No not for priming, however just to get it going..... MY Neighbor had installed a 2bbl Holley on his wife's Beetle. Also fancy exhaust. Winter brought about lots of snow then rain, then snow. I'd seen him fussing at it for days: No go. One evening I said to him lets make it think its August. I had him cranking it, then stuck a lit torch down the Holley's throat. Two balls of fire danced around my cold wet pant legs. That Bug was alive and roaring.
Propane Octane is a Avg. 105 , it’s BTU is 2500 . Great fuel , just a different animal than we are normally trained to use .
Any I have seen run straight propane. Most propane delivery trucks use it, as well as fleets and individuals. Starts great in cold weather, much better vaporization than gas. Very clean burning, less engine wear. (No. my name is not Hank and I don't sell propane). I've seen a lot of old diesel tractors that start on gas and switch to diesel. When they first started using diesels, some had a small gas powered "pony motor" that was started first and rolled the diesel over when you manually engaged it. To turn those big diesels, that pony motor had to be revved to the moon. Most restorations include rebuilding the pony motor because they led a hard life. Started cold, run to max RPM immediately, then struggled to turn a big diesel and shut off before they warmed up. They also built a bunch with two fuel systems that started on gas then switched to diesel when engine temp was high enough to support combustion. I have used propane to start small engines, especially in cold weather. I found another trick that works well when it's cold; A heat gun will warm the carb and fuel in a couple minutes, helping vaporize the fuel.
Propane conversions were a big deal around here 30 plus years ago. I had a F250 with a 460 that was on propane. Ran great but you lost some power compared to gasoline. With a big motor you don't notice it much but if you converted a 305 it hardly had enough power to get out of its own way. The way propane works is you have a tank with a liquid pickup tube that runs to the bottom of the tank and it supplies liquid fuel to an evaporator that's heated by engine coolant. . From the evaporator the vaporized propane goes to a mixer which is basically the carburetor. Actually a pretty simple system but there were drawbacks and issues specific to propane. the A/F mixture was critical ! Get it wrong and you would toast a set of rings in short order. if the mixture was wrong you would make the combustion temp spike and it would take the temper out of the rings and they would have no tension and then no compression. I have take apart propane engines where you could twist the top ring like a pretzel without snapping it. That said generally the inside of a propane engine was so clean you wouldn't even get dirty hands , the old oil was clean as a whistle. There was some specific maintenance you needed to do to keep them running. You had to make sure that you ran antifreeze in your cooling system or the evaporator would freeze and possibly crack. In the inlet line there was a filter that looked like a felt pad that would plug up from time to time and you would have to change that. I think the real reason propane was so popular was it was so cheap to run , here anyway. There were times when they had "propane wars" and the cheapest I paid was 6 cents per litre which would be about 25 cents a gallon in the mid 1980's The government eventually got involved and added road tax to make the cost close to gasoline so the advantage was lost. Not too many propane vehicles around here anymore except for forklifts and maybe stationary generator sets.
I worked with log trucks and equipment when I was in high school. Most of the old guys carried a propane torch for cold starts. I guess it would work, propane burns.
In proper doses Propane is an excellent engine fuel and many trucks used to run on it. Right now I am looking for a Propane conversion kit for my '52 Mercury engine with a 94 carb. These kits allow the use of Propane or gasoline with the flip of a switch. Many Propane dealers carry such systems and can install them and set them up. I'm going to scour the local junk yard for a forklift set up to put on one of my Model A engines. Benefits: no carbon build up, much longer oil change intervals and half the cost of gas. Disadvantages: A little less MPG, about up to 20% less power, The exhaust is kinda stinky. If you don't have a lead foot it would likely not matter.
I can’t speak for miles, but the oil has been in my forklift for 20 years and looks like I just changed it. Granted it probably has only a few hundred hours on it during that time.
Those were a bit of a thing here with some people many years ago. Problem was, with the differing characteristics of each fuel, the tune could not be optimised for either, so it was a compromise. Neither fuel worked as well as it could.
Wasn't it AK Miller who ran propane on some of his land speed cars back in the 60's and 70's? I seem to remember a Pinto, maybe some others.
I think the other issue is where do you put a propane tank? Will take up a lot of space in the bed of a pickup, they are heavier than a gasoline tank, and generally are not formed for a direct swap to a car and where a gas tank would be. Other issue is (here) I can’t just go fill my own tank, the guy has to come out, hook up, bleed, fill etc. so all that needs to be accessed. Much easier if a conversion in a pickup and you are willing to sacrifice bed space, harder in a car I’d suspect?
Watched a guy start a 1911 Lozier that way about 40 years ago. Updraft carb like a Model T or A Ford.
There are composite tanks that are quite light. You can get remote valves. Folks down-under know a lot about running on propane.
Ak Miller was into propane. Gas stations here always had a pump or two for actual gas where folks would fill up. I was only talking with some friends yesterday about how you never see them any more.
I think taxis stopped using propane ,or LPG as known down here, when Hybrid became available. General public got pissed off with the extra cost for yearly LPG rego inspections and the 10 year certification. Also most SUV type cars didn't have room for the extra tank. The cost for service stations to have the tanks and certification was pretty steep as well.
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