I have to back out on a previous offer regarding the conversion of vehicles to burn L.P. Gas. Seems our illustrous EPA now forbids the process on any vehicle older than 1999! I can no longer buy parts, I can no longer write, do or show how its' done. Did somebody say something about "big brother"? We are living in the greatest country in the world but our politicans are ruining it by their greed and attempts to control the population. I get fuming mad when I think about how America is going dow the tubes! How many politicans are lining their pockets with our money--what they dont send to China, Japan, Vietnam etc. People here going hungry, people here underfed, under medicated and mainly ignored by our Gov't. We can spend billions trying to figure out why a certain bug eats whatever but allow a precious little child to go to bed hungry. I'll probably raise some hackels on some who reads this but it's true. Give me life back in the 50's and 60's anyday. A mans word was his bond. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now--just had to "blow off" steam about this EPA thing. Emissions on an LP burning engine are--carbon dioxide and water. What about emissions on a gasoline burner? Matt 24:44

-- hoot gibson (hoot@otbnet.com), June 16, 2000

Answers

I couldn't agree more Hoot. I used to have a car that would run on LP and I loved it. The oil would stay clean forever it seemed and the engines last much longer. Amen to the fifties and sixties.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), June 16, 2000.

I have a 1985 Nissan pick-up which was converted to propane at birth (so to speak) by the Boeing Co. for use in their hangars, and I got it from a guy who got it from Boeing Surplus (a very fun place to scrounge.) I loved it, but the propane tank is slung down low underneath and when I moved to my land, driving over ruts & tree roots was just too iffy. And to be honest, everything on it is really loose, like the steering & the shift & shocks & well, everything. So it sits, the back full of garbage from 2 years ago. After sitting so long, it does not want to start, and until I get the garbage out of the back, I can't get it towed to the wrecking yard. And i am not going to attempt to transfer that biohazardous evil stuff into my current truck, so it sits. But how would I know I was truly in the country if there was not at least one dead vehicle sprouting pennicilin behind the bushes?... In Canada, propane vehicles are legal and not uncommon. I don't know when the law changed here in the US, but probably it has to do with the big auto lobbies wanting to control any alternative vehicle technology.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), June 18, 2000.

My thought exactly ! You can buy the parts from many countries still and ship them in. You can bypass the EPA(Every Paranoia Around). Propane makes sense and they are only interested in dollars.

-- Joel Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), June 18, 2000.

You know, it would be absolutely horrible if I just happened to have pictures of my OLD 78 Chev pickup--UNDER THE HOOD!!! I can't change'm over anymore but -----! I assume the 99's and 00's have a fix in the puter that kills the ignition when the crash switch, injectors and fuel pump are turned off via a switch, which is done while burning L.P. That's just a guess on my part--haven't converted any of those years. Oh well, I was just wondering about a quick start boiler for an EXTERNAL combustion engine. Could be "fired" with gas generated from charcoal! Bought gasoline north of Evansville Ind today for $1.49 while across the river in Illinois [home of the corrupt govenor] it is selling from $1.85 to $1.89. Wonder just WHEN these crooked politicans are gonna finally get around to investigation the gouging thats going on? I'll tell you when-----NEVER!!!! Well, I'm still mad and all I can do is get on here and HOLLER REAL LOUD!!!!! Thanks for listening folks! Matt. 24:44

-- hoot gibson (hoot@otbnet.com), June 18, 2000.

Has anybody done anything with electric conversions? I'm giving it some serious thought here. What started this thought was my lawn tractor is getting tired, and I'm afraid it won't make it through the season - which along with the price of gas, and a quote I read yesterday on Yahoo! from some OPEC person that they were going to try to lower prices so as to not promote the search for alternatives to gas, got me to looking and thinking about electric mowers (anybody within a few hours of Knoxville have an old GE Elec-Trak for sale?), which in turn got me to thinking about an electric vehicle that would suffice to get me to town once or twice a week.

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), June 20, 2000.

Hoot Are you sure you mean manufactured before 1999? I would think that the EPA would be more concerned with late model vehicles. It would be nearly impossible to convert fuel injected engines to propane without major modification to the fuel system.If I was looking to convert an older vehicle to propane I would look to the forklift industry as a source of parts, the biggest problem being a regulator with enought capacity for a high horsepower engine................JAY

-- JAY (jay@townsqr.com), June 20, 2000.

Jay! My supplier said 99's and 00's are the only ones that are not banned by the EPA. Fuel injected engines prior to about 90 were a breeze to convert. Much easier than a carbur'd engine, in fact. The problem one would encounter on a newer one would be the adaptor used to mount the mixer to the existing carb. Older heat exchangers and mixers along with fuel locks are available and interchangable within different sizes and makes/models of engines. It's the blasted adaptor that is the problem. Of course, they exist for older engines/carb/throttle body/air valve systems but the newer cars have been changed just enough so you can't use the older adaptors. There are still ways around all that garbage--if one is handy with fabrication of some gizmos. Direct injestion of L.P. vapor into the throttle body / air valve. It isn't easy but it can be done. Capacity wouldn't be a problem as nothing would have changed from older engines to the newer ones in reference to tank size etc. Regulation is done by the heat exchanger but could be done with a regular regulator if one was using vapor directly from the tank. That would cause problems in cold weather because an engine uses more vapor than a smaller tank can provide if the ambient temp is low--freezing or there abouts. I can't even sell/build or anything my fuel system I've worked on for around 30 years. I guess I could still sell the plans though--it's done! Time to start working in earnest on something else that's not using fossile fuels to power. I am! More on that later. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot gibson (hoot@otbnet.com), June 20, 2000.