propane and nitrous

[beakerztoyz]

hi all i have a friend who wants to run propane and nitrous on his smallblock chev. we were told it would work with the right kit. anyone seen or done this ? any advice to remember, im thinking it might be a little trickier than gas and nitrous but not sure thought id ask around here thanks for the help T.J.

[spyder_xlch]

I can't help but what's the benifit of running propane? I understand on a forklift in a warehouse because of the emisions but why on a street or race car?

[SunbirdMan]

"Propane is widely available. Propane fuel tanks are 20 times more puncture resistant than conventional gasoline tanks. "Closed" fueling systems prevent leaking and vapor emissions. Propane emits 60% lower carbon monoxide and 50% lower reactive hydrocarbons than gasoline. Engines run by propane are cleaner and last longer. Propane vehicles can have as much as double the engine life of gasoline vehicles. Propane reduces lubricant contamination by fuel and has little to no carbon build up in combustion chambers or pistons. "Premium" gasoline has octane ratings of 91-92. Propane's octane rating is 104."

I got a CARB legal quadrajet-based propane carb I plan to use someday. Its got some disavantages but I'm one of these guys who's always got to be different. You know the type. A lot of them drive h-bodies.

[spyder_xlch]

"Propane is widely available. Propane fuel tanks are 20 times more puncture resistant than conventional gasoline tanks. "Closed" fueling systems prevent leaking and vapor emissions. Propane emits 60% lower carbon monoxide and 50% lower reactive hydrocarbons than gasoline. Engines run by propane are cleaner and last longer. Propane vehicles can have as much as double the engine life of gasoline vehicles. Propane reduces lubricant contamination by fuel and has little to no carbon build up in combustion chambers or pistons. "Premium" gasoline has octane ratings of 91-92. Propane's octane rating is 104."

I got a CARB legal quadrajet-based propane carb I plan to use someday. Its got some disavantages but I'm one of these guys who's always got to be different. You know the type. A lot of them drive h-bodies.

I know all of that stuff. But what about fuel economy or power, how does propane compair to gasoline?

[SunbirdMan]

Propane has less energy per gallon than gas so an apples to apples comparison it has less power and lower mpg than gas. Propane is usually priced cheaper per gallon. Right now for comparison I found bakersfield, CA regular gas $4.31 and propane $3.29. That's way into propanes favor for cost per mile. On the power side, if one were to build an engine with higher compression ratios and a more aggressive timing curve (to take advantage of the 104 octane)that could bring the power into line. And when it comes down to it, you just need to get more fuel and air into the thing and power is like any gasoline motor. This car burns propane and its alot faster than i plan to go. I seem to remember there was someone around here with a propane h-body.

[rtm]

weird twist on a jackson browne song; PROPAAANE, RUNNIN ALL AROUND MY BRAIN!!
you guys (and the price of gasoline ) have me thinking about converting.

[spyder_xlch]

Propane may be cheaper but if it gets less mileage then cost per mile might be pretty similar. And then if you pump even more propane into the engine to get more power what will that do for mileage?

[SunbirdMan]

I think things are in favor of propane right now. According to David Vizard, a compression ratio increase from 8.1:1 to 11:1 can increase mileage 20% or more. Its not an apples to apples comparison for me. I'm not going to convert my 305 to propane and leave it at that. I'm going to take advantage of the 104 octane. But a straight conversion is still probably in favor of propane from what i've read. Roughly 20% cheaper. And delivers 90% of gasoline's mpg.

[spyder_xlch]

I know alot of the propane delivery trucks around here use to run on propane. I saw one at the gas station filling up with diesel and asked him about it. He said it's cheaper to run diesel than propane now. Years ago it was cheaper to use propane but even at their price propane was much more to run than diesel because of the mileage. This was about a year ago. But anyway, sorry to hi-jack the thread T.J. Since nobody answered your question here you might want to try http://speedtalk.com/forum

[MIKESMONZA]

Is the Propane Quadra jet a dual fuel carbuertor,?
Start's on gas and with flip of switch goes to propane.Then back when Cylnder is empty.?

or strickly Propane into the fuel bowl,?

I can remmeber some conversion police cars,Fleet city and County,Power company
but the delivery device looked a lot like TBI units ,well kind of.
Mike

[SunbirdMan]

Its just propane. The memory card in my camera won't hold pictures anymore but here's what I could find on the net. Its this carb with this adapter.

[MIKESMONZA]

Looks kinda short on what's left of the Q-Jet,base and walls
,but the stack top is taller but could it fit under hood, It seems to be a Disc Diaphram on top ???
Then the filter I guess would sit on top???? covering the slits on the Stack Can below??
Mike

[SunbirdMan]

I said "I got a ...quadrajet-based propane carb" I should have said " I have a propane carburetor with a quadrajet base " That's how they do it. They make a Holley base to fit the same carb.
It does require a taller air cleaner lid but I think it will be ok with the Sunbird hood.

[MIKESMONZA]

Rodger; what ever the propane carb research,you have done,It'S Great,,
I am fine with the name's or descriptions,,
To be honest I was Imaginng a Dual fuel Quadrajet,
,,, stacked with a Gas LP Sprayer above,,,, that would have been way to tall.

Went looking at a ProPane Conversion in a few sites ,
Mostly Stationary, Pumps and Lawn Equipment,Some Automotive,;

The Dry Plastic intake V-6 and V-8 with Individual injectors looked Interesting.
The other Carb like device had a adapter for cold air/ air Fiter box Relocation,

Seems these units "do not" like back fire's,,
require a little diferent Gas/ Air Filter maintenance,,,,,,
Fuel tank's and Plumbing
And like you said
"Have nice Compression ratio friendly 104 Octane"

And sarcatic-ly punks doing a drive, Black Talon tiped Ammo,
, by shooting to close to Tank,actualy punture it,
The explosion shockwave may include their Car too ,

Will be back later ,,,Mike

[SunbirdMan]

Mike, I guess you missed the Mythbusters episode on propane tanks.

"--A person can shoot a propane tank and make it explode.
busted
First, the Build Team decided to test whether it was possible to breach a propane tank with Bond’s 9mm handgun. They found that 9mm rounds were not powerful enough to breach the tank, but shotgun shells and .30 caliber rifle rounds were more than enough to pierce the tank. They then fired armor piercing rifle rounds at a tank filled with propane, but could not get the tank to explode. Not even tracer rounds were successful. Finally, the Build Team resorted to extreme measures. They found that the only sure way to make a propane tank explode was to use high explosive or a high powered Gatling gun firing incendiary rounds. The Build Team concluded that Bond (and most people) would not normally have access to such weaponry, busting the myth.
(Based on a scene in Casino Royale.)"

I took a closer look at my Sunbird today, I'm not too confident that carb is going to fit. I won't know for sure until I get a four barrel manifold on it.