I dunno how the bus is built underneath, but would it be possible to move the CNG tanks below? That way they could be mounted to a frame and slid into place, similar to the way a forklift battery is changed out.
Gameboy, check the forklift salvage yards (if there's any out there on the islands, mon). The dual fuel forklifts had a nozzle which mounted in the carb throat, it used the same throttle plate as the regular carb to control engine speed and had linkage to the spray nozzle to regulate the propane feed. You could easily make a spraybar setup similar to a nitrous setup which would be controlled by the throttle linkage. You then have a pressure regulator and the tank. Make sure there's heat to the carb base, propane can ice very easily.
Of course, there's the pricey alternative: http://www.4wdandsportutility.com/tech/0708_4wd_suzuki_samurai_propane_conversion/index.html
We have a thing out in central Alberta called the "100 footer association" which puts on drag races for 100 feet in small towns (christmas tree, timing, everything). For a long time there was a 350 SBC powered gremlin that was tubbed with slicks that ran on propane. He buzzed it to 8K and ran stupid high compression in it. It WAS awesome!
Jensenman wrote:
Gameboy, check the forklift salvage yards (if there's any out there on the islands, mon). The dual fuel forklifts had a nozzle which mounted in the carb throat, it used the same throttle plate as the regular carb to control engine speed and had linkage to the spray nozzle to regulate the propane feed. You could easily make a spraybar setup similar to a nitrous setup which would be controlled by the throttle linkage. You then have a pressure regulator and the tank. Make sure there's heat to the carb base, propane can ice very easily.
Jensenman, you are close, but not quite right. A forklift that runs a LPG/gasoline/carburetor set up has a standard gasoline carb with an electric fuel cut off soleniod valve on the fuel inlet, or inside the carb in a few of them. The LPG mixer is stacked directly on top of the gasoline carb and works off of venturi principle with the air flow controled by the butterfly valve of the gasoline carb. The LPG flows from the fuel pressure regulator/vaporizor at very low pressure (under 2 psi in most cases). A heater in the intake manifold is not needed, but if the manifold does have a heater its best to leave it in operation. The fuel regulator,however, must be heated. That is where the propane is converted from liquid to gas and the fpr will freeze in a hurry if it is not heated. If the fuel line from the fpr to the carb is freezing, or if anything else for that matter, the fpr is bad.
Duel fuel systems that I have seen never seem to work quite right when run on LPG, but usualy run just fine on gasoline. A dedicated LPG carb is the way to go.
So, Gameboy, if you realy want to convert your sammy to run on LPG it is very doable, and not that technicaly challenging. If you do have a forklift grave yard down on the rock, look for a carb made by impco (model ca55, ca100 or ca110)and an impco model J fuel pressure regulator.
Here are a couple of links that I found in a quick search
http://www.propanecarbs.com/examples.html
http://www.impco.ws/products.htm
