People ask from time to time about running their datsuns on fuels other than petrol.

I've been running my datsun on LPG for about 6 months now.

Things to think about :

1. You will have to replace the whole fuel system in most cases.
2. *getting the thing licensed can be a problem*
3. you might have to plan your life when going to new places
4. you may become the only person who can maintain the vehicle
5. you may have to have parts made from scratch to assemble things
6. usually the tanks are bigger than the petrol tank, probably holds less - so you probably won't dual fuel unless you have a ute, and the dual fuel systems get worse efficiency.

the short story is you'll be stripping the fuel tank, all the fuel lines, emissions parts you'll be amazed how empty the engine bay looks now.

in my setup I use a ga16de throttle body with an adaptor plate to make it fit up to the standard datsun intake manifold. why? I'm planning on turboing, so no need to make an expensive part to have to replace it later. I had to make a custom throttle cable.

short answer: is it worth it?
sort of... I get worse milage, and the power output is slightly less ( the power is different / and with higher compression - more power )
I spend $15 on fuel a week, i'd be spending closer to 20 for petrol, so I save a little money, long trips the milage is way better and it's pretty cheap to go on a 500 mile drive - about $42

If you live some places LPG is much more than $1 per gallon cheaper.

I save a little money, it cleans the air a bit, just as fun to drive.

Your oil will stay cleaner for longer too, thereby extending service intervals. Thats another cost benefit, but the greatest advantage is to people that do high mileages/ kilometerages as the cost of conversion is more quickly paid for by the savings.

LPG availability seems to be much better in my area that it is in the US if your descriptions are right.

I personally want to see if the sugarcane industry here in Aust. can get it's ring in gear & starts producing ethanol for automotive use.

A recent energy forum in Australia saw some blokes drive (an old Austin Healy I think) a few thousand k's on this sugarcane byproduct.

Minor changes to carby jets etc were the only alterations they made to the car.
I reckon with the right amount of research that a modern injected engine could be made to run on this stuff with a minimal power loss.

Also makes you think about what other viable options have been "purchased" by the oil companies in order to reduce competition??
Dr Carl Kruzlinski made an interesting point the other day when he said "oil companies aren't in the business of producing oil...... They're in the business of making money".

LPG is pretty easy to get in my area, but a day trip can be 400+ miles, so I like to know where my fuel will be coming from.

any fuel other than 'petrol' there are lots of other products that aren't in as high demand and are much cheaper. LPG for one, my car will run on any cryo fuel with some tweaking, so it's good as long as we burn things in engines i'm set.

here in the states, it's hard to tell if LPG and other fuels aren't used more is because there's no research money or is everyone afraid of high pressure spooky gas...

Everyone is crazy on used fryer oil, and biodiesel, which are ok, the used fryer oil thing is so silly, you're all seen that simpson's where homer gets an idea strikingly like that, and they discover fryer oil isn't public domain.

i'd like to see a natural gas turbine / electric suv if they're going to make big vehicles, wouldn't that make more sense.

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i think thats it!
people are affraid that natural gas is too dangerous to be used comercially...... i say go back to school hippy.
same as hydrogen: it just sounds dangerous doesnt it?! yet a tank of hydrogen is less explosive than a tank of petrol.

also the world is sooo affraid of nuclear energy its not funny.
all you have to do to get arrested these days is say "nuclear" in an airport.....

people are so scared, and i think its because people don't really understand.

i was watching something on a pay tv channel the other day that was a documentary on what would happen if america were to use hydrogen to fuel commercial vehicles and industries.
The princely sum of $4trillion US was being flung around as the "rough estimate" to change the american industries from diesel to hydrogen.

scary thing was they said "$4trillion isn't that much money"

people have a perceived safety thing with their petrol tanks. the metal is so thin you could put a steak knife through it. Many auto manufacturers have had problems with bolts making holes in petrol tanks. LPG tanks are very thick, and with the internal pressure it takes a lot to puncture. Properly engineered lpg systems are safer too.

it's been effective to convert from diesel to lpg since the higher compression is a benefit. I wish there was an A or L series diesel engine that would provide a big performance boost for me.

I'm going to get a a custom tank built to take up all the space the petrol tank took. I'm looking to get 20+ gallons that would give a decent range.

best thing about lpg - if you're lucky you can have a truck come and fill your car while you're at work.

going by the trailer this looks to be an interesting documentary:

Who killed the electric car?

and that comment about oil companies being into making money rather than oil... its the truest thing i've heard in a long time.

Electric Car?
Funny you should mention it. I made reference to a 1904 Detroit Electric car in a post a while back, then out of the blue, I get an E-mail from a fellow called Galen Handy just a few weeks back. It turns out that he is the owner of the remaining assets of the Detroit Electric company & he had been googling & found my post.

He had writen to advise that the first Detroit Electric was made in 1911, so I had been in error with my 1904 date.

Turns out that Henry Ford bought a total of three of them for his wife Clara & the company still has the last one in their museum.

The photo is of Thomas Edison with his 1911 example & it was sent to me by Mr Handy. I thought it was jolly nice of him.

The electric car is not dead, it's just become a hybrid car instead.

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Call me stupid but I dont see how you can say a tank of hydrogen is less explosive than a tank of petrol.
Having worked with cars and batteries, I know how explosive both petrol and hydrogen are.
Now I dont know how hydrogen is stored. Whether its stored as a gas or as a compressed gas becoming liquid like lpg. But I do know it is very explosive.
Now lets face it, if either hydrogen, lpg or petrol are stored correctly, there is little danger of explosions. But its the automotive part of the storage that is the bad part.
Cars crash allday everyday.
I have seen the result of a car crash inwhich a lpg tank has exploded and i have seen the result of car crashes inwhich a petrol tank has been damaged.
The first problems are the tanks. A tank containing a compressed gas has great internal pressure placed upon it. Split it anywhere and it will destroy itself because of the internal pressure ripping it apart. Split a pertol tank and there is far less if any internal pressure affecting the split tank.
Next problem is the combustable itself.
Release a compressed gas and it expands. Release it quickly and it can self ignite. Even oxygen can ignite.
When gas expands, it takes up lots of room and is a big risk of an explosion
Release petrol from a tank and it doesnt expand.
Petrol itself as a liquid isnt that explosive. pour it quickly on a fire and it can put out the fire.
The petrol vapour is highly explosive.
But what is a greater risk a full tank of gas being released into the air or a tank of petrol splashing all over the place.
Both are dangerous, but both lpg and hydrogen are more explosive than a tank of petrol. There is no way it can be said that a tank of hydrogen is less explosive than a tank of petrol.
And although it has been said that a lpg tank is harder to puncture because of the internal pressure., If it is punctured ( not exactly difficult in a car crash) it is the self destructive internal pressures of the tank that make it so bad.

If nobody was to crash and all tanks were efficient, it would be a different story. Fact is people crash, whether by accident or bad driver, it still happens.

crashes involving electric battery cars will be even worse.

i suppose it depends whether you'd rather burn slowly or burn quickly.

the kinds of crashes that puncture lpg tanks won't leave you much better off with a petrol tank.

i'd rather not be rear ended by someone moving at high velocity. in any vehicle, we have a lot of that happen here and a suv plowing into a vehicle at 70 mph tends to be very bad for small cars.