Yea, the pro-jection is lame. Personally, I don't want ANY computers in my trail rig, I'll probably go propane.

 

My cousin just converted his trail rig to propane earlier this summer. It's a cheby 350 that was built up a little and runs higher compression. I've been out with him on the trails several times and he's had no serious problems with it.

The setup doesn't have a choke so when the engine's cold, ya gotta keep the gas on til it warms up.

The power loss in more in the 5% range as a rule of thumb.

He also has a line running from the radiator to the regulator to keep it from freezing.

The carb, regulator, and other stuff is pretty cheap. Somewhere in the $600 range for all of it. The expensive stuff is the tanks. New ones are outrageous but old forklift tanks work, too.

I can get more info from him if you want. Like his sources for parts & info.

Kevin K.

 

I'll probably take you up on that in the next couple of months. Its time to build a trail beater

 

if I was towing my junk to the trails and able to get the tow rig to pick it back up with out many problems I would go propane. but since trails like the con you have to drive about 1 hour up ice house road and if you go out the tahoe side that means you have to drive back around to go pick up your tow vechile. Another hard trail I like is the Dusy Ershim. 33 miles of rock crawling and on the road it is probably another 1-2 hour drive to go back and get your tow rig.

I really love the smell of propane.

 

One thing that's nice about profane is that it will usually allow you to really lug the engine down to a very low rpm and then still accelerate without it bogging or dieing.

 

Bremen 242 - If you break out the piggy bank and stick a set of 32 valve
marine heads on that beast you can get over 300 Hp. out of it with propane
on a 8.5 to 01 ratio .

A buddy with a rebuilders shop just finished his 350 chebby this way and one would not believe he was running propane with the jam he produces now .

Not a cheap proposition though as the marine heads cost him $2300 Can. each.

 

I wonder if running propane makes a difference on the taste of your food when you grill it on the manifold? anyone cook food on their manifold? I never tried it but would be willing to give it a try.

 

This does give me an idea for a tailgate BBQ. What I'm not understanding is if you use heat from your radiator to prevent the system from heating up then what do you do to prevent freezing when you first start your engine?

It sounds relatively simple and I agree that you can run a much lower RPM without killing your engine. My brother used to have a propane Dodge van and you could not kill that engine for anything . . . drop the clutch on a hill without the throttle and it would chug along.

 

Something else to consider- in cold climates propane may not be the best choice because as the temps drop the LP is more resistant to turn to vapor. Not really a problem untill you get down to 30 below, or so I have been told.

 

cool idea, but I think I'll spend $2500 on a blower for about 400hp

 

Wyld is on the right track there. Propane boils at about 44 degrees below zero...therefore it has NO PRESSURE at that temp or below (therefore no runny). I had trouble with that three times......I ran propane in my 76 for 4 years while I was in high school. Hell, at $.46 a gallon, who wouldn't. I went the 'strictly propane" route (not dual fuel). I ran it on the 352 I had in it at the time. It ran PERFECT. I loved it and wish I never sold the parts and pieces. As for cold starts, I never had a problem. I put a high-idle solenoid on it that I'd flip on in the morning and I'd only have to leave it on for 3 minutes if it was below zero. When I did finally start running it off of gasoline again, I noticed a substantial power increase.....but at the cost of stinky exhaust (LOVE burned propane smell), and changing 3000 mile oil that was black (3000 miles on propane and the oil looked as good as the day it came out of the container).

I don't have that rig anymore, but before I got rid of it, I had run the Holley pro-jection on it for 3 years....still running it on my 73 2-by. I LOVE THE PRO-JECTION. I've heard nothing but bad things about it, but I've had nothing but good luck and drivability for the past 8 years with it. Also, it supports my mild 460 up to 5300 RPM and it's the 670 CFM 2bbl. (Then again a Ford BB only flows about as good as a SBC anyways...)


Cody

 

You could run a tank heater like a block heater for a diesel. That'd help it vaporize. Either that or go out in the morning with a propane torch and do your own manifold heater

95, just wrap the stuff in tin foil, toss it up there, and go. I've done it with my 300, where the manifold goes into the downpipe is the perfect place for a potato and the runner style manifold is great for a tenderloin, esp. since it's more of an indirect heat. About 30-45 minutes for a potato, loin depends on how done you want it, but figure you're cooking it at about 250 degrees, it takes a while.

I actually think there's even a cookbook out there about cooking on teh manifold.

Justin

 

If your cooking on the manifold would that still be called tailgaiting?

sounds good man your making me hungry now!

 

been there, done that! you can really cook some great things

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...12653?v=glance

http://weber.ucsd.edu/~mruben/cooking.html

-cutts-

 

What!?!?!?! Thats WAAAAY too general and simply not true as a blanket statement.