4 stroke Propane ??????????????????

[motorbikemike45]

Aren't those little 1 pound screw in cylinders like are used in Coleman camp stoves and lanterns DOT approved? 1 of those cylinders might take you as far (maybe even further) as a gallon of gasoline. Of course gasoline would be a lot cheaper unless you could refill them.

 

[AussieJester]

What sort of range would you get from 1 pound bottle of propane though in comparison to 1 pound of fuel? I was of the assumption you would need a larger size tank to get any sort of range (again i could be wrong not up to speed on the properties/characteristics of propane)

KiM

 

[jimraysr]

Gas / Propane Btu Content

I found a site for Hybrid Cars, alternative fuels.

http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/resources/a/gge.htm

Gasoline, 1 gallon, 114,100 BTU.

Propane, 1 gallon, 84,300, or 1.35 gallons to equal gas.

# of Propane, 21,600 BTU

Cubic foot of Propane, 2570 BTU

The # figure came from a site which lists a gallon of propane as 91,000 BTU?

So you would need 5 - 1 # bottles to get you as far as a gallon of gas.

Jim

 

[AussieJester]

Ok so the scuba tank i suggested is looking to be about the size needed to equal the "stock" tank that comes with say a China Gurl kit (just using that particular tank as example) Sound about right fellas?

KiM

 

[motorbikemike45]

So much for that idea. Garsh I are stoopid. I'll keep the gasoline in my gas tank I guess.

 

[shroomer]

Anybody seen these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F6cCQ1uT5g&feature=related

 

[birddog1148]

Not true. My friend's dog has some pretty strong emissions. Leaks a bit too.

My dog as well

 

[elbruceo]

Check this out

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/mcy/1681588307.html

 

[Dankoozy]

Interesting ould thread we have here and deserves to be dug up. It probably isn't that hard to finagle some sort of propane setup onto a bike but all the little disposable cannisters cost a fortune compared to petrol. Even propane from 47kg cylinders here is about the same price as petrol. 85kg sligtly cheaper - you don't want one of those on the back of your bike though. If you were able to get natural gas from the mains and compress it into a little 1L tank efficiently you might make savings but that isn't so easy.

For the larger Honda GX engines you can get propane kits that often use a Garretson regulator. Now from what it looks like you are better off to buy the garretson regulator and make / source the rest of the parts yourself because these kits are way overpriced. These go onto the existing carb on the engine. I have seen one of these kits being used on a chipper van at a carboot sale. It was a nice piece of kit, I just hope they didn't pay too much for it

What I'd like to know is what's inside this garretson reg. would it be hard to make a gas carburettor yourself? It is a much simpler concept than the petrol carb as the fuel does not have to be atomised. I tried running a Honda GX120 genny off of butane there today with only a standard fixed regulator and just close the fuel shut off valve, let her run dry and shove the hose from the gas regulator into where the air filter bolts on. works grand, as long as I keep the valve on the regulator in the right place. The engine runs smooth too and not nearly the stink you'd get with petrol.

The standard gas regulator will deliver a constant volume of gas all the time and has no way to vary its output depending on the amount of air being sucked into the engine as a petrol carb does, so varying the throttle will put it out of tune straight away.

I don't even want to run a bike off propane except to see if it would work but we do have a shredder & generator (as seen in the movie Fargo) that I would like to run off propane because there is less of a stink when you'd be walking around it.

 

[V 35]

Awhile back, SEARS offered a trimmer that ran on propane, used disposable ' torch ' cylinders . I liked the concept, but never bought one, due to not needing a third trimmer . Seems to me that a lot of the gizmology would be already done, and the displacement of a trimmer would equal some small 4 strokes . Cripes, a smooth throttle, easy starting, long engine life, never clean another carb [ at least not on the bike ] and all the brain busting done for you . Would like to see more done, wasn't the whole idea [ in Massachusetts ] to explore alternative methods of transportation, with cleaner air being a spin off benefit ? In my senile old opinion, all the green movement did was make red tape .