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Old 06-28-2008, 01:03 AM   #1 (permalink)
jonr
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Michigan
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Partial natural gas converion

Natural gas burns clean and is inexpensive. There is a station that sells it locally. So I'd like to use it in my car. After much research, I find that doing a complete conversion is a big job. So I'm thinking of a partial conversion that would work like this:

I use a small engine (10HP range) carburetor modified for natural gas. Kits are readily available for this (regulator and jets).

I get a small NG tank (say a couple gallon equivalent) + high pressure regulator and mount it in the trunk.

I run a 1" tube from the car intake manifold to my new carburetor.

Somehow hook up the throttle linkage on the new carb.

The idea is that up to 10HP would be from NG. On acceleration, this isn't much, but in steady state cruise, it might be 50% of fuel usage.

Ideally, a NG conversion would include higher compression and spark advance. But perhaps by only using partial NG, this wouldn't be such an issue. The car is largely unmodified and easy to put back to normal. The existing engine computer and air fuel mixture tuning remains in place. I don't worry about running out of NG.

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