LP fuel source, "motorfuel"
The cost of gasoline is going up. And so what's the point? The world turns on energy, It's cost, it's availability, convenience and maintenance all go into how useful any fuel source is. For generations now, gasoline has been so inexpensive, easy to find and use that pretty much everyone has gotten "hooked" on it and diesel too. Energy sources made from petroleum crude, it is now felt that it is not good to be so dependant on this as such a large percentage of what makes our world goes around. It takes major shifts in lifestyle to get the "mainstream" population to come around to changing something that has worked well in the past. The world governments and big business are trying their hardest to, at the same time, suck every last ounce of profit from our pocks while figuring out what fuel source they can exploit next. It's a bit crude maybe to talk like this and still maybe more so to suggest being among the first to fall into where the focus is going to go but in this case I feel it is the best way to go.
You are not going to change the living habits of America overnight, in fact my guess is it will not change before me along with probably everyone else that is reading this will be around to see any real change! So what can we do to make a difference right now, what is out there that could possibly shift our dependance on middle east & Venezuelan oil-- we need to spread out the responibility of our way of life. My CPA tells me to not put "all of my eggs in one basket" but what else is out there right now to try and do that with. Hydrogen fuel cells are thing of discussion at this point and electric power is having difficulty fitting into the American experience. You need a fuel source that has already been discovered, been experimented with and has had proven conversion techniques for use in our current mechanical fleet. like it or not, we have a pile of present design internal combustion engine driven vehicles and we need a fuel source that these machines can use without too much modification--- that would be LP gas as a "motorfuel".
Yes, LP gas still has a "carbon footprint" but at least it steps using different shoes. There are reserves of this fuel source right here in the US, heck we are burning off the stuff to keep the price up, that means demand is low enough that the economists say it makes sense to destroy portions of this energy source than to use it. Are we nuts!!! A gasoline burning engine will run on many "gas" sources. In fact ,a motor actually does not run on the liquid gasoline you pump into it, the motor runs on a vapor that the carb or injectors turn the liquid into just before it is put into the pistons. You have a "liquid to vapor converter" sitting on top of your motor (the carb or injectors) making a "vapor gas" out of it's liquid raw material and the motor runs on this vapor. When you can get your mind around that concept you can see the running an internal combustion engine on many different gases is not a big deal. In many ways, an internal combustion engine will arguably run cleaner, longer and more reliably on LP gas as it's fuel source.
It's certainly not quite as prevalent as gasoline is but the US does have a distribution network currently in place to make this fuel source available to the masses. We have used LP gas for many years, it is a proven efficient fuel and there are many appliances and machines currently servicing our needs with the stuff. During the early 70's during that decades "energy crisis" many commercial, personal and industrial machines & vehicles were converted to run on LP which precluded those folks from stressing out in long lines to get their rationed portion of the scarce gas. Converting a vehicle to run on LP back then would cost somewhere around $2500. Gas was cheaper, LP then was cheaper too than gasoline the same way it is today, relatively speaking. Owners then could spread the expense across the use of the vehicle and realize a descent payback of the expense of converting to LP.
Now here is the "kicker" getting interested in doing an LP conversion on one of our coaches today-- it still costs @ $2500-3000 or to convert a 455 or 403 to run on either fuel today! That's right, what can you buy today for what it cost 25 years ago? With the cost of fuels increased since then by a large multiplication number, the return on this investment makes much more sense today than it ever did! Sit down a minute and do some math on this, it will make real sense if you work the numbers yourself. You will find that the economy of doing this is certainly there. Couple that with the fact that as the cost of gas increases, the efficiency of running your vehicle on LP will also increase. It's beautiful, the more the issue becomes a problem the more the solution of running on LP becomes the solution! Hey, and I am talking about a conversion to run on gasoline OR LP gas. If you want you can still belly up to the gas pump and keep going just as you are now-- the different will be that you have an alternative! And boy isn't having options what it's all about?
We built this "dual fuel" GMC almost a year
ago.
For a customer in the UK (United Kingdom), Tim purchased this GMC Transmode with
the expressed intent to convert it to run on LP gas like most other formally
gasoline driven cars and trucks in his region of the world have been modified to. At
first, I did not understand the system and even why someone would want to run a
classic machine like this on LP gas at all. As I got involved, discovered
the history and how this system is tried and true, I was intrigued. We
worked up the parts list and the process to install such a system in a GMC and
here we are
belling up to an LP dock and pumping in 47 gallons at $2.50 a gallon then drive
off like it was no big deal. What a thrill!
LP Gas burns hotter than gasoline vapor, yes it has @ 10% less BTU energy but call up your local U Haul and ask what the retail of LP is right now, take 10% away from that now compare that price with the price of gasoline right now. A motor that runs on LP gas, runs cleaner, it has less contaminates out the exhaust and in the crankcase oil. Deposits do not build up in the motor, in many cases if maintained and operated properly has the chance of giving you more miles between rebuilds. Yes, it will be difficult to bury the LP tank in your coach but hey, anything worth doing has it's "opportunities"!
The hardware consists of 2 major components
seen here
. This is pretty much a bolt on proposition, some mods are
needed but they are not that difficult. You end up with a fuel source
rocker switch and a cable operated pull lever to open and close the air inlet
selector. As I stated before we are working with "the powers that be" and
have gathered and installed this system and it seems to work perfectly.
I say "seems" because until I test the system out myself, something we are doing right now, I cannot tell you it is the answer to all of our short term problems. I will tell you this right now, the motor is reacting well to the modification, I have already driven the coach a distance and it seems to be doing great! If you are interested in having one of these systems installed, give me a call or Email me. We are currently prepared to get you set up with a system just like this. You can be a "duel fuel" user right away. So when your neighbor can't leave his house, you can give him a lift!
Here are pics of the system and the coach we are currently testing with, give me a call if you have interest:
