Weekend Progress - August 23, 2008

After considering the previous installation used two flexible hoses and was kind of in the way, I reconsidered how to run the flexible high pressure lines. I decided that I could increase the reliability somewhat by removing one of the failure points and reducing the complexity.

The other couple items that I refined were the manual valve installation. This could come in handy for maintenance of the system as well as a potential safety feature as well as the fill valve stabilizer arm.

The last item was the fill-valve holder. Originally the fill valve was attached to the system by the compression fittings and the stainless steel tubing. I built a stabilizer arm that is secured to the car body. This will help to avoid bending the tubing during filling.

Here is the fill-valve holder and manual valve installation. Notice the manual valve also has a securing holder.

I came across this video about testing of CNG cylinders - Take a look

Installation of Natural Gas injectors

In order to install the natural gas injectors, holes must be drilled in the intake manifold. To be cautious not to get aluminum metal shavings inside the cylinders, I chose to pull the manifold from the block.

Once the hole locations were identified, the manifold was pulled and the holes for the nipples were drilled and tapped. See picture of hole locations.

Once the nipple holes were drilled, the holes were tapped to match the nipple threads. The nipples were installed after which the manifold was re-attached to the block and the natural gas valves were added. See photo of natural gas injectors.

Pictures of the installation of the first-cut pressure regulator bracket, installation and installation location.

Civic CNG Conversion

This post will cover the conversion of a 99 Honda Civic to run on CNG and Gasoline at optimal cost / fuel efficiency.

First consideration was where to put the CNG tank and how to secure it safely so that it is out of the way and also safe. I choose to put the tank in the back (obviously) so that it was out of the way - Now how does one get to the spare?

I hinged the tank and secured it with hitch pins and welded brackets out of angle iron - Here's a picture pre-paint:

Since the hinge was welded in, I fabricated a latch system out of angle iron and hitch pins to secure the other side to the body. Here are some more pictures of the installation.