Propane Experts..

neptco19

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Location
Athens, GA
I've done some searching here and on pirate and cant really find what I'm looking for...

Basically a list of all the parts needed to run 'pane and what needs to be wired up. Also I've seen some people say you lose power when switching and I've seen some say it didnt affect the power any...Which is it, or does it depend on the parts you use?? Its going to be going on stock 4cyl in the 2A, which only has like 75hp so I cant really afford to loose any more power. And one more question, how much $$ is usually tied up in getting all the parts assuming I can find them used. Thanks for any help :beer:
 
Yes I did experience some power loss on the road, but it don't matter too much to me since my rig hardly sees about 250 pavement miles a year. In the woods the pros far out weigh the cons.
If it were me and with a 2A flattie (I assume) I would try a system off of a forklift, but if you look around you should be able to find one cheap. Most of the forklifts are 4 bangers with not too much power. all in gearing like your flattie. Finding or flabing a baseplate will be the harder things to do. Actually used the base plate on the carb you have now, and fab an adapter to go between it and your mixer.
No wiring at all if you go with the common vacuum fuel lock off.
The most expensive part for you should be the propane supply hose, and of course your tanks,
 
has anyone here actually built an engine FOR propane instead of just swapping it on?
i am in the middle of doing just that right now and just curious if anyone else has already completed one.
 
Yeah its going on the 2A which has a 134ci flathead 4cyl.

I like the idea of stealing a set-up off a forklift. Chip, do you know of any forklift junkyards (if there is such a thing) around the Hickory/Morganton area?? Also where did you get the supply hose? Is that something a hydraulic hose shop could make?
 
if your thrifty you can get every thing for about $250. I had parker (cross fittings) make my hoses $6 a ft. ouch. stud nutz built his motor for the propane. also I didn't have any power loss , my carb sucked so I actually had a little gain in horses. with a little tuning it could probably be even better.
 
orange150 said:
has anyone here actually built an engine FOR propane instead of just swapping it on?
i am in the middle of doing just that right now and just curious if anyone else has already completed one.
Gimme a couple more weeks and maybe I'll post a couple pics:beer:
 
If your carb isn't adjusted PERFECTLY, you might break even or maybe gain power..
 
I recently converted my 258 over to run on propane. Really was no big deal at all to do it. I'm gonna do a write up on the conversion soon. I haven't been able to properly test it out yet though. I've got really bad axle wrap at the rear end so I can't get on the gas hard enough to wind it out good. I've been working on an anti-wrap bar for the rear but haven't yet got it all finished up. I'll post again when I can get on it good to see how well (or not) it's gonna run.
 
as monk said, i built my 360 specifically for pane, everything but a custom ground cam, just wasnt in the budget and the summit house cam was just about right duration for me. But, not having run gas on my engine, it runs great, revs/throttle response is perfect. The only trouble I had was getting the air/fuel ratio set properly. I had to take mine to a dyno shop and tune it on the dyno - which nobody will know anything about 'pane so I had to do it myself and research 'panes stoich and the proper AFR numbers. But just setting my AFR properly gained me about 40 hp to the wheels.
 
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