[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

The car went for a CNG conversion to Suraj AutoGas today. The kit in question is a Lovato SGIS Kit with an upgraded 70 ltr tank, but made of a new compound that reduces the weight of the tank by 15 kgs!!!!!
I had to pay about 4 k extra for that cylinder but I think it's for peace of mind. Lighter, stronger tank with more gas storage. Win-win!
Cancelled the Emer Gas kit as I hadn't heard much about their credibility. The kit is installed by ONLY Green Globe and I thought it's best to install a well known kit so spares can also be available if something goes wrong after warranty.

Frank,

If possible could you pm/sms/mail me the prices for the conversion ? My friend who bought the Civic from me is also looking at converting the car to CNG. The info here should help him .

[Pashin]

Hey Frank!

Congrats on joining the Civic club. Your long quest of finding a good civic auto is finally complete. It also led to both of us meeting up and me driving your Fiesta S

The car looks "NEAT". Would await your feedback on the cng conversion. Another spin on the BWSL? . Get the Door pads also covered with leather, would look and feel much better.

Keep us posted

Regards

Pashin

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

The car went for a CNG conversion to Suraj AutoGas today.

Do let us know the total cost incurred for the conversion along with the contact details of the person.I have a feeling that very soon some of us who own civics maybe not immediately but in the future would have to go for such a conversion.I sincerely hope there is no significant performance drop in the car after the cng job.

[abeerbagul]

This thread might end up being more about your CNG conversion rather than the civic!!!

Keenly waiting for a drive report from you, both in commute and in long drives. I think CNG will not hamper the commute - ability, but might dull the top end.

Civics in Mumbai are available at mouth watering prices, and if you get 20 kms per kilo of CNG, it will be cheaper than my wife's scooty.

How much boot space does the cylinder occupy? Civic has a small boot as it is.

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Frank,

If possible could you pm/sms/mail me the prices for the conversion ? My friend who bought the Civic from me is also looking at converting the car to CNG. The info here should help him .

I shall post a separate thread in the Mumbai directory with contact details and address if I am satisfied with their work.

Originally Posted by Pashin

Hey Frank!

Congrats on joining the Civic club. Your long quest of finding a good civic auto is finally complete. It also led to both of us meeting up and me driving your Fiesta S

The car looks "NEAT". Would await your feedback on the cng conversion. Another spin on the BWSL? . Get the Door pads also covered with leather, would look and feel much better.

Keep us posted

Regards

Pashin

Thanks for the kinds words Pashin. I will try to get the door pads covered in leather. As for the car, once we meet we can compare with your car, since both cars in question are in mint condition. We can do so, soon.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Do let us know the total cost incurred for the conversion along with the contact details of the person.I have a feeling that very soon some of us who own civics maybe not immediately but in the future would have to go for such a conversion.I sincerely hope there is no significant performance drop in the car after the cng job.

I shall post details very soon.
I know it's tough to accept it as Petrolheads, but this CNG conversion must be done for gas guzzlers if it doesn't have an impact on their performance.

Originally Posted by abeerbagul

This thread might end up being more about your CNG conversion rather than the civic!!!

Keenly waiting for a drive report from you, both in commute and in long drives. I think CNG will not hamper the commute - ability, but might dull the top end.

Civics in Mumbai are available at mouth watering prices, and if you get 20 kms per kilo of CNG, it will be cheaper than my wife's scooty.

How much boot space does the cylinder occupy? Civic has a small boot as it is.

Hahaha. Scooty!
The cylinder occupies more than 60% of the Civic boot, which in turn is not a huge one anyway. I will get to use probably 200 litres of space at the maximum. 100 litres will be filled up with amps and subs
Which leaves us with place to just about keep our shopping bags. The subwoofers can be removed, though.

Guys, wish me luck!! I am going to pick up the car in the next 2 hours.

[hemen]

Congrats Frank,
Excellent buy. Hope it gives you pleasure and reliability for many miles to come. Best of luck for CNG Conversion.

I am on same route of converting my Civic to CNG from Lavoto but just haven't gathered enough courage to give it a go ahead.

I am glued to your thread for the outcome. May be just the right push for me.

[cityvic]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Thank you Sid.
Guys, in the mean time can someone suggest good, aesthetic looking but cheap DRL's to fill the blank portion (where the fogs are)
This is an 'S' model and doesn't come with Fog lights. I don't see the purpose of fog lights in Mumbai hence I want to get good looking DRL's that fit into this slot.
Attachment 989793

Frank,best get Philips LED4.It costs around 6k.
I have it fitted on my Honda City Type 2.
Its a little more expensive than the chinese ones but the light throw is really brilliant.

[jatinpatel]

@frank

So did the car came back to you ?
hows she doing ?? Engine check light on or not ?

hows the low end now ?

please upload pics soon.

[frankmehta]

Reached Suraj AutoGas at 6 PM. I was told that the car was ready and was waiting to be driven off. Walked towards the car with trembling feet. Started the car. There's a new switch installed where the front Fog lamp switch is on the V model. The switch is not the usual toggle type switch and is just a normal push button switch. There are two LEDs. One is orange, and one is green.
Anyway, started the car with bated breath. Petrol light (orange) LED was on and green LED (CNG) was blinking when the car was idling. Kept a firm eye on the RPM needle. ROCK STEADY. The car was still running on Petrol for a few seconds. The engine was warming up and the sequence of LEDs was expected to change when the optimum engine temperature would be reached and gas conversion would occur automatically.
Within 40 seconds of idling, I got bored and looked at the light, anticipating the slight jerk one associates with a changeover. What I saw amazed me. The conversion had been completed and the green light alone was on. Orange light had gone off quietly and the green light had stopped blinking. I thought to myself, "Wow!" No RPM fluctuation. No weird sounds. No jerks. NOTHING.

First hurdle completed. Put the gear selector into D and drove ahead gingerly. Amazed again. The pickup was 'maska' like it was on petrol. I couldn't believe my eyes and my feet (yes, I had a very light foot on the throttle). The A/C would cut in and out depending on the temperature set, but the RPM needle wouldn't budge. The car was shifting perfectly from 1st to 2nd and then, briefly 3rd. Throttle response in all gears was something that I was just not believing. Speed was picking up with the same alacrity as it normally does, and she was chirping happily through the gears. The engine didn't sound strained, there was no misfiring, no loss of low end, no delay in shifting down or up and best of all, there was no lag on pinning my foot down. She was in third when I first saw an empty stretch and gradually put pedal to the metal. Man, she was picking up speed with the same urgency that she does on Petrol!!
I drove back to the CNG Workshop and told them that I was taking an extended test drive.
Set off on the Eastern Express Highway. Rarely empty roads and I let her rip. The autobox would take a millisecond of time to think and just shift down. 4000, 5000, 6000 RPM and the engine nor the kit (or any other components) wouldn't sound stressed or show signs of trailing off. I managed to touch 135 kmph and she was in fifth gear at 4500 RPM. BOY, was i impressed!!
Saw a traffic signal and slowed down gradually, thinking that slowing down will atleast show the weakness of CNG by bogging down or stalling or lowering of RPM but I was wrong there too! Slowed down to a standstill from a quick speed and the engine was back to resting at it's normal 800-1000 RPM. Solid stuff!
The kit has been calibrated well and is really running smoothly on the car. The sound of the engine has changed slightly at idle and you can hear a slight coarseness due to the drier fuel. The engine revs with the same eagerness on CNG and I am happy with that aspect too.
The car picks up very well in higher gears and the autobox acts responsibly in shifting down if it can't manage to get the car moving well in that gear.
No knocking, no sputtering, no dying down, no irregular RPMs. Airconditioner cuts off and on without causing an upheaval or drop in RPM.
The car was driven on empty roads as well as stop and go traffic and I would be hard pressed to tell when it was running on gas or on petrol
This is a revelation guys. I am thoroughly impressed. OPERATION is surely a success. She has received a CNG conversion without much drama and I hope she serves me well without fussing much.
I shall post photos tomorrow to show how neatly the installation has been done.

AND NOW, the figure ALL You guys were waiting for!!!
I drove 77 km today out of which 8 odd km was on the Bandra Worli SeaLink at speeds in excess of 120 kmph and the remaining was in stop and go and reasonably scarce traffic. The A/C was on at all times. I filled in 5.33 kgs of Gas in all!! YAYYYY! That's around 170 rupees of gas for 77 km.
Do the math and you get a running cost of Rs. 2.2 rupees to a kilometer!! I am SHOCKED. BUT, let's review the mileage after a slightly longer driving stint and a few more tankfuls of CNG. I noticed that the Petrol light would start blinking at very high speeds which is in accordance with the manual that says that the engine will allow contribution of Petrol when the engine demands more fuel or at higher speeds.

Quoting the manual:

OPERATION AT HIGH REVOLUTIONS
GAS - The car works on gas. If the gas time limit is reached (gas exceeds the time of cyvle), a
small correspondent quantity of petrol is added at the same time. The signalling on the switch
remain on gas operation.
Removing the cue from the check box you disable this function and if the gas time limit is reached
the car automatically changes back to petrol with consequent signalling on the switch.
PETROL - The car temporarily runs on petrol mode at high rpm and high engine loads.
You can set the number of rpm and the injection time over which car will run in petrol: both conditions
must be met to run on petrol mode.
In this case, the switch is on gas mode
PETROL CONTRIBUTION – You can make a small contribution of petrol during gas mode. You
can set the injection time beyond which you can get the petrol contribution and set the milliseconds
of contribution.
This contribution is then subtracted from the petrol injection time before calculating the corresponding
gas injection time

GUYS, I was DEAD sleepy when I reached home but I was very excited to post my preliminary findings here as I knew that many would be observing this thread anxiously and waiting for this post! I have now noted my initial findings and I shall report more when I notice more stuff.

Till then, Good night and thanks for tuning in!

[LP640]

Hi frank congrats for successful and happy convert! Wishing you many miles of munching effortlessly and economically.
Can you let us know, how much does this new tank weigh? Still excess of 75 kg? Any significant lowering of rear suspension/changes in vehicle dynamics?

Do we get a software to tune the CNG ECU ourself?

Waiting for the install pics.
Where are you based in Mumbai??

[RS_DEL]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Reached Suraj AutoGas at 6 PM. I was told that the car was ready and was waiting to be driven off. Walked towards this thread anxiously and waiting for this post! I have now noted my initial findings and I shall report more when I notice more stuff.

Till then, Good night and thanks for tuning in!

Congratulations twice over - one for a vehicle you like and two for a vehicle you like at a running cost that doesn't steal your joy.

The issue remaining - of the driving dynamics due to increased weight.What are your comments on this?

Your daily usage and observations there from should finally conclude this debate ( of an AT conversion to CNG and that too of a Honda) to a large extent.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

[the VTEC guy]

Hello Frank, congratulations on this wonderful acquisition. Automatics will start making more sense as days pass by and traffic keeps on increasing.
Just one question though. In your opening post you said your criteria for the car was to be a smooth engine, quick shifting auto and relatively good performance. Not sre all of this will still remain once you put on the CNG kit. I think it will definetly rob some power. Also autobox will have to shift accordingly to get the best performance based on the power band. Would this not rob Civic's standard performance?

[Abhi_Automobile]

Great Now that the experiment is officially successful, you mind revealing the cost involved in the operation?

Although my primary plan is to go for a new D segment car a few months down the line, I plan to follow this with keen interest as I getting a used Civic and converting to CNG will be my 'back up' plan. I want to be prepared.

Oh, and yes, I think that getting a auto tranny car converting to CNG was a better idea than a manual one. The very fact that gear changes are automatic gives the ECU a better chance to work seamlessly. This was just in theory..Till now, that is! Brilliant and great going

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please avoid quoting an entire large post. It inconveniences our small screen & mobile readers.

[abeerbagul]

Congrats on a successful conversion to CNG. For people like me who live their entire lives below 3000 rpm, this is a godsend.

This conversion gives good driveability in city at commute speeds and decent performance upto 100 - 120 kmph on highway, which is what 90% of people need.

What is the capacity of the cylinder, and what is the weight? Is the sequential kit a bolt on addition, or do they drill holes in the engine to insert injectors?

[malgudi]

Hey Frank,
Congratulations on the successful conversion. I am sure this would put lot of Used Civic's in reach of TBHPian atleast as Mileage is one reason lot of people shy away from Civic. Can you also put up the picture of the tank in the boot to give an idea of the space it occupies and if possible the cost of conversion