This has been a process in the making for me. In February I decided to convert my ’76 FJ40 over to propane. The main reason behind this was that I was sick and tired of carburetors and flooding out on inclines. My Land Cruiser is mostly a trail only rig these days so I tow it to the trail. Going to propane was a viable option because I don’t have to worry about finding gas stations that have propane to fill up between the trail and my home.
Why Propane? First of all Mace was a big reason why I did it. It is something unique that a lot of people haven’t done to the 2f, plus it is super cheap, reliable w/o the hassle of electronics and it’s the poor mans version of fuel injection. Here is a list of Pros and Cons of converting over to Propane.
Pros:
1. LPG will run at any angle. Propane when entering the engine turns from a liquid to a gaseous state. There are no float bowls or fuel delivery problems. LPG is under constant pressure from the propane tank.
2. Propane is just plain simple. There are very few moving parts and can be rebuilt on the trail with just the use of a screw driver.
3. Propane makes your engine run cooler. On the trail my 2f will probably sit at the most around 150* to 160*.
4. A clean engine. There are no hydro carbons in propane and no oil properties. Your engine will effectively run cleaner and longer because of this. Some claim that because there is no oiling affect that the valves will harden. But I have yet to experience that.
5. Easy to tune. The propane mixer has a variable venturi which restricts or adds more propane as needed when you are under acceleration/deceleration. LPG is rated at a 104 octane so you can run an extremely high compression ratio, though your 2f will never see the likes of 11:1 compression.
Cons:
1. Hard to find refill stations. Like diesel you have to know what gas stations carry LPG. Here in Oregon I do not have a problem finding a gas station that carries LPG. But that varies from state to state.
2. Loss of power. Because the 2f is not designed to run a high octane gas like propane there is a slight loss of power. You should expect a 10% - 20% loss and about 1 mpg less in performance. The power loss is pretty minimal and the gas mileage is still comparable to gasoline.
Why Propane? First of all Mace was a big reason why I did it. It is something unique that a lot of people haven’t done to the 2f, plus it is super cheap, reliable w/o the hassle of electronics and it’s the poor mans version of fuel injection. Here is a list of Pros and Cons of converting over to Propane.
Pros:
1. LPG will run at any angle. Propane when entering the engine turns from a liquid to a gaseous state. There are no float bowls or fuel delivery problems. LPG is under constant pressure from the propane tank.
2. Propane is just plain simple. There are very few moving parts and can be rebuilt on the trail with just the use of a screw driver.
3. Propane makes your engine run cooler. On the trail my 2f will probably sit at the most around 150* to 160*.
4. A clean engine. There are no hydro carbons in propane and no oil properties. Your engine will effectively run cleaner and longer because of this. Some claim that because there is no oiling affect that the valves will harden. But I have yet to experience that.
5. Easy to tune. The propane mixer has a variable venturi which restricts or adds more propane as needed when you are under acceleration/deceleration. LPG is rated at a 104 octane so you can run an extremely high compression ratio, though your 2f will never see the likes of 11:1 compression.
Cons:
1. Hard to find refill stations. Like diesel you have to know what gas stations carry LPG. Here in Oregon I do not have a problem finding a gas station that carries LPG. But that varies from state to state.
2. Loss of power. Because the 2f is not designed to run a high octane gas like propane there is a slight loss of power. You should expect a 10% - 20% loss and about 1 mpg less in performance. The power loss is pretty minimal and the gas mileage is still comparable to gasoline.