rx7b13

im sick of these gas prices here where i live it is cheaper to run propane than it is gas im sure its like that in a lot of places. but what i am woundering is what is the benifit of running propane besides the price and i was also woundering what all do i have to get in order to convert to propane



any info and sites are well apriciated

jefraney

Easiest way:



You need to convert your engine to a carb setup. Run all the lines and such. Start it up.



Hard way:



Make a custom manifold and go injected.



There are more components than I listed, but its basically a tank, fuel-lock, vaporizer, and carb. The EFI setup has a few extra components and is more expensive. ALot of guys who wheel use propane since you can stay running longer at more extreme angles.



http://www.gotpropane.com/p4.html have kits for V8s and stuff, so if you installed a holley intake on your engine, you would just need to buy a "holley" propane carb. Check around on ebay also for parts.

sureshot

Propane here is ~.50 per lb.



That's about $3.50 per gallon.

phinsup

[quote name='sureshot' date='Aug 15 2005, 01:40 PM']Propane here is ~.50 per lb.



That's about $3.50 per gallon.


[/quote]



I dunno how much you would save by the time you calculate the increased hassle of filling, not to mention the increase in refill frequency. I guess you could get 10 or so cyinders lol and get a moblie place to come refill them.



It's cleaner burning, higher octane, however the prices are still set by the oil companies.

jefraney

Its not really much of a hassle here. Most of the government cars are gasoline/propane contours or tauruss or alog that nature. They usually have 20+ gallon tanks in the trunk and a switch in console to switch from gasoline to propane with 2 fuel gauges. You can fill them up at any propane station (not the little tanks, but the giant tanks where they fill trucks)



Here, it is also 1.99 per gallon of propane (10 gallon tank is $19.99)

1988RedT2

BIO-DIESEL BABY!!!!!



the oil companies!

fc3s4utnv

[quote name='1988RedT2' date='Aug 16 2005, 07:09 AM']BIO-DIESEL BABY!!!!!



the oil companies!


[/quote]

BD is actually a pain in the *** to make, it takes so long to get a good filtered sample to actually do anything with.

ColinRX7

So anyways, propane isn't good for aluminum I'm hearing..



Not sure how long beat up rotor housings will last.





Gasoline GM pickup trucks we have at work, were setup with propane injection right from the get go. 4-5 years later we are having heads replaced because the aluminum was destroyed from the propane over time. Replaced them with steel heads.





I'm sure it's not a problem if you want to have some propane squirts for some extra power at the flick of a switch, but I wouldn't run it full time... At least not until all the details are sorted out.





Every propane powered engine I've seen that has lasted and ran good was an all steel block and head setup..



So yeah the only thing that made me second guess is the fact that the new trucks with aluminum heads got eaten up and had to be replaced.





And rotor housings are aluminum so..

mazdaspeed7

But the alum rotor housings arent bare aluminum. Theres a steel sleeve with a hard chrome plating seperating the combustion from the alum part of the rotor housing. The exceptions being the spark plug holes and the exhaust port.



But all this may be beside the point because your examples were diesel trucks running secondary propane injection to get a more complete burn under high load conditions. Running purely propane may or may not have the same effect on aluminum.

jefraney

Colin did state gasoline gm trucks, not diesel.



Anybody know what kind of head ford usues for thier contours?