New Guy

[lilredex]

Hi all. I've been a lurker here for a while and decided to come out into the open. My interest in propane fuelled vehicles goes back to around 1956 while working at an Esso service station in Edmonton, AB where I grew up. There were two customers who regularly came in for maintenance work that had propane powered Buicks, we never did any propane work but the systems were truly a novelty in those days and they were big promoters of propane.

Move ahead to 1988, when I got serious about propane.

My first was a 1979 Dodge P.U. 360/727 and very very thirsty for fuel. It has Impco equipment.

http://image20.webshots.com/20/5/39/14/ ... wqK_ph.jpg


Second, was a 1989 Dodge 318/904 and this one has Vialle equipment

http://image52.webshots.com/152/9/68/65 ... upN_ph.jpg


And the last is a 1987 Dodge (same as the '89 above) except it has Impco equipment. Have to find some pictures of this one.


The two B150's (vans) have 250 L/60 us gal. tanks mounted just inside the back doors. They have a range of 1000 KM city or 1300 Hwy, which is 4 KM/L and 5 KM/L respctively and pretty common numbers for a V-8. The blue one pictured is my wife's daily driver and the cruiser we use to go away with. Last trip was up the western coast of Newfoundland this past September. Not the first trip there and has also been to Victoria (B.C.), Edmonton, FL and New Orleans a couple of times. All on propane (yes all three vehicles are dual fuel systems)

The current price of propane here (Toronto) is 50 cents/L. I live close to the airport where the best prices are found, as the biggest propane users are taxi's and airport limos. There has been a dramatic decrease in propane use over the last 10-12 years. Previous big users were: Canada Post, UPS, Purolater Courrier, FedEX, police, and tow trucks.........now down to a dribble or zilch.

I have also toyed with CNG on two Caravans ('88 and '91) only because they already equipped. Both had the common 3.0 L V-6

http://image16.webshots.com/16/5/22/21/ ... EZO_ph.jpg


If you want to see more details of other stuff, go to Webshots.com and put in my username.

Frank.



Edit: try this link............http://community.webshots.com/album/200786637IqfPgy

[Frank]

I dropped by to visit Lilredex in mid-August and finally got around to posting photos of his trucks. He currently has two Dodge B150 SWB vans on the road right now with a Lil Red Express Truck being restored. Both vans are equipped with Sleegers 250L tanks but the '89 uses a Vialle dual fuel system while the '87 uses an Impco Model 300 mixer.

1979 Dodge Lil Red Express Truck
The Lil Red Express Truck is an older conversion with an Impco Model 300 mixer mounted on a Holley 4bbl carb. Rather than using a Boden cable to lift the gas valve out of the way when operating on gasoline, this conversion uses a vacuum lift and you can see the vacuum hose at the top of the mixer.


The vacuum lift is controlled by a solenoid valve mounted on the inner fender.


This truck is equipped with two propane fuel tanks (100L & 40L). To control the flow of fuel out each tank, this conversion uses a hydrostatic Tee. This Tee is equipped with check valves to prevent fuel from flowing from one tank to another, which ensures that each tank can only be filled to 80% capacity.


Each tank has its own fill valve and spit valve.



1989 Dodge B150 SWB Van
While not leaving a lot of room for groceries, this 250L fuel tank allows Lilredex to always fill up at the cheapest filling station.


The Vialle Converter is mounted beside the radiator on the driver-side of the van.


The Vialle mixer. While the pair of small openings in the mixer would indicate a restrictive system, Lilredex has not noticed a major reduction in power.


The switch over from gasoline to propane and vice versa is barely noticeable.


The Vialle mixer doesn't add a lot of height to the carburetor.


A spare Vialle converter.


1987 Dodge B150 SWB Van
This van has a similar tank to the '89.


This conversion uses an Impco Model 300 mixer similar to the Lil Red Express Truck but has a Boden cable rather than a vacuum lift for the gas valve. The Boden cable isn't conveniently mounted inside the van but, since it operates almost exclusively on propane, switch-overs haven't been a problem. You can see the Tee made of pipe fittings in the water supply to the converter.


The Model E converter is mounted beside the radiator on the passenger-side of the van.


Another view of the converter's water supply and the gasoline lock-off.


Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. I had some oil on the lens that was not properly cleaned off when the photos were taken.