AMC Eagle Den Forum
The Mighty 258 => Fuel Systems. => Topic started by: Zoro on May 11, 2015, 07:37:54 AM
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Thinking of converting one of the Eagles over to CNG or LPG. Anybody gone this route with their AMC or given it any thought? How about a potential mileage gain or loss?
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I've done a little research into this myself. You'll get less mileage, so any savings will be from the cost of the CNG/LPG. I found most companies only make kits for truck or vehicles where the tanks can be put outside the cab of the vehicle (the tanks are mostly forklift tanks). You'd have to get a custom tank to mount in the location where the existing Eagle tank is.
I've considered both a conversion and a dual fuel conversion but with gas prices down at the moment, I don't think either is cost effective at the moment.
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About 30 years ago, all my cars were powered by LPG. I had a tank, pump and meter (rented from propane supplier) at my home for fueling. On my wagon (Nova), I had a tank that was in the rear area behind the back seat, but all the valves and hoses were out the bottom. The tank was sealed between the floor and the tank itself. The only other way is like said above, gas tank removed and LPG tank put in it's place. Automobile LPG systems require a liquid port for fueling the equipment, so your basic RV type cylinder will not work, as they are usually vapor only. You may be able to find a double tank (two cylinders side by side) that will work perfectly for a wagon. You would probably want remote fill (valves and connections facing forward), as having the fill connection and valves facing toward the rear of the car would be dangerous in a rear end collision. As said, you will get less MPG. There are advantages, as LPG is about 100 octane, so you can up the compression and get more power. This is not so good if you are running a dual fuel system. There are compromises both ways when running dual fuel. Back then, straight LPG was exempt from all the smog and other inspections, but dual was not. I am not sure how your state treats cars with these systems, so that is something that might be a deal breaker for you. Be sure to investigate all things like this before you do any conversions. I also had several off-road vehicles that I ran on LPG (dune buggy's), and they worked great. An off-road vehicle with a carburetor is not the best. My buggy would run upside-down if it had to!...Rich
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Great info Rich!
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I used to do both LPG and CNG conversions back in the day. I've been working up to doing LPG EFI. Don't know if I'll get there, but my Jtruck will be LPG in the next couple months.
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Ceers Arendse in the Netherlands is running his Eagle on LPG. LPG is a common conversion in the Netherlands.