Anyone run propane in flathead?

I am building a turbocharger for a ford flathead and would like to run propane. Is anyone running propane in anything?
Chet Herbert ran it in his jimmy powered 32 fordor in '50s and Ak Miller built propane turbocharged ford sixes in '70s.
Would love to see pictures and hear of propane experiences.
Thanks
deChrome

 

I might have a picture of a rusty flathead with a propane carb and intake. I'll post it if I can find it.

 

merely curious... are ya'll writing about running jsut striaght propane or running in mixed in with other fuels?

-W

 

I don't have a flatty, but am in the process of building a propane fueled sbc for my hybrid rod. (hybrid as in Model A frame under a '38/'40 chevy pu cab)
Fueling a flatty on propane would be very similar. Only thing coming to mind would be the need for hardened seats and the right exhaust valve seals to resist the higher combustion temps. Propane like compression, so you can go crazy there. Small cfm carbs are easy to find and reasonably priced. I think a creative wrench could even set up 3 on a six pack manifold or maybe eight singles if they were brave.

 

This would be a straight propane setup rather than dual fuel.
Hot Rod Magazine did an article on a 50 Ford back in that time period. I guess I will have to look through my back issues for that info.
Thanks for the replys.
deChrome

 

I have run a 454 on propane for years. Very clean burning. Not quite as much horse power. Stainless steel valves will work good. There is an adaptor ring that goes on top of a four barrel carb that will work good. A lot of taxis up here are all propane. Half the price of gas.

 

The technology has taken huge leaps since they made the foggers that sit on top of a carb. The power loss was the result of intake air that was displaced by propane when feeding both through a carb. The carb might be designed to flow 600 cfm of air to go with the gas, but displace 20% of that with propane and the carb now only delivers 480 cfm. These days, there are so many propane fueled heavy trucks, tractors and forklifts that dedicated carbs that can support 300 horsepower are easily installed. My entire system costs less than a high performance Holley. If you run a dedicated system with a couple of 150 or 300 cfm carbs, you can have a lot of fun on the cheap. Take 2 of the big carbs (they're actually called gas mixers) and put them on a 2x4 manifold and you can feed 500 hp.

 

YA but it blew up!

 

Only in tractors.

They do burn cleaner and Scotty pretty much has it summed up with carbs. I personally think with a flathead, they rob too much damn horsepower......but that's just been MY experience with them......which isn't much. I do enjoy working on flats with propane tho, because they are soo clean and their carb setups usually aren't complicated.....

My worthless damn two cents.

 

I have been running a duel fuel setup in my 48 merc street rod for over 20yrs and just as long in my 460 powered 72 ford PU. It's somewhat easy to find the carbs and tanks at swap meets and wrecking yards for reasionable prices. I have a whole self of xtra parts I have picked up over the years and they are easy to work on and there is plenty of books and manuals out there to rely on.

 

Call Jasper Engines in Indiana, 1-800-827-7455. Ext 2027. Calvin. He is the general manager and has tons of knowledge in the propane field.

D

 

About 15 years ago the Belgian civil defence force sold of all their flathead powered three ton vans to the public. Most had less than 5000 miles on them.
They were stil on regular fuel but most new owners put in an LPG system.
LPG is big in this country.

 

Back in the 70's I worked for a company that did propane conversions. They ran clean and the power difference was not that noticable in a regular street car. I currently have a setup on my flatbed car hauler.
The biggest problem was the tank. If it's a daily driver, you want a fairly big one. (around here, very few gas stations have propane)
Most of these conversions were on trucks so you used up the first 3 feet of your bed. We put some in full size cars and pretty much wiped out the trunk space.
The parts you'll need are: Tank, Lines, Carb, Prewarmer, Solinoid and swithces. It's a fairly easy swap once you have the parts.
Here in cali if you run propane only, you qualify as an alternative fuel vehicle so you can utilize the diamond lanes and cross bridges for free.

Craig

 

My '68 ran on propane or gasoline when I bought it from my grandparents. It worked great, and is very clean burning.

You'll need to break the engine in on regular fuel, or seat the rings prior to final ***embly. Propane burns too clean to properly seat the rings from what I've been told.