On Apr 19, 2004, at 16:40, jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
> : If I bother doing anything with the under-hood bits of the RC in the
> : short term it'll either be moving the 360 to propane (or rebuilding
> it
> : and then running propane) or finding a cheap way to do EFI (maybe a
> : certain less-tired 318 plus MegaSquirt?).
>
> There are "offroad" carbs available which are designed to run
> at angles steeper than traditional carbs, but if you went the
> Megasquirt route and were careful about keeping your costs down,
> I wouldn't be surprised if you could go the EFI route for the same
> money or less.
but the thing is, propane is an even cheaper conversion than either of
those (need tanks, hose, regulator and the carb replacement whose
proper name escapes me at the moment - and that's it.). there is
slight power loss with most engines, but small gains on others
(probably mostly to do with how out of tune the carb was to begin
with), and the possibility of running much higher compression since
propane is about 110 octane. It's also a *much* cleaner burn, and will
virtually never carbon anything, including your oil, which is nifty.
Cost difference to run is also negligible, but that varies by locale
and season more widely than gasoline.
about the only other consideration is fuel availability. Of course
propane isn't nearly as universal as gas, especially in urban areas, so
you need to preplan fuel stops, and can't borrow other's supplies on
the trail like with gas (same goes for diesel of course...). Also,
there are many stations that will not fill fixed tanks, so there is a
definite advantage to using removable tanks, like forktruck tanks.
Forktruck tanks are definitely my plan - depending on economy I'll run
2-4 at once in the RamCharger as it's exclusive power source, and 1-2
in the tow rig as juice for the diesel.
here I go again, rambling, planning, dreaming, spending money I don't
have (and won't at this rate) and taking over the list with a tangle of
posts. oy. off to Monster for me....
namanamastupidgraduationandreallifesneakingup....
-- Mike Maskalans <http://mike.tepidcola.com/dodge/> 84 RamCharger 360 (parked) 98 Dakota CC 318 (Fixed!) mobile.612.618.4652 campus.585.274.2246 fax.360.364.3930
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