Michael Maskalans wrote:
>
>
> On May 24, 2004, at 13:52, Norah Bleazard wrote:
>
>> Dak Gen 3 CC with a decal on the tailgate that said it was fueled by
>> propane. Has anyone else seen this? I wonder how difficult the
>> conversion
>> would be, how much it would cost to convert, and what kind of mileage they
>> got.
>
>
> It would be a bit more work to convert an multiport-injected EFI engine
> to propane, but moving from a carb is dirt simple: pull the carb and
> replace with a mixing manifold (I don't recall the proper name).
> Nothing else needs to be changed, and just about any forktruck shop can
> tune the "carb" for you. There is slightly less power per unit of
> propane (fewer BTUs per L versus gasoline) resulting in slight power
> loss, but the relative equivalency to about 110 octane allows you to up
> your compression to more than compensate.
>
> No more carbon buildup, cleaner oil, and roughly the same mileage are
> all resultant - though you can't fuel as many places (some places will
> refuse to fuel in-vehicle tanks, so it's most flexible to run a few
> removable forktruck tanks) and of course it's not quite so simple to bum
> a few pounds of propane if you run out versus a few gallons of gasoline.
>
> Propane is an especially attractive mod for offroad carbourated vehicles
> since you're no longer dependent on a float bowl that can get whacked
> out in off-camber situations.
>
> On a modern vehicle, I'm not sure what you might have to do to the
> computers to get it to run right, or if there is a more complex method
> of direct propane injection that might be used to more closely mimic a
> normal MFPI system on a modern computer controlled engine.
>
> I'm planning to swap my RamCharger over to propane if it gives me any
> offroad trouble stalling- or flooding-wise.
>
> Peterson's did a breif writup on conversion a couple months ago, but I
> tossed my read issues when I moved, so I can't quickly look that up.
> There's also a lot of good info on propane power in the forums at
> pirate4x4.com (forewarning: put on your thick-skinned suit if you want
> to join in on any discussions)
> --
I don't know why, but I had the sudden desire to inflate truck tires
with propane, set them out in the middle of a feild some place - and
fire off a round into 'em to see what happens.
-- -------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Countdown to 2004 DML BBQ (56) Days Left! *****Terrible Tom -- AIM & Yahoo Name: SilverEightynine http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine/
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