I was wondering if it is possible to convert my 86 f350 460 4bbl gasoline engine over to natural gas. I put $20 in to to go to work and then another $20 to get home. I've seen a f450 unsure of year older I believe with natural gas actually if I remember right it could run on either or, not sure though was young. Also would I lose power? I am sure their are disadvantages to this, if so what are they. Oh yes almost forgot most of milage will be city and hwy spread about evenly. Also if all this is possible is there somewhere i can get used parts?

 

If $40 per round trip for work is too much, natural gas won't make things drastically better. It's not like you will get TDI VW new Beetle fuel mileage from this swap over.

Smaller vehicle and smaller engine are the only real cure.

 

yes but natural gas is cheaper

 

A 460 will always be GAS thirsty, be it gasoline or LPG.

In any case, googling for "LPG, conversion" will get you some good hits. Here is one:
http://www.wps.com/LPG/LPG-book-final.html

 

CNG, not LPG, currently costs about half the price of gasoline in the Los Angeles market. You loose about twenty percent on power. The problem is that the high pressure parts are very expensive. CNG is dispensed at 3200-3600psi. If your truck is EFI, you MAY be able to find a junked Crown Victoria CNG police car or taxi and get the necessary parts, then reprogram the system. Even so, as was posted above, a 460 is still way too thirsty.

Jim

 

Well, US auto makers didn't seem to be very enhusiastic about CNG cars, though this news probably predates the current hike in gasoline prices:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2004..._but_no_t.html

 

Honda still builds CNG Civics. Mostly, it is large transit busses that are going CNG. Natural gas is inherently cleaner than LPG or alcohols, because there is more hydrogen and less carbon in the molecules. Pure hydrogen is difficult to manufacture and I cant believe it will be widely available for decades. Natural gas is already piped to almost all US cities.

Unfortunately, liquid fuels are simply more practical for cars because of density. The Honda Civic CNG tank takes up almost the whole trunk space and only holds the equivalent energy (at 3600psi) of about seven gallons of gasoline.

Jim

 

I wouldn't be so sure about alchohols because not only they (CH3OH, C2H5OH) contain some oxygen, they have only one or two carbon in them. But since they are liquids, they may not get vaporized and burned as well as gases.

I don't think manufacturing would be an issue; but the engineering needed to make everyrthing work. However, hydrogen may also be used in a fuel cell that may be more efficient than an internal combustion engine.

That certainly not very practical.

 

Maybe that is the key. If they can make a fuel like high pressure CNG work in it's gaseous state, there's no reason they can't develop a system to vaporize a liquid and utilize it in it's gaseous state.

My EFI 460 is dual, LPG and Gas; it is a lot cheaper to run on LPG than gas, especially now, since gas has gone up 20 cents a liter and LPG has only gone up a couple cents a liter... since I drove it last anyway; I haven't driven it for about a year and a half though.

 

I have two bifuel Gasoline/Natural Gas Vehicles and a NuFuel home compressor. When it works it's great, but there are a lot of problems. You have to be a real trouble shooter. No one wants to help you from the compressor company or the gas company or the vehicle dealers. There are very few people who fully understand the systems. So most want to replace major parts when you have a problem.

I have a Tahoe and a F-150. Both run well on gasoline, both run not so well on CNG. I have had regulator problems, water in the fuel problems, parts are so over priced. The compressor gives problems as well. Both vehicles are causing problems at the present time.

Bill C.