[pontorquer]

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars...-v8/1334428590

Isn't it bad for the valves and seats ?

[Tim Corcoran]

Lots of cars run off of propane it's a very clean gas compared to gasoline.

[61-63]

Lots of irrigation engines run on propane.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Not to mention propane’s octane rating is 108-110.

[pontorquer]

It sold for 1500 $ CAD

[tom s]

I saw a 63 tempest at a car show with a propane tank in the trunk!Tom

[grandam1979]

I have seen a big block 67 or 68 camaro backhalf car run bottom 10 on propane and Milan Dragway.

[skullbucket]

But when they are wore out, they are wore out.
We had a company truck that ran on it and if it could have a heart attack it would have .

[hurryinhoosier62]

When I worked at JET, we had the overhaul contract for Schwann's. Most of these engines were 366 BBCs. All these engines were propane powered. They were relatively clean internally, but were definitely worn out.

[ho428]

My 1996 Motorhome with a 454 would run on pump gas or Propane, had a separate tank and an extra set of injectors over the throttle body. Flip a switch on the fly if you wanted.

[mgarblik]

Many years ago I had a contract working for the local utility, DP&L, the electric company. We converted about 30 of their service vehicles, at the time mostly rear wheel drive V-6 Chevy malibu's to propane. The fuel was essentially free to the utility as a byproduct. The engines did really well. very clean when changing oil and so forth as mentioned. They put over 100K on all the cars and I can't recall anything out of the ordinary working on them. They didn't have the range of a tank of gasoline with the tanks they used. But they filled up every night. Took about a day to do the conversion, fairly easy. Probably had about 90% of the performance of a gasoline version.

[Tom Vaught]

Bob Mullins (a former Chrysler Hemi Engne /Ford Research Engineer) worked for Impco for several years designing their injector/carbs.

One of his friends was a guy named Ak Miller.
Mr Miller passed on around 2005 but he was a pure whiz on Propane carbed Engines.

His Obit is here. page 2 they talk about his love of propane.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...p.84007/page-2

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...ler-rip.84007/

He would not touch a gasoline engine vs mess with Propane engines. He had engines with thousand and thousands of miles on them.
Rarely any issues either.

Tom V.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Ak Miller was a legend in the Bonneville world. Set a couple of world records with Pontiacs in the 1950s

[Ben M.]

I posted about a conversion a friend of mine did a few years ago... no one here cared.

1967 428 4bbl, Catalina wagon with propane conversion:

[Tom Vaught]

I think everyone these days has seen a few pics of garages destroyed by NOS Bottle issues.

So talking them into any gas bottle in the vehicle is a challenge vs in the 60s and 70s.

Tom V.

[Sirrotica]

During my years earning a living turning wrenches I've worked on hundreds of I/C propane fueled forklifts and aerial lift equipment as well as a handful of road vehicles. Oil lasts a long time in the engines and stays visually clean due to the much cleaner burn compared to gasoline or diesel fuels.

Propane is not conducive to keeping valve guides and valve seats lubricated as no lubricants are able to be mixed into the dry fuel. Refiners are able to blend upper engine lubricants into liquid fuels. Even though propane is a dry fuel it doesn't accelerate valve train life wear so quickly that it's a huge shortfall of using it as an alternative fuel.

One of the benefits it's recognized for is being ale to be used in a closed building where people work and not having the same carbon monoxide levels as gas or diesel fuel have in the exhaust. There is also very little solid particulates in the exhaust of propane fueled engines. There are some disadvantages to propane, however there are also some benefits over gas or diesel, seems to be a balance to benefits to disadvantages though.

I also had a few Chem Lawn fleet trucks fueled by propane during the 70s during the gasoline shortage days. The parent company didn't want to be at the mercy of the oil companies, and wanted to have fuel for their commercial accounts serviced by their vehicles. For whatever reason even though propane is a by product of oil refining there never seemed to be any shortage of propane during the fuel shortage days.

I wouldn't worry about any appreciable valve parts wear when using propane or natural gas, over gasoline or diesel in a street vehicle. The wear percentage wouldn't be a deciding factor to not use propane or natural gas as a fuel.

[taff2]

I believe the engine needs hardened valve seats for long term reliability. I had an ex police riot van with the Rover 3500cc (Buick 215) that I converted to a camper van for pulling my race car to the track, I ran that on propane with the gas bottle tucked under one of the beds! It did slightly less mpg on propane but was half the price of pump petrol (gasoline to you).

[70 bird]

There is a propane powered ford F100 running the Detroit streets with a 460 and a F1 procharger. Its a pretty impressive set-up with large cylinders in the bed with dual diffusers. I talked to the guy and he is a industrial forklift mechanic.

[Tom Vaught]

I have heard of THAT guy around the Detroit Area. 70bird.
Having access to a "large volume Propane Supplier" is similar to Brandon Switzer's access to medical grade NOS thru his mom's dental office supplier. Once he bought the professional chiller refueling equipment he was paying pennies for the GOOD NOS for his race car.

I give the Propane Guy credit for that deal. Probably paying little for his propane.

Propane and the F-1 supercharger on a decent engine should be 1200+ hp on Telegraph Road.

Tom V.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Propane at 110 Octane.

So i studied fuels (and oxidizers) and concluded that fuel and oxidized is best stored as a liquid. H2O2, H2O5, H2SO4, well maybe not oxidizers. Liquid fuels Preferably at room temp. Does leave room for methane or LNG with a 600:1 gas to liquid compression.

I run low octane gasoline through Q-JETs and a 1050.... least fuss.

No issues with the atmosphere or green goings. UV takes care of that.