1981 - propane - international

[newangles]

Hey everybody. First post here. Maybe first of many ..

I’m currently stranded at an on route. My bus is out of fuel a 10 mins walk away from here on the side of the highway

I have extra propane tanks to fill the bus in case something like this would happen but for some reason, my bus isn’t registering them..

At this rate; it’s costing me roughly 80$ / hour to drive this propane bus ..

I still have 90 minutes and 120$ to spend but I have weird faith things will work out

Anyone else have a propane bus? Mine is stick. Maybe that’s why it’s so rough on fuel

[magnakansas]

I just noticed this was posted yesterday. Did you get going?

William

[Rucker]

Is your bus already converted into a skoolie? You might have an idea of where I'm going with this...

As to the refill problem, have you ever attempted to refill the tank from the spares?

[HamSkoolie]

Hmmm

hard to help with no response

[newangles]

Hey everybody. Thanks for the replies. My phone ended up dying that night. I walked to the on route to charge it and borrowed a mop to leverage the height of the tank. funny story, I guess. I couldn’t get the tanks to work and crashed in her until morning.

When it was brighter I made another go to the on route and on my way someone had called the feds on some dude waking along the 407.. no call about the bus though. I told him my situation and he drove me to a near by city to buy propane tanks and then drove me back. He had managed to get the tanks to fill. He had let me go after that but then my battery died! I had the hazards on all night and she couldn’t last me. I had an extra luckily and the cop came by again and helped me reset.

I started driving again but barely. 10km / hour at most and then right before the on route.. my big green bus got some sudden kick and I made it to the next propane fill up.

I’m still concerned. I need to figure out what the fuel is so costly but a mechanic to trust is hard to come by

Figured I’d learn it myself

[newangles]

Lolol partially converted. A mattress and a comfy one at that - it was technically a library bus at first

[Ronnie]

What engine do you have? I have the 345 gas engine, and I am getting 6mpg in flatland driving and about 5.5 in hills, and low mountains. propane normally gets worse mileage.

[newangles]

I have a 446 engine - the fuel is crazy expensive. I was t anticipating it .. my bus only has 95 clicks on it. I’ve heard I can get a lot by selling it. It runs stick and I’ve also read up on how stick is best when driving a converted electric vehicle ..

My next goal is getting electric batteries and learning. How the hell to install it. She doesn’t give me enough power

[Ronnie]

Manual transmission is normally better fuel mileage.

Large gas engines running on propane are costly to run, just the nature of the beast, and a 446 is large. At cruising speed what rpm is the engine running? You may be able to regear the rear end to drop engine rpms and save some fuel

I assume you are in Canada? What does propane cost there?

[LargeMargeInBaja]

Each time I walk past a propane-powered vehicle, it stinks from the odorant.
I suspect the tanks, fittings, lines, and carburetor are leaking pressurized fuel.
I suspect -- without a shred of evidence -- leaking fuel detracts from the mpg.
.
.
My singular experience with propane-powered vehicles was about four decades ago.
A part-time preacher in Sacramento got the great idea to make his fortune by acquiring almost two hundred (actual count -- 196+/-) propane-powered busses from an auction at the Transit District in San Jose, California.
The gimmick -- bidders could only buy in lots of forty-eight (forty-eight) busses.
.
He won the bid at less than a couple hundred (<us$200) fedbux each.
His was the only bid... to some folks, that could be a 'Red! Flag!'.
.
One clear dry Saturday, a bunch of us got to the Transit District storage yard to discover:
* these were full-size, probably around forty foot
* engines were Ford Industrial 460 gasoline, with the propane gadget carburetor conversion cobbled on.
* at eleven years, tires were timed-out
* batteries were toast or were missing.
And another 'Red! Flag!' to a savvy bus purchaser:
* mileage tended to be around 50,000 -- not much for busses heading into their second decade -- although some examples showed as little as 17,000 miles on the clock.
.
An aside:
That gasoline engine was probably good for a couple hundred horsepower... and a couple hundred #-ft of torque.
Sad, very sad.
.
Upon orders from the part-time preacher, we fired-up enough for each driver, then headed the hundred miles back to Sacramento.
Our orders included:
* If anything breaks, if you run out of fuel, abandon it!
[I am not making this up.]
.
Of the twenty leaving San Jose, I believe about seventeen made it to Sacramento.
Naturally, the part-time preacher had no place to park them, so we dumped them in fields and dead-end streets.
.
Naturally, with no lock on the doors and only a dial -- no key -- to start the busses, some of them wandered away.
Apparently, many of our busses somehow made it to Central America, garden spots like Honduras and Guatamala.
How?
I've not a clue.
I suspect pluck, determination, and moxie played a part.
.
And then, on Sunday, we were right back at it, with another batch of twenty.
And 'yes', we passed our former gallant steeds 'temporarily' parked along the freeway.
And 'yes', we giggled ourselves silly.
.
And through it all, the part-time preacher maintained his momentum by gobbling handsful of caffeine pills from the stash of bottles in his murse.
With the weight of the world resting on his shoulders, he could often be seen wiping imaginary cob-webs and battling make-believe swarms of mosquitoes.
[I am not making this up.]
.
After that weekend of lunacy, I bailed.
And somehow, they managed to get along without me.
As I heard it, they eventually got most of them moved out of the Transit District yard by the deadline.
As I understand it, some of the us$200 busses made it just outside the gates before permanently retiring.
.
And apparently, the Transit District bureaucrats took umbrage at the clutter, threatening to sue.
As I understand it, the part-time preacher was stuck with us$1,000 tow bills on us$200 busses.
.
Moral of the story:
Any fellow with a murse might -- and probably will -- be incredibly entertaining.

[newangles]

It’s so damn expensive. Propane is different everywhere. 74 cents at the cheapest / litre … 1.24$ at the most expensive. Insane fluctuation.

It costs me 100$ / hour to drive the thing.

I need to do something to make this feasible

I’d be up to convert it back to gas

[newangles]

2nd moral of the story ….

No propane powered vehicles!!’n