astro van running off a propane torch NOT gasoline

[lastmondaypast1]

I've seen many limo's that ran on propane. Supposed to be quiet?

[sandydogy]

here in the UK cars some cars are converted to gas known as lpg as petrol is so expensive £6 a gallon lpg is £3.50 a gallon

[egn83b]

Looks like a nice idea in the event you run out fuel along side the road but I think its rather dangerous without a fire arrester. But this proves you can run a car on vapors rather nicely and not do anything to it.

[sushlet]

i sell propane and propane accessories

[mroddy0862]

Hey thanks for the heads up on how to run a vehicle people may not take this seriously but when the gas crisis hits we need to know how to take care what has to be done if a crisis hits again... the strong survive through knowledge and the weak keep looking for it...

[nwtrick]

Get a job

[nwtrick]

Get a job

[SpiritsoftheWolf]

i did that to my van when the fuel pump relay went bad, i stuck the open end of the propane hose in the air cleaner air inless, with the air cleaner still in place, adjust the fuel flow and crank the engine till it runs, and adjust to the proper fuel flow to maintain the vehicle speed, works for me till i got the van home, and replaced the fuel pump relay switch

[MegaSierra123]

or we could just use gas so we can go fater and we dont have to deal with all of this crap!!!

[UBERKron]

un plug your injectors and try the same. it will save your injectors if you do this often

[kwacz]

@UBERKron no point in doing this again, just an experiment to see if it was possible.

[Hollrobb]

This is a good tip for drug addicts that need to get a fix and have no gas to get to their dealers house.

[kwacz]

@Hollrobb lol, but who would even think like that unless they need drugs and have no gas in their tank. but look on the bright side, they cant run from the cops when they get caught.

[Hollrobb]

@kwacz ,lol, Most likey the same person that would think of running from the cops if they are caught. but like you said,""look on the bright side".

[pearl83ss]

lmao at 8:20 uh-o, uh-o, uh-o UHH-OO!

[KJ4TEE]

did you drill out the top of the torch?

[kwacz]

@KJ4TEE yes

[yesiamanalien]

Seems like a dangerous setup, however yea there should be conversion kits you can pick up online. When I was in California there was some company I can't remember the name of right off (Swans I think? Sold ice cream and frozen stuff). Anyway their trucks were propane powered. Pretty neat but propane isn't as powerful as gas or diesel (or electric for that matter). Good video though.

[trainlinezoo]

I think the wave of the future is a multi-engine car. A small petro or diesel engine with hydrogen assist very simalar to what this guy is doing. By the way - you're a solid guy - I've known only a few guys as serious yet comical as you. And an electric motor for lots of torque around town. Combine these present day technologies with wireless recharging (I'm sure a fancier name will be invented for that) and we might get big cars again. When times were fun. Hey search for HAARP - maybe its here?

[trainlinezoo]

4:11 made me laugh like holy henderson!

[cumminsonthebigrocks]

i like the way he picks his nose mid tune!

[nuclear944]

Almost every car in Bulgaria runs on propane gas...they have propane conversion kits/shops that do the conversion for like 50 us dollars. Gas stations are more likely to have propane than gas/diesel....ha!

Oh and another way to stop the fuel pump is to disconnect the fuel pump fuse.

[trainlinezoo]

@nuclear944 I wold have cut the wires for the fuel pump under the dashboard (EZ if theyre color coded). Install a good proven switch (More switches More FUN) You dont have to identify wires just pass all the wires through the switches in case there is ever a problem. Solder your connections. the use of a cannon plug(s) is a plus. buy 4 of these: (copy and paste it in amazon dot com : JT&T Products (2700-5J) - 10 AMP @ 12 Volt, Illuminated On/Off Round Rocker Switch, Green. these are excellent!

[bjsniffitproductions]

this is kinda cool but sooo much more work than its worth

[wheeliehome]

you could buy proper parts for about £200 to do this properly.

[kwacz]

@wheeliehome it was just an experiment, i dont know where to get the conversion. i live in us new york state.

[wheeliehome]

@kwacz Theres loads of kits available for cheap from europe wouldnt be much too post either costs us £30 to get kits to uk from italy. Basic ones just feed into intake like your doing really.

[gilligan80]

Awesome...... A + for safety...... still great video though....

[paintedhorse1957]

i like you , Rednecks rule the world.

[seizetheweakened]

lmao!

[MVP0000]

Hank Hill Would be proud!

[kwacz]

@MVP0000 propane and propane accessories.

[joebananatube]

@MVP0000

Hank Hill would have an orgasm.

[MVP0000]

@joebananatube ikr 

[fisherman463]

nice van dude! I have an '87 Chevy Astro and i love it. what year is yours?

[kwacz]

@fisherman463 1994

[at1212b]

@fisherman463 I have one too.. I was wondering, have you had issues with the power steering pump bracket?

[fisherman463]

@at1212b no mine works fine

[kwacz]

@at1212b no. the alternator bracket cracked, but i just welded it and its been fine for three years so far. (aluminum bracket)

[jason127x99]

@kwacz Shit I broke mine and it was steal and thick! I was missing two bolts at the bottom of the Horse shoe bracket. thats what I call it. it the bracket that holds alt,ac,wp,etc the bracket had a crack in it and I had it welded.

[jason127x99]

@at1212b I have before and the bracket that holds the alt, ac, ps,wp, had a crack in it. took it off and had a friend weld it for me. I was breaking the bracket that mounts from one of the exhaust bolts to the side of the ps pump. The bottom of the mian bracket has two bolt that had came out. that how it started.

[datzfast]

not for the faint of heart, takes a more darring person, you know what im talking about.

[kwacz]

that doesnt even make sense. how is propane going to leak out of the thing when the injection point is below atmospheric pressure. it seems to me a leak would cause air from under the hood to be sucked in. not propane leaking out. propane doesnt leak out of a negatively pressurized cvontainer or anything else negatively pressureized.

[MasterTechRepair]

they sell kits to do all this u are doing dominicans do it in dominican republic they sell the kits deppending on the motor size (v4 v6 v8 v10 v12) they do it to all cars its cheaper the gasoline and cheaper then hybrid for those of you that think its stupid u actualy save alot of gasoline money and i wanted to import a kit from DR to NY and its illegal kits comes with regulators and tubes and switches and all that stuff (tank not included) lolz u can google it for more info

[madeyes4u]

Can you please tell me, how good are these with gas? I'll probably only be driving 150-200 miles a week.

[kwacz]

17 mpg

[DCxSKATEx]

WoW get a hybrid lol

[jigsaw1984]

hybrids are junk, small, plastic and front wheel drive. no thanks.

[g0fvt]

I did a conversion on a small van years ago, used a modified SU carburretor to meter the gas.. worked very well. Attempting to meter the gas by manual adjustment is ok for playing but not really good enough to drive by.

[Jack13SWC]

Ive done this in my 94' Chevy Cheyenne 400 SS, But i changed the gas tank to a new one that is able to hold propane and I got a 100 Lbs. Tank on the back of the truck (bed)

[andrewsengineering]

OK, I noticed on your page you said you wouldn't do anything "dangerous or illegal" This was dangerous, i'm not sure how legal it was, but it would be an interesting conversation if you would've got pulled over.. but it was funny...

[kwacz]

it really isnt dangerous. propane needs oxygen to burn so it will not flash back through the tube. it is no different than a gasoline backfire. also there isnt anything illegal about doing propane experiments on your vehicle. what is dangerous though are all the people installing hho generators in their cars. anything goes wrong and boom. (because oxygen and hydrogen are both present it will flashback and burn anywhere even if no air.

[andrewsengineering]

It's not the flashback that's a problem, but caution should be taken not to have the tank sitting out in the hot sun all day before using it, it's when the safety pops that it becomes a problem. I've seen even opd tanks overfilled because of bad opd valve, there are a lot of improperly trained people filling bottles out there. On car conversions trunk mounted tanks have the safety, filler and bleeder piped to the outside of the vehicle.

[andrewsengineering]

That's the funniest thing i've ever seen! Just don't keep that 20lb tank in there on a hot day, the safety pops at 375psi, and anyone who has ever seen an overfilled or over heated tank pop off knows that you do not want it sitting next to you... also dry firing fuel injectors will not last long, they need to be turned off too. I have 2 trucks that run on propane, one can run either fuel, and one has over 200,000 miles on it, both have fuel injection with a propane carb. Propane is high octane.

[kwacz]

where did you get the conversion and what did it cost. Which fuel is cheaper to run it on.

[andrewsengineering]

Complete conversions are hard to get, you usually have to know what you need. Any Impco dealer can usually get the right adapters for a particular engine provided they are still available. The impco 225 carb would probably be a good choice for the van, with model J regulator. The adapters for my 460 were still available when I ordered the carb. Propane in my area now is running between $1.40 - $1.89 buying in bulk, it's much cheaper to run my 1 ton truck on propane. There are injection kits too.

[SpiritsoftheWolf]

umm try Ebay, search propane conversion kit, or CNG conversion kit, my 1991 E150 van runs on petrol or CNG, the CNG was already on my van before i bought it,

[SpiritsoftheWolf]

replying to andrewsengineering, well propane has a octane rating of 103, but CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) has an octane rating of 130) so CNG is higher on it's octane than propane, i got a lawn mower i converted to propane, and i had it for over 2 years, and it runs like a champ, it takes me an hour to mow the whole yard a week, and that 20 lbs tank last a whole season, from 2nd week of april to 2nd week of november

[midgetcogger]

thats pretty cool

[eatbutnotpuke]

oh oh,... oh oh,... neutral !!

that's my favorite part ;-)

great vid btw!

[jdmfreak1992]

Hmmm wonder how long the ring will last when its running on this stuff.

[kwacz]

it wont hurt it. they sell conversion kits and because propane burns so clean, it actually prevents carbon buildup and does not contaminate your oil. you dont have to do oil changes as often on propane. i have a lawnmower with this same setup and ran 3 20 lb cylinders through it and it still runs like new

[jdmfreak1992]

Yeah but the constant lean rich condition is going to where things out really quick.

[a540guy]

is there any dangerous of getting blown up in the process? this seems dangerous to me

[MacsCanfly]

that propane can will make a nice explosion if you crash!

[cichlidkeeper89]

just want to warn you that running an engine too rich, will cause the catalytic converter to heat up to extreme levels. which in turn will KILL the converter. so make sure you dont give it too much propane. but really cool idea. i believe there are kits that you can buy, that will convert your engine to propane. but you can still run it off of gas also. i dont know if they have kits for fuel injected engines though.

[lmyhoosier]

i know sure they have kits for carbureted enginges, but im not sure about fuel injected ones

[cdude100]

more like how to ruin your car

[venomousbird]

I would like to do this by rotting biomass in an airtight storage tank and then bottling the methane to run the engine!

[kwacz]

imagine all the methane gas at a landfilll that is just being wasted

[GoodDiyVideos]

I just realized that this is not a good idea to be doing to your van. The fuel injectors depend on the fuel moving through them for lubrication. Since you aren't running any gasoline through them the injectors are moving without lubrication. So if you run your van this way very much you will destroy the injectors and that is a very costly repair. Just thought I'd warn you about that.

Peace,

Tom

[kwacz]

i know i didnt mention this in the video. i forgot, but the injectors were also unplugged along with the fuel pump.

[krankiev]

ohhh okay then. (Btw i am the same person as gooddiyvideos it is my howto account)

[GoodDiyVideos]

wow i didn't think that valve could flow enough to run an astro van

[kwacz]

i knew it wouldnt before i even started, but i wanted to see what would happen. just getting it to idle good was good enough for me.

[MikerWL]

This is one badass Astro!!

[cumminsturbofan101]

that's awesome, but would recommend a safe fill cylinder for the propane tank but still really cool :)

[ULTBW100]

This is way too cool!

[SortedGeeza]

i wouldnt want my head under the bonnet when the head gasket lets go.... remember gasoline helps to also cool the cylinders, so i think your likely to melt stuff without proper fuel regulation aka engine management....(probably would only need to add some h2o to his mixture) but fair play, guy deserves a white coat & safety goggles no doubt !

[kwacz]

it will be fine. i ran a lawnmower off of propane with the same setup for 2 years. the mower gets heavy use. its fine. also they make an actual conversion kit for cars. the only difference is that the fuel / air mixture remains constant under various load conditions. (the ethanol they are putting in the gas would worry me more than this. ethanol burns extremely hot.)

[inuyashagf]

thats....special :)

[ckozak10]

woh, woh, shit, KABOOOOOM

[xWOODYHAYESx]

this guy knows his gas!! lol

[jacyok]

pretty cool.

[rustaholic]

Why not buy a standard LP kit for your van and have it drive just like a normal can with cleaner engine and exhaust?

[Samexplode]

kwacz was only doing this as an experiment.

[kwacz]

this is correct

[kwacz]

i thought about it. i dont know where to get the kit. is is cheaper to operate off propane than gas?

[yuandrew]

I know that Baytech Corp does CNG and LPG conversions for many GM vehicles.

It's an expensive initial investment (couple thousand for conversion) but it will save on the cost of fuel and maintenance (you can go longer between oil changes since LPG burns cleaner and doesn't contaminate the oil as much as gasoline)