Driving on Propane (LPG) is great! It is hard to explain but until you drive on propane you will not totally understand. The best that I can say is that, driving on propane is smoother and cleaner. The oil virtually never gets dirty. It stays clean and almost the same color as it comes out of the bottle. There is no unpleasant odors coming from the tail pipe and the driving experience is second to none. The harshness of the gasoline engine is tamed by propane. With such a high octane you can adjust your distributor and get a really smoothly running car…
Sveta and I travel many a mile on propane and here next weekend we are looking forward to a long trip to our village, Sunrise to Freedom. It will be traveled 99% on propane…
In Russia obtaining propane is not an issue, or at least has not been an issue for us. But we have gasoline as backup just in case and that really makes a difference in mental satisfaction…
The only time that we have to deal with gasoline smells is when we start the car. Then as soon as it is warm enough I can switch to propane. Usually after starting it the first time on gasoline, you can start it the rest of the day on propane, in fact I have figured out how to start it on propane and never use gasoline at all. I just have to remember to run the gasoline every so often because the carburetor will dry out. Hence I start on Gasoline to wet the carburetor down…
These are the first two installments on Driving on Propane in Russia…
Driving on Propane (LPG) in Russia… (Part 1)
Driving on Propane (LPG) in Russia… (Part 2)
The workings of the whole system as explained in part 2 is really simple. You have a tank that holds propane. You have a line that takes the propane from the tank to a regulator and then from that regulator to a heater. Then it goes directly into the engine, either by injectors or carburetor. It really is that simple. No fuel pump to worry about, because propane is under pressure. In fact if you opt for a system that is 100% propane then you do not even need a carburetor. Just a orifice and filtered air supply at the entrance to the intake manifold. Propane already is a vapor and unlike gasoline which has to be vaporized, it just mixes with air and off you go… (With some minor adjustments to initial propane flow amounts of course…)
So in my book propane is the way to go. It makes your car engine last longer, it is definitely more environmentally safer and it just plain feels good driving around on propane… 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the three articles on propane (LPG) and if you have any questions on propane I will do my best to answer them. Because I did not cover but just the basics of “Driving on Propane in Russia”…
Windows to Russia!