2F forklift tech questions (1 Viewer)

[duckomatic]

Hi all, new user here, first 2F, first post...

I'm looking for some advice about a 2F forklift motor that's being used as a stationary power plant.

It's been converted to propane and appears to be lower on power than I'd expect, and I'm looking for advice. It's not a lot low on power, and I'm not asking for a lot, but it just seems anemic.

I'm told it was gasoline only originally, but I'm not 100% sure. I think the mixer is an Impco 225 (or maybe a knockoff), which should be appropriate for the power involved.

I'm guessing that a different advance curve would be used for propane, but the engine will be pretty much single speed, so I'll just set the max advance and shouldn't have to worry about the curve.

The forklift exhaust manifold is an abomination, and it needs to have the exhaust re-routed anyway, so I'm planning on trying one of the cheap headers that I've found on the net. Is this a bad idea? It's not sitting on the original forklift engine mounts, which would be in the way of a header.

The forklift intake manifold sits lower than the auto one, so I'm worried about it interfering with the header. Does anyone have a regular intake manifold they'd be willing to sell cheap if necessary? I can make an adapter to fit the propane mixer, so it doesn't matter if it's single or double barrel etc.

I'm hoping that a tuneup and better exhaust system will get it running ok. If not then I can try shaving the head to bump the compression up, but I'd really love to find a quick & cheap solution without resorting to opening the engine.

I guess it's what everyone wants... Some cheap & easy way to get 20% more power without sacrificing reliability.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Chamba]

My truck runs both petrol and gas (gas and propane) and it is markedly less powerful and more thirsty on gas. Having said this, gas has an octane of about 105 (in Australia where it is regulated for cars and they add butane to increase the octane, not sure about the US given it's mostly used for bbq and I only run petrol in the US), so when running gas exclusively I advance my timing about 5 degrees; but it will then knock on petrol.

Headers tend to offer benefits at higher rpm. At what rpm are you running this 2f? You are only starting with 155 horse remember.

 

[duckomatic]

My truck runs both petrol and gas (gas and propane) and it is markedly less powerful and more thirsty on gas. Having said this, gas has an octane of about 105 (in Australia where it is regulated for cars and they add butane to increase the octane, not sure about the US given it's mostly used for bbq and I only run petrol in the US), so when running gas exclusively I advance my timing about 5 degrees; but it will then knock on petrol.

Headers tend to offer benefits at higher rpm. At what rpm are you running this 2f? You are only starting with 155 horse remember.

I'm not actually sure what speed it was running at, there's no tach on it.

The forklift manual lists the rated output as 84 hp @ 2350 rpm. The governor butterfly is still on although disconnected, so the speed should be set by the carb setting. I'll be hooking a tach up and taking the governor butterfly off.

I think an Aussie octane is different from ours - our regular petrol is 87 octane. I think our propane is around 110 (R+M)/2 octane.

At the bottom of the exhaust manifold there's a squashed, er, "thingy", effectively a U but it's not U shaped, and it looks like it can't be good for flow. Do your trucks have this too?

 

[mtweller]

When I was running 'pane on my 2F, I had the head cut down .080 to take advantage of that higher octane. Made a bit of difference. I really couldn't tell any power loss down low, but a tad in the mid-high revving bands. I never did recurve the dizzy, which obviouly would have helped.

GL
Ramon