well the time is approaching when something is going to have to be done wiht our gas guzzleing beasts. I dont think ill be able to pass emissions peiod in a fiew years even with a new engine. gas is so high and its also not going to go back down..

so any alternative fuel ideas out there? better yet... any one changed thier fuel method with any success?

 

this has been discussed in the Engine Swap forum I believe, but you could switch it over to a diesel, but it would seriously silly. You could switch it to a hybrid of gas/electric car, but then you'd be defeating the point of a sports car.... not to mention all the custom work that no one has ever done before to a car like ours (wiring nightmare).

Of course you could run your car off of nitrous all the time too :-P

Your best bet if you were very serious is an 80's diesel (when they used them in cars still :-P) from like an Oldsmobile (i think, cant remember which make it was) they have a bad rep but fixed most their flaws with breaking down all the time at the ending years before they cancelled the diesels in cars.

 

Run off of carrot juice. I hear there are plenty of carrots out there.

Oh, and Sellman, nitrous isn't a fuel replacement, it is merely a way of adding more air. More air require more fuel. More fuel makes more power. So you still need fuel.

 

Alcohol.

They've been burning 85% alcohol, 15% gasoline in South America for years.

Has some issues. Ethanol is easier on rubber parts than methanol. Water absortion is always a problem. Takes more volume of alcohol than gasoline to produce the same power. Typically need more compression to maintain power level.

 

What about propane or natural gas?

I know for a while (94-95 at least when I used to sell) GM made propane trucks. IIRC, they could be run off either propane or gasoline, but that was a few years ago so my memory my be fuzzy.

 

What is the cost differnce between alcholol and gas? did you need to change any parts to do that? sounds like a neat alternative.
I thought about going natual gas but there are fiew places to refuel it.
IM not to worried about the sports car side of it. i drive my old beater back and forth between school. and in a fiew years i dont think california is gonna be able to pass these third generation gas guzzlers.

 

There is a company that makes a unit which hooks up to your gas line at home, "filters" it (or something like that), and you hook it up to your car to fill it. It's probably expensive as hell.

There are a lot of other costs involved also. For one, to make any decent power,the compression ratio has to be up around 13:1 or more.

The other thing is the tank. It has to be rather large and is pretty damn heavy. I'm assuming the same hold true for propane. :shrug:

That seems to be the problem with using alternative methods of energy to move a vehicle, be it elec., propane, natural gas, alcohol, etc. The up front cost takes a couple of years to break even from the savings in fuel, compared to gasoline.

 

LPG (propane) would prolly be the most practical.. I know in the 70s or 80s Dodge made LPG powered trucks and vans. LPG is a VERY clean fuel too.

 

CNG is the answer. It has a great amount energy, much more then propane. You can also run a much higher compression ratio, because its octane rating is higher.

My plan is to eventually convert my 78 F150 300-I6 over to CNG with a turbo. This way it will increase the dynamic compression ratio and make lots o-power.

 

Natural gas and LPG aren't much better with regard to long-term supply as gasoline.

Natural gas has to be pressurized (compressed) in the vehicle storage tank, it's the compressor that needs to be installed in your garage.

Two issues with CNG are: 1) Safety concerns (Joe Average Citizen and a leaking CNG pump in the garage is not a pretty picture); and 2) collecting road taxes.

 

Whats this CNG?

Also am I the only one who have heard of running used peanut/vegetable based oils? I've heard of this from a couple different places so I don't think its an urban legend... I think you have to convert a deisel motor over to run it, so it wouldnt' be easy but it would be nice getting free fuel from mcdonalds

 

my shop teacher was talking about that actually. He said that they used to add vegetable oil to their diesel (as an additive) and it made them run cleaner. I dont think it had any performance additives... I know that you can use like propane in a diesel like we use nitrous in our gassers.

 

You can fun a diesel on just about anything flammable. In fact you could run a diesel on its own crankcase oil. There are also biodiesels that run on vegetable oils, olive oil, fry grease.....

 

I don't know what you mean by collecting road taxes? Are you talking about gas guzzler tax?

Anyway... I thought the pump also had some process to also remove the "smell" from the natural gas that the suppliers put into it.

Maybe not. :shrug:

 

I heard about this engine that was invented in the '80s, I dunno if its true or not, but it was really cool. It was called the Super 9 or something, because it ran on 9 different fuels... gasoline, diesel fuel, vegetable oil, and a bunch of others. Basically anything you could put in the fuel tank would run the engine.

I wonder if thats true, or if it was just a myth?

 

i don't know about anything done in the 80s, but Chrysler played around with turbines for a good number of years, pretty much if it would burn, it would run in the engine,... the president of Mexico drove 1 for a day or so & filled it with tequila. they ran 1 that i know of off of perfume.
Elvis even drove 1 in one of his movies. just think of the looks you could get when you drive by & it sounds like a leer jet.
they were ugly cars,
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/turbine.html

a little past half way down is some pictures some of the turbine engines they used.
i think some engineering person could fit 1 into a thirdgen.
a few stats from that site, horse is a bit low, but nice torque.
130 horsepower at 3,600 rpm (output shaft speed);
425 lb-ft of torque at zero rpm
Fuel requirements: what've you got? diesel, unleaded gas, kerosene, JP-4, others. No adjustments needed to switch from one to the other.
Maximum gas generator speed: 44,600 rpm

 

Propane is an excellent alternative, if you have a sufficient number of outlets selling it for cars. Lot os them here in Canada.

Natural gas is problematic because the tanks are fairly large.

Propane tanks aren't as cumbersome at all.

 

How much does propane cost?
The last time I looked, the cost benefit of converting to
propane, was small.