Superchips Propane Injection

[DerekW]

anyone out there running superchips propane injection? whats your experience. bought it to install it on my truck a while back never got around to it, tanks were an addition $$$$ and I started playing with tuners, injectors, and stuff. trying to convince the Girlfriend to let me install it on her ram i just bought her to make things cheaper on her.



shes got guages, AFE stage 2, smarty with no catcher and only timing, and ts mp-8 cranked down most of time, and quadzilla boost fooler. I am giving her my stock turbo and my ATS exhaust manifold from my truck. after state inspection we are going to 5" exhaust and possibly stacks it too. i have a college credit in alt. fuels but want to hear your actual experiences.

 

[DerekW]

well i guess i will have to be the guinea pig. where is a cheap place to get a tank besides a the general store or walmart? the manchester tanks ATS sells are nice but ATS has got them marked up to make it worth their while. I havent seen the guy who was selling new ones on ebay in a while.





Something tells me the guys in the engine and transmission forums aint paying no mind to this one propane does add horsepower

 

[Dl5treez]

I'll move this to the Products & Accessories Forum for better access to those who are looking for mods like this as opposed to an alternative fuel.

 

[rweis]

I think I read that propane cost about the same as diesel per horsepower but takes a lot more hardware to support it (mods, regulators, injectors etc).



There are a couple of propane threads.



Bob Weis

 

[speedyjdl]

I've never ran this setup before, but I did run bully dog's system for a while. I too didn't want to spend the money on a nice tank. I ended up buying a tank from a propane dealer and got a fork lift cylinder. With the bully dog system I had to run vapor only no liquid and the propane dealer set my tank up to run vapor only. The tank was DOT approved. With all my mods I really didn't notice the extra power. Bully dog claimed an extra 80 horse. I've never been on a dyno to see if it was true, but I did notice a big difference in fuel mileage since the propane allows for a more complete burn. It started to become a pain in the butt since a tank of propane lasted as long as a tank of fuel and trying to find a gas station that sold both was rare. Because of the complete burn you have less diesel for lube so I was also worried of ruining my engine early, but they say as long as you aren't injecting huge amounts of propane then you should be ok.

The tank was a little over $100.

 

[JR2]

Propane is not a cost effective way of raising your mileage...

Propane is not a great power adder for the cost of the system and the gas... .

Propane is hard on head gaskets and has led to more than one melt down... .

Propane is for cooking meat on a grill..... even then the meat tastes better if you cook with charcoal. .

 

[JGrosso]

I am doing the MSD/Superchips Digital Propane Injection.

I will let you know how it works out. I hope to have all the major parts here by weeks end.

Ordered the MSD/Superchips DPI, Bully Dog 15 Gallon tank, and ARP Head studs.



Not sure if it's cost effective, but Diesel is going for over $3. 50/gallon now, and Propane is around $2. 00/gallon

 

[NoSeeUm]

Sorry to hijack, your motivation is fuel economy?



Jim

 

[JGrosso]

Sorry to hijack, your motivation is fuel economy?



Jim

Not my thread anyhow, so hijack away



The fuel economy aspect is what got me looking into to propane system in the first place, but the extended range, power, and maybe cleaning up some of the block smoke were also a factor in going with the Digital system and larger tank, not to mention I found some heavely discounted prices on all the parts. The MSD/Superchips DPI system, BD 15-Gallon tank, and ARP head studs are going to cost me less than $1,700.

I guess I could have spent simular money an a larger / aux fuel tank to extend my driving range. For power I could have got injectors and / or a new turbo to boost the power, but I would still need to stud the head with those mods, and I think the propane system is the only one of these mods that might reduce my fuel cost per mile so it may pay for itself in 50,000 - 100,000 miles? Since I searched all over the web tring to get some facts on any mialage increase with propane and came up empty, I guess it is up to me to document the results.



Here is what I hope to accomplish:

Reduce my fuel cost from about $0. 20 /mile to $0. 17 /mile. This would pay off the system in less than 57,000 miles, but even at $0. 18 / mile, the break point is 85,000 miles.

Combined with my other bolt on modifications, I would like to get 500 rear wheel HP while still using the stock injectors and turbo (really going to have to watch the EGT's. )

I would like to extend my driving range by at least 150 miles per tank of Diesel.



Currently my "Average" fuel mialage is about 17. 5 MPG and @ 3. 50/gal thats $0. 20/mile and a driving range of 35gallons X 17. 5 = 612. 5 miles.

Would like to get a increase of 6 mpg or Average of 23. 5 MPG.

This would extend my range to 822. 5 miles.

my "Diesel" fuel cost would be $0. 1489 / mile, so I hope the propane cost / mile is only $0. 02-$0. 03? to get any "real saving".

With these numbers, if the propane cost per mile is over $0. 05, then there is no real fuel cost savings.



Since I could not find any real numbers on this, it's really just a guess?

I have heard claims of even higher MPG, but no mention of how much propane was used. Also the cost of Diesel and propane can vary quite a bit, but usually propane has been at least $1. 00 cheaper per gallon than Diesel (unless you buy the pre-filled grill tanks where you get gouged on the cost. )

 

[speedyjdl]

I never hand calculated mine but my overhead said 21-22 without propane and 27-28 with propane. One 8 gallon tank of propane lasted me one 34 gallon tank of diesel.

 

[JGrosso]

I have read that it's fairly normal to use 1-gallon of propane for each 4-gallons of Diesel? Sounds about right from your post?



I just got the Injection unit today, it dosen't look too difficult to install, but I have a few questions on assembly.



For thread sealer should I use teflon tape, teflon paste, or pipe dope.

I have all three, and I though the pipe dope is common for natural gas lines? what do you think?



Also, what type of propane supply line and fittings are required for going from the propane tank to the regulator?

 

[JGrosso]

Found an Article in April 2006 of Mopar Muscle Magazine where they did an install of the Superchips DPI system. They claimed to have doubled their fuel mialage. It seemed they were injecting a lot more propane, I think they used slightly over 1-gallon of propane to 2-gallons of Diesel Fuel.



Anyhow, I received the DPI unit, and I am just waiting for the tank.

Hopefully I will get it installed before next week?