Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

[landtoy80]

I was doing research on converting my 94 Toyota Land Cruiser FZJ80 and all was well until I got to the PHIL system.
Seams like if you are not in the Service Area of a PHIL Dealer you are out of luck with getting home filling. I am in Western Colorado (Grand Junction) Must be too far for the Denver PHIL dealer as he didn't return my calls.
I did this research in June 07 so things may of changed.

Reason for my interest in CNG/NGV.
I drive 150 mi per day and I drove a Land Cruiser that gets 13 mpg (do the math).
I bought an 87 Supra last summer so my gas bill is down 50%. I also get a little cash from work for the drive but its not much.
There are many deer, elk and rocks falling on I70 in the canyon between Grand Junction and Rifle, CO thus the reason for driving the Land Cruiser (its a tank).
I also work in the natural gas field moving drilling rigs so I will be helping my self if I use my own product.

The Land Cruiser has 305,000 mi on it and runs well and now with the gas going up again and an article in the local paper about $0.62 for CNG in UT got me thinking again.

My thoughts are either sell the Supra and convert the Land Cruiser to CNG
OR
Sell both the Supra and Land Cruiser and get a newer or less mileage Land Cruiser and convert that.

Any thoughts or ideas on doing that????


kurt

[Curtis]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

At 300k+ the landcruiser isn't worth converting. The Supra is fine for a little run around car, but I'd personally sell both and invest in an already converted truck or suv. Check regularly on cngmotors.com, craigslist or EBay to see what's available. Chances are you'll have to travel out of state for it, but it would well be worth it given the $.90 a gallon gas in your state.

[BiggJohn]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

I agree with Curtis about the Land Cruiser having too many miles to justify a conversion. I'd be very concerned about the merits of converting a 21 year old Supra. I haven't seen a CNG conversion kit yet which I would be willing to risk life and limb on.

The market for used CNG vehicles is tight and getting tighter. Murpy over at CNG Motors is advertising a bi-fuel 2000 F-150 with 52,000 miles on it (http://www.cngmotors.com/gal/cng/por...php?cat_id=210). The nice thing about a pick-up is that you can easily extend its range by adding another tank in the bed.

On the issue of home refueling:
The Phill has a fueling rate which wouldn't accommodate your daily driving in a Civic. It's also expensive to rebuild and has to be trashed after three overhauls. FuelMaker has several other models with lower life-cycle costs and faster fill rates.

[John Mitton]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

You would need far more fuel than little Phill could ever keep up with. Look into an FM-Q2-36 instead:

http://www.cngchat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23

Also, there is no fast-fill refueling infrastructure on I-70 anymore:

https://www.cngprices.com

[camryman]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

Landcruisers are great 4WDs No the Best 4x4's ever and I am a big fan of the LC and it's a keeper especially if yours has the factory locking diffs, but your better off buying a used oem cng vs converting. Unless you want to spend big $$$$

If your motor is going to go out sometime soon (since your 300K plus) and you want to drop in a new GM motor that is approved for duel fuel your looking at over 20K and you will have a hard time finding a spot for the cng tank unless you take up your cargo bed. TLC wanted 15K to convert to a vortec GM gasoline motor.
Keep the cruiser for 4x4 fun / bad winter driving and get a civic gx for the mpg commute or a cavalier if you need duel fuel. Or find a Tahoe /suburban duel cng 4x4. But I wouldn't do any extreme 4wheeling with any cng tanks mounted under the body.

GM conversion. New crate motor $5500 Plus radiator trans adapter electronics and install ect big $$$

http://www.tlc4x4.com/tlc_FJ80photos.htm

[Seattle Guy]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

I recently went through a very similar process, and ended up not purchasing the CNG vehicle. The little secret that no one talks about is the additional cost the Phill station adds to the whole process. If you purchase a Phill, it will add approximately $2.00 per gallon to the cost of CNG. They are expensive and they wear out and the rebuild cost is not cheap. The larger fill system is cheaper in the long run, but the upfront cost is very high. A low MPG vehicle driven high miles makes it difficult to pencil out because the fueling units need expensive rebuilds. Look at all the costs before going forward, unless you motives are reducing your carbon footprint!

[Devo]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

Make sure to factor state/federal rebates on new equipment into your decisions.

[Seattle Guy]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

According to my research, there is no Federal or State tax credit on a dual fuel vehicle in Washington State. There is on the $1,000 tax credit on the fuelmaker unit.

The Honda GX has the $4000 credit, but not a dual fuel Tahoe which was considering.

[John Mitton]

Colorado conversion incentives are great!

Now that I think about it, he might want to consider converting a vehicle since he is in Colorado. The state offers up to 80% of the conversion cost if it meets SULEV standards This is on top of the $4k (up to 8,500 GVW) or $8k (over 8,500 GVW) he would get from the Federal tax credit. He would be money-ahead...

http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/incentives_laws.html

[SeaFever]

Re: Land Cruiser Conversion / Home Filling

Guys,

Greetings! I am a new member to this forum. Want to resurrect this old thread as there may be more information and facilities available.

I have a 1994 Landcruiser with factory installed Diff and 3rd row seats. It is in excellent shape and has 108K miles on it. Mostly highway miles when I am taking my family on trips (one such trip was from San Francisco to Vancouver Canada in Winter). I don't use the car for regular commute as I get at best 16 MPG with it. However I would like to start regularly using it and therefore am looking into a CNG (or LPG if it makes sense) conversion. I live in Northern California in the South Bay. I am pretty handy and can install a kit if need be. Seems that most likely I will have to get it installed from a certified institution though...I would also like to get a sticker for carpool commute if possible.

Any and all information/help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Mahendra