Propane power, may of went OT

pwm74 · pwm74's Garage

I am a jeep guy as well and came across this propane powered jeep.
Perhaps someone will try this for a P-car.

Propane Facts
$1 per gallon
103+ octane
Clean power means clean engine

A friend of mine in italy converted a Ford explorer for $1000
reg gas is expensive out there.

here is the link http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/propane/

anybody know any more information.

Tim Polzin · 06-05-2002, 06:26 AM

A lot of people up here in Western Canada converted to propane 15 to 20 years ago when propane was really cheap. With propane at $0.40 to $0.60 (Can) a litre, not much activity anymore.

My understanding is that you use about twice as much propane as gasoline. Performance also goes down. Timing was also a compromise on vechicles using dual fuel. Would I consider it in my 911? Not a chance!

Tim

boyo · 06-05-2002, 06:32 AM

Had a propane powered pickup back in high school - I think it got 7mpg (10mpg with the tailgate down) so required a 50 gallon tank to go anywhere useful. Be prepared to give up a lot of space to fit a cylindrical tank of any useful volume - it wouldn't drop into the spot occupied by the current tank.

Actually, the truck was propane/gas switchable, including the main 20gal fuel tank and two 15 gallon side tanks. 100 gallons of fuel loaded!

-Boyo

70flatsix · 70flatsix's Garage

We've had a fleet of industrial equipment runing on propane for many years. IC engines do run cleaner and cooler on propane, however they do not run trouble free. Many times, the lp gas you get from a bulk tank is not properly filtered. That's ok if you are burning it in a gas grill. But poorly filtered lp gas causes many problems in an IC engine. Fuel system lockoff valves, regulators, vaporizers, carbs, etc. need to be cleaned much more frequently. And in the winter, unless the engine is kept warm, starting a lp gas powered engine can be a real pain. Many people will try to short-cut that problem by using starting fluid to start a cold lp gas powered engine. Excessive use of starting fluid will cause premature cylinder wear, among other things. And if the engine happens to backfire while trying to start it using starting fluid, you can blow the nose cone right off your starter!
You are much better off sticking to a good grade of gasoline!!

Paul Valcourt · 06-05-2002, 10:48 AM

Propane Facts
$1 per gallon
103+ octane

I am not sure where you got this info but based on BTU per unit consumed, Propane puts out less BTU than gas thus requires more units to produce the same energy. That is why you would need a large tank. I had a propane powered 350 chev truck and did the conversion to propane when it was just $.05 per liter in the late 80's. It was sure economical to run but it had twin 120 liter tanks. If any one is interested I still have a propane sytem with tank and I think the tank is small enough to fit where the jump seats are. Maybe they could be covered in vinyl to look good, ha,ha.

Milu · 09:14 AM

Lpg and methane conversions are very common in Italy. There are rebates available on the conversion as they are eco-friendly. Friends have paid us$1,000 for converting a Honda HRV and US$4,000, for converting a Mercedes ML, this is after the rebate. In practice you lose performance and boot space. Typically you start on petrol and then switch over to gas, the latest conversion I saw had the possibility of starting on gas using, I think, piezo electric. In most public covered public car parks they are banned because of the fire/explosion risk.