Propane Motor Fuel Injection

[Johnny]

At 07:42 PM 11/30/95 +0000, you wrote:
>
>-> > 1. cheap - at least here in Canada, less than half the cost of
>-> gasoline
>
>> per gallon yes, per mile, not quite.  I don't remember the exact
>> number, but the energy content of propane is significantly lower than
>> gasoline.
>
> Here in Arkansas, unleaded regular runs about 97 cents per gallon.
>Propane runs $1.50.  Diesel runs around a dollar per gallon.
>
> Regardless of any inherent advantages of gaseous vs liquid fuels, Otto
>or Diesel cycles, the major player continues to be the tax burden on the
>fuel.  More than half the pump price of gasoline is tax.

hehe, that's the best thing about propane. In the Seattle area unleaded
regular is about $1.05 to $1.15, Propane at the pump (road tax applied)
about $1.25, but at home in that huge tank in the front yard for heating
fuel it's only $.75 per gal, delivered now, pay later. I have a hose on my
tank for filling... uh .. er.. my tractor, ya that's it, my tractor.

No wait, the best part is that you can actually build a real motor for it,
you know with pop-ups, I figure about 12:1 should be just about right. At
that compression there is no limit to how much cam you can run. Ya and
emmissions... hah, just drive right by that stupid little test booth while
laying down some serious rubber. You can get the exemption for propane
powered vehicles.

I have been experimenting with trying to get the stuff to stay in a liquid
state all the way to the injector, off and on, for quite a while now. I
could never quite get the line pressure to be stable enough under varying
throttle conditions. Part of the trouble was I was not able to get the right
injectors. I am thinking now that I can just pump up the tank with nitrogen
to boost the tank pressure to about 300-400psi or so, regulate it  through a
liquid type high pressure regulator to get the line pressure stablized at
about 150psi or so, go with the high pressure injectors you guy have
mentioned here, sized as tiny as possible so that I can get fairly good
metering at idle.

I think if you build a high compression engine designed exclusively for
propane use, it could be a real killer. Just think about how much bang you
can get out of 12:1 compared to the 9:1 we are forced to use for running
that swamp water they dish out as gasoline.

I'll see ya later (door slams as he scurries out to the shop to scrounge parts)

-j-