1000 hp LSX motor on natural gas?
08-21-2010, 02:24 AM
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1000 hp LSX motor on natural gas?
People are getting close to and breaking the 1000 hp mark using the new GM LSX cast iron block, and designing it with insane compression ratios like 15.5:1. Here's 2 examples, sam racing's videos of their block here: http://www.samracingtv.com/video_detail.php?mId=10546 http://samracingtv.com/video_detail.php?mId=10855 and a piece by max chevy: http://www.maxchevy.com/tech/2007/ii_7-lsx-1.html
I drive a vehicle that runs on only natural gas, (a Ford Crown Victoria) and I've always wanted to build a motor that would fully use the 130 octane rating of natural gas. I originally wanted to add a turbo or two to the current motor of my ford and see what it could do, however it seems unlikely that it is possible to supply that much fuel through the stock natural gas injectors, and there aren't aftermarket performance injectors for natural gas. So the better option is to go with a high compression ratio, this will keep the mileage up as well as that's important to keep the vehicle range as high as possible cause you can't fill up on every corner on natural gas. When I heard this LSX block was easilly converted to natural aspiration (thus easilly converted to a naturally aspired natural gas fuel setup) I was very interested. When I heard that 1000 hp was possible with 15.5:1 compression I was sold, I think I've found my project. I really want to build a '73 Corvette (or a 68-72 with a 73+ new front end, cause I like that body combination) with one of these LSX motors made to run on natural gas. With a high compression setup and a mild cam to not sink the mileage, I believe I could have an easy 700 hp daily driver driving on fuel that is incredibly clean. 50-70 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than gasoline, and 95% less other noxious fumes emissions. The reason for the clean emissions of natural gas is that it has an extremely high hydrogen content, 4 parts hydrogen, 1 part carbon. It has a hydrogen content similar to the nitro-methane dragsters use, so I imagine that you can get real good hp numbers out of this fuel with a high compression setup to push this fuel close to it's flash point. Anyways, I could have a 700 hp corvette driving as clean and as cheap as a prius. (I live in Utah, we have the lowest compressed natural gas prices in the world here, been as low as 63 cents a gallon, that's right, cents per gallon, not dollars, in 2007. Though now a 50 cent per gallon fuel tax break has been lifted and CNG is now 1.50 a gallon. Still at 3 bucks a gallon you got half the fuel price and half the mileage of a prius, makes about an even fuel cost to drive, that is if this LSX build can get 25 mpg, the stock Z06 gets 24, so it shouldn't be hard if the cam isn't too wild.) What do you guys think? Wouldn't an alternate fuel C3 corvette making 700-800 hp blow you away? It would blow me away!
I drive a vehicle that runs on only natural gas, (a Ford Crown Victoria) and I've always wanted to build a motor that would fully use the 130 octane rating of natural gas. I originally wanted to add a turbo or two to the current motor of my ford and see what it could do, however it seems unlikely that it is possible to supply that much fuel through the stock natural gas injectors, and there aren't aftermarket performance injectors for natural gas. So the better option is to go with a high compression ratio, this will keep the mileage up as well as that's important to keep the vehicle range as high as possible cause you can't fill up on every corner on natural gas. When I heard this LSX block was easilly converted to natural aspiration (thus easilly converted to a naturally aspired natural gas fuel setup) I was very interested. When I heard that 1000 hp was possible with 15.5:1 compression I was sold, I think I've found my project. I really want to build a '73 Corvette (or a 68-72 with a 73+ new front end, cause I like that body combination) with one of these LSX motors made to run on natural gas. With a high compression setup and a mild cam to not sink the mileage, I believe I could have an easy 700 hp daily driver driving on fuel that is incredibly clean. 50-70 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than gasoline, and 95% less other noxious fumes emissions. The reason for the clean emissions of natural gas is that it has an extremely high hydrogen content, 4 parts hydrogen, 1 part carbon. It has a hydrogen content similar to the nitro-methane dragsters use, so I imagine that you can get real good hp numbers out of this fuel with a high compression setup to push this fuel close to it's flash point. Anyways, I could have a 700 hp corvette driving as clean and as cheap as a prius. (I live in Utah, we have the lowest compressed natural gas prices in the world here, been as low as 63 cents a gallon, that's right, cents per gallon, not dollars, in 2007. Though now a 50 cent per gallon fuel tax break has been lifted and CNG is now 1.50 a gallon. Still at 3 bucks a gallon you got half the fuel price and half the mileage of a prius, makes about an even fuel cost to drive, that is if this LSX build can get 25 mpg, the stock Z06 gets 24, so it shouldn't be hard if the cam isn't too wild.) What do you guys think? Wouldn't an alternate fuel C3 corvette making 700-800 hp blow you away? It would blow me away!
Last edited by SnowboardFreak1080; 08-21-2010 at 02:50 AM.
