Propane kit is in! And....

[Turbo__Tim]

I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I couldn't stand the suspense any longer. I got home at 4:30, and had everything in at 8:30. Tank pressure was 60 lbs. I cranked the needle valve one turn, and took a quick run to see where the Hobbs switch was set to come on. It was activating at 9 psi.

I think 5psi is reccomended, but I decided to go ahead see how 15 psi boost would be.

It was fine, no knock. 20psi, no knock. 23 psi, no knock!

24 psi, got a little knock, no transitional knock though, but egt's were @ 1625.

The last blast I did I turned the alchy system on, and turned the pump speed as low as possible. 24 psi, no knock.

That was enough for tonight. Tomorrow I'll change the oil, and friday (took the day off work) I'll start tuning. first thing I'll do is change the activation point to 5 psi.

I'm already thinking of going to much smaller alchy jets, so I can keep the pump speed up, and atomize well. I suspect that alchy injection is still needed both as insurance, and as a way to keep the temps down, and increase boost even more.

A word of advice to anyone doing this, watch your egt's! The 1625 egt reading was at 85mph, I'm sure a few more seconds into the throttle, and bad things would have started happening...

Another thing, the propane is taking the place of oxygen in the exhaust, and the 0-2's were all over the place. I read anything from .810 to .430! The .430 was on the 'hot egt's run', so at least it is tracking somewhat.

So far things are looking very good.

 

[TurboTR]

Actually IME 1625 isn't going to hurt anything during a short run.

TurboTR

 

[99Formula]

Who's propane kit are you running?

Peter

 

[blackbuick87]

Why does it need to turn on so early? (5psi) I would go through a tank a day I hit 5psi at every light

Also what chip are you using?

 

[import power on]

Got your email about the fuse.. I include a 5 amp fuse with the kit in the parts bag. Must have missed that one

Max draw on the solenoid is 1 amp so a 5 amp fuse is plenty.

Sounds like your results are in line with mine.

Here is my run this morning


I think Between my Butt-o-meter and the Logger I got her all tweaked. Between the HKS S-AFR and the Propane Pressure and Valve adjustment it's all set.

I ran from 1st - 4th up to 165mph @ 22psi (empty highway-no traffic) Got there very quickly, pulled hard 100% thru all gears and rpms, EGT maxed in top of 4th at 165 @840C. Never ran rich, my car starts to stumble when I run rich, she ran strong and smooth.

Viewed the Log afterwards. I maxed out at 4 knocksums in the middle of all gears (after shifting-b4 propane came back on) but after a fraction of a second the propane killed it to ZERO and stayed at ZERO all the way to redline all gears.

Of course my setup is different than probably anyone elses. But I am running @ 90PSI and close to 2 full turns open on the valve.

 

[Turbo__Tim]

http://www.importpoweronline.com

Using the extender chip. Kit was well put together, directions simple.

Drilling and tapping the up pipe is the only involved part of the install.

Of courst you don't have to drill and tap, just drill a hole large enough for the hobbs switch, and the injector, and use JB Weld all around the stem, and that will hold fine.

I didn't want to obstruct air flow, so I ran the stems in far enough to grab the threads, and only a tiny bit inside the pipe. Used the JB Weld on the threads for extra holding power. Then I built the JB Weld up, and around the stems.

Drill bits used were 7/16, and 5/16

Taps were 1/8 X 27 N.P.T. and 1/4 X 18 N.P.T.

Drill a pilot hole first, and for appearences sake be sure the final hole, and tap, are drilled at a 90* angle to the pipe, as you face the pipe from the front.

Oh yeah, be sure to have a fuse on hand, my kit didn't have one.

I routed the hose from the center of the trunk, (closest to the back seat) along the drivers side, to drivers side of the up pipe.

 

[import power on]

Originally posted by Turbo__Tim
http://www.importpoweronline.com
Oh yeah, be sure to have a fuse on hand, my kit didn't have one.

We include a 5amp fuse....Looks like we missed your parts bag

Sorry...I could email it to ya

 

[import power on]

Just to add, My O2's stay solid from teh second I hit WOT till I let off. I run 94-96 O2s and the line is a solid never deviating line on my logger.

 

[Turbo__Tim]

Originally posted by import power on


We include a 5amp fuse....Looks like we missed your parts bag

Sorry...I could email it to ya

You guessed it, I'm the one the extra parts bag belonged to!! lol's...

Fortunately, you described what was supposed to be in the parts bag on the web site, so all I needed to buy was the nozzle, (good thing the part no. was there) I had everything else on hand.

Still a bargin IMO!

 

[spins4]

Turbo__Tim, how is the boost/knock compared to the SMC alky setup you were using before? Can you make some comparisons?

Thanks.

 

[import power on]

Originally posted by Turbo__Tim


You guessed it, I'm the one the extra parts bag belonged to!! lol's...

Fortunately, you described what was supposed to be in the parts bag on the web site, so all I needed to buy was the nozzle, (good thing the part no. was there) I had everything else on hand.

Still a bargin IMO!

WHOLLY CRAP, the entire parts bag was missing? It had Wire ties, Hose clamps...

Email me sales@importpoweronline.com
I will send you a little refund in Paypal for the missing parts.
And we are sorry we missed that. We ended up packaging up 20 kits in one night. No excuse...

 

[Two Lane]

Running both propane & alcohol, you should never knock again!

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!

Sounds like a great idea!

 

[Turboniam]

Originally posted by Two Lane
Running both propane & alcohol, you should never knock again!

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!

Sounds like a great idea!

Dito!!! Tim, thanks for taking the "plunge" and being the first out there on this!!!

Any chance you have some pics of the install or at least of the final product???

 

[import power on]

YES, PICS!

 

[Turbo__Tim]

spins4, on my car with the cast heads, I was hitting 25psi with the SMC. Now with the alum heads, and the new set-up, I could only get 23 or so. Not much difference.

With SMC, you get great technical assistance. He spends as much time as it takes to help you. Nobody has ever had anything negative to say about Steve he is a real class guy. I bought his kit 3 years ago, and had it upgraded twice. Once for free, and another time for very low cost. His turn around time is a week, so there is very little waiting.

The SMC kit is a tried, and proven item. You can't go wrong with the product, or the man.

I would look for some improvements to the SMC system sometime soon. This should improve performance greatly. I have no idea, of course, what the improvements will be, of course..

There are people running very high boost numbers with the SMC. Also there is the low level warning light that could save a head gasked, or entire engine re-build. Something lacking in the propane kits. Also consider that the SMC allows for in-cab adjustments for weather conditions. Again, this is not available in the propane kits.

My bottle pressure in the propane kit went down tonight. I noticed the knock, and found the pressure had dropped from 60, to 20 psi. (bottle pressure) I have no idea wether the tank was one-half, or one quarter full when I started using it. My point is that there is no way of knowing when you are that low. With the SMC, the idiot light gives you plenty of advanced notice.

It is possible that both kits can work together, though more testing is neded. I'll be testing tomorrow.

Sorry guys, no camera. Not much to see, a tank in the trunk, and an up pipe with 2 aquamist lines, above a propane nozzle, and a hobbs switch. All comming in from the drivers side...

It does look kinda cool...

 

[spins4]

Turbo__Tim, thanks for taking the time to write that comparison, it was greatly appriciated. Best of luck to you!! Keep us updated on the track progress.

 

[Turboniam]

Originally posted by spins4
Turbo__Tim, thanks for taking the time to write that comparison, it was greatly appriciated. Best of luck to you!! Keep us updated on the track progress.

Dito!!! Thanks Tim, keep the info coming!!

 

[JayC]

I have guys that have been testing for over 5 months and haven't refilled their tanks yet. We're using the same size tank just made by a different manufacturer so it should be essentially the same.

As far as an option to monitor how much juice you have left, we will offer that as an option. It is kind of expensive as we are doing it a pretty high tech way but we will have it available to addon to our kit after the fact. We looked for a cheaper way to do it but people have been so anal over the safety of these kits that I have not cut one corner yet in my attempt to keep this setup as safe as possible.

 

[spins4]

JayC is the main advantage of propane over a good Alcohol injection setup the life of the proapane? In the end do you get the same octane/cooling benefits (not theory, but I'm talking real world test-data), except the propane lasts significantly longer than the alcohol for various reasons?

Thanks.

 

[JayC]

Well.. here's my thoughts in real world testing.

The propane setup lasts MUCH longer.

IMO the propane is much easier to tune because it's very hard to overdo it. It can be done but it's not an easy thing to do. I'm sure some people will dispute this but thats my opinion.

As far as which one makes more power, well.. Im not touching that one cuz I dont wanna start a war. When I get some time, I will dyno one against the other but its really pointless for me to do it because any way you go, Im going to be branded as biased towards propane.

So.. I think its probably close but I think the propane is much easier to tune. Hopefully that is middle of the road enough to keep me from getting flamed.