for a 351m what does a propane system do is it like old school nitrous

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Propane is a fuel. Nitrous is an oxidizor.
The technology is somewhat outdated now. Try here for propane FAQ.
http://wps.com/LPG/LPG-book-final.html#THE%20ENGINE

 

Propane is 130 octane RON... Gee, what's alcohol good for, 115?

Also, propane is really cold, and drastically reduces the charge temperature if you're using a turbo or blower.

It's hard to find connecting rods that'll hold together in a turbocharged propane V8

 

Propane may be cold when it's released in the intake, but somethings going on in the combustion chamber that makes it burn hotter. We had 350 v8's in forklifts, and they had special valves for the propane. They had oversized stems and said they were "stellite" filled whatever that means. I got the impression from the mechanics this was to aid in valve cooling because the propane burned hotter.

 

Propane is an alternative fuel.

I live in mexico and using propane instead of gasoline is more common every day, mainly because is cheaper (by a half), cleaner, and easier to mix with air.

Convert a gasoline truck to propane you have to:

Add a special tank (propane is stored in liquid form at high pressures), a device to convert liquid propane to vapor, a mixing device that work like a carburator. It's more simple that it sounds.
If you are very concern with environment you have to change your catalytic converter to one suited for propane fumes. You have to adjust the timing manually or with a computer depending of the vehicle.

PROS

Propane is cleaner, has a higher octane, because it is stored with pressure you dont need any kind of pump it is "self pumped" and because its already a vapor before you mix it with air blends better.

In off road enviroment it works better than carburators because it is not affected by the angle of the vehicle, and i the event of and rollover it is very hard to have leaks of fuel because.

At least in mexico propane cost about a half than gasoline.

You can ask for an hibrid conversion that allows you to run gasoline or propane with the push of a botton (this work better in electronic ignition vehicles, because the added computer selects the timing).

CONS

Propane is a dry fuel so the combustion chamber wear faster than using gasoline which is a bit more lubricant than

In some areas propane is hard to get.

Tanks are like winies and are very hard to fit a good place. you have to sacrifice trunk or bed space.

 

I had a propane powered truck I really didn't like it much I was glad to get rid of it, nowwadays its not cheaper to run a propane powered truck. You loose about 30% of the engines power running propane it is dry you get leaks everywhere when the gaskets start drying out and if your not careful you can have a melt down. The propane tank is heavy and does take up room it takes more propane per mile to make the vehical to move over gas so you need a large tank compared to gas.

The DOT rules on propane systems are strict everything has tobe top notch a propane tank is more of a bomb over a tank of gasoline. When your vehical is on propane you have to follow stricter emmission laws propane is actually a dirty fuel is loaded full of contaminants.

You have to run stellite valves with propane as it doesn't have enough lubrication so regular valves will burn out quick its not expensive to get propane heads.

Been there done that and never again unless you have a big block engine like a 534 Ford you have to run propane because it does make it run better (Forced fuel delivery) sort of like fuel injection.

 

Gee, how come I keep reading that an LPG engine lasts much longer than a gasoline engine? It burns more completely in the combustion process, which means a lot less oil contamination... Go 10,000 miles on an oil change, and sparkplugs that seem to last forever?I also read that there is only 10% power loss, that can be picked up with extra timing and bigger cam... (not to mention 12:1 pistons work fine with LPG)
Mark

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displaythumbnail.php?&photoid=5362&.jpg
Ford started it; Ford will finish it!

 

Yeah, it makes me wonder sometimes. I don't know what they mean by "drying out" gaskets- the carb and possibly the intake manifold might suffer. I thought about it for my truck (most likely dual fuel), but it started to sound like a lot of work for little gain. My main reason was to try to have some sort of fall-back position if our friends in the middle east try to do any funny stuff and gas supplies get temporarily reduced. My truck would be a good back-up vehicle to hold me over til things stabilized. I figured that the tank could go in one of those bed tool boxes, and be pretty reasonable to install that way. Anything can sound like a good idea for two weeks, I have come to realize.

 

from what i understand, propane is to a diesel truck what nitrous is to a gas truck.

add oxygen to the fuel for better burning.

Am i wrong here, guys?

 

 

With stock timing, and stock compression, you will lose power with propane, but not much. As trinogt mentioned, you can run whatever sort of compression you want, propane won't detonate.

Supposedly, propane conversions are really easy on fuel injected engines, just a matter of plumbing the propane to the fuel rail, adjusting the timing, and a few other things I forget...

 

Most propane conversions on fuel injected vehicles use a mixer that attaches to the throttle body and then the fuel vapor hose runs from there to the propane vaporizer. You lose power on both fuels with that system as the mixer has a smaller inside diameter than the throttle body....a venturi. The newer propane conversions on EFI vehicles use a propane injector that attaches around the gas injector.
These work much better due to no restriction in the intake side of things. They are also a lot of work to install. They do run really well though and there is hardly any power difference between propane and gasoline. They are computer controlled too with extra timing advance etc on propane.
Propane powered vehicles can last longer than gas powered if they are built to run on propane. Propane isn't hotter than gasoline but it is much drier and because of that it kills valves and seats and guides quickly unless you use good quality parts.
All of this pretty much applies to Natural Gas powered vehicles too.

 

>from what i understand, propane is to a diesel truck what
>nitrous is to a gas truck.
>
>add oxygen to the fuel for better burning.
>
>Am i wrong here, guys?

Propane added to a diesel system is like NO2 in that it does add significant horsepower but unlike a nitrous system it doesn't require added fuel. I don't know the exact physics of the equation but adding propane not only increases power but also adds significant fuel savings. Of course there is the added cost of having to fill up with propane when you fill up with diesel so the cost/benefit in MPG may not be worth it but hey, who's not up for 50 to 100 extra horses bein' under the hood when ya need em! If you really want to find out more I'd post your question in the diesel forum.

 

is it possible to run both regular gas and propane?

 

There was a lot of great info on the link I posted but it's not working now.

You can run an engine on gas and propane. Dual fuel systems are available but not popular because propane engines need more compression to run properly. Higher octane does not translate to more power.