Booosted Supra

I was doing alot of research on Propane injection for carb motors and fuel injection. Alot of the threads were out of date and uncompleted, there were some arguments that propane injection is not possible on fuel injection when really it is, then some were talking about local propane shops converting any motor over. Has anyone successfully done it to the 3.0 yet? Right now I'm tossing idea's around for moving my gas tank and I feel like if its possible it would probably be easier to just convert the truck to alternate fuel all together instead of worrying about a gas tank lift, cutting the floor out, alternate gas tanks and so on. Whats everyones feelings on just running a propane tank on board instead? My truck is a 94 4runner obviously 3.0 from the thread title.

I am open to gas tank options and anything also so lets hear everything!

DupermanDave

I'm interested in this as well. Always wanted to do a propane conversion, but was told it was not possible on FI engines.

bain

read this on gotpropane.com

Why cant we do newer vehicles?

The computer systems in fuel injected vehicles do not work with the propane systems. Our kits are designed to eliminate wiring. There is no way to make a newer vehicle work without tampering with the computer. By law it is illegal to tamper with a newer vehicle to make a street legal conversion. The computers control ignition timing, auto transmissions, and emissions control. We don't have a way to certify our kits either. It is tens of thousands to get a kit certified. And it only covers the one model and engine size. So it is not legal, very complicated , and very expensive to do.

Booosted Supra

I have done some research and it def is possible for FI with out a big dollar cost

camo31_10.50

dude....is that your rig...

Booosted Supra

yeah thats her... you dont like it i guess? lol

Junkers88

Holy Crap that rig is H U G E!!!!!!

I don't have any input on PI but I do know there is an alternate fuel tank that bolts up where the stock tire carrier is and if I remember correctly it's about 14 gallons. The only down side is that it was made be Downey and I think they are out of business. Surely someone picked up the diagrams and is now producing them. I had planned on buying one to give me about double the range while offroad and eliminate my fears of running out of fuel. In you case you could buy one (if you can track one down) and eliminate your existing fuel tank. I'm guessing you want to clean up the underside or get rid of your existing fuel tank so you'll stop hitting rocks with it?

Booosted Supra

Yeah I know all about the downy one, from what I understand the downy tank is an auxiliary thank that gravity feeds to the main tank to carry an extra 14 gallons that still allowed a spare tire and they had a 20 gallon that deleted the spare tire all together. I know you can probably obviously mod it to be a main tank but I not seen any used anywhere and I know there is a wolf steel company that has the same design but its a pretty penny, but yeah I'm just sick off banging my gas tank all of the time and my driveshaft actually rubs it too when I articulate a certain way and its pretty annoying. I am a Toyota technician and I love the trucks but the tank set up makes me want to barf on all of our rigs! I read up on moving the stock tank to the rear and cutting the center cross member out and the floor and running the tank there but I'm not to crazy about raising my floor... thats why I was wondering about propane injection but like I said if you have any other idea's I'm open to them!

Junkers88

I agree. You'll kill what little cargo room you have by putting the tank there, not to mention the fact that you now have a gas tank inside the vehicle with you and that freaks me out a little. I also agree that the current fuel tank location is terrible but I don't think Toyota figured in that these rigs would be crawling cliffs once they rolled off the lot.

As far as making the 20 gallon tank (if you can find one) the primary I don't think it would cost as much as going propane injection. That and it'd be a hell of a lot eaiser to get fuel. If you do happen to find a source for aux fuel tanks that are easy on the wallet please post that information up. A lot of us wet the bed when Downey went under and are looking for a company to replace them.

weaver126

your truck = my dream truck!!!!

Booosted Supra

I did come across a thread on Pirate a while back about a E250 gas tank fitting up right underneath not to long ago but I cant seem to track the thread down, I had it saved in my favorites but leave it to my computer to crash and I lost all my future mods/Idea's

I know a few on here have used cherokee gas tanks but that idea doesn't really appeal to me either after its done it just doesn't look right to me after seeing what I did with the E250 tank, and one again I dont like the idea of cutting through my floor to make a new filler tube going through the cargo area.

Any other idea's out there?

Booosted Supra

Thank you, It took me about 5 years to build this truck and get it set up the way it is. I love it because its very different and you dont see many runners all safari geared out like mine

Junkers88

Yeah the safari look on a runner is outstanding! I'm trying to get mine close to that point but I've only had it for a year and the budget isn't there to go as big and bad @$$ as you have. I'd post a pic but you'd laugh.

Back on topic.... do you have the ability to build your own fuel tank? It might save you some money and you'd get what you want.

Booosted Supra

Post up a pic, its all about the little freebie mods and my truck has a ton of them from the interior out, just taking something from factory modifying it the way I want it and putting it back. There is also a local Land Rover club around here and years ago I had NO idea what the point of running a line from your bumper to your roof was or painting your cowel black was... and I asked then the next thing you know its a great idea so I mocked it and one thing leads to another, so lets see what you got to start with.

As far as making my own tank, I probably could I do have a few friends who are union master welders its just a matter of designing one if it comes down to it I suppose

Booosted Supra

and believe it or not, but that ladder on the side of my truck was trash picked not built. Its from someones bunk bed, it matched the body lines PERFECT and the next thing you know I chopped a few inches and it was on my truck lol

CappyKD

I assure you it is POSSIBLE it just may not be feasible. I work at a company that makes Propane, CNG and Hydrogen vehicles. We made the Propane Chevy pickups of the 90's and also the Propane Cavalier, CNG Pickups etc. The problem is the computer work that is needed. We had to install our own CARB certified emissions dyno to get certs for our vehicles. Now many manufacturers including TRD, Magnaflow ETC use our services for testing.

Booosted Supra

What does it take to go gasoline to propane? I'm not concerned with inspection and stuff of that nature

CappyKD

A tank, a regulator, potential injector upgrades and an ECU progam to make it all run. (Propane does not have as much energy as petrol.) Of course thats WAY over simplifying it.

CappyKD

If you wanted ANY kind of range AT ALL the tank would be so large that you'd be better off with your Fuel tank or a custom fuel cell.

CappyKD

The Tanks that we put in the pickups (Had Bowtie emblems on the front) were so large that they were mounted in the bed of the truck and took up about 25 percent of the bed.......