Effects of Propane in the combustion process..., Way OT... but curious... Options

[Brando]

I was just thinking this evening about my last employer, how they had a forklift that had a Propane driven I-4 engine from Nissan in it.

I was just wondering what kind of effects, say, propane would have if you added it to the air/fuel mixture of a gasoline engine? Any idea what the biproducts of it would be? Any potential power gain?

Just tossing ideas around... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[GWN7]

I've driven propane conversions. There are dual systems (ones where you can switch from gas to propane if you run out of one of them) and just propane systems, but I have never seen a injector system for propane (there might be one out there now). This was over 25 yrs ago and there might be new stuff out in the market.

Propane burns cleaner than gas. I have been told that engines that require work, when taken apart have very few deposits in them. You get less MPG with propane than with gas. I believe that the BTU's in propane are less than in gas, so adding it to a system won't give you a boost.

The down side to a possible propane conversion on a t4 is that the regulators/ vaporiser requires liquid to work. The propane is in liquid form and has to be turned into a gaseous state before being used by the engine. This is done by mounting the regulator to the heater core line and the liquid propane is converted to gas by using a heat exchanger inside. When the liquid propane comes into contact with the liquid from the rad. Propane boils (vaporises) at about -40C

The other problem is where to mount the tank. I'm not sure if a conversion tank will fit anywhere in a 914. They are big and heavy.