I was the "Technical Advisor" on this buggy that was built by the "Auto Club" at Morton College in Cicero, Illinois. It has a 1914 engine with 12.5:1 compression and is fueled with CNG (compressed natural gas) more commonly known as Methane gas. Methane gas is rated at 130 octane so the compression is no problem. It has won it's class at the last 2 Chicago World of Wheels and brings home a trophy at every show it competes in. Everything is powdercoated or polished. It should see the Silver Lake Sand Dunes the Summer of 2005 along with a couple SCCA autocrosses.

Morton College buggy after the 1st evening of work. I have to thank all the guys at Appletree Automotive for supplying all the parts. www.appletreeauto.com

Morton College buggy after the 1st evening of work. The frame is a XTC Motorsports "Beachcomber" 4 seater.

This picture was taken so we could use it to figure out the graphics.

With all the parts back from the powder coater JDM Coatings , It's ready to reassemble.

The big black tank is the fuel tank for the CNG, it's built from carbon fiber & Kevlar, so it's pretty light. The gas is at 5000psi in the tank. The round thing on the frame is the CNG pressure regulator. It drops the pressure from 5000psi to 1-2psi.

Don is having problems determining which end of the car the spindle gets mounted on.

Are you sure it goes here?

The thrash is on.

Finally the graphics arrive...

New wheels and tires...

The aluminum floors installed.

Console and gauges installed.

Start of the plumbing for the fuel system.

Newly mounted MSD box.

Newly mounted fuel pressure gauge, fuel fill port,and fuel shut off valve. This picture was taken before polishing.

On display at the Chicago World of Wheels Custom Car Show. The rather strange intake is because of the CNG fuel system. The gas is injected into a venturie just below the air cleaner assy. The rubber elbow is from a Ford pickup, aircleaner and the throttle body is from a 4.6 Ford.

CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) INTAKE SYSTEM.
The black section that the velocity stack is mounted to,is the venturie that the CNG is injected into.

THROTTLE LINKAGE.
The throttle body is from a 4.6 Ford. The throttle cable is a bicycle brake cable. Bicycle cable seems to last considerably longer then aftermarket VW throttle cables. I fabricated the linkage.

THROTTLE PEDAL STOP.
I fabbed the throttle stop to keep an adrenalin charged foot from twisting the throttle shaft off.

THROTTLE PEDAL STOP.
The throttle stop is mounted to a plate that is mounted to the pedals. This will allow the pedal stop to move with the pedals, seeing that it has a CNC adjustable pedal mount.

MORTON BUGGY, FUEL SYSTEM PANEL.
This is the back of the panel that contains the fuel fill valve, fuel shutoff valve and the fuel level gauge.
All the hard lines including the brake lines on this buggy are stainless steel.

MORTON BUGGY FUEL SYSTEM PANEL.
This is the back of the panel after our attempt at polishing it.

MORTON BUGGY FUEL SYSTEM.
I took this picture before polishing to help me remember how it goes back together.

MORTON BUGGY FUEL SYSTEM PANEL.
This is the front of the panel.

MORTON BUGGY FUEL SYSTEM PANEL.
Here is the panel installed after polishing.

The Morton Methane Machine at the 2006 Mid-America Funfest for VW's.
As seen in Hot VW's Magazine.

The Methane Machine makes it into the big time...The October 2006 Hot VW's Magazine. Not the best picture but a picture in a magazine none the less.