Propane for fuel mileage

I am not going to argue about this but Factory propane is just another conversion, Propane is a gasious fuel it needs bigger ports and different valve and ignition timing and more compression . the most powerfull engine available in the 50s was the haul scott propane engine 325hp in the early fifties when a big diesel was 220
There is a thread on this with math on the alternative fuels part of this forum take a look(the propane diesel mpg/ mp$ thing )

 

But the chemical companys said it was ok so people blindly use it. Duracool make a great organic refrigerant way more efficient than R134 but whats in the systems???

 

Thats like comparing draft horses to a modern diesel engine because in 1890 a horse was both cheaper to run and had more power than an early internal combustion engine.

So diesels sucked in the 50s, no argument there, they still beat propane engines for economy and power in 95% of applications today.

 

Yeah but what were they using before R12? Thats right sulfur dioxide and anhydrous ammonia. Sure its not safe under certain conditions but it was far safer than the previously used refrigerants.

As for being organic, some of the most deadly substances known to man are still "organic". It just means there is carbon present.

Duracool consists of methylethylmethane (butane), dimethylmethane (propane), and methylpropane. These are by no means "safe". They cause severe neurological damage in low doses and death in high ones... Not to mention you already know the normal uses

 

EFI controlled LPG kits work much better than the oil carburetor LPG kits.

 

If you change nothing on the engine to suit the propane you'd be right but I have seen a few quick cars on LPG (In Aus we call it LPG because its not straight propane, the fun police found out that propane has a high octane rating so they dilute it with butane to bring the octane rating down), I have seen a 351 Ford go over 700rwhp with 4 gas carbs and 2 turbos on it so it can make some power. the down side is you burn a lot more of it though.

To all you guys thinking propane is a good idea be carful with the stuff, when you inject the propane into the intake it is all in the cylinder when injection begins, as soon as diesel injection begins you get enough heat to light off the propane and it burns, all of it, kinda like a gas engine. This results in a huge jump in peak cylinder pressure putting heaps more strain on the engines internals. Even if you derate the engine from say 550 to 475 and then bump it back up with 75hp of propane you will get the same average cylinder pressure and therefore the same horsepower but it will all happen in a shorter time with a much higher peak pressure.
I have seen a 550 Cat 6NZ on propane crack a steel piston crown, was it because of the propane...hard to say but I have never seen another C15 with a cracked piston crown before.

 

the propane assaist has been used in B.C.,Yukon and in parts of Alaska many years ago. As it is assaist only it can be turned off at any time and the motor will run on diesel only. In the past too much propane at one time caused head damaged or piston melt. Knew a 300plus mack that could pull with KTA-600/3408 but would not get 200000miles before rebilt.To many drivers would bypass regultor to get more power. If system used as was designed it gave more power and better mpg. However system would freeze up in winter time!

 

Jas and JFaulk, First you should refer to the Alternative fuels section of these forums and see Propane Fuel Injection where you'll find REAL WORLD NUMBERS posted by BOUDREAU that shows that his propane BOOSTER absolutely saves him money day in and out with cost per mile. Its only obvious that you'll use less diesel if you're replacing 15%-20% of your diesel with propane. So the savings comes from paying LESS FOR PROPANE than diesel if you buy it from a propane home delivery or other "Discount" retailer. I bet you didn't know that if you had your own 2500 to 11000 gallon propane tanker that you could go directly to the wholesaler and pick it up at the refinery for $1.60/gallon (35% higher than the other 3 seasons). Or if you buy it from FERRELGAS or Lancastergas, among others, they'll deliver a 500 or 1000 gallon tank to your home/business and charge about $2.20 which again will go down in a couple months. Regardless, your cost per mile will decrease with its use and THATS why it makes sense. It also 1)lessens our dependency on foreigh fuels, 2)decreases our emissions and carbon footprint, 3)you will downshift less on hills due to increased HP & Torque, & 4)helps keep AMERICAN DOLLARS IN AMERICA and maybe you don't care about either of these 4 facts but facts remain "WITH THE USE OF PROPANE, OVER THE 700K MILES THAT A PROPERLY OPERATING ENGINE WILL USE IN FUEL, BY USING PROPANE,THE AMOUNT YOU SAVE WILL PAY FOR A $10,000 REBUILD". I'm baseing this on BOUDREAU's $.29/mile diesel only and $.275/mile diesel & LPG figures. He's probably paying more than what you'd pay for bulk 500-1000 gallon tank delivered price. I'd also like to note that you can use 51 gallon tanks "per D.O.T." and LPG weighs 4.24LBS/gallon.
Also since LPG is 103+ octane it actually burns slower not faster as was implied earlier.

 

I didn't say anthing about the cost of LPG, only about the effects it has on a diesel engine.

LPG burns slower than diesel?

Anthing I post on this subject is from my own experience with trucks I work on that have LPG not from other peoples posts on a forum, there are as many people who hate there LPG/Diesel truck as there are who like it, it may be profitable for some but not for everyone.

 

Your right man, it's the holy grail. Works perfect every time for every application. Saves tens of thousands of dollars every year however nobody except a few people know this. Must be a conspiracy by "big oil", LPG injection kits are hidden on a shelf beside the 100mpg carburetor.

Yes when injected properly it does increase power/economy to a diesel engine. BUT it's not free, the system isn't free and unless you can park next to your house tank and bleed it across or find a place that will fill the mounted tank in your truck it's a PITA.

Maybe someone should tell truck and engine mfg's this secret so they can stop spending all that money designing more fuel efficient engines. After all LPG is all you need, and maybe a Turbo3000.