Natural gas B-series ?'s

[CharlieZ]

^^^ ...and as soon as the taxing authorities can figure it out, plug in cars are doomed!
Well, not doomed but somehow motor fuel tax WILL be paid and collected.

[FB71]

^^^ ...and as soon as the taxing authorities can figure it out, plug in cars are doomed!
Well, not doomed but somehow motor fuel tax WILL be paid and collected.

already thought of...

I was able to closely follow the Electric Ranger project back in '99-'00 from within Ford. Special charging stations were required to recharge the vehicle in a short period of time (85% in 10min). A 110v conventional plug-in recharge option was proposed, but this was objected to by both the federal highway commission and and several power companies. The solution was to still require the specialized charging station (with it's own kW/hr meter), but offer the vehicle operator the option of fast charge or slow charge. Fast charge, especially during peak hours, would carry a financial premium, with the prefered option to be slow charge, off-peak. The feds were willing to offer incentives for off-peak charging. Unfortunately, with the battery technology of the day, the truck only had a 400lb payload capacity, and a realistic range of 40-50 miles. On the other hand, it would walk away from a stock Mustang GT up to 50mph, and lay one hell of a rubber patch! Ford did lease several of them to large companies with closed-plant operations, the US Postal Service in Dearborn, MI, and their own internal operations. I had the opportunity to live with one for several days, on a few separate trips to Ford World HQ.

[FB71]

oh, and as for plug-ins that will soon be offered... I've been told that part of the purchase price is tax specifically intended to offset the loss of motorfuel tax. So basically, you're paying your tax upfront.

[FB71]

Has anyone given consideration to RPG?

where I'm from RPG means Rocket Propelled Grenade!!!!

[REDNECK1]

as i would like to add to this, but sensably, I myself have looked into a ng set-up. To my amusment i took a drive by atco( the largest ng dealer in the province), I went in and asked how many THEY run on NG?...........the answer a couple, and they never leave town, because they are not too reliable( this according to the guy's in the shops, mech stick together, they give me the run down). This tells me that the people who sell the ng won't use it, and they have a bottom less buget.......why would I??

my 2 bit's.......from simple obeservation in my community.

[Mike McKown]

already thought of...

I was able to closely follow the Electric Ranger project back in '99-'00 from within Ford.

I was somewhat involved with that program at the New Product Develoment Center (Dearborn) during the initial pre-production prototype build. I never got to drive one of those things but I was told they were QUICK!

Do you know if all were returned to Ford after in-service, or what happened to them?

[FB71]

sold to leasees for $1, but no continued product support.

[ohsoslow]

just an fyi the btu rate on propane is less than gasoline there for there is a loss in power (approx 10%) converting a carbed vehicle to propane can easily be done in the $500 range. at work we run a small fleet of lp powered forklifts (mainly nissans) more than half of these were gasoline powered forklifts converted to propane by me (gas job forklifts in large #'s cannot be used indoors so there very cheep to buy)
but the thing i think you would find most intresting is that the truck we use to transport the forklift propane tanks is a carbed ford ranger converted to run propane by......ME!!! so if you wanna run propane on your festy let me know. also propane is becoming very popular elsewhere. dixie chopper just released a propane powered mower. the hype is retarted propane is a very cheep and easy conversion for anything with a carb. i however have no experience with this on FI

[Tim]

A friend of mine who lived in the Phillipines did a LPG conversion to his Kia Pride. It had the B1 engine, and he had pretty good luck with the setup. Apparently there is a kit for the Pride that lets you convert to LPG.

-Tim

[FB71]

really? Could your friend get me additional info?

[turqfest]

Came across this post tonight, just thought I'd add some factual information for anyone who's interested.
BTU's per cubic foot of commercial natural gases:
-ch4 - Natural Gas (Methane)
1000 btu's per cubic foot
relative density .55 (air=1)

-c3h8 - propane
2520 btu's per cubic foot
relative density 1.52

-c4h10- butane
3260 btu's per cubic foot
relative density 2

Just thought I'd share what I've been studying for the last 8 weeks. Got my test marks back today for my Gasfitting License . I passed

[HHOFestiva]

LP conversion info

I am looking for some thoughts on natural gas coversions of FI b-series engines.

There is a shop in Penticton Canada that I do HHO work with, that has done those conversions for over twenty years and he really knows his stuff. I will dig his # out tomorrow at the shop and get it to you. :{)
HAFCtechnology.com
Parksideapts@verizon.net

[Tim]

really? Could your friend get me additional info?

I'll get back to you on it.


-Tim

[Pu241]

CNG is methane, yes the same stuff that makes your fart smell so bad, and most livestock farms extract it from the, erm, "leavings" of the stock and then use it to power the farm and also sell it.

Clairification
Natural Gas/Compressed NG is 88% methane.
It is orderless.
In flatulence, what you smell are gaseous sulfur compounds generated by the metabolizing of other sulfur containing organics.
In NG/CNG "ordorants" are added to them as a safety measure so that leaks can be detected.
Maybe in CA "most" farms "extract it", but in the rest of the nation the "leavings" are spread on the fields for fertilizer.
"Extracted" is a misnomer, as the "leaving" are anaerobically digested to convert organics to methane, as the methane isn't present, as such, in the "leavings" directly.

[FB71]

^^^ Dead on, John. The "odorant" typically used to make NG/CNG detectible by smell is Mercaptan.

http://www.odor-tech.com/odorizers.html?gclid=CPO95sCMyJcCFQtZHgodPE1zSw