|
Post by Volktales on Jul 19, 2020 21:18:47 GMT -8
Sooo, despite my VW addictions, and Honda/Acura/Toyota appreciations, i have always owned at least one "American" vehicle. Although actually produced in Canada, I have never known life without my 1969 Chevrolet CST/10 truck. Dad bought it when it was only six months old, and daily drove it for the next 25 years. I have now owned it 26 years myself and is a permanent part of the family. The truck has only been used in the summer months for years now, and has asked almost nothing in return for maintenance. I do change the oil every year, but little else has been required. But things eventually do fail, and it was time to change the water pump. Despite not leaking any coolant, or making funny noises, the bearing failed and had lots of play. Of course a new pump for a 51 year old Chevy was in stock, and this was painted Chevrolet Orange to match the engine. I even found the same can of spray paint I last used on this same engine almost 25 years ago. And unlike today's crappy spray bombs, it still worked perfectly... I got carried away as usually and cleaned up some of the shiny bits under the hood. Nice "throwing star" fan Dad installed back in the early 80's. He chromed up a few parts at the same time as well. Did I mention I get carried away. It had not been cleaned under there for years... Still runs well even with those sparkplug wires that are pushing 40 years old. And Dad got them USED too! And there she is. Yes I know the wheels are ugly (were meant to be temporary winter wheels, now on there for 19 years!), and the hideous sunroof Dad installed back in the hot summer of '76. The chunk of metal he cut out of the roof is what the homemade hood scoop was made from. Yes I know it is fairly rough and very dated in many ways, but this is how it has always been to me, and just continues to work. Five decades later,...
|
|
|
Post by magikbus on Jul 20, 2020 6:34:48 GMT -8
What's that component installed on the right fender wall, behind the battery. It looks for all the world like a propane vaporizer/regulator sometimes called a converter. Is that vehicle propane powered? If so that's probably why it has lasted so long. Stan
|
|
|
Post by Volktales on Jul 20, 2020 6:53:28 GMT -8
Been propane powered for 25 years now. Only way I could afford to drive it...
|
|
|
Post by magikbus on Jul 20, 2020 7:45:20 GMT -8
I've had 2 propane powered trucks, both Dodges, both 440's. Question, did you have hardened valves installed? I was told way back in 1974 that I should drive my new 440 at least 3000 miles to harden the valves first before switching to the higher heat propane. That was in Dawson Creek btw, I drove that truck in temps as low as -60 deg without any problems. I had a small built in propane powered water heater that kept the engine warm when attending Friday night dances so that at the middle of the dance I didn't have to go outside and start my truck like everybody else did so they'd be able to start them around midnight. I could always tell my truck from a distance because it was the only one in the parking lot with no snow on the hood.
On my second truck I had the 440 rebuilt with 1960's domed pistons to boost the compression and got the sodium filled valves installed right from the start.
Question#2, How did you account for the differences in dwell required by propane. Did you put in a weaker spring with a small limiting plate to limit the amount of spread of the "arms"? It worked on the Dodge system.
|
|
|
Post by Volktales on Jul 20, 2020 19:24:31 GMT -8
The shop I used to work at specialized in propane conversions. Other than a new tank and lines, all the IMPCO equipment was used. I was able to do the whole conversion for quite cheap. The engine is not the original from the truck, and was once installed in a 1967 Camaro. Dad bought it out of the old Buy, Sell, and Trade paper. It had been built for high performance use and had 11.5 to 1 compression ratio which is good for propane, but the very lumpy race cam was not. Dad ran this engine for a long time with a huge drooling Holley four barrel with mechanical secondaries on a single plane manifold. There was little power till you were above 3500 then watch out! The brakes barely worked as there was virtually no vacuum at idle to run the booster.
Once I bought the truck, I yanked the old cam and stuck an RV grind in there. Nice idle and brakes again. The distributor was modified with weaker springs with the advance set to 42 degrees overall. Once the initial timing and mixture was set, that was it. It has never needed adjustments again in 25 years... Propane has an octane rating about 110, so high compression is good. Propane also burns cleanly (as a gas), so your oil stays clean too. Well built propane engines can go 500,000 km with ease. If your valve seats are not hard enough, then seat recession can occur, but some engines are more prone to this than others. Mine were not modified but seem to be ok so far... Other nice features are propane systems do not require a fuel pump. They do take longer to crank to start when cold, but once at operating temperature they start instantly. Propane itself does give you a bit less power then gasoline, and a bit less fuel economy. But propane is much cheaper than gas, so this is not too bad. And if you let your vehicle sit for six months of the year like I do, propane won't go bad like gas. For me it was a great thing, but certainly not suitable for most vehicles anymore...
|
|
|
Post by magikbus on Jul 21, 2020 7:41:38 GMT -8
You're absolutely correct on all fronts, I love propane. I've often tried to figure out how I could convert a Vw engine but haven't come up with a suitable solution. As for the price of fuel however, when I first converted my 74 Dodge, propane was 19 cents per gallon and gas was around a dollar per imp. gal. Now however the prices are much closer aligned so much of that advantage is gone. You are also correct on engine longevity with propane vs gasoline. When I was researching buying a generator for the farm up in Dawson Creek I was blown away by the difference in warranty service for propane gen sets, usually twice or three times the length of time for propane powered ones, simply because they last so long.
I was never a fan of dual fuel systems so I always went with impco (it's Australian isn't it?) full propane hardware. It always seemed to me if you went with dual fuel, your ignition settings were half what they should be for both set ups. Stan
|
|
|
Post by owdlvr on Jul 21, 2020 11:08:32 GMT -8
My first thought was "whoa that's dated", but then after reading the story...I'm stoked. That is a sweet truck, and running on propane is rad.
Good to know someone is evening out my cummins-swapped chevy. Your oil is clean even when you change it, mine is dirty after the starter turns it over for the first revolution!
|
|
|
Post by magikbus on Jul 21, 2020 12:55:07 GMT -8
I'd change the oil in my propane 440 every 3000 miles, that's in Dawson Creek with subzero temps in winter, hot dry dusty conditions in the summer, working it out in the field with a 30' goose neck flatdeck collecting haybales off the 20 acre hayfield and bales of straw off the 40 acre oat field. My oil was never dirty enough that I could ever get an accurate reading from the dipstick, and yes the 440 drooled oil as they all do due to the tappet cover wrapping over the exhaust manifold and cooking the gasket, so it called for constant attention in those working conditions. Stan
|
|
|
Post by CrazyBrit on Jul 21, 2020 18:26:38 GMT -8
My first thought was "whoa that's dated", but then after reading the story...I'm stoked. That is a sweet truck, and running on propane is rad. Good to know someone is evening out my cummins-swapped chevy. Your oil is clean even when you change it, mine is dirty after the starter turns it over for the first revolution! "Rad". Love it. Totally 80's. A colleague uses rad all the time. It's way better than "siiccck man"
|
|
|
Post by tony on Jul 21, 2020 19:55:48 GMT -8
Epic!
|
|
|
Post by Volktales on Jan 31, 2021 20:36:59 GMT -8
Sooo, the mighty Chevy was barely used last year; due in part to Covid, and then later "issues". The starter was acting up and finally failed completely and made nice growling noises on the final attempt to crank. It was sitting exactly in the right spot, under the carport, so I just left it there and have ignored it since. Until today that is... Getting the starter out on the ground was not particularly fun, but I managed. Then it was ripped apart, (along with a damaged free spare), to check to see what went wrong. It did not take long to find the answer... Look at that nasty armature on the left, compared to the one from the chrome starter on the right. Not good... You can see that material has smeared across the commutator bars, which has shorted things out. There did not appear to be any undercutting of the insulation between the bars either. This was a rebuilt alternator purchased from a specialty shop some time ago, and in reality has not had a lot of use. Disappointing. As luck would have it, the other chrome starter (that was given to me by Steve, who used to own my GTI), was good internally. It was taken out of service due to that broken casting, not failure to operate. Yet more luck was on my side when I remembered I had this in my stash. I bought this repair kit from the old recycling centre that was once behind Nanaimo Toyota. Pretty sure I paid $2 for it... I swapped over the new looking solenoid from the parts starter, along with the complete armature assembly. The old solenoid linkage was VERY worn out. The brushes and bendix starter drive where replaced as well. One of the plastic brush holders was cracked, and I manage to destroy the other one during reassembly. Luckily the spare brush holders were ok, and were swapped in. Getting the brushes back in place was a little tricky, but worked in the end. Later the complete unit was bench tested, and worked just dandy. We won't get too excited until it is back in the truck and verified to work fine...
|
|
|
Post by magikbus on Feb 2, 2021 9:35:32 GMT -8
Starting a propane powered vehicle in cold weather (minus 40 and colder) was never a problem. I had it plugged in to a water heater type engine warmer at home but when out and about for an extended period of time I used the handy dandy propane powered heater that kept the engine almost too warm even in temps below minus 40. Country dances were a hoot when in the winter there was always an intermission when all the guys would charge for the door to start their trucks and warm them up so they would start at midnight to get them and their wives or girlfriends home. Mine would just sit there steaming away with the snow melting off the hood. I can not count the number of times i would have to lift the hood to show a group of guys my propane heater. Only once did I have to use the parachute and tiger torch stove pipe set up to get the truck running and that was the day it was minus 54 and I was afraid the transmission needed a bit of warming.
As for different models being easier to work on, my neighbour and I both took the oil pumps out of our trucks the same week after a 3 week stint at a continuous minus 40. (even with a block heater it took a full minute to get oil pressure until I installed a magnetic heater under the pan) I simply undid the 3 or 4 bolts on the side of the 440s block and bolted the new one on. My neighbours ford 4x4 had to have the engine mounts taken off, the engine lifted up a few inches the oil pan removed and the oil pump then replaced. Took him all day, took me a half hour and that was only because I couldnt find the proper socket. Never have owned a Ford since. Stan
|
|
|
Post by Volktales on Feb 2, 2021 19:23:01 GMT -8
Had a temporary permit on the old Chevy and drove it extensively today (moving furniture, blah). The recommissioned starter worked great, better in fact than the shop bought starter ever did... Truck is back to sleep until the summer now...
|
|
|
Post by Volktales on Feb 14, 2021 20:34:43 GMT -8
The mighty Chevy is enjoying staying dry in the "new" carport that Don built last summer. Makes me happy...
|
|
|
Post by tony on Mar 9, 2021 16:12:14 GMT -8
Russ how much work would it take to get the pickup into your collector fleet insurance?
|
|