I'm getting a got propane kit from cary anyday now:D,Ive herd pane is hard to light off.I have a few qustions about hotter coils,Which one is every one using?Which kind of ballest does a sami have?I was thinking about an MSD Blaster 2,Also are the OEM Disty caps better then a parts stores? Any ideas on spark plug wires,NGK?

I got the Jacobs ultra off road ignition kit and like it a lot.

I run the old style coil with stock plugs & wires with 0 proplems on my propaned 1.6.
But I would like to get a little more total timing out of it just because I have heard that propane like more total timing? And it does seem to fall down a little in the upper RPMs.
Dont mean to hijack this thread, but has anyone recurved a old style vac. advance distrubutors?

Could u use a dist springs from a msd kit for an HEI? Just need softer springs right?

I have the kit from Cary and run a totally stock ignition system on a VERY tired 1.3 and I have not had the first issue since bolting it on...

Could u use a dist springs from a msd kit for an HEI? Just need softer springs right?

Thats how us old school guys used to do it on a the Chevy V8s.
I was hoping some one had some info. on the right spring or a how to link?

i'm a big fan of the msd 6a box, though i know little about propane. it will pay for itself in fuel, it really helps with efficiency- which you will be in the hole on after the kit.

as far as softening disty springs... heat 'em up! it's redneck, but so is recurving a distributor arbitrarily. if you want to run "more" timing, bump your initial advance to where you like it. polish your combustion chambers. advance at a certain point will hurt your power output due to heating and expanding gases on an ascending piston, raising your compression *pressure*, even before you hear "knock". i've found that the little aluminum fours tend to run better with less timing in comparison to the iron-block V8's we know and love. (edit: smaller volume=less time to burn completion, ceteris parebus. flame front moving at the same rate will envelop all surfaces in less time, requiring less advance. that is, after all, the reason for advance spark to begin with. an ideal engine running ideal fuel would spark at TDC, in theory.) i've been putting a ton of time into learning how to hot-rod japanese motors with the build i've got on my engine stand at this moment, and i've discovered that many of the big-engine tricks don't apply quite so directly. looking at ignition timing effects on propane specifically might be best from dyno comparisons. you could search results on any motor out there, as long as you can compare it to a gasoline equivalent. if you find two or more, you have enough information to derive a formula.

since propane is not a "wet" fuel, you should be able to get a hell of a punch out of a smooth-polished intake and exhaust port job, with special attention to the short-turn radius. (you are not concerned with creating eddies along the port surface to keep atomized fuel in suspension, which hurts overall flow by a few percent according to GC and other flowbench tweakers) the 8v heads have some horrible machine steps on the intake side. a chat with Geoffry at Colt Cams in BC about valve timing for propane may be worth your while.

this rant may be a bit off from what you are looking for; but everybody likes food for thought... especially if the sheep you count at night are like mine- fabricated from steel!

Wow awesome info, a ported and polished 1.3 running the pane:smokin:

i'm a big fan of the msd 6a box, though i know little about propane. it will pay for itself in fuel, it really helps with efficiency- which you will be in the hole on after the kit.

as far as softening disty springs... heat 'em up! it's redneck, but so is recurving a distributor arbitrarily. if you want to run "more" timing, bump your initial advance to where you like it. polish your combustion chambers. advance at a certain point will hurt your power output due to heating and expanding gases on an ascending piston, raising your compression *pressure*, even before you hear "knock". i've found that the little aluminum fours tend to run better with less timing in comparison to the iron-block V8's we know and love. (edit: smaller volume=less time to burn completion, ceteris parebus. flame front moving at the same rate will envelop all surfaces in less time, requiring less advance. that is, after all, the reason for advance spark to begin with. an ideal engine running ideal fuel would spark at TDC, in theory.) i've been putting a ton of time into learning how to hot-rod japanese motors with the build i've got on my engine stand at this moment, and i've discovered that many of the big-engine tricks don't apply quite so directly. looking at ignition timing effects on propane specifically might be best from dyno comparisons. you could search results on any motor out there, as long as you can compare it to a gasoline equivalent. if you find two or more, you have enough information to derive a formula.

since propane is not a "wet" fuel, you should be able to get a hell of a punch out of a smooth-polished intake and exhaust port job, with special attention to the short-turn radius. (you are not concerned with creating eddies along the port surface to keep atomized fuel in suspension, which hurts overall flow by a few percent according to GC and other flowbench tweakers) the 8v heads have some horrible machine steps on the intake side. a chat with Geoffry at Colt Cams in BC about valve timing for propane may be worth your while.

this rant may be a bit off from what you are looking for; but everybody likes food for thought... especially if the sheep you count at night are like mine- fabricated from steel!


My 1.6 8v. has been polished, flowed and the head has been milled. It ran great on gas but when a went to propane it just seems like it needs more compression and more total timing? Its is like I went back to a stock 1.3. Also propane does not act like gasoline, I have bumped the timing up so much that it starts to run hot, it doesnt ping. My timing is set at 12 degrees advanced and it seems to run the best there. This is my first propane motor and overall its great. I just wish I could get it back to how well it ran with pump gas.:D

Have you richened up the mixture at high speed?

Have you richened up the mixture at high speed?


Thanks for the reply Cary.:D
I would like to let everyone know that the my setup that I'm refering to is not one of your kits. It is a setup that I peiced together myself.
I know for a fact that your kits are top notch and work extremely well, and the gotpropane kit is worth every penny, but now that I have your attention am I wrong in thinking that a propane setup would run better with more total timing in the upper rpm range? I know that you are the man to talk to about this but I did'nt feel right about doing so since I did'nt buy from you. Thanks.

It can have too much timing.