Chevy & GMC Vans

found this on Youtube, seems like a lot of work for nothing...Johnny

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZ-v--8vWI

You're telling me? Wayyy too much adjusting and fussing, though I'm sure the author doesn't expect anyone to actually drive the truck on a daily basis like that.

Propane powered vehicles work just fine - infact great! But you do have to pay to get it done properly - different heads, valves, for example - bigger issue is where the hell do you install a large propane tank in an Astro? I have drove many propane powered vehicles, and there probably is a cost advantage to them, as propane is cheaper than gas, but you need to know where to fill and all that jazz - now if this guy was simply after a little more power when towing or something he MIGHT be on the right track - truckers use this propane injection to help them pull the big hill sometimes, mind you a diesel will handle it no problem - us gas guy would have to watch the heat, computer would not like it, cat, etc... But might be fun!

thevalleyboy wrote: where the hell do you install a large propane tank in an Astro?

Net capacity (=80% of gross capacity) is approx. 76l

My wife's Nitro is also converted to propane and the tank is mounted likewise in place of the spare wheel.

Propan is currently around 45% less expensive than gas.

Propane injection on a diesel adds huge power to the engine. Doing it on a gas engine is not going to have the same amount of effect. Buddy here with his blow torch mixing method is going to blow himself up. It is not regulated and will be filling the air intake on idle one bit of a back fire when it stalls will send the aircleaner into outer space. I don't think the plastic dog house would handle a propane explosion too well.

Stuff that is this stupid and dangerous should come with a don't ever try this warning.

Hey Kidhauler,
Good advice. When he was showing the tailpipe and how it ran when "rich", I too was waiting for the big explosion. This is a good documentary on how to blow yourself up.
I once watched an entire house get flattened by a 20lb propane tank that was left in a basement garage. The tank failed to vent and it blowed up real good.

st4s wrote:

thevalleyboy wrote: where the hell do you install a large propane tank in an Astro?

Net capacity (=80% of gross capacity) is approx. 76l

My wife's Nitro is also converted to propane and the tank is mounted likewise in place of the spare wheel.

Propan is currently around 45% less expensive than gas.

off topic a little, but where do you live that the underbody of your one year old nitro allready looks like a rust bucket? my van was a daily wisconsin (road salt) driver and now a oregon (coast salt) driver and is nearly ten years old and doesnt even look that bad!

I beleive that the pic is the underside of an Astro, actually.


st4s, what mods did you do to run propane on both the Astro and the Nitro. Welcome aboard, by the way!

The factory propane stuff is hardened but we did conversions on as-stock ford 5.0L/351W motors as well as having factory conversions. Depending on the vehicle they would run either on gasoline or propane. They did have a spark advance box of some sort added as well. There was a vaporizer that used the coolant system to heat the LP and then there was as mentioned a vacuum actuated carb for the gas its self. If it was a dual fuel vehicle the plate would sit under the standard carb and the fuel would be sucked in, but you would use a solenoid to turn on gasoline or LPG. I have an Impco book with diagrams I could probably scan a few in. The newer stuff is far more sophisticated though.

Awhile back I did post a on-demand propane system from one of the RV sites I am a part of where both gas and propane is used.It is kind of a suito nitrous system using propane instead and the propane is used to help fire the gasoline hotter and claims therefor to have a greater power output.If anyone is interested-I will try to find the link for it.

peter wrote:I beleive that the pic is the underside of an Astro, actually.

Correct!

@GnarliSafari, sorry for not beiing sufficiently concise

peter wrote:st4s, what mods did you do to run propane on both the Astro and the Nitro. Welcome aboard, by the way!

Huuh, reading & understanding a foreign language is much easier than putting technical abstracts in one's own words, so please accept my apologies for just providing some links that IMO nicely describe the options you have:
http://cars.rasoenterprises.com/Propane ... el-TBI.htm
The Astro currently runs with a regulated setup (mixer, evaporator, ECU and pulse-regulating valve) from Landi Renzo (Italy) but I plan to change for an IMPCO-mixer 300A.
The tank is a Stako http://www.stako.pl/index.htm.
From the same author you might want to read:
http://cars.rasoenterprises.com/Propane ... l-MPFI.htm
The Nitro is equipped with a evaporator, ECU and sequentially controlled individual solenoid valves (injectors) from Prins (Holland).
Although there are already systems available from Vialle and ICOM which directly inject the propane in a liquid (and cold) form and don't require an evaporator any more, thus significantly increasing the efficiency and also noticeably increasing power, I decided to choose the proven approach. Propane-Driver-Forums show that the overall reliability of those systems has still to be improved. While I don't mind experimenting with my own toys, this is not a recommendable approach for the wife's car.

i guess i should have known that was an astro, as it looks like an astro, but ive never looked under a nitro so i just assumed they were a similar unibody setup.

...and then.....The thread died.

Propane is AWESOME when used properly and to it's full potential!

Friends dad worked for propane company and his truck ran on propane.Yes it ran a little slower than factory.We took it to the strip.Biggest drawback is the huge propane canister.It got to go somewhere unless your gonna trailer it behind you.

back when LPG was $0.18 / litre it was great. Now its up to about $0.62 / litre which is still half the price of Petrol.

For someone who does a lot of driving it may be worth it ( taxi, airport limo, ect... ) but in a DD it will usually take the life of the vehicle before the cost savings will overcome the cost of the upgrade.

My first van was an '83 E-150 with the 300 inline 6 on LPG. That thing didn't have enough power to get out of its own way but in comparison.... When I lived in Calgary my neighbor had a towtruck. It was running a 396 that he used to race with in the 60's and 70's. He had the heads redone to replace the valve seats and had to bump up the compression with new pistons before the LPG conversion. The sight of a dual wheel towtruck smoking the tires with the chains clanging and Holmes wrecker rattling are still fresh in my memory as he raced it up the laneway. He claimed to get 15 mpg on the setup and was still pushing something like 350 hp and gobs of tq after the conversion.