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Author Topic: Alternative fuel.  (Read 257 times)

Adirondack Jack

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Re: Alternative fuel.
« on: September 16, 2020, 12:23:05 am »
Butane or propane conversion isn’t exactly difficult.  A fellow I know had a Honda generator he converted to propane before Honda offered the dual fuel variety. He tapped into the intake manifold vacuum that operated the diaphragm fuel pump, put a Tee and a selector valve in the line, allowing him to either pump gas from the tank, or feed the intake manifold directly with propane. The key was inserting a small orifice restrictor in the propane feed side, limiting how much gas went in.  For a fixed RPM unit like a generator, it wasn’t that big a deal.   I also knew a guy who ran a Model A ford pickup on propane in the 1970s. A homespun conversion.

I could see using a simple intake horn on a hit and miss air inlet, with holes in the horn to suck air, and a tiny flow of propane or butane into the intake horn, similar to the “turbo torch” concept.  I’m guessing you’d need a small propane or butane line with a ball valve or similar to meter the gas. 

It’s amazing how engines will often readily run on most anything if not flooded or starved. I used to clear water from an RC Glow engine outboard by starting and running it with the thin wand of a can of WD-40 Inserted into the fuel line. It would start and run fine on WD.
Similarly, full sized outboards that failed to start due to fuel issues, a diagnostic to prove it was a fuel problem and not a spark problem was to start them by spraying carb cleaner into the air intake while cranking.  They’d run as long as you kept “puff, puff, puffing” the carb spray.