Re: [Amc-list] Lite Weight Alum. Conformable LPG Fuel Tanks

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

Mileage is the only drawback to alternative fuels that will burn in a standard auto engine, be it LPG, CNG, or Ethanol (meaning primarily E85). It takes more to equal the amount of power available in a gallon of gasoline. E85 is the easiest to use, especially since you can go out and buy a car equipped to run it (flex-fuel) and it doesn't matter what the exact blend of E85 to straight gasoline is (the computer adjusts for it in a flex-fuel vehicle). But even when E85 is $2.65 and gasoline $3.00 per gallon, it costs more to go the same number of miles with E-85. There's a 20-25% loss in mileage.

Now you could overcome this and build an engine to run specifically with one of the alternative fuels. Costs wouldn't be much more than a standard rebuild, and the vehicle should be cheaper to operate in the long run than on gasoline. All of those fuels will tolerate substantially higher compression ratios than gasoline engines -- that's the main alteration necessary, a higher compression ratio. The downside is you'd lose the ability to run straight gasoline. Building a specific vehicle would be okay for a commuter car provided the chosen fuel is readily available in the area, but would limit long distance travel. Of course you could always build a trailer with a large tank on it! I can see Tom driving along with a 200 gallon LPG tank in tow now...   A direct fuel line would probably be illegal, but you could always stop to transfer fuel.  

-------------------
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:25:09 -0800
From: Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>

> > CT228-6-641 -- 19 gallons usable = US$371.78
> >
> > CT305-7-641 -- 29 gallons usable = US$461.52
>   

Wow -- those are good prices! I paid $600 for a 34 gal. (28 usable) tank 
from Manchester Tank. Big fat cylindrical truck type "drop tank".

Believe me, you want the biggest huge-ass tank you can possibly fit in the 
car. If your car gets 16mpg gasoline, perfectly well-tuned it will get 
about 13.6mpg on propane. Since there isn't exactly a propane filling 
station on every corner you want the hugest range you can possibly get.

The "usable" business is the gas space required for liquid expansion with 
temperature. 20%.

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)

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