Tech: Propane conversion

LPG is a commonly available fuel in Australia, almost every station has it.
It is normally two thirds the price of petrol (gas in your terminology)

LOTS of rods down here are on LPG.

Setting a rod up for LPG costs nothing, if you build the rod for LPG from the start ........ a gas mixer costs the same as a carb, a converter costs the same as a fuel pump, and a tank costs the same at a petrol tank.

For a simple LPG setup, run an Impco 425 (bolts to a hollet base plate) and an Impco "E" converter.
Run a decent electronic ignition and a good coil.
Set the curve and initial advance up to suite LPG, and you will get the same or more power and torque as on petrol.

One great thing about LPG is that it LOVES big single plane manifolds, tunnel rams and blowers ......... runs WAY better than petrol on a big tunnel ram for round town, stop start driving.

However it only makes sense if it is cheaper than petrol, and commonly available ....... sounds like that isn't the case outside California

 

it is rather old technology, lift trucks have been propane converted for decades, if you must do and i do not know why you would, your local welding gas supplier can rent /sell you the tanks that easily exchange. i do not seel any value in it for a car. it is not that less expensive than gasoline it maybe slightly more. ak miller tried sellinga kit in the early 80's for turbo mustangs kinda gave more power than what was available at the time but not worth the cost.

final opionion do not waste your time.

 

Interesting exchange. I agree that fueling infrastructure is the biggest downside of running LPG in the US. The lack of power and cost perspectives don't strike me as necessarily apples-to-apples, but I'm happy to be corrected on that point.

The power thing seems to come from the compromised nature of any dual-fuel/flex-fuel engine. In trying to accomodate both propane (or E85 for that matter) and regular gasoline, the engine isn't optimised for the alternative fuel. Propane is very high octane, so the engine should be built with higher compression and a more-aggressive spark advance to take advantage. Otherwise, it's like running race gas in your daily driver and wondering why you aren't gaining horsepower as a result.

That being said, the mileage and cost figures (perhaps infrastructure for that matter), should really be compared to race gas, shouldn't they? I'll bet when stacked up against $5.00/gallon race gas, that propane makes more sense.

-Dave