Although none recently there have been several threads about converting to propane and others. Do a search of this forum using "propane" or "alternate fuel" or "conversion" in the search box. You'll probably find a lot to read.
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
Chances are, that if you have several vehicles, of the same exact year, type, engine, transmission, etc. that have ALREADY BEEN CONVERTED to various alternative fuels, the only ones that MIGHT be less expensive to operate than the gasoline version at $4./gallon would be the CNG and electric ones.
This would include propane, ethanol, methanol, kerosene, and distillate, in addition to the previously mentioned CNG, gasoline and electric models.
And I HAVE had experience with all of the above except CNG, methanol, and electric.
This comparison does NOT include the costs of conversion.
When considering alternate fuels, consider both the cost of energy content of the fuel per BTU, AND any local or state government regulations regarding the use of that fuel. Then consider the cost of the conversion.
A better avenue (my opinion) is to make your existing vehicle more efficient.
Jon.
Good carburetion is fuelish hot air The most expensive carburetor is the wrong one you attempt to modify. If you truly believe "one size fits all," try walking a mile in your spouse's shoes! The Carburetor Shop
yes..........i tie up my horse to the front and let him pull me
Butch - what do you do about the pollution? ☺ ☺ ☺
Jon
Good carburetion is fuelish hot air The most expensive carburetor is the wrong one you attempt to modify. If you truly believe "one size fits all," try walking a mile in your spouse's shoes! The Carburetor Shop
They are, they use off the shelf components. However, the battery pack is going to run you about 50 grand.
I have a friend who converted a dirt bike to electric and is working on a BMW. He has more extra money than me.
I've all but pulled the trigger on going alternate fuel on my truck. I'm already planning to hog out a couple of 3 bolt Holley carbs and convert them to throttle body injection and put them on my GMC 302 on top of a Howard log manifold. I plan to use Megasquirt as my fuel injection controller, and as long as I size the injectors right I can use E85 as well. However, I may take it a step further and do CNG injection. Bosch makes a CNG fuel injector that is also compatible with gasoline and alcohol. There is a local CNG refueling station, so if I can find a fuel tank for a reasonable price I'll do it. However, new CNG tanks run about $1500 right now. I don't think its worth it to do CNG with a modified propane carb, its pretty inefficient, but if you do it with fuel injection, set up the distributor right, and raise the compression you can get decent economy out of it.
However, I'm taking apart the truck to paint it right now and at the rate I work gas will be cheap again by the time I'm done.
Paint & Body Shop moderator A lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
I have been researching the run on water topic. Have you or anyone else out there have any hands on with this? I would love to hear about it if so - pros / cons is it even worth the effort to even convert the old truck.
I love it and want to drive it all the time!
When you find yourself the victim of someone's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities, remember it could be much worse - you could be them.
I ordered one yesterday. (Hydro4000) I should know within a couple of weeks if it's snake oil or not. If it works as advertised I'm going to become a distributor locally. I did the math & at $3.50 gas the payback would be 8 months on my F150. As gas goes up the payback gets shorter. I put it on my credit card so if it turns out to be snake oil I have an out. I'll post the results.
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
A kid down the street from me says he's been running his little four wheel drive Samurai on Hydrogen,but is having trouble generating enough fuel to run on. He just bought a bigger place about 30 miles from town with a big shop so he'll have more room to work on the set-up. I'll try to keep you all informed on his progress. If he makes a legitimate go of it,maybe I can get some info on the conversion,fuel supply,etc.So far I haven't actually SEEN him running the fuel,so I'm calling this a rumor until I have first hand verification. Speed BTW-where's the emoticons?
there are lots of videos on youtube about running on water. its a hydrogen generator. a buddy at work is buying a unit and i will let you know how if goes. his is just an addition to gas, not a replacement. gotta figure something out soon, or the rag heads will own us all. leonard
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
Since I'm old enough to remember the Jimmy Carter years, I've got lots of experience trying to squeeze more gas mileage out of vehicles. The trick back then was to disable half the cylinders of a V-8 to make it run on 4 cylinders. There were several methods, most of them involving removing intake valve pushrods and locking the lifters in place above the cam lobes to avoid losing oil pressure. Then the exhaust valves were removed entirely on the disabled cylinders.
I also did the "Mother Earth News" alcohol still thing. It's stinky, messy, ineffecient, and all the neighbors want you to run off a little for personal consumption. They even offer to push the car for you, if you'll just go into the moonshine business! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Have never personally tested THIS unit, but JC Whitney offered a less-sophisticated (and less expensive) model 35 years ago. A good friend purchased one, and we installed it on a highly modified Toyota.
The results: slightly more power - 0-60 time decreased by maybe a tenth of a second; slightly WORSE fuel economy (about 5 percent); but we were able to run the engine on 87 octane instead of 91 octane. The unit held less than a quart of water, and we had to refill the water container about 4 times per fillup of gasoline. Too much trouble for the questionable benefits, so after a few thousand miles, he removed it.
Sincerely hope your results are better, but I am from Missouri ☺ ☺ ☺
Jon.
Good carburetion is fuelish hot air The most expensive carburetor is the wrong one you attempt to modify. If you truly believe "one size fits all," try walking a mile in your spouse's shoes! The Carburetor Shop
Farm tractors in the 50's used these gadgets as well as big trucks. In fact JC whitney catalogs of the 50's listed so many gas saving gadgets, if a person would have bought them all and they would have done what they claimed, we would have had to stop and drain the excess gas out of the tank ever so often. The ethonol of the 70's was really something. It disolved the lead residue in storage tanks as well as vehicle fuel tanks and wound up in your fuel filter. You saved gas by walking when your car wouldn't run.
yeah no. electrolysis is not fast enough. you have to start with bottled hydrogen. it doesn't get an truer. and if you were thinking about using a hydrogen fuel cell hear this. hydrogen fuel cells are great but the materials used to make the membrane that separates the protons from the electrons by allowing the protons to pass through and forcing the electrons to flow through the circuit thus doing whatever work you want them to do so they can return/re-bond with the protons (turn on a light or run a motor.. etc) cost wayyy to much for the general public at this time.
Last edited by The 38 Special; 06/07/200811:44 AM.
The first question I have about the report on the Hydro 4000 is why did the news channels Dakota get only 9.4 miles to the gallon in the initial test???? And after 23.2 that Dakota should be doing close to that without the device, as far as the news media I have absolutely no faith in them telling the truth about anything any more. I really hope it works for you but I have big time doubts for one thing this wouldn’t be the story of one Podunk little news agency if it were true this would be huge news overnight even without the news media’s involvement and this guy would not be able to keep up with the business that he would have almost instantaneously. For those who wish to buy in to the conspiracy theory like I said an advacment like that would spread out of the control of anyone so I am going to have to say bahhhhh on this one.
It will be 50 years ago that I got my commercial drivers license and I have all kind of products with all kind of claims. They have one thing in common-Testimonials. Never results of an accredited lab such as Southwest Research in San Antonio. When I see lab results instead of testimonials I might consider trying a product.
