Nitrous is not flammable. But it is under high pressure.

Diesel guys have been using propane for a while now. They also use it on rock crawlers so that at steep angles you don't have to worry about fuel sloshing and loosing power. There are some old Ford engines that were LNG ready, just needed to add the tank and go.

 

gasolines boiling temp is around 96 degrees!

 

never heard of this b4, ill keep checking back to this page

 

You might get 0.1 psig of pressure in the gas tank - tops. It is vented to atmosphere after all (even though the evap solenoid and charcoal filter are in the vent path). But it is an atmospheric vessel (design engineering wise). Your comparison that the stock gas tank is just as risky as a propane tank is the height of ignorance.

You can make all the flippant comparisons you want regarding its relative safety. IMO LPG is potentially more dangerous than having a even a nitrous oxide tank in your car, and much more risky than the stock gas tank. Fact is - safety is mostly quantified by the design and execution of the system.

Nitrous tanks are (normally) safely integrated into the car. Thick walled pressure vesssel (tank), solid and sturdy tank mounting brackets, HS forged steel manifold with rupture discs to prevent overpressure, etc. all show proof of safe design practice. And Nitrous is just an oxidizer, not a fuel.

OTOH hanging a BBQ pit propane tank from a bent clothes hanger in the trunk (or worse yet in the cab) is relatively safer than driving around with a live hand grenade hanging by its pin from the rear view mirror. But it's not very safe in absolute terms. Using a pressurized two-phase fuel tank puts the onus on you to safely design and integrate it properly into the vehicle. It can be done in a way that minimizes the risks involved. Check out Millen's old 300zx tt hill climb racer that ran on LPG.

I understand the performance benefits of LPG as fuel, but safety is paramount.
It is obvious that you have no idea of the magnitude of consequences of rapidly expanding gases (explosion), especially if the gas is flammable. I have seen the results of propane, natural gas, and several other fuel type explosions in gas plants, boiler rooms, etc. It ain't pretty.

 

no it's not pressurized. There are vent systems in gas tanks now to prevent this.

As for "not more dangerous than nitrous", I beg to differ.

I know diesel guys use propane like crazy. But they also keep the tank in the bed of the truck, not in the cabin/trunk.

Besides, you ran without an intercooler. That's great. But you probably spent more in propane refills than it would've cost to throw on a very efficient FMIC whic would've allowed you to run the same boost without any supplementary system.

 

I have shot full tanks of propane with my AR-15 (on 2,000 acres of secluded property of course) and the tank does not blow up in a fiery inferno. Yes, the pressure RAPIDLY escapes, but there is no fire from a tank puncture, even with hot lead searing through it. To get a tank to "blow up" we had to attach a torch to it before we shot at it. This same theory was tested on myth busters.

So if a tank was punctured in your trunk it wouldn't be as dangerous as some of you are making it out to be. The car would have to be on fire before the tank was punctured (when exactly does that happen?). And if that was the case, you would already be dead from the gas in your gas tank exploding.



As for the benefits of propane, I have seen it used extensively on diesels and the results are astounding. Not only will it drop IAT's *tremendously* but it makes AMAZING power! I'd like to see someone give it a whirl. I wouldn't try it without a number of fail-safes for when the tank runs out of propane and you start running lean.... that would be bad.

 

to be honest i stopped reading when you mentioned a bent coat hanger.

to speak of ignorance and say something like this is incredibly hypocritical.

you're assuming a lot of shit here and call me the ignorant one?




you have ZERO facts on my setup save for one picture of the tank and gauges.

 

what?

did you even read?

$3.00 lasts 1-2 weeks

there are 52 weeks in a year

thats less than $200 at most.... and last time i checked most good FMIC are around $1500 from a reputable vendor in the buick world not to mention the issue with relocationg a throttle body on these cars.

there are others with IC'd cars that ran them with frontmounts and had great results as well.

 

and fwiw, the tank is mounted on the parcel shelf directly behind the passenger seat, which incidentally is between the wheelwells and in one of the most reinforced places on the car.

the bottle is secured to a 1/4" thick steel bracket with HD screw type hose clamps and the bracket is bolted to the body of the car with a reinforcement plate under the body with some heavy duty bolts

the tank is going nowhere in the event of a crash unless the severity is enough for a 15lb object to have enough force to rip a 6"x4" hole in the actual body of the car.

in addition unless the vehicle is rear ended with enough force to shorten the car by about 5ft lengthwise or with enough force to remove the entire rear suspension cradle from underneath the car AND compress the car to <50% of its width i should be fine as well. in BOTH of these cases the fuel tank would have already ruptured, thus rendering your argument completely null and void (in my case anyway)

lol.

3si folks and buick folks have been doing this for years and i've yet to hear of a single incident

 

Propane is a VERY safe fuel.....


I know shooting it with a metal jacket bullet didn't bother a full container...it just leaked until empty, who'd have known. (well I knew in advance it was part of a bet)