Trinituner People: My CNG Experience

TrinbagoMan · Street 2NR Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Tech posts: 66 My 2NRide:

The cost for kit (including installation) is 9, 500 at ACL. Its the Landi Renzo kit from Italy.

I am not that impressed by ACL as i find that they can offer more options regarding kits. There are some improved kits that are available on the market that allows for sequential injection and increased performance and economy and those are not available locally as yet.

Quicksilver · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:34 am Post subject:

^^^ agreed as far as the improved kit goes, but I dont think it will be wise for them to offer multiple kits simultaneously... unless they are going to have specially trained technicians for the different kits, because they still need to master the Landi Renzo..., and as much as I enjoy the benifits and performance of the system, at that initial cost I personally would not install the kit... thats why I bought a vehicle already equipt with it, and loving it every day Very Happy

TrinbagoMan · Street 2NR Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Tech posts: 66 My 2NRide:

Yes, mine came already converted also.

A partner tell me sometimes he does spend $80 dollars a day in gas. That is around how much i does spend a month.

I expect that the CNG kits will come cheaper soon.

Availability of the CNG will become better as they equiping more stations to handle the CNG.

TrinbagoMan · Street 2NR Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Tech posts: 66 My 2NRide:

CNG users, tell me something.

When filling up, how do you know when you should stop.

The machine does shut off automatically at some points, but then it resume, and then cut off again

Is it unsafe to 'overfill' the tank?????

I usually fill up at the Beetham station which gives a % number of how filled the tank is. I usually stop it at 87% ($18 ), but the times that i have gone past that, i get a 'help' sign beeping on the meter as if there is some problem.

wagonrunner · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 4:15 pm Post subject:

TrinbagoMan,
it works via pressure.
when the pressure at the pump regulator equals the pressure in your tank. it's considered full.
i don't think it's possible for your system to exceed the pumps pressure.
back then a typical full (70l tank), was around $15, with a high / good pressure being just over $17.00, and a low pressure full being anywhere from $11-13.

i used to ask the person at the pump what size tank they have, watch how much $$$ it cost to full, and get an idea of the full i'd be getting.

mind you this was back in the earlier days of CNG, with plenty teething problems.

tr1ad · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:53 am Post subject:

but how much people are actually using CNG

TrinbagoMan · Street 2NR Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Tech posts: 66 My 2NRide:

Anyone have an experience with CNG V6 car? I thinking of converting a v6 to CNG.

Quicksilver · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:59 pm Post subject:

yup.. my CNG Cefiro is a V6, and it runs sweet... with a bigger engine power loss should be less noticeable..

TrinbagoMan · Street 2NR Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Tech posts: 66 My 2NRide:

Sounds good.

How is the CNG efficiency with the Cefiro.? Approx how many miles u get on a full tank?

Quicksilver · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:09 pm Post subject:

^^^^ I havent checked consumption in a while, but if I remember correctly I was getting around 170km from full to empty.... I have 2 45L tanks. My A/C never comes off tho.

Its definitely more economical than diesel....without the noise, smell, vibration and pollution, plus its a helluva lot faster.

A couple weeks ago we made a run from Arima to Guyaguare with the Cefiro and a Diesel Spacewagon.... It was basically a round trip with a couple offroute runs and stops inbetween.... That run costed $13 CNG and $20 Diesel.... The Diesel vehicle used A/C for about 25% of the run, while like I said the A/C never came off in the Cefiro... nor did I bother to switch off the cefiro @ the stops.

TrinbagoMan · Street 2NR Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Tech posts: 66 My 2NRide:

nice,

When you get a chance post some pics of your trunk nah. I wanna see what it looks like. i will do the same soon too.

trinilife · Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:30 pm Post subject:

Fellars I have been a cng user for 15 years,At automotive components to install a new kit can cost up to ten thousand dollars,now it can vary depending on the type of car you own,now I am no expert so i am just telling you guys about how cng works for me,and what little i have heard .Firstly cng is safer than gas,when it comes to an accident because of the fact that the tank is thick enough to withstand a bullet,and yes the thank is heavy,depending on the size of thank you use,there are thanks of different sizes,eg.... it starts at 36liters53 56 65 70 and goes up to 100 liters as far as I know .Now about the weight the tanks can be as heavy as 150 lbs for the big thank filled,empty might be about ten pounds lighter [this is not fact just average] this is for the steel tanks.Now there are fibreglass tanks which are very light and strong also because they are combined with a special type of lightweight metal ,these vary in sizes also,and they are much more expensive. The disadvantage of these thanks is that the expire faster than the steel tanks, average lifespan 10 to 15 years.Yes you loose some power but under normal driving conditions you wont have a clue that the vehicle is working on cng.The other thing, people who donot understand cng simply badtalk it.If you dont know about it then it cant be good.Remember when fuelinjection cars now came into this country?.Now very few people want a carb vehicle.Now i really dont care for much trunk space so i installed two tanks in my car ,a 101 corolla ,its a 70 and a 36 litre,since a 100 litre will be two big for my trunk.I live in san juan and these two tanks take about on average 23 to 26 dollars to fill depending on the amount of pressure at the gas station pump. With this gas i leave home go to manzan,through rio,and come through princess town down the highway and back home with ac and then will have to refill.That people is almost 289kilos,for that price,steal of a deal for me.Now if you speed your gas milage drops,to around 235kilos.Iam talking of speeds above 110kms.Without ac I can get almost 310 kms. My engine is a 4afe so its just under 1600 hp and i have extractors.About the restriction of air ,yes you have to do it to get the correct air to gas mixture.And guys there is an air flow restrictor that opens when you flick to gas it reopens the airway to get yournormal air flow.And close when you switch to cng.Its like a butterflyshaft in your air intake hose,to bad for the inventors,hahahh,but it was a good idea,.Now i have heard that cng can be used on turbo charged cars but you have to buy special unit to manipulate the operation,i just cant remember the name of the part now.Oh and bythe way i have a pickup with a vvl engine and i run cng,under normal driving i run as fast as some small engine cars that run on gas.Whenever they give me trouble i flick to gas and go my way.So i wil advise to go with cng if you want to save money, if you on speed dont waste your time.Oh, and yes cng does work better on stick shift vehicles,simply because you can run your gears longer. IF ther are any errors ,excuse me since i had a very hard day at work and i am very tired.Hope this helps.One more thing the guy whose car blewup at chag main rd,the idiot welded two half tanks together,these thanks are moulded.

Quicksilver · Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:22 pm Post subject:

Some good info there man...

Sanctifier · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:05 am Post subject:

triniringo · Ricer Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Tech posts: 18 My 2NRide:

just called ACL ,price drop to $8260.87 .I remember the price was $9500.00 when i called in nov'08.
In the 2009 budget gov't indicated it would remove the duties and vat from these cng kits,however this drop in price is represents a decrease of approx 14%.

In 2010 budget the gov't also indicated its intention to further subsidised the cost of this kit..still waiting ....