greetings from Quebec
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 10:32 pm
Friends, until recently I was employed by Bell Helicopter. I was recently part of a substantial permanent layoff and am now looking to start up a small local distribution company. I love driving on the open roads. The smart thing to do when starting up a small business like mine is to start with fairly new and reliable equipment (which normally consists of purchasing a newer model HD diesel 1 ton dually from one of the big three US manufacturers and a recent twin axle dually flat bed trailer). Of course I can never do things the easy and smart way. So I decided to fix up my 1977 GMC crew cab last summer for this purpose! It is mechanically sound with a brand new TCI R/V th400 with a Hughes towing convertor and new 1 ton rear leaf springs. The engine is a 4 bolt 350 chevy with a comp cams DE 255h cam, edelbrock performer rpm intake, a holley 600cfm 4 barrel with vacuum secondaries, 1 5/8 headers with dual exhausts, stock 882 heads, new timing chain with new 80 amp alternator, new P/S pump, new water pump and fuel pump, new HEI ignition from summit, new 8 inch crank damper ect. I changed everything that I thought could give me problems and so far it runs very well. It consumes about 20L of gas per 100km unloaded with no trailer and about 30L / 100km with my gooseneck trailer hooked up (weighs 5000lb dry and I haul 5-7000lb of stuff on it). This is on flat highways. Power is OK with this cam and 3.73:1 gear but of course more would be better. Compared to a buddy of mine who has a late model Duramax, he consumes 21L /100km of diesel hauling a lot more weight than me, plus he has double the torque my engine produces. He also has 1000$ / month of payments and a heavy truck licence to pay which is crazy expensive. Anyways, as I write this gas prices are lower at 1.19$ Canadian / Liter and propane is about half of that. I really have been wanting to convert this truck to propane only for a few years now to cut down on operating costs and pollution. I searched the net for a place where I could get advice from a few smart guys, that is why I am here. I am looking forward to sharing information with all of you. Thank you