Drax240z Posted April 30, 2000 Share Posted April 30, 2000 A buddy of mine is trying to convince me to run a propane system with my new turbo engine... Intriguing thought. I guess those of you in the US might not be too familiar with propane, its a common fuel up here for automotive, available anywhere. The plus side is that it's 1/2 the price of gas, and has an octane rating of 114. Would be like running race gas all the time... Damn, I'd have to run 20psi boost just to make good use of it. Can anyone think of any drawbacks to this system? (other than set up cost) The cost of propane is so much less than gas, I'll save enough money to cover the install in a couple of months. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 30, 2000 Share Posted April 30, 2000 Drax...all the taxis up here in Bangor Maine run on propane so I know it is something that is done. The only drawback I would see from the whole setup would be almost running out of...gas???...at 3:00 in the morning. Try finding a propane fill station then! This would be my only concern. SpencZ MonsterZ Cont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo Posted April 30, 2000 Share Posted April 30, 2000 I do'nt know if this is true, but does'nt propane make the car use more fuel? I know it is half of gasoline but does'nt that mean to say you fill up more often? Just wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Scott Posted April 30, 2000 Share Posted April 30, 2000 Tanks are bulky too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted May 1, 2000 Author Share Posted May 1, 2000 Found out quite a lot more info today about the whole thing. First off, propane is about 10% less efficient than gasoline. The 50% cost savings makes up for that no problem. Propane burns at higher temps than gasoline as well, and heads must be specially prepped for it. Usually the prep consists of extra hard valve seats. No big deal, I'm getting my head redone anyway. I don't know the densities of propane and gasoline offhand, but I think they are within about 10% of each other. Weight gain from the tank is pretty simply handled, I am going to run a slightly smaller tank than stock. (probably 45L-55L instead of 65L) As for availability, I'd say >50% of the gas stations out here have propane outlets, its becoming more and more popular all the time. Its also not that hard to get a "cardlock" access to a place for LPG. (liquid propane gas) All in all, this is seeming like a wicked idea. I can do away with injectors, ecu, afm, wiring harness, fuel pump, pressure regulator... All things I don't have for my engine now. I've found a kit for a Ford V8 for $100US locally, I can't imagine that not being sufficient for my fuel needs. I've also decided that everytime I get LPG, I will put the amount I pay for fuel in a bank account, and use basically what I saved over gasoline to upgrade things on the Z car. More reseach cometh... ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted May 10, 2000 Share Posted May 10, 2000 Look into the alumininum tanks with the fiber wrap. These are alot lighter. The power company arround here uses them on all there trucks and runs CNG through them. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 11, 2000 Share Posted May 11, 2000 I had a propane powered supercharged Lancia when I lived in Italy. The power loss was noticeable when switching between gasoline and propane (both systems were functional, I could literally toggle while driving). Not nearly as bad as CNG. Subjectively, those feel like a 50% power loss. I worked on a lot of CNG-converted cars there, it's extremely popular. ------------------ Michael Sen-Roy Houston Performance 281-893-6080 ------------------ [This message has been edited by HP Tech (edited May 11, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted May 11, 2000 Author Share Posted May 11, 2000 The good part for me is that my comparison will be against an L24 that is in rough shape. So the turbo motor should be a nice bump up... Plus there is always upping the boost to overcome any shortfalls... ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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