Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Finally got my hands on another Z, hoping there would be some parts I could use for my other project. I knew it had fiberglass fender flares in the back, but it turns out somebody put some fiberglass front fenders on as well! I took a could of pics last night: The garage The propane fueled 280ZX engine I'm using Parts car The project The orange car when I bought it Just got the propane tank certified last week. If it didn't pass, the plan was to install a fuel cell, and buy the 530HP LS3 engine in the showroom at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19762802+2 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Wait, Your car is going to run off propane? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Dang, I got excited there for a minute and thought someone snaked in behind my e-mails and had snagged S30-00002 out from my offer! You merely got a second Z-Car, you didn't actually "acquire S30 #2". Gave me a start, that did. Whew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModernS30 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Wonder if the shell of that parts car can be saved. How bad is the rot. Looks like a series 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Wait, Your car is going to run off propane? You got it. 110 octane for half the price of regular unleaded, and doesn't contaminate the oil anywhere near as bad as gasoline. What's not to like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Dang, I got excited there for a minute and thought someone snaked in behind my e-mails and had snagged S30-00002 out from my offer! You merely got a second Z-Car, you didn't actually "acquire S30 #2". Gave me a start, that did. Whew! You are correct, I should have clarified myself. Sorry for the premature heart attack / stroke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModernS30 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 You got it. 110 octane for half the price of regular unleaded, and doesn't contaminate the oil anywhere near as bad as gasoline. What's not to like? Care to share more on how this is set up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Wonder if the shell of that parts car can be saved. How bad is the rot. Looks like a series 1. I haven't had a really good look at the blue one yet. I'll see if there's enough left of the frame to put jackstands under sometime tonight. If it's not rotted out, then I'll just have to build another one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Care to share more on how this is set up? The previous owner did all the work. It has an 80L tank mounted where the gas tank used to be, and uses an Impco mixer that's good for 350 HP. I still have to do a bunch of research as far as tuning goes, but I should be able to go with a pretty hot cam, and a decent amount of boost without detonation issues. Propane is very simple to set up, as you really only need to adjust one screw on the mixer to lean out or make the fuel mixture richer. I'll try to find some more info when I get home from work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 You got it. 110 octane for half the price of regular unleaded, and doesn't contaminate the oil anywhere near as bad as gasoline. What's not to like? Perhaps the fact that at -40 there is no pressure in the tank to run the car and you have to start it on gas, get the water up to temp, and then use that to heat the propane to get it up to pressure so you can run on it! Sorry, it had to be said. For a summer cruiser it might work fine. But propane sucks when it gets cold. And Lethbridge...well...it ain't Cancun come February! (Former Propane Vehicle Owner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19762802+2 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Don't you have to use a carb on a Propane conversion? I know EFI can be done but I have heard its rather expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Perhaps the fact that at -40 there is no pressure in the tank to run the car and you have to start it on gas, get the water up to temp, and then use that to heat the propane to get it up to pressure so you can run on it! Sorry, it had to be said. For a summer cruiser it might work fine. But propane sucks when it gets cold. And Lethbridge...well...it ain't Cancun come February! (Former Propane Vehicle Owner) This is my mode of transportation for anything approaching the freezing point, so I'm not that concerned about cold weather issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Don't you have to use a carb on a Propane conversion? I know EFI can be done but I have heard its rather expensive. Mine has a throttle body on it. The EFI manifold was used, just had all of the extra ports, including the injector holes, plugged. Hopefully I can find something a little more attractive. I'll be going back tonight, if more pics are required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Don't you have to use a carb on a Propane conversion? I know EFI can be done but I have heard its rather expensive. Actually not it's not. Whenever Frank quits TALKING and actually ships a container THIS direction, I plan on snagging one of the European LPG conversions. They have a nice tank that fits where the spare went, and is dual-fuel allowing running on petrol, and online swap to LPG. The best thing is that the car I was in with it (1979 280ZX!!!) was using MEGASQUIRT as the ECU! IMPCO carbs make for a quick and easy installation, but EFI technology is not that prohibitive. It's just finding compatible donor vehicles to source many of the parts secondhand. Anything new is expensive. An HKS surge tank was over $1000 new, but can be hand now for 1/4 the price. It's just a matter of 'trickle down' time to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 3, 2010 Author Share Posted September 3, 2010 Well, it's official.....the blue car is toast. Too much rust to even begin to think about repairing it. Got the fiberglass fenders off of it, just gonna get some of the electrical parts from inside it, take the cylinder head off, and cut the rear quarters off of it. Anybody want a header for a 2.4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ejkej Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 (edited) As for the LPG conversion - I don't know the price relation between LPG/Gas in US, but here in Poland LPG costs half the price of the Gas. I had LPG installed in my daily driver - Mistubishi Lancer... no, not EVO - 1.6L sedan - after first 1000 km (i bought it new). Now, after few years and 110.000 km I estimate the money saved at c.a. 6-6,5K USD. And it's fuel consumption is ca 10 liters per 100km. The higher the consumption the higher the saving . No issues with the car, however I've heard that some engines are not recommended for using LPG. The temperature of burning the LPG is higher than Gasoline. You don't need to remove gasoline system in either carburator nor injection systems - they will work on one engine. The system uses gasoline when the car is cold, after reaching "operating" temp. it switches to LPG. You can manually switch between them as well. One of the cons of that solution is the range of the car on LPG - the tank that fits in spare tire place have the capacity of ca 35 liters - you can use bigger tanks, unfortunately they limit the space in your trunk. The main problem You could have in US is finding the LPG fuel station, where You'd be able to refill... Edited September 3, 2010 by Ejkej Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 (edited) In the usa it's propane, slightly different than LPG, but close. Propane for automotive use is not that cheap. If you illegally fill at a cooking gas or home gas bulk tank it's a bit cheaper but it's still around $2 a gallon, about 66% of the cost of Petrol. If you find a dedicated and official Propane for Motor Vehicles dispenser, it's shockingly expensive, on par with Petrol. While CNG, on the other hand is always at least 20% cheaper and in some cases far cheaper than that! Filling a roadgoing propane burner at a cooking or heating bulk tank is like the illegal production of biodiesel. Nobody is paying taxes on the motor vehicle fuel, and the Feds don't like that one bit. They nailed a guy up in Berkley with a nice biodiesel blog with all his mileages on it... Franchise Tax nailed him for the 0.24 cents per gallon he was obligated to pay to the State (PLUS a $2500 penalty/fine) for all the fuel he produced and consumed (supported by his public blog of mileages and MPG!) and then in a final insult to this guy (love it!) they made the statement publically: "We have been in contact with the appropriate Federal AGencies and they are very interested in talking to Mr. "X" for his evasions as well!" If you do it, get a clue: Don't BLOG IT! Edited September 3, 2010 by Tony D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean111 Posted September 8, 2010 Author Share Posted September 8, 2010 So, I`ve been searching for a few hours here, trying to find out if anything from an 86 300ZX NA would be of any use to me. The car is a 5 spd, it runs, and it`s $500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 I love the 86 Z31. it has the flared fenders, purty. but there's hardly any out there in decent shape anymore. Not much can be swapped to an S30 w/o some real work. It does have 5 lug spindles tho. Check the Diff to see if it's got finns. if it does you might have a LSD R200 which would be worth the price of admission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 sorry about double post, wouldn't let me edit my last one... That Blue car's hatch looks like it's a Series 1. You mind telling us the VIN on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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