Liquid Propane Conversion

Today, we're exploring alternative fuels to ease the pain at the pump. And I don't mean moonshine first, we're taking a brand new F 150

converting it to run on liquid propane. Then we'll show you how and where you can fill her up. Once you switch to LT, it's all today here on trucks.

Hey, thanks for watching. Well, what does this giant tank have to do with trucks?

But we thought

that you guys would be feeling the rising cost of fuel just as much as we are so on. Today's show, we're gonna discuss a subject that's a hot topic all over the world and that is alternative fuel. Now, you guys have seen different shows about waste, vegetable oil and biodiesel and those great conversions. But what if you drive a gas powered vehicle like this?

Eight F 150? Now,

flex fuel vehicles have been around for a while.

As a matter of fact, the first Flex fuel vehicle was a 1908 model T Ford capable of running on either corn based ethanol or gasoline. Look at switch

carburetor

ethanol is truly a homegrown fuel and it's pretty amazing that we can actually grow fuel from crops like sugar cane corn.

But the viability of ethanol as an alternative to gasoline is already under question, partly because of the high refining costs, but also because it could drive up the price of corn based foods and livestock feed just because of supply and demand.

But what if we were to tell you that there's already another excellent alternative fuel out there for gas burning engines that's already available to the retail public. It's produced almost entirely here in the United States and could save you a substantial amount on your fuel bill.

And popcorn smells great.

Well, it's no secret that fuel is liquid propane gas more commonly known as LP.

And it's the same stuff that cooks your hamburgers and your hot dogs on the weekend.

And although it doesn't seem to make the news much, the truth is that more than a quarter million vehicles nationwide are running on LT, nearly 10 million worldwide. As a matter of fact, if you've ever ridden in a cab or a bus in a major city,

you've probably been riding on propane.

Now, there are already a large amount of private sector fleets that are utilizing propane as their primary fuel source and it's so secret why there's a lot of tax incentives for alternative fuels.

As a matter of fact, if your fleet is of a certain size, you can arrange with your local supplier to have a fueling station, put on site and save even more. Now, Rausch

is known worldwide for their aftermarket performance parts and legendary racing reputation.

They work closely with several automotive manufacturers on vehicle programs and like we've shown you before, offer 336 warranties on many of their components like the top end blower kit that we put on an 07 F 150 or several other Mustang packages that are available.

So rush

performance has just launched this liquid propane injection kit designed specifically for the 2008 F 150. It's not a dual fuel kit. It is a total fuel conversion from gasoline to liquid propane gas comes with new fuel lines, injectors, replacement fuel rails, as well as the new air intake system and obviously this giant propane tank, it should give this truck about a 500 mile range. We'll go into more specifics later as we install everything.

Now, there's several ways that you can get into an LP converted truck with a 336 warranty. You can buy one directly from

Rausch. You could go through a network of four dealers that are working with Rausch to convert your vehicles or you could take your vehicle up to rouse and have them converted for you.

The point is what we wanted to show you today was just how simple this system is to convert.

Now, obviously, we got a pretty good head start tearing down this truck because some of the Ford pieces are going to go away. And the first thing we'll do is box up the PC M and send it back to

rush to get re flashed to compensate for the new system that's going in place. Now, the next part of the conversion is adding a wiring harness that's going to control the liquid propane fuel pump, as well as the flow control solenoid.

The new wiring harness and relay box get located on the firewall

and the harness gets tucked neatly under the bulk.

Then the EV

A connector gets plugged in

and the harness grounded.

Now the new harness needs a 12 volt power source. So we're tapping right into the positive connection of the battery.

The carbon steel fuel lines will deteriorate with LP running through them.

So they get replaced with stainless steel lines

and that starts by feeding them over top of the transfer case and up behind the bell house.

Then the flow control solenoid is mounted on the frame rail and the fuel feed line connected but loosely until all the lines are connected.

Part of the beauty of this system is that it relies on existing frame holes and some connectors.

The J clips that hold the clamps for the lines are all in existing holes in the frame. So there's no drilling. This keeps everything very secure and easy to access. If any problems come up,

the new fuel filter goes in place

and is plumbed in line with the rest of the system

and the feed and return lines run to the front of the bed

to be routed to the in tank pump

up next, we'll finish converting our truck to propane and later we'll visit the gas station, the propane gas station. Stay tuned.

Hey, welcome back. Well, today's show is all about alternative fuel and showing you guys how easy an LP conversion can be

with the fuel lines already run.

The wiring harness gets fed down from the engine bay

and plugged into the flow control solenoid

and run down the side of the frame rail along the existing factory wiring.

When this guy gets capped off,

this plugs into the new harness

and this ground gets routed behind the spare tire and grounded on the chassis.

The locations of the holes for routing the harnesses and lines are marked using a template that rouse provides and then drilled out with a step drill,

then using an impact punch, the holes are pressed out to allow for the fuel lines and harnesses to route through the bed for.

And of course, they're

grated to control, shaping

the vent two gets routed down under the truck first and then the not so small but long range tank gets mounted down into the existing boat locations

with the tank in place.

Now, we can connect the fuel feed lines from the pump.

Refueling happens from the same location as the factory gas filler

but the hoses routed immediately into an in line filter, then into the tank.

And of course, all connections are double checked and leak checked a couple of times.

The fuel pump harness is connected with a weather pack connector. Then the wires get color matched for accuracy

from.

And now it's time to take care of a few things under the hood. We've already got our PC M back from Rausch

re flashed and ready to go. We've also got to install new fuel rails and injectors. Now, the reason for the new fuel rails, well, they're capable of withstanding the much higher pressure of a propane system.

Also

adapter harnesses to make the factory engine harness to the new injectors.

Now, there's also a couple of modifications you have to make, you got to remove your stock mass airflow sensor and install it in the replacement box and cut the mounting tab of the power steering reservoir just like we did on the ruse supercharged F 150.

The upper engine fuel system is really quite simple to change out.

The engine's computer will still monitor the vehicle systems the same way. Even the factory fuel gauge and warning lights on the dash work the same.

The new air box is less restrictive and it looks factory but also houses a charcoal upper filter to keep any LP vapors from getting inside the cab,

power steering fluid that's provided in the kit gets topped off and that just about wraps things up under the hood.

Finally, the fuel filler tube gets mounted behind the bedside fuel door.

So by outward appearances, this looks exactly the same as a gasoline burner.

When we come back, we'll be filling up on the same stuff that cooks your hot dogs and your hamburgers. But before you start jamming briquettes into your gas tank, stick around.

Hey, welcome back to trucks.

We're up here at volunteer Welding supply. These guys do a great job of keeping us fully stocked with all the welding consumables. We go through down at the tech center today. We're here for a different reason.

Volunteer has been serving the Nashville community since 1973 and has the largest showroom of its kind in the Southeast stocking hundreds of different tools, abrasives and equipment.

We were like kids in a candy store, Jones and for almost everything they had on hand.

And if you're a hobbyist or a pro volunteer will be able to fit your budget with great gear

with brands like Miller Lincoln and thermal dynamics. They also house the best safety gear and they stock almost everything they sell,

but retail sales isn't their only focus.

A fully trained staff offers excellent technical support and is ready to help

volunteer. Nashville's largest refueling center, not only for welding gasses like argon, mixed gasses and

acetylene, but also for medical grade co2 oxygen and restaurant grade gasses for the food service industry.

And while we were here, Chip de Vilmas

volunteers on site engineer and fellow gearhead gave us his thoughts on LP as an alternative fuel.

I've seen high mileage engines and, and

we're talking about in 100 200,000 mile range here

that when they were torn down

showed no sign of any kind of carbon build up or even discoloration

on the pistons.

Uh They showed the normal amount of wear from rings in the cylinders

and on the valves and the stems of the valves and on the bearings. But that was it.

But the real reason we're here. Well, our propane truck was out of gas, so we stopped by to top off the tank.

LP is easy to handle, but you do need to be certified to refill a tank.

The process is easy and safe with cups and

oing to seal everything off

the pumps and lines are rated for incredibly high pressure and have redundant safety systems so that if anything ever goes wrong, the system shuts down immediately.

We wanted to ask him to check the oil too,

but we decided not to push our luck.

Once we were fueled up, we paid the bill and hit the road.

Hey, welcome back to trucks. Well, we've got a rou

converted F 150 fully fueled up and I gotta tell you riding down the highway, you wouldn't know the difference whether you're burning gasoline or propane. So we thought we'd go over a few of the reasons why it was worth the trouble to switch over.

Yeah. And some of the key benefits to an LP gas conversion are these in the first place? Like we said, there's no loss of horsepower or torque. The engine doesn't care what kind of fuel it's burning. An LP burns. LP is less expensive per gallon. Even in small quantities, the real savings kick in when you can buy in volume and like other alternative fuels, there's huge tax incentives for small business,

liquid propane is a clean burning fuel. So it's gonna cause a dramatic reduction in emissions. It's truly green

LP. Gas can triple the life of your engine because there's almost no carbon in the fuel. There's no wash down in the cylinder walls and your oil doesn't get contaminated. The metal on metal parts stay lubricated.

Now, depending on your gas supply company and your local bylaws, you may even be able to read fuel in your driveway by having a tank installed at your residence or business.

And with the A sme certification on these tanks, it is a much safer in vehicle tank and fuel delivery system. And as more and more companies are realizing the viability of LP as a conversion, there's more kits available every day. So if you've ever thought about an alternative fuel, you may want to consider LP. I know I am.

Hey guys, if you're looking for an easy way to level out or add a couple of inches of lift to your torsion bar. Quick pick up. Well, Skyjacker's got the solution for you.

These sports torsion keys basically re

index your factory torsion bars to give you about two inches of lift.

Installation of the kit is pretty straightforward and it'll let you run a little bit larger tire. That way you can spend your time out playing around instead of laying on your back out in your driveway.

Skyjacker torsion keys run you about 100 and 50 bucks.

If you guys like the look of a bead lock wheel, but you don't really need a bead lock wheel or want the extra expense, then you need to check out Mickey Thompson's classic lock wheels. They feature a simulated bead lock ring and a fully polished surface to give the wheel a tough competition look. You can also pick up different trim rings to match your paint or just make your set of wheels look unique sizes range from 15 by 8 to 20 by tens.

Mickey Thompson's classic lock wheels are priced between 100 and 5300 bucks depending on the size you want and the trim rings, they're about 50. Now, I know you've seen us use edge products here on trucks before. Well, this is their evolution programmer.

This one is for the 2007, 2008 Chevy

Duramax 6.6 L

and not only will it show you in cab displays of vital engine functions.

It uses a parameter so you can keep an eye on EGTS.

It's also capable of giving you an additional 130 horsepower and up to 250 ft pounds of torque. It's even got a special mileage tuning program so you can improve your fuel economy.

Now, this is internet upd

using the included USB cord and ships with a dash pod for a nice clean install. But one of its best features where you can correct for nonstop tire sizes, you can even adjust your speed and rev limiters

edge line of evolution. Programmers start at about 450 bucks if you want more information about this or any other product you saw today on the show, check out power block tv.com. Thanks for watching trucks. See you guys next week.