Dual Fuel Systems. Running Petrol and Gas. How LPG conversion Kit is Fitted on Australian Ford Falcon Car

It was way back in the 70's when I had my first Dual Fuel car. LPG is a much cleaner burning fuel than petrol as we call it here in Australia or Gas as it's called in other places!

Around that time I could see that the cost of petrol and diesel was about to soar forcing vehicle running costs up and the then relatively new technology of Dual Fuel was emerging. There was only a few cars on the road with dual fuel.

The then Natural Gas supplier called "Gas and Fuel Corporation" was experimenting with Dual fuel. Initially it was to be CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and Diesel. but later they switched over to CNG and Petrol as the Dual Fuels of choice. However I could see that the Petrol Companies would not be at all happy with CNG but LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)would be much more profitable for them.

With this in mind I went to the expense of converting my 6 cylinder Falcon to Dual Fuel (Petrol + LPG). This was done using a LPG Gas conversion kit.

Since that day I have always had at least one vehicle running on the Dual Fuel System.

If you bear with me I will try to explain why and you may decide to do the same!

If you are anything like me I get brain numbing and my eyes glaze over with all the numbers and chemical equations being thrown around these days! So I will only give you my own experience that has covered a span of about 35-40 years most of these I may add working in the Automotive Industry ,selling, installing and repairing Automotive Service Equipment.

One part of my job was to calibrate and repair the "Dynomometer" on which the Gas and Fuel tested their prototype buses and vehicles!

I will list the 3 main reasons that I switched to Dual Fuel:

• Rising fuel costs.
• Shortage of petrol.
• Environment.

Rising Fuel Cost:

With the cost of petrol being what it is today and going up nearly on a daily basis ( in Australia today it is selling at about $1.21/ litre . I can buy LPG today at the local Service Station for $0.52 / litre. A copy of the receipt is in the diagram.

Using my own 6 cylinder Ford Falcon as an example, I have calculated from the purchases of fuel that the fuel consumption is close to 17 litres/ 100km (oddly enough is 17miles/gallon +/-)

Now if we calculate the cost of fuel using the average annual distance traveled in the United States of America.

The latest figure I could find is in 1993 the average was 17862 km ( 11,000 miles approx).

My guess is that the figure of 11000 miles is very conservation but I will base my calculations on the figures and you can calculate the savings based on the figures for your own vehicle type and distance traveled.

Table figures:

If you study the figures on the table below, you will see that there is a saving of over $2000 by using LPG against Petrol. Even allowing for a bit of give and take this is a very nice saving. One which I am benefiting from right now and have been since the 70's.

This reason should be pretty well self explanatory!

I would think that every one would know and understand that our petrol supplies are dwindling at an alarming rate!

When my first car was converted to Dual Fuel the petrol here in Australia was actually being rationed and we could only get $20 worth of petrol every other day.

Fortunately these days are gone but who knows in the future it could happen again. It is my honest opinion that any sovereign country should not have to rely on imported fuel for survival.

I have written another hub on my version of "The Pickins Plan". A plan devised to remove Americas reliance of imported oil. The plan has many detractors but I believe that this style of plan should be the base of all major countries to stop their dependence of Foreign Oil. I have written a summary of the plan down further in this article.

Environmental Issues:

Each day I believe that we are all becoming more aware of the environment.

Whether you think that global warming is a real issue or not, knowing that our cities are being choked by fumes from vehicles should be a matter of major concern!

It has been proved that LPG is about 80% cleaner burning fuel than petrol and diesel.

Used in a vehicle that has been properly designed or modified for it's use, LPG is much kinder to your motor.

When my mechanic changes the oil in my car he is amazed just how clean the old oil is after he has removed it from the engine.

Appearance of the Vehicle after having a Dual Fuel Conversion

After a vehicle has been modified to run on a Dual Fuel system there is very little alteration to the appearance of the car the main points being:

• You will notice inside on the dashboard an extra button. When the light is 'on' in the button it indicates that the car is running on LPG. When the light is 'off' the vehicle is running on Petrol.
• Another thing you will notice is when you fill up with LPG or Petrol. There is no mistaking which is which. The petrol tank is a hole that accepts the nozzle of the petrol pump.
• The LPG fill is a screw on fitting similar to a very large screw on jar cap.
• In Australia it is law that we indicate that a vehicle has LPG fitted and this is done by the use of a small red diamond sticker with LPG in the center.
• This diamond is placed in the middle of both front and rear number plates.
• The other big difference in most sedan cars is the loss of space in the boot where the gas tank is placed. If it is fitted as mine is in the boot you cannot lay the rear seats down and it does reduce the amount of available space in the boot. However this is a penalty I am prepared to endure for the benefits gained by have the car run on LPG.

You will get a fair idea on how these look if you study the diagrams . If you click on each diagram you will get a larger image showing each point.

The following figures should give you an understanding why we need to do something about limiting the amount of petroleum products we are consuming at an ever increasing rate.

According to OICA at the end of 2009 there had been over 60 million vehicles manufactured around the world! And that is just one year!!!! Here are just some of the numbers:

• China 13+ million ( now highest manufacturer of vehicles)
• Germany 5+ million
• Japan 7+ million
• USA 5+ million

That is just the vehicles that were manufactured in one year . How many vehicles would actually be driving around on the road.

The Pickens Plan.

During my research for this Hub I rediscovered a man who I happened to hear about during the last presidential election campaign in America . This man's name is T.Boone Perkins and he has developed a plan that some would call visionary.

As I see it his main point is to make America self sufficient in supplying all of it's own fuel needs!

There are several different paths to the Pickens Plan:

One of these paths is the use of Natural Gases including LPG to remove the dependence of America (in my case read the world) on the use of imported oil (in my case just read "oil").

This would entail the conversion of millions of ICE powered vehicles that are causing the problem already !

There are more details about this on my Hub:

The Pickens Plan

Quoting President Obama:

"And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East." — President Barack Obama

Ford Australia

To give you an indication of the advances made here in Australia. Ford Motor's subsidiary Ford Australia has for a number of years been manufacturing a Ford Falcon E-Gas model.

This Ford Falcon E-Gas model has a dedicated LPG engine which is a 6 cylinder engine, 4.0 litre delivering a claimed 156 kW and runs solely on LPG. This model is available as a Sedan, wagon and utility workhorse. The vehicle is built to the very strict Euro lll emissions guidelines.

Ford America

Early this year Ford told some top fleet purchasers that it will be introducing a propane (LPG, or Liquefied Petroleum Gas) engine package for its 6.8-liter F-450 and F-550 Super Duty chassis cabs in the near future!

Peter's Program

You may have read about the Pickens Plan, well I have one of my own it's
"Peter's Program" and based on how I was able to afford my first Dual Fuel LPG - Petrol conversion.

It would require the implementing by top Government but I am convinced with some tweaking on things that I know nothing about it would work.

So in easy steps here is Peter's Program:

• Any oil company prepared to enter the Program will receive a rebate on duties
• On entering the program the company pays for the LPG dual fuel conversion on any vehicle capable of being modified. (engine evaluated for wear, age compatibility etc.)
• the Owner of the vehicle then enters a contract and agrees to pay a certain amount per month levy on the gas usage of the vehicle every time the car is filled with gas.
• This amount would be no more than what the owner would pay running on petrol.
  
• (if an agreed amount is not reached the owner tops up the payment every month. (This should be easily controlled by the use of a Plastic card. (Similar to an award scheme we have in Australia)
• Depending on the distance traveled and the amount of LPG consumed the conversion could be paid for in a span of 12 -24 months.
• This is a win - win for all. The Owner gets a Dual Fuel - LPG Petrol conversion for virtually nothing (they would have been paying out for the cost of petrol) and the Fuel Company is getting customer loyalty.