Recently our city just opened a natural gas station to accomadate vehicles that run on this significantly cheaper fuel. Out of pure curiosity, do they make a conversion kit for the M3? What exactly would be the benefits and dangers of performing such a transition?

Again, pure curiosity...

 

Typically CNG requires a gigantic fuel tank (increased weight, would probably take up your trunk & would definitely screw up your handling) Not to mention the fact that your fuel tank is now pressurized (I don't like that idea in a wreck). Your exhaust will smell like farts.

The benefits are it burns cleaner than a regular engine, but less efficient (lower mpg)and you're not buying gasoline. Oh yeah, your car will run upside down too. (This is a popular modification for hard-core rock crawling trucks as they run at any front/side angle without flooding.

You mainly see these conversions on 1/2 ton or larger pick-up trucks.

 

I haven't taken a chemistry course in years...does NG contain methane, then?

 

I read an article in our local paper about it this morning thats what got my curious. Theres not nearly enough stations in Ohio to warrant actually performing this mod or buying one of the cars. Thanks for clearing up the confusion however!

 

CNG is ****. I have driven in a datsun with this white big CNG tank in the trunk. Its heavy as hell and its not worth it. The car didn't go any where, the acceleration on it was prob equal to you running with a pair of nike's on. I was messing around with it and smelled some in the trunk and god dam...1 small spark with a small leak in the trunk and BOOOMM!!

 

sounds interesting but dangerous yeah gas prices are crazy now!

 

CNG itself is odorless, but an odor is added to it so that you can detect a leak if present.

 

Maybe that's why it's called "Natural" gas.[:'(]

There is no end to the price of gas. Wait till May 24 weekend. (Is this an American holiday too?)

Bring in the electrics.

 

I don't see that this thread has been closed so will add a few points to consider, and also add that I would like to consider making the conversion from gasoline to CNG, however from what I've heard, the prices for this conversion have gone up since this thread was started 4 years ago.

I believe some of the previous posts to this thread gave information that is incorrect.

First, CNG doesn't smell like farts because it doesn't contain methane (to which one poster alluded). Unburned NG smells closer to the smell of rotten eggs. That is the smell of the chemical additive that causes it to be a detectable substance in case of a leak. When it burns, there is no odor, otherwise your kitchens and the area around your furnace and water heater venting systems would smell terrible.

Second, the storage tank is not as dangerous as the fuel tank that came with your m3 (or any other type of gasoline or diesel powered vehicle--diesel is safer than gasoline, too). They are required to hold several hundred pounds of pressure per square inch, therefore are able to withstand significantly more damage without a leak. The weakest point is the valve, and it is very well protected. So, your car becomes much safer if it is converted to NG.

Third, if it did leak, the chance of having an explosion is similarly more safe than that of a gasoline engine. All leaks go up, or with the wind, and dissipate to the point of not being volatile within a few feet of the leak site (a car doesn't carry enough NG to spew the amount seen in movie NG fires). Gasoline, being a liquid, goes down, so it pools under and around the leak, or runs away in copious quantities creating a significantly higher chance of being ignited.

If you are in an accident in a CNG vehicle, and there's a fire, it goes up and away from you rather than originating under and around you. You are significantly safer in your new CNG car than you would be in a gasoline powered vehicle, in case of fire.

Lastly, the price of NG is so much lower than the upwards of $4/gallon-U.S. now being charged, that there may come a time that the cost of the conversion might eventually offset the price of fueling your car, though not likely.

The points I make here are definitely not to point fingers, else I would have added the "names of the innocent" but since I did not, hopefully this post will stand on its own merits and not cause any discomfort to any innocent reader or and of the owners of any previous post.

So will I make the conversion? Not if it's the price I have heard rumored of $8,000-U.S. When I bought my M3i in April of 2005, I paid $14,000-U.S. and it was a bit high, though we had talked the salesman down from $14,650-U.S. - a mere pittance when compared with the interest we paid over the life of the 6-year loan. We paid the car off in 2.5 years, however, so saved quite a bit in interest, though not equal to the 650 we saved at purchase time. My only consolation at paying the interest is that it was to our bank rather than the dealer, who we found out had been stealing new cars from California to re-sell in Utah -- he's now in prison for his cost-saving business practices, and may his soul rot in hell some day... I had to do a serial number check on my m3i to make sure I could sleep at night and not worry about being woken by jack-booted constables at 3am as they do a re-possession.

My apologies for this lengthy thread. I hope someone has gained something. I mean other than me as I did some research to write it... yes, very little.