be doable to go back.

Browsing the junkyards for comparisons would be a start.

 

I am not saying dont do it. But realize you are swimming upstream and most people who swim upstream get tired and drown . There is a good chance that during this conversion you end up with a van that you dumped alot of time and money into that does not run right or not at all.

BEFORE you even start make sure its even legal in your state . I wish you the best of luck I have spent lots of time and money on projects that should have never been undertaken (I have learnt alot doing so ) just realize this might be one of them

 

Well, I thank you for the advice. You could be right.
I would very much like to at least make the attempt to convert it.
It seems to be in the realm of possible.

If I tried to sell the van I'd not do too well with expired tanks and a potential for $1600 in back fees to reappear for the new buyer (they would factor that into the price. If they did re-appear and did in fact apply to an in state buyer, even if I sold the van on for zero dollars it would cost them in essence $1600).
And I am an honest person and a seller of things. If I know (I do now) that the tanks were expired I would certainly inform any potential buyer of that fact.
So there are a few reasons why it would make some sense not to cut and run and give it a go.

And yes, there should be some ceiling I would cap for prices on needed parts. (That is partly why I posted this - to figure out what parts I'd need and to price them out or slowly start assembling them).

 

I noticed a couple of discussions on this very site but very little help:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-gasoline.html

One chatcng site did say that selling off the CNG parts from the conversion could pay for doing the conversion. If that is true, and no big problems happen then I think the conversion makes perfect sense.

CNG got it main boost from fleet operations where the business had its own filling stations and the vehicle use was local deliveries with lots of city driving. The fuel mileage numbers made sense for gas prices then.

One fact I picked up was that there is a separate computer for fuel management on some CNG systems so a complete new gas version wiring harness might be needed. Most of the info mentioned finding a gas powered donor vehicle for parts. This is easy if the vehicle is an F-150 pickup; much harder for an E van.

Which ever way it goes, good luck and takes lots of photos. You may well become THE source for others thinking of doing this. jim

 

Thanks. I might have read that very post where it did mention selling CNG parts off should pay for the gasoline ones. I guess the working compuvalve is the big ticket item.
My van also has 3 tanks in it, so there's more hardware to sell off too.

I started looking at parts, found several power train donor vans in my area pretty easily on Craigslist. I'm tempted to start buying stuff cheap, although I still am not sure what parts to chase, and sadly where the van is I have little to no storage space. So may wait a bit until I'm more certain.

 

What's the resistance to selling this CNG vehicle off pretty much as is, using the proceeds to buy something more suitable to your needs?

I've been reading this thread along with numerous others where owners contemplate changing fuel types; very, very few ever going forward given the nightmare it is.

I don't get the logic of this one bit.