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anyone here running propane on the street??

tbi or propane

  • Total voters
    10
twoslo4five0

twoslo4five0

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after looking at things with my truck im more and more looking at propane for a few reasons

1.simplisity-im currently running a 400 sbc carbed with a rv cam (dont know the specs)its gonna be alot easier getting it to run on pane then a tbi setup
2.later down the road i wanna bump the compression up and do some changes to the motor for more power
3.cost-if i bump my compression up then the pane will run more effiently and the cost of payne vs. 93 or a racing fuel mix will be much cheaper

the down side

1.accesibiltiy to pane is not as easy as gas
2.if you run out you have to have a second tank at all times
3.it burns faster than gas unless your motor is built around it
4.no gas guage (the tanks arent very accurate)
5.the tanks take up more space (cant hide undernieth the truck)


now mind you i put somewere around 25 to mabye 50 miles a week on this truck (cruise ins,saterday drives) but i hope to make more wheeling trips (hopefully 1 a month)

can anyone gimme a reason why i shouldnt go ahead and start dong this??i dont want the carb any more (i just dont like them) and i think tbi is gonna be to sensitive for what my plans now and later are gonna be...
 
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Funny, I was thinking about the very same thing just last week. I'll be interested to see what feedback comes in.:D You know there are dual fuel conversions available for gas/propane, right? That's the way I kinda figured I'd go. That way you can still run on gas, but have the propane for trails. Or you can run propane all the time, but have gas for emergencies or long range trips.
 
It sounds like a pretty mild 400, a TBI setup will easily run on that. I had a pretty stout 406 with TBI and ran awesome. In fact, putting a 400 into my 2wd S-10 Blazer, keeping the TBI.

But if you want propane, I ****in' better be getting a 427TL with all the propane crap on it...find out this week....
 
b454rat said:
It sounds like a pretty mild 400, a TBI setup will easily run on that. I had a pretty stout 406 with TBI and ran awesome. In fact, putting a 400 into my 2wd S-10 Blazer, keeping the TBI.

But if you want propane, I ****in' better be getting a 427TL with all the propane crap on it...find out this week....
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you never know what the future holds..like i said i like having power on the street ive looked at beefing this motor up or just going to a 500 caddy motor in the winter (or mabye later after this one blows up :) ) but i just dont want to go tbi now and then later have major headaches or be limited to what i can do to my motor
 
throttleissues said:
Funny, I was thinking about the very same thing just last week. I'll be interested to see what feedback comes in.:D You know there are dual fuel conversions available for gas/propane, right? That's the way I kinda figured I'd go. That way you can still run on gas, but have the propane for trails. Or you can run propane all the time, but have gas for emergencies or long range trips.
Click to expand...
yeah i know but thoose get a little complicated and have never heard great sucess stories..if im gonna put pane on it im just gonna do pane
 
Do you realize that propane doesn't make as much power as gas, it uses more, and like you said, you can't get it just anywhere. Also you need close to 11:1 compression ratio for propane to be as effiecent as it ever will be.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Do you realize that propane doesn't make as much power as gas, it uses more, and like you said, you can't get it just anywhere. Also you need close to 11:1 compression ratio for propane to be as effiecent as it ever will be.
Click to expand...
this is one reason why im thinking of payne...id love to have about 12 to 1 eventually
 
I didn't vote but I run a dual fuel one ton. If you build it do one or the other they both suffer if you run it duel fuel. My MPG suffers cuz of lack of tuning and lack of compression so build it one way or the other not dual fuel.
 
twoslo4five0 said:
this is one reason why im thinking of payne...id love to have about 12 to 1 eventually
Click to expand...

Just remember that the higher the compression ratio is the harder it is on the engine and the less mileage you can expect to get before needing a rebuild.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Just remember that the higher the compression ratio is the harder it is on the engine and the less mileage you can expect to get before needing a rebuild.
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yeah i know...i really want a caddy 500 but we will see how that goes...im just gonna do payne now then when my motor goes i will rebuild or replace it with a 500
 
How much does propane run where you are? Here it's about half the cost of regular gas...so there is some benefit. Economy is worse though, and we don't have a great infrastructure here for propane anymore. There was a time where every second gas station had propane...

Rene
 
My Blazer used to have a kit my father installed back in the eighties. It was his daily driver for years and no problems. Then gas got cheaper somewhere in the 90s and he sold it. Now I bought another one for the equivalent of $350. I'm planning to install it into my Tahoe to make it my daily driver again. With current prices, the Tahoe would be equally expensive in gas or propane, so I'm in no rush to spend money to install it and have the tank rob space in the rear.

In the meantime, I'm using a 20mpg Geo Tracker.
 
Would you be interested in the stuff I'm getting? I dont have a clue about propane, other than it cooks my steaks. It's off a 427, so would have enough to fuel a 400....
 
LPG has a lower energy density by volume than most other liquid fuels. Since fuel is sold by volume, and range is also calculated by a volume of fuel used, then that has to be taken into account when figuring economy and cost.

Fuel Type....................Energy density (MJ/L)=(MegaJoules per Liter)

LPG............................25.3
E85.............................25.65
Jet A...........................33.0
Gasoline.......................34.6
Diesel..........................38.7

So, the energy density of LP is similar to E85, and only about 73% that of gasoline. In order for it to be cost competitive with gasoline (assuming $3.99/gal for gas) the LP would need to cost $2.91 per gallon or less.

Just something to consider before deciding on a swap...
 
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