Which is the best type of propane injection?

[cranker]

I recently bought a 1990 military hummer with a 7.3L diesel. It has a foot and a half snorkel kit on it, two superchargers and one turbo chargers. I have lifted it 8in. and put 44 in. swampers. I would like to know the best way of a propane injection sys.
Thanks

 

[pbloore]

The thing I love about American vehicles is that they seem to have no concept of overkill. A large SUV in the UK would probably have a V6 turboDiesel of about 3l! - 7.3l, two superchargers and one turbo charger sounds rather fun.

In the UK there are two types of propane injection kits for Diesels around - a basic mechanical system and a mapped electronic system.

Of the two the basic mechanical system is best suited to speed freaks who are not concerned with engine durability only perfromance.

The mapped systems inject a small amount of propane in based on measurement of engine parameters (primarily throttle depression I think). They work on the principle of using the diesel combustion to set the propane off which increases the power generated. This seems to have the advantage of higher power along with generally lower emissions assuming the system is mapped properly. The only increase in emissions seems to be in hydrocarbons and even this may potentially be controlled by mapping.

I don't know who you could contact in the US, but in the UK

http://www.agpl.co.uk

have some systems for sale. I don't think they've worked on a bigger diesel than a 2.5l turbo though!.

Have fun.

 

[franzh]

Cranker:
In the US, the propane "injection" systems are not EPA approved. I have personally seen engines destruct using these systems and sitting my desk is one out of six pieces of evidence used in a successful lawsuit against one installer-manufacturer where the judge ordered punative damages in addition to the sought after actual damages.

Does propane work as a power enhancer with a diesel engine? You bet. Does it work well? You bet. Does it provide copious amounts of power? Yep. Does the engine show any signs of damage when the power levels come up? If you guess yes again, give yourself one point.
If you think that propane acts as a catalyst to "burn the unburned diesel fuel instead of blowing it out of the tail pipe", you just lost that point.

Evelrod has a favorite saying, "believe only part of what you read, and nothing of what you hear". Online, there are tons of marketers offering these kits for diesels, just as soon as one of them steps to the place and has it tested, and approved. Europe has some nice systems that have redundant failsafe features that the US systems fail to incorporate. Is your Hummer a candidate for this? With twin superchargers and one turbocharger, I would be very hesitant to even think of it.

Franz

 

[pbloore]

I should have also added that the reason the mapped system is worth considering here, is that the tax system in the UK severely distorts the fuel cost. LPG (Propane mainly) is less than half the cost of diesel so can (potentially) give fuel cost savings along with a useful increase in power. The system does have to be carefully tuned though and it is perfectly feasible to destroy the engine with a poor set up.

 

[AlexDring]

Cranker-

I have a older Dodge with the Cummins and I looked into the propane injection as a way to wake it up. After I looked around and called a few of the manufactures I got some what of a basic understanding of them.

Most of them are pretty simply and are operated off of the boost you turbo puts out. I bieileve they have a line running from the intake (boost side) to a regulator that is proportioned to your boost. Some are not though and once you hit the switch you get a preset amount of propane. I heard these are hard on drivtrains though.

It does supposedly increase your range of mileage, pending on how much you use, but some people on a Cummins forum claim up to 5 miles per gallon if they use about 20 gallons of propane per tank of diesel. It does give you power of course, quite a bit, and the kit is pretty simple, a regulator, hose and some electronics to activate the bootle on and off with the keyed switch. The known drawbacks are, higher EGTs, and of course having to locate a spot for a tank, filling it, and hoping you never get hit in that spot in a accident.

If you really want to know alot about it, search for any popular diesel forums such as Powerstroke or Cummins, and there is thousands of people who have information. Bulldog, a manufacture of one of the types out there was at one of these forums, and sent me information about it. Hope this helps.