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Propane or TBI conversation?

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Smokeyk5

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I found some info about the two but nothing that was recent, so was just wondering if anyone has anything to say good or bad between the two. I'm getting ready to rebuild the engine and swap over to what I thought was going to be a TBI, when i stumbled on propane swaps, which got me thinking. Currently I have a 74 jimmy with a 350 that has a carb. I live in Colorado and am fed up with the carb and issues when wheeling. This is not my daily driver primarily be used for going camping/moderate wheeling and the occasional trip to the hamburger stand on Friday night, never planning long distance trip or towing. Truck is emission except and i can't find anything about it being illegal to drive on the street with propane. So for a TBI swap my price guess is about 1000-2000 and excluding my time to install it and hope everything works. Compared to http://www.gotpropane.com complete V8 kit for under 1000 plus the cost of finding a tank, easy install from what I gather. I know that propane runs hotter than gas and would have to build the heads with proper valves, they say about 10% mileage difference well that like maybe a mile per gallon, can be hard to come by, I know my dad has a massive propane tank at his house that's filled monthly, so I imagine someones around. So I'm thinking for simplicity sake go with propane, possibly do a duel fuel and keep the carb for fail safe. Any input?
 
I just went through this at the end of the summer.

Long story short I ended up going with a TBI swap from affordablefuelinjection.com
The kit was almost identical in price to a COMPLETE propane swap. A lot of guys don't look at the cost of the tanks and mounts which can add quite a bit to the total cost.

Propane was cool because of it's simple setup and operation but the real downer is finding fuel and the volume it takes to carry enough fuel. It can suck up a ton of space to carry enough propane on board for long trips. At the end of the day I just couldn't sleep having to worry about finding fuel in the middle of nowhere. You can find gas just about anywhere on the planet, as of now the same can't be said for propane.

Now that I've installed my TBI setup I can honestly say it's pretty fool-proof as well so the extra plus I was giving propane for "simplicity" in the beginning was really just my ignorance of how TBI works.

Hope that helps a little.
 
Avery4jc, it does help thanks. I did see their kits and was thinking of going with them as well. How was the install on it? Any issues? Nice build btw.
 
Keep your eye open, or go to a local junkyard, and grab a complete TBI setup. I just gave one away as well as a good running TBI motor.....

A factory set up can be had for WAY less then 1500$
 
Smokeyk5 said:
Avery4jc, it does help thanks. I did see their kits and was thinking of going with them as well. How was the install on it? Any issues? Nice build btw.
Click to expand...

I haven't fired it yet but it's all installed. It was a VERY nice kit. Came with absolutely everything needed to install. The computer, brand spanking new harness with just the stuff you need for your specific setup. Fuel pump/filter, all new sensors and all the little clamps, fuel line adapters and little stuff that nickle and dimes ya if you're building a kit from scratch. Not to mention the two guys I dealt with (one on the phone and one through e-mail) were very knowledgeable and helpful.


plyr2k said:
Keep your eye open, or go to a local junkyard, and grab a complete TBI setup. I just gave one away as well as a good running TBI motor.....

A factory set up can be had for WAY less then 1500$
Click to expand...

I thought about this as well but at the end of the day their kit is worth the money. My kit through them was $1,000 done and shipped. Even a junkyard TBI setup gets costly when you factor in a simple rebuild, new harness and all the sensors and stuff. It can be done for less but to most guys looking at this swap it's probably worth it to just buy the kit from AFI.
 
I vote TBI for sure.

All the guys I have wheeled with on propane have issues, tanks get to cold and lose pressure, gauge on tank doesn't read right, propane tanks left on overnight not as much fuel as you think you have.

Oh and then there is the whole putting the tank in the truck thing. Takes up the whole back area to get an equivalent to the 31 gallon tank you normally have.
 
Ok, well seems like TBI is taking the lead. In regards to the conversion for it, i thought there was something that had to be done to either have a pressurized fuel tank or something like that and don't I also have to replace the intake manifold, possibly heads? I would rather buy an out of box kit then trying to scrap together a junkyard one, yeah it may be cheaper but it sucks when you get something and it's missing a part or just flat out doesn't work.
 
I have propane on my Blazer/buggy deal and it works great! I burn a stupidly small amount of fuel, probably 1/2 gallon/hr running my 383.

Having said that, my big complaint is with filling the tanks. Finding places that fill propane tanks is easy, finding the people to fill your tank isn't always as easy. You can't fill your own tanks and the person has to be "certified" to fill your propane tank for you. So you have to be at the filling station during the hours that person is working and while they aren't on vacation etc. On top of that, you have to take the tank off of the vehicle to fill it.

Also, as far as I know, the DMV frowns on putting a fuel tank inside an enclosed vehicle.
 
38377k5, yeah if I was running a buggy I'm pretty sure I would go propane hands down. What system are you ruuning? Is there anything you would change on the current set-up you have? I know here in Denver theres a couple of the major welding and gas shops and I even checked some local hardware store and they said they should be able to fill, but everyone knows how that "should" works out. Yeah the DMV and CDOT frown upon a lot of things I chose to do but what they don't know won't hurt them :D
 
TBI can get fuel anywhere, parts anywhere, service anywhere and tuning to an engine build is easy, cost of MPG is less and will always put out more HP then propane...
 
You can put and tank inside the vehicle but you have to vent the pop off out of the vehicle.
I really like LPG but who says I am right in the head.
 
Yes you can. It is a good way to gain back some of the power lost by going to LP.

John can tell you exactly how much power he lost by switching to LP because he dynoed before and after.

Martin
 
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