Man charged for trying to MacGyver propane tank to car engine

[matcom]

<snip>

A Sarnia man who used a propane barbecue tank to fuel his car has been charged with operating an unsafe motor vehicle.

The 53-year-old man is to appear in court on March 9, Sarnia city police said.

“It was very bizarre, a unique occurrence,” said Constable Bill Baines, media-relations coordinator.

The jerry-rigged car was spotted about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday by officers patrolling London Line Airport Road, Baines said today.

“They noticed the hood was up and obstructing the driver’s view.”

When the officers stopped the vehicle, they discovered the hood tied down with a rope.

Underneath the hood, a propane tank from a backyard barbecue was sitting on top of the hot engine block.

“It was connected to the car’s engine with a rubber hose, apparently to the fuel-injection system,” said Baines.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/02/15/3628308.html

[AllegroRondo]

1. During WW2

the French converted taxis to run on propane, as gas was very scarce.

[bleedingheart]

2. Wow...that is rather cool.

[hunter]

3. This trick was much more difficult when cars had carburetors.

I once played with a little farm implement diesel engine & natural gas, running the natural gas from the house to the engine through a long garden hose. That was really cool. I also caught a lawn mower on fire trying to get it to run on ethanol. I was attempting to start it using those lovely and dangerous cans of "starting fluid," which was basically a big can of very flammable ether. But I screwed up putting the little carb back together after modifying the jets -- the damn thing leaked somewhere.

Of course do not try yourself. As a kid I was always an idiot about explosives and fire, and I did a lot of things where it's clear to me now that I was just stupid ass lucky to escape great bodily injury.

[kedrys]

4. Richard Dean Anderson should sue

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ileus]

5. You can order propane conversion kits for under 1k bucks.

I've seen many jeeps converted to propane for use off road.