Pickup project. Propane system ready to go.

Today is the day

Yea and double poop. The pickup runs mavulus on propane. WOOHOO

Propane was $2.75 (ONE POOP) I was expecting two or lower.

It won't run for crap on gasoline. (SECOND POOP) Hope it warms up enough to check it out tomorrow. I have a feeling it is electrical (both gas and propane on when in the gas mode)?? Should be easy to figure out because it is a pretty simple system.
Jim

There is a long hill outside of town that I have previously used to test the pickup starting with a 30 mph roll at the bottom and punching it. The propane run yesterday was better than any gas run in the past which tells me that I have some carb problems that were there before. When I tried a gas run I almost did not make it up the hill. lol

More adjust and test tomorrow. I was very happy with the way it ran on propane which was my main target because even at two seventy five it is a whole lot cheaper than gas.
Jim

The guy that I bought the system from is sending a few notes on tuning. He said there is not much to tune and it is very simple. The only thing that I can see is that I need to set up the idle a little bit. I set the idle according to the repair instructions and I missed it by 200 rpm. Still idled good though at 5-600.

The power was there and I was very happy with it.

It is clean in two ways. The exhaust is much cleaner and it is not necessary to change the oil near as often. Probably 10 to 12000 miles. I think that some people do not change it at all. They just change the filter once in a while. Oil does not wear out but it gets some chemical changes to where it needs refining after a while so I think it is best to change it.

I had them put in 20 gallons. Actually, super nice guy put in 20 and told the counter person that he just put in 15. There is no pump meter on it like there is gasoline. I had him start with 5 gallon and I pulled away from their tanks and checked for leaks. I had a couple of very minor leaks so I asked for ten more gallon. That is when he added the extra five. One leak is at the filler so I may have to run it empty and change the o-ring. Apparently when the guy did the inspection he did not pressure check it. I think he just looked over the tank and put a sticker on it. It did not occur to me to check the o-ring in the filler. There are no leaks under the hood and the two leaks at the tank are so minor that it would be no problem to just forget about them. They just barely produce bubbles.

For what I have in it, and what it looks like I will get out of it, I am over the top happy with it. I was very lucky to find the abandoned unit and very very lucky that the guy did not know what it was worth. I do not feel that I cheated him though because I buy a lot of parts from him. My family and I have donated several cars to his lot also. It all works out. Same as all the rock trading on here. lol
Jim

I have a 1991 GMC dually 3500 with a non aspirated diesel engine that I run off a devils brew of vegetable oil, I get it behind restaurants used and settle it for a month and then filter it. Then tge brew is mixed with a paint stirrer on a drill, it consists of 5 gallon veggie oil, 2 qts k-1 kerosene, 1 qt regular gas and two ounces of zyltol paint thinner. Got 30000 miles now. I dont have to pay road taxes because in North Carolina raw vegetable oil is exempt.from both state and federal. If I made bio diesel in a reactor I would have to pay road tax. Is your propane price including road taxes Jim?

Hey Jim there are fewer btus in veggie oil but my 6.2 cant tell the difference by my butt dynometer! LOL You do have to plug her in if it gets below 50 degrees because I dont start on diesel and switch over once warmed up to veggie. Its good to go for the rest of the day on residual heat. The way North Carolina works it is if they spot check you on the highway and you are running untaxed then you owe road tax at your mpg rate on all miles since you transferred the vehicle plus fines! Its a big deal!

I have regular tags. There is a good chance of getting caught for two reasons, the farmers and contractors dont pay tax and their fuel is dyed red so the cops set up checkpoints and really target pickups cause the farmer etc run non taxed fuel. Also because there is a lot of homemade biodiesel that is not taxed. The tax thing is why I run raw veggie oil. I also took the diesel insignia off my truck and because she is a non turbo she has regular size exhaust pipes. I will pass the sample test because my fuel is not red but dont nb want to be harrassed so I try to stay stealthy. Then too I sleel like fryed chicken or french frys from my exhaust. It makes you hungry.

Not even close Scott. Small matter of getting it to run on high end on gasoline. I think the shutoff that I put on it to shut off the gasoline while I am running on propane is too small and will not let enough gas through. I am going to remove it tomorrow to see if that is indeed the problem. $20 fix.

I have to switch tires from my Jeep, carburetor rebuild, wheel bearings checked, brakes checked, a little bit of body work and a paint job. Long way to go yet. Oh yea, the side glass is scratched real bad from the windows going up and down against ? ? gravel and every pickup in the salvage yard has the same problem so it is polish time for those and a search for new rubber to go around them.

It rolls like crazy now though. Two hour trip today on propane and it did not miss a beat. Started on propane after about four turns this morning with a temp in low 20s.

Happy camper as far as the propane goes. Checked price today and I can get a hose to run from the pickup tank to the camper for $2 per foot so with winter coming that is high on the list. Why I am living in my camper is too long of a story but at 23 feet I have plenty of room. Another soon project is putting my small two wheel cab machine/trim saw in the camper.

Going hounding for wampidy sunrise tomorrow if I have to kill someone to git er done though. There are priorities and then there are priorities.
Jim

I would take you up on that Scott but I am out except for a few small end cuts. I have been planning a trip back out to find more but it has been windy. Fifty degrees is nice if there is no wind. Supposed to be two more days of fifties so I still hope to get back out there. I do have a 55 pounder that I would have to split a couple of times to get it into my saw. It is one of my work table rocks (viewing pleasure only) that I was going to keep but if I haul butt out of here I will probably need to get rid of it. There are a lot of druzy cavities in it and I do not know how solid it is on the inside. I would be willing to bet that it would make some killer slabs in the right saw.

Here is a photo of it with one of my boots for comparison. I am a little leery of selling the stuff without cutting it because some of it is fractured pretty bad. If you are serious I will gather up (some has been borrowed by daughter-in-law for yard rocks) what I have and see what it amounts to. I would probably give it to you for shipping and you can give me a tip if checks out to be ok after you have had a chance to cut some of it.
Jim