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Just purchased a 1980 Georgie Boy Travelon. 28ft with a Dodge M500 Chassis. This ol' boy is in excellent shape! (23,000 miles!) Prior owner took exceptional care of this prize. My first question is this
1)It is a dual fuel 440. I don't know the first thing about running propane! Any help will be appreciated. Is it cheaper? Do I lose alot of power? How do you operate the propane? If I decide to not use the propane, do I need to replace the mixer assembly at the air cleaner (see question 2)
2) I want to increase the mileage and performance. What options do I have?
3) I need to make the steering a little better, as far as wandering, wind buffeting, etc. What is the better recommendation Steer-Rite, or a Safe-T-Plus cylinder?
Email is fine, also. Thanks!!!
First ,the dual fuel set up. I'd guess you have a Century or IMPCO conversion which has the mixer/filter replacing the standard air cleaner. You should have a small panel on the dash with a pressure gauge, a push-pull cable, and a pilot light, that's the IMPCO setup, Century is similar. The push-pull cable operates a rotating ring at the base of the mixer. Pulling or pushing on the cable causes the ring to rotate, opening and closing two micro switches and lifting or lowering the internal portion of the mixer. If you were running on gasolene,(cable out),and wanted to switch to propane, you'd do the following Slowly push cable in until pilot light turns on, this indicates that the ring has rotated to a point where the microswitch supplying power to the gasolene control solenoid valve has "opened" and gasolene feed to the carburetor is blocked. Continue driving until engine falters, pump gas pedal several times, and then push cable all the way in, this rotates the ring further, lowering the mixer internals down onto the top of the carburetor and closing the microswith that supplies current to the solenoid valve that controls propane flow from the low side of the propane regulator. To change back to gasolene, smoothly pull the cable all the way out and "pump" gas pedal until engine catches and runs. In addition to these two switches, which are controlled by the ignition key, there is a positive shut-off vacuum switch located in the feed wire to the propane solenoid valve. This vacuum switch won't close and pass current to the propane valve unless there is at least 2" of vacuum applied to it. You should run the engine on gasolene at least once or twice a week during a trip in otder to prevent the carburetor internal parts and gaskets from drying up. Also the use of an inverse oiler, such as those made by Marvel Mystery Oil or APCO should be installed to prevent exhaust valve face and seat erosion and subsequent valve recession. Propane, being a dry gas, puts a "load" on the secondary side of the ignition system, so you want to set your spark plugs at .025" instead of the setting given for your 440 engine. Aside from a little extra engine noise due to the open air filter, and a 10% loss of power, your engine will run the same as before. The advantages of propane are that your oil stays cleaner, so you can stretch oil changes if you drive the rig long enough distances to get the oil good and hot, ease of starting, (this will amaze you), lower,( perhaps) fuel costs, and the air/fuel mixture ratios remain constant through all elevation changes ranges. Butane has a higher heat value per cubic foot of gas, 3,260 BTU's, whereas propane has 2,520 BTU's.Propane, however has an octane rating of 125, remembering that octane rating is only a measure of resistance to pre-detonation, not a measure of power, so it can be used in an engine of up to 12:1 compression ratio. Butane, on the other hand, is only rated at 91 octane, suitable for lower compression engines. There is a federal law mandating that pressure tanks be inspected and tested at stated intervals, the last test date will be stamped into the metal of the tank or valve guard, check with a propane supplier to see if your tanks are still certified for use. There is also a new federal law requiring tanks that do not have overfill prevention fill valves to be retrofitted with them by a certain date, check on the price of having that done. The tanks have a certain mandated life, after which they will not be recertified for use, check on that also. These facts will give you some information to weigh on whether you'll want to retain the dual-fuel installation. |
RV and bus conversion info since 1996.
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