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Originally Posted by Big Dave
One can again get a PHILL home gas compressor for about $4,700.
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No CNG stations anywhere near you ?
$ 4700 would buy a lot of gas.
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I drive a good deal more than the average Joe - about 30,000 miles a year.
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That's what makes it viable.
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I can get the LS engine converted to CNG for about $9,000 installed.
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That's steep.
A 4 in line conversion will run about 3000 - 3500 EUR locally.
(USD and EUR are worth about as much )
More cylinders means more injectors though, and you'll also need bigger tanks, but still ...
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CNG is much cleaner burning so maintenance is greatly reduced.
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Power is often down by about 10% as well, unless it's restored by tuning the mixture, and power delivery is more gradual - hence CNG vehicles will feel more
sluggish - so the tranny might cope better with the lower power
Less power means you're further up the load curve, which should be OK for MPG with steady driving - but not in the conditions where you need lots of power.
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At this stage I'm thinking a bi-fuel conversion. If CNG gets more commonly available (for trips) I'll go fully CNG.
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The normal practice with conversions is that the regular fuel tank stays in place, so you always have an expensive back-up.
OEM car conversions usually sacrifice most of the regular fuel tank to mount the tanks - which also changes their official status to CNG car in the EU
- on a light truck you'll probably have plenty of space to put the tanks.