If you were given the opportunity to convert your truck to CNG, would you do it, why or why not? Obviously keeping my current tank, and just adding the secondary.
Putting aside the cost of the installation, and all that is required. (lets just go ahead and say that might already be covered) - what would be your decision?
would this have any long term effects on my truck?
If you have a place to get forklift tanks filled nearby, why not? The problem is the ECU. CNG has an entirely different stoichiometric ratio than gas, so how do you plan on getting around that? Maybe you could tune it with a maf cal, but I dunno. I like CNG, it's cheap and has a high octane rating, it just sucks finding a place to fill up on road trips and your range is so limited with forklift tanks it's better suited for local commuting. gotpropane.com has some sweet systems for older carburetor yota's and I'm in the market for an 85 4runner I plan on converting when I get to Cali. I hope I can find one, those things are getting rare though. When I was stationed in Korea all the taxi's ran CNG, and I was impressed with the performance. I made the mistake of telling Adashi to bali bali once and I have never been so scared in my life. I didn't know hyundai's got it like that.
right, it's a hell of a lot cheaper here in Utah especially with gas prices on the rise, again. and obviously there are limited fill stations, but if I know where they are and since I do most of my driving within a county or two, I'm pretty much going to be ok.
What you're going to leave us hangin' on the details of the kit? Are you going to run a standalone ecu? Tweak this one to work? What kind of tank are you going to run? I think with the high compression ratio of the 4.0 it would run like a raped ape on cng/lpg. Didn't you total your truck a while back?
heh yah I wrecked it pretty good back in december - but it was just front end damage and ended up getting away a lot easier than it looked like I was going to from the beginning. I'm not too sure about the details of the kit - it was an idea I tossed around wtih some buddies a few months ago when one of them got an f-150 fleet truck for work and I thought it would be nice to have for work as well... the other day my dad called from california and was talking about cars and gas prices and said he had a client over just then who does CNG work and could get it all done for half the price it costs to do in Utah (average is around $6500 - which seems high). He asked if I thought it would be something worthwhile for how much I drive and of course I concurred. So in the meantime he's calling in some favors for people he's done tax work for in the past and trying to line it all up. Ideally I would like to remove my spare and somehow get the tank put under my truck - but if that isn't very possible I'm going to be glad I got the longbed. so it looks like sometime this summer it could happen.
I looked into it several years ago and am considering once again, if I can find a place in Utah to do the work. Through my previous research, I discovered this nifty item http://www.myphill.com/, you can service in your own garage while you sleep, pay your truck fuel bill monthly through the utilities company. From what I recall, CNG tax rate is lower as a utility, and no delivery/retail markup so the price per gal is even lower which helps the return on investment, still looking into this one. The web site indicates its available in Utah. Any ideas or recomendations who to talk to in Utah for a cng conversion?
I have a Phill home refueling unit and a 2000 Camry CNG and love them both. In UT fuel at the public CNG stations is so cheap home refueling actually costs more! In So Cal I pay $1.50 (NG and electricity) to fill up at home, it's great.
I've scratched my head about how you would run it in a taco. I came up with a great solution for you, sell it and buy a dedicated cng vehicle or at least one that's easier to convert. The problem is that so much is ran though our ecu's that a standalone fuel system ain't gonna cut the mustard. What would you do about VVT-I? How 'bout spark? It's not like a chevy small block where you can just drop an old points distributor in it and make the thing run on anything flammable, it's going to require tons of electrical knowledge and a lot of 1GR-FE specific knowledge. I don't mean to stomp on your puppy dude, and if you know something I don't chime in, but in my experience messing around with injecting hydrogen into this motor it is tougher to do than other more simple ICE's. You can't just pump CNG through the injectors and let the ECU do it's thing, it just won't work. Maybe I'll check out that forum and do some more research to make sure I'm not feeding you full of bullshit. Edit:OK, looks like I was right. http://www.cngchat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1971
Not many places that deal with CNG here in Utah will actually do conversions. They would rather sell you a dedicated CNG/Bi-fuel car. and Right now it is cheaper to just buy a CNG specific car than to try and convert. My buddy just picked up a CNG cavalier for $6000 with the $3000 tax credit, there is no way you can convert any vehicle for $3000. I would say just buy another vehicle that is CNG and leave the Taco to hauling and playing on the weekends. And CNG at a station just down the street from me is $.64 a gallon, hard to beat filling up for around $6!
There is actually a way to convert your vehicle over to CNG. I found a website - CNGOutfitters.com. I think the kit is around $1500. which comes with instructions and a DVD that shows you how to do it. If you can change your alternator or your spark plugs, you could probably install it yourself. They also can install it for you, and it wont cost a ridiculous amount of money. I've already ordered my kit, expecting it to come in next week (installing it myself). Looking forward to getting cheap and clean fuel!
If you werent able to install the CNG underneath your Tacoma would there be anyway to install the tank in the bed and fabricate a Tool Box to hide it to make it look cleaner and nicer? Just a thought...
Last edited by colvilletacoma; 06-21-2008 at 11:54 PM.
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2008 Toyota Tacoma
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