A propane system does not include an enclosed air intake. Air must still go through an air filter and to the intake manifold. The propane carburetor simply replaces or adds to the original fuel system. The rule of thumb for propane is about 20% less fuel mileage. It can be used with fuel injection, you only need to turn off the injectors and turn on the propane fuel solenoid. The vaporizer will need heat either from the exhaust system or the engine coolant to keep it from freezing up. Normally the only use for propane on a small engine is in an inclosed environment because the exhaust fumes are less noticeable than than those of gasoline. There are other issues like reduced plug gap ( propane has a higher electrical resistance than gasoline ), and ignition timing as well as increased heat at the exhaust valves. It would probably not be practical on an ATV unless propane becomes very inexpensive.

 

fair enough- I just remember our 4 cyl nissan fork trucks running for weeks on one 35lb bottle of LP- we used them every day to push broken down t-busses into the shop- so I'm still intrigued about the cost per mile when compared to gasoline.

$19 in gas (5 gallons) will get me 75-80 miles on my outlander 800-

$19 in LP will get be 40+ lbs of LP- I definitely know I can get more then 80 miles out of 40lbs of LP!

(BJ's = $12 for 35lb of LP)

 

standard propane tanks can take a bigger beating than you think, least the ones designed for forklifts, and you wouldn't need a tank that big, idk how big the tank is(maybe 2 feet long, 10" diameter, possibly smaller)but it lasts a week or so at a time at our shop and we use it about every day 5 days a week loading heavy equipment......

i'd love to see this or a diesel setup on a quad....diesel would be evil from all the torque, but you'd have to redesign some parts to withstand that kinda torque...

 

Arctic Cat make a diesel atv-

 

well yes, but i'd like to see more brands do it than just one, i'd love to see some sport quads running turbo diesels or the like.....that'd be killer

 

Polaris used to make a diesel atv for a short time but the way I understand it there wasn't enough demand for them so they dropped the line. Not to mention the things were super noisy. With newer diesel technology maybe there will be a come back but I wouldn't hold my breath. Although it's still an option with some of the ranger models.