[Healeys] gas - natural gas

[Len and/or Marge Hartnett]

This may not be relevant to the current discussion but I did have experience 
with a dual fueled vehicle.

Back in 1983, natural gas was not a readily available alternative to 
gasoline but propane was.  I purchased a Chevy G20 (1/2 ton) van that 
operated on either gasoline or propane.  The van had 138,000 miles on the 
odo when I purchased it.  It was modified as a camper and I drove it to 
Alaska and back.  Propane was the primary fuel and only switched to gasoline 
when the propane tank ran dry.  Due to reduced use, 700 miles in two years, 
I donated the van to a local charity in 2007.  It had 216,550 miles on the 
odo.  The engine was never overhauled or caused any mechanical failures in 
all that time.  Oil consumption was about one quart between 3,000 mile 
changes.  Fuel consumption was about the same on either fuel.  In the 
beginning, propane was cheaper than gasoline but gradually increased to the 
price of gasoline or higher.  The primary advantage of the propane was 
easier starting than gasoline - never used the choke -  and extended engine 
life due to the cleaner burning fuel.

The lack of readily available natural gas fueling facilities will probably 
be the thing that delays its future use.

(The Other) Len
Vacaville, CA, USA
1967 AH 3000 MkIII, HBJ8L39031


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Atkinson, Robert" <rca53 at columbia.edu>
To: "AustinHealey List" <healeys at autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Healeys] gas - natural gas


> The forward-looking solution to fueling new and reasonably recent vehicles
> (not Healeys) is natural gas.
>
> Any modern internal combustion engine can run on natural gas as easily as
> gasoline. The best approach is a "bi-fuel" car which has one engine and 
> two
> fuel tanks: gasoline and natural gas.
>
> Bob