Author Topic: Some LPG expirience?  (Read 5108 times)

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Toppa

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Some LPG expirience?
« on: October 14, 2016, 02:16:09 AM »
hey folks,

anybody installed an Venturi LPG System into the 390?
Any expirience?

The petrol is f*** expensive in germany :D

Toppa

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2016, 02:32:14 AM »
so obviously nobody installed an LPG system ins his FE?  ;D ;D ;D

BattlestarGalactic

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2016, 09:24:42 AM »
LPG is common for a forklift, so can't say it would be difficult to install?  It is becoming more common on transportation vehicles, like buses.  Everyone is trying to "go green".
Larry

Katz427

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2016, 01:48:58 PM »
My only experince was converting Small diesels to lpg.
Lpg was used in 390 428 engines in certain areas running generators or irrigation pumps so you may find someone with experience with Ford Industrial engines.

Toppa

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2016, 03:47:50 AM »
 ;D ;D ;D cant stop laughing

so obvious you dont have to "go green". nearly  3/4 of the US-Car scene in europe go's with LPG cause of fucking expensive petrol! Me as well. My E250 330cui got LPG. Short calculation:
20L per 100 km x 1,50€/L = 25€  (actual price in germany)
22L per 100 km x 0,50€/L = 11€
(for you non metric guys = 20L/100km = 14MPG  ;-)

its not about going green ;-)

thatdarncat

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2016, 08:22:47 AM »
A friend of mine bought a 428 LPG engine short block from another friend that came out of a school bus if I remember correctly. I'm guessing the bus motor maybe had some kind of FT engine top end, like a 391, and that's why we only got the short block, but it had a 428 bore, crank, pistons, etc. This was many years ago. My friend then bought a set of 428 CJ heads from me and still has that motor. But I don't know anything about the LPG conversion. The engines run cleaner than gas engines. We do have some trucks and buses running around here in the U.S. on LPG and occasionally I read about a race car on LPG.
Kevin Rolph

1967 Cougar Drag Car ( under constuction )
1966 7 litre Galaxie
1966 Country Squire 390
1966 Cyclone GT 390
1968 Torino GT 390
1972 Gran Torino wagon
1978 Lincoln Mk V

BigBlueIron

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2016, 08:58:30 AM »
I have some experience with LPG in forklifts and converting v8 engines for off road use, mostly with Impco style mixers and convertors standard 4bbl mounting, its extremely easy to do and works very well. What would you like to know I will do my best to answer.

KMcCullah

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2016, 09:36:42 AM »
Short calculation:
20L per 100 km x 1,50€/L = 25€  (actual price in germany)
22L per 100 km x 0,50€/L = 11€
(for you non metric guys = 20L/100km = 14MPG  ;-)

its not about going green ;-)

What is that funky assbackwards symbol , Roman? Is that a Euro? If so, by my math a gallon of gas is over $5/gal! Damn that is expensive! I know exactly squat about burning LPG in an internal combustion engine so I'm not going to be much help. But what about E85? Back when gas was $4/gal here, E85 was a lot cheaper. Now it's the other way around. $2.12/gal for unleaded and $3+/gal for E85 in western CO.

Edit: My keyboard doesn't even have that funky symbol. Must take a special keyboard or something. Mindboggling for my simple head.....   ???
« Last Edit: October 25, 2016, 09:47:19 AM by KMcCullah »
Kevin McCullah


jayb

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2016, 10:30:25 AM »
That is indeed the Euro symbol, Kevin.  You should go to the UK if you want to see some REALLY high fuel prices...
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

cammerfe

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2016, 11:14:03 PM »
Years ago when I worked at T&C Livonia, the C6 test stands were all run by LPG-fueled 428s. The test stands stood in two rows with an engine room down the middle. There were about two dozen individual stands. One guy was responsible for the engines including doing rebuilds as necessary. I was in there occasionally and remember noticing that even when they were ready for repair they were exceptionally clean inside. I believe the LPG units were Impco. They bolted on the ordinary iron 4-barrel 428 intake manifold.

KS

Toppa

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2016, 03:00:16 AM »
jea, i worked in the UK at Ford Dagenham ( oldest Ford Engine Plant in Europe- around 1925?) I know about they prices for everything... but if you want to top that, go to norway. donno about hte fuel prices but seriously everything is about double orice than in germany  :o :o

So my question is not if its possible, sure it will be. But i want to get some HP out of the engine and want to know if it will be still possible with LPG conversion.
Dont know how the LPG will work with higher compression and so on...

First thing i wanna  do is installing double exhaust 3" stainless. This wont be a problem ;-)


fastback 427

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2016, 10:29:55 AM »
The little bit of research I did when our gas hit 4.25 a gallon told me a few things. Power would drop about 25 percent due to less btu in propane. Also less fuel economy. Cleaner engine with less oil changed. Also propane used to be 117 octane but looks like it is less now. Higher compression would offset the power loss.
Also a couple of my buddies converted to it (impco mixer) and love it.
Jaime
67 fastback 427 center oiler 428 crank Dove aluminum
top end toploader
67 fairlane gta cross bolted 12:1 390 Dove aluminum top end c6 3600 stall
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76 f350 dually 390 mirror 105 4bbl 4spd
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wayne

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2016, 06:02:25 PM »
Roush runs his mustang team drag cars on it i think also sell kits for new f150s .


thatdarncat

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #13 on: October 27, 2016, 08:40:25 PM »
Roush runs his mustang team drag cars on it i think also sell kits for new f150s .

If you internet search LPG race car there are quite a few hits, including the Roush winning effort Wayne mentioned. Here's one link:

http://blog.amerigas.com/commercial-propane/autogas-and-clean-fuels/roush-drag-racing-team-continues-to-prove-that-propane-is-a-winning-fuel/

I know I've probably read about a couple more over the years in NHRA's National Dragster too.
Kevin Rolph

1967 Cougar Drag Car ( under constuction )
1966 7 litre Galaxie
1966 Country Squire 390
1966 Cyclone GT 390
1968 Torino GT 390
1972 Gran Torino wagon
1978 Lincoln Mk V

Toppa

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #14 on: October 28, 2016, 05:41:51 AM »
cool. so it will be possible to run a HOT engine with LPG. Good to know  8)

BigBlueIron

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #15 on: October 28, 2016, 01:20:44 PM »
I spoke last week with one of the mechanics on the smaller Roush car. Can't remember his name but a very nice guy, we compared thoughts and ideas about propane and why so many are scared of it when technically its a safer fuel. He told me some fairly funny stories about being teched as the safety techs had no idea what they where looking at lol.
An impressive build to say the least. One neat thing they did to over come the challenge of tank pressures was to put the pump in the tank. I thought that was an incredibly smart and simple solution as if the pump is in the tank the pressure is equal inside and outside the pump. A standard gasoline EFI pump was used. I have never seen so many racepak connectors! hew mentioned plans to separate the system into 2, so many sensors it is believed to be overloading the system. Yes performance is available with LPG and I hope to see more of it.

Joey120373

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Re: Some LPG expirience?
« Reply #16 on: October 30, 2016, 07:16:13 AM »
Way, way back in the day, when I was wrenching for a living, we worked on a lot of propane delivery trucks. Most of the guys that worked at the propane place had conversions on their trucks.
Lots of 460s, there may have been a FE or 2 in the bunch. Not that it really mattered what motor it was on, the systems were all the same, a metering valve that bolted onto a standard holley 4bbl flange, and a " gassifier " or boiler that's job was to turn the liquid propane into a gas before it got to the metering valve. The OP mentioned a ventury type system, Not sure if we are talking about the same delivery system.
The units I'm referring to were not  great for performance because the propane ( or lpg ) in a gas form occupied a lot of the charge volume entering the motor, so it had a very negative effect on how much oxygen the motor could pull in.

It would be much, much better to inject the liquid fuel right at the valve. But back then such injectors were very expensive. Not sure what they are doing these days, with modern injectors and electronics
It might be a lot easier.

Anyway, what I remember if those motors, the oil stayed CLEAN, one guy flat out quit changing his oil, he would just top it off as needed and put a filter on once a year. The oil literally looked just like it came out of the bottle.
One drawback though, that same guy carried an entire set of pushrods behind his sea. His 460 was constantly bending pushrods, guess the propane would clean all the oil off the intake valve stems.

They also had a system that employed an O2 sensor and a small vacuum solenoid, the solenoid would dither at different rates depending on feedback from the O2 sensor, this regulated the air fuel ratio to make it "green".... though then, green was just a color, not the religious cult it is today.