Would I be disowned for considering...

[vash]

Originally posted by island911
Wow, Cliff.. .(vash) that is some tough imperical evidence.

I know that the energy per liter of LPG(liquid) is quite a bit lower than gasoline (~75% of gasoline) but $45 dollars worth, for that distance? . ..yikes!

Maybe Hank Hill will chime in here.

ok to be fair, i still have about a tenth of propane left. i guess sacto is a slight uphill all the way from the bay area. but i was blown away! sluggish and poor mileage. no way. i dont remember if i was "getting on it" or not. you really dont get speeding tickets in a big orange state vehicle. (knock on wood)
cliff

[targa6911s]

I think there is a weight problem (suspension reinforcement) and also something concerning the longevity of the engine.

Ed

[Siena911]

Wow, did not imagine getting this kind of response.

My initial idea, was the fact that fuel costs are on the up all the time, plus there is the little green part of my brain that keeps telling me to do my bit

Anyway, loads of input thanks guys. I did not realise that the tanks were that heavy.

I was kinda thinking about it because I am in the middle of a rebuild and kinda thinking since I'm in here.........

Its good to hear some of the input from people who have driven / are driving cars with these conversions.

Cheers Jakes

[Paul Franssen]

I vaguely remember reading...many years ago...that LPG caused the valves of Volvos to melt. But that problem would have been solved with harder valves, so I think it's not be a problem with Porsches. Any case, it's not a practical proposal for Porsche cars because of the weight and space of installing the extra tank, and because of the loss of power.
How about chicken chit?
Or one of those WWII units (burning wood, or coal?)
If there were a really EASY solution, it'd have been done before!

[Doug Zielke]

I like the idea of a Hydrogen-powered Porsche better than LPG.
There may still be some German engineers around from the Hindenberg
project who can help out. (Oh, the humanity!!)

[AirCooledExcellence]

Hi Jakes!

Don't really know enough about LPG to comment, how's the rebuild coming along, any updates?

Cheers,

Tim.

[RickM]

I started a thread on the merits of Hydrogen power... "Hydrogen Highway"...Go Arnold!
A few years ago BMW built a fleet of 20 Hydro powered 740s. Power-wise the driving experience was nearly identical to a Gas powered car.

Some of the more scientific mided here mentioned that it's very costly to "manufacture" Hydrogen in a usable form. Looks to me that there's the auto that you merely pump hydrogen into and run the engine via a holding tank and the type that uses an on-board "fuel cell" to extract Hydrogen from water using electricty.

Regarding LPG powered cars, I've never seen one here in the NJ area but I have seen a few that were Natural Gas powered. However, you need a really large tank to store.

[deoxford]

Hydrogen is costly to produce , it takes cracking natural gas in a hydrogen reformer or lots of eletricity to charge pure water to release the hydrogen atom, also there is a method with NaH and pure water(key word there is pure). So the fact the it take so much energy to make this makes it expense now. But there are a few Hydrogen stations in CA.
They Are solor powered units that were payed for by Honda.(these are great except for one thing. Solor cells are very costly and don't last long)
This is why Honda built these stations , knowing that your local town could not efford it.
But what a great fuel source for the current gas engine and car companys making gas engines in to hydrgen burning, it does not take much to change them over. And you are right the power is the same as Gas.
This is why I think it is the best for a older car, or currnt cars to change over.
Now fuel cells with hydrogen are the most efficent, but what are you doing? You are taking Lots of energy to change pure water to hydrogen to put in to a car that then take the hydrogen and changes it the back electicty.(this is the design of a fuel cell)
Well just make the electicty in store it in batterys, don't have the car fuel cell chang it over to then send it to it's electric motor, you are chasing you tail there.

Back to hydrogen burning car (key word is burning) this great because it is simple to do , to current cars and the new car with very little cost the the car car companys( little cost to you then)

And finaly lots of power! just like gas, but you can run it in your garage all day long and live because it makes pure water for exhaust.

This was just a little of my two cents, I like the idea and hope to try it someday.

__________________

[Adam]

Wow. I should stop b!tching about fuel prices when our 98-Ron premium unleaded hits US$0.70/litre...

I think the fuel storage would be a major problem in a 911 if you weren't prepared to go dedicated-LPG. Lots of hot-rodders down here use dedicated-LPG to get around emissions and licencing laws, here in Australia.