power loss through lpg

[vkhawkey]

gday
i was just wondering if anyone knows roughly how much power will be lost when using lpg on a carby engine. i know there is a fair amount of loss on an efi, but seems to be little, if any, on a carby car

 

[craigvk]

I lose about 20 KW or 20-30% less power on my 5L V8. This is an estimate I have observed. Same would probably be for 6 cyl models.

 

[craigvk]

But I can still kill most cars are the lights unless it's an SS commo.

 

[94 Stato V8]

Ya will get power loss on a carby car with LPG, mine does. Probably a 20% drop, just depends on whether you want the economy of LPG or the power of Petrol. You can change over to petrol on the run, just pump the accelerator a few times and away ya go. Going from Petrol back to gas you need to run all the petrol out of the carby first before flicking on the gas or it'll run REAL RICH and run like a PIG. Ya get used to it, I usually run mine on gas till it runs out, flick to petrol and drive to the next cheap servo. That way it gets a little run on petrol and keep the carby seals wet.

 

[craigvk]

94 Stato V8, I don't think the OP was asking for instructions on how to run a dual fuel car. Whilst you are correct though about from switching from petrol to gas. It's basically flooding your combustion chamber of fuel. There is still quite amount of fuel left in the carb if you switched it straight over, so you need to run the carb dry of petrol (i.e until it chugs) before you switch it over.

 

[craigvk]

a little run on petrol and keep the carby seals wet.

No offense, but do you know what you mean by saying "carby seals wet"?

Reminds me of my brother. Some dikhead said that if he switched over to petrol after running on lpg (only) for 5 years his whole engine bay would ignite and blow up. Like really. Think about it. The only thing between the petrol tank and the carb is about two short rubber hoses and a steel rod. So what if your carb gaskets have gone a bit dry. They do after wear and tear anyway.

If someone could prove to me that a car engine bay would blow up when switched to petrol with a car running lpg for a few years, I will give them a $100 right now.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

If someone could prove to me that a car engine bay would blow up when switched to petrol with a car running lpg for a few years, I will give them a $100 right now.

LOL, do i get the $100 just for blowing the car up under any circumstances


BTW, power loss on a carbied engine isnt that bad, i found it practically unnoticeable untill u found a hill. Things that would help would be the timing, as the two different fuels require different timing settings to run at their peak.

ie, the timing on my ol VC, the petrol was advanced a fair bit just so that the lpg would run at its best.

 

[WAGON MAN]

gday
i was just wondering if anyone knows roughly how much power will be lost when using lpg on a carby engine. i know there is a fair amount of loss on an efi, but seems to be little, if any, on a carby car

A car with a carby engine will lose a lot more power on LPG, than a car with an efi engine.....

 

[94 Stato V8]

Hey Slim

No offense, but do you know what you mean by saying "carby seals wet"?

None taken

Ok you got me on a technicality, I actually meant "carby GASKETS wet"

I dont know if you have had a problem with a carby with dry gaskets before or not, but I have, and they leak petrol everywhere, hence the reason to run on petrol occasionly to keep them wet so they dont go thin when they dry out.
Sorry I cant take your $100 either as I know they wont blow up, just might catch fire if the fuel leaks on some hot pipes.

 

[craigvk]

It is true that the gasket gets a little brittle. The gaskets can get rooted after a while even with running petrol regulary. The gaskets in the carb would need to be quite cactus for fuel to be leaking out of it. It would be pretty rare IMO for the fuel to leak out and ignite but not impossible. But as for blowing up, that turkey who described it to my bro was going a bit over the top.