City Bus conversion with CNG

caioalmeida · 05-11-2021, 03:36 PM

HI,

I recently bought a New Flyer C30LF city bus with CNG, will drive it from Seattle Washington to Florida

have anybody here ever dealt with CNG buses?

s2mikon · 05-11-2021, 03:39 PM

Just plan your fuel stops real well. Damn hard to bring out a 5 gallon can of CNG.

o1marc · 05-11-2021, 03:40 PM

They are not popular because they produce less power and CNG is limited in where and when you can buy it.

s2mikon · 05-11-2021, 03:45 PM

Last July as I was coming back from Moriarity there were 4 of them going east on I 40. They were on landoll trailers towed by diesel powered trucks.

Bert06840 · 05-11-2021, 04:48 PM

Oh my god, a brave person you are!

I passed on my dream bus just weeks ago.

How you gonna get past Idaho?

https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/natura...arest?fuel=CNG

Bert06840 · 05-11-2021, 04:49 PM

By the way, the tanks must be replaced after 15 years. I hope you bought a very young bus, or a 16 year old one [emoji16]

Rwnielsen · 05-11-2021, 08:05 PM

Just out of curiosity, how much natural gas can those carry.?

Cheezewhiz · 05-11-2021, 11:15 PM

Will those run on propane?

If not, can they be modified to?

Bert06840 · 05-11-2021, 11:41 PM

They will definitely not run on propane, but I believe it is possible to modify them. With substantial complexity - the Cummins ECU is not open or so far hacked AFAIK. You would also have to fool the CNG warning/safety signals which may or may not be a hell of a job. Or throw out the entire thing.

It’ll take a year, a couple dozen grand, or a lot of luck.

I passed on an ultra low mileage one for next to nothing because I didn’t have the time to dive into it.

Danjo · 05-12-2021, 12:46 AM

Oh wow, the lack of fueling facilities is daunting! OP, if you’re not going to travel much and plan to stay in metro areas with fuel, then absolutely go for it. If not, you may want to unload that and try again because you’ll be putting a lot more money to make it a home. It’s better to make that decision now than to continue to sink money into something that is going to be problematic in the long run

john61ct · 05-12-2021, 05:58 AM

Sorry to be that guy, but why not ask such questions before spending your money?

joeblack5 · 05-12-2021, 07:59 AM

Looking at the isl g manual. The gas pressure at the engine is between 70 and 150 psi. Mixing is similar to a propane mixer.
It would be a cool experiment..if the price would be right.

Wonder if the cng fill station demands proof if tank inspection before they hook you up.
Next would be the safety inspection station.

A diy cng to propane conversion would be nice, again if the price is right. Doubt that a shop would take on the liability.

You can always replace the engine with something more boring.
Nothing is so exciting as running the tank on vapor.

Good luck
Johan

caioalmeida · 05-12-2021, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bert06840

Oh my god, a brave person you are!

I passed on my dream bus just weeks ago.

How you gonna get past Idaho?

https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/natura...arest?fuel=CNG

I know...I was going to buy a diesel pusher RV, so the amount of money I was going to loose in depreciation and maintenance I think I'll brake even with the changes and built on this bus, no way to go thru Idaho.

Bert06840 · 05-12-2021, 08:28 AM

Yeah, I agree with you here, this would make for a phenomenally cool project. But there is no telling if it would take a week or a year of fiddling to make it work right.

If I had the driveway and no expectation of having it on the road the next year, I'd take it on. You may get it running in half a day by just feeding propane right into the fuel rail through a pressure regulator, and leave everything else intact.

Then the fun starts for fooling the computers, starting it cold, starting it hot, idle, half load, full load. At sea level. In the mountains. Etc.

I'd be interested in the ISL-G manual you have, just for kicks.

I drove a Volvo V70 bi-fuel for a few weeks in Finland in 2006. In Finland, the bi-fuel version is for CNG: CNG/E95. Works fine. In Belgium and the Netherlands, where LPG is much more prevalent, the same labeled car is set up for LPG/E95. There are differences, but on a fundamental level it's just a hydrocarbon that you burn. I ended up buying the D5 instead. And an electric car in 2011.

But for bus nuts here that's not very relevant.

caioalmeida · 05-12-2021, 08:30 AM

I knew that, I still have 4 years and will cost me 5k to replace and I just paid 1.8k for the bus... still a risky move

caioalmeida · 05-12-2021, 08:38 AM

Thank you, I really plan on keeping it CNG the plan is to build a mobile office and will travel only to places where fueling stations are available.

caioalmeida · 05-12-2021, 08:39 AM

I knew what I was getting in to... still made sense to me, the plan is to build a mobile office and will not travel to places where CNG is not widely available.

Bert06840 · 05-12-2021, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caioalmeida

I know...I was going to buy a diesel pusher RV, so the amount of money I was going to loose in depreciation and maintenance I think I'll brake even with the changes and built on this bus, no way to go thru Idaho.

It's a nice looking state, but you gonna have to settle for another route then

So you are going to keep it on CNG? Where are you going to drive it?

Check the tanks though. They have a do-not-use-after date on them.

EDIT: you answered these while I was typing this.

I'm very curious so see how it goes. Good luck!

Bert06840 · 05-12-2021, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caioalmeida

I knew that, I still have 4 years and will cost me 5k to replace and I just paid 1.8k for the bus... still a risky move

I'm not sure if it is all that risky, IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING INTO. If you are ok with the constraints, sure, why not!

I'd take it on. But we spend time in Maine, and there is not a single CNG station.

I'd budget a bit more for the tank replacement. You may also want to see if a recertification is possible. Not at all likely, but worth a shot. Are you going to run them at 3600 PSI?

Keep in mind though that some of the CNG points are not always publicly accessible, and their outage rate is high.

So plan your fill-ups accordingly. If you have the 150 Diesel Gallon Equivalent capacity, I'd never go over 200 miles unless you know that you're having a "diversion station" mapped out.

Rwnielsen · 05-12-2021, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caioalmeida

I know...I was going to buy a diesel pusher RV, so the amount of money I was going to loose in depreciation and maintenance I think I'll brake even with the changes and built on this bus, no way to go thru Idaho.

Not just Idaho, there's plenty of states to get stranded in

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