Recently, on my vacation in Poland I noticed that 90% of gas mb's are actually running on propane. I talked to some taxi drivers about it and they had nothing but praise for their conversions, no loss of power or economy and fuel at half the price (even cheaper then diesel). Is this a viable option here in North America? Are propane prices stable here? I wouldnt want to invest in a kit, just for propane prices to skyrocket next year.

I had never really considered this option earlier, but I think it might be a decent alternative to diesel. I'm going to look into this, primarily for the m103 engine. It seems I can buy a nice 300SE + conversion kit for a whole lot cheaper then a 300SDL like I wanted. The kits start at around 300 USD, to about 600 USD for a good trunk-mounted tank.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts or info, let me know.

Sie ma, Trelinski!

Welcome back! How was your luck with finding Euro 126 lights? Where in PL have you stayed and visited... I am interested in knowing what you did. I plan on going next year as well, maybe this winter break if something works out!

I am interested in doing the conversion. My dad bought an Alternative Fuel F150 ford truck with propane and petrol fuel you know gasoline like we call it here. It is about the same performance with gas or with propane, however we run mobil 1 synthetic and change the oil every 20k miles to 25k miles. At first it burned oil until the rings seated, now it doesnt burn oil anymore. Fuel prices for propane in america I think will stay cheap because most people that use it use it to heat homes and I dont think that they would raise the price of propane. Gasoline I think they will raise the prices soon and alternative fuel vehicles will become worth more.

There is a place called Manchester Tank that will make anything you want. My dad is actually having a custom tank bult right now I think its like 700 dollars US and its pretty big for his truck. Please email me with what you find out.

Amcleod11@yahoo.com

__________________
Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

Well I'm definately going to look into this a little more. I dont really know anything right now except what the taxi drivers (w140 300 SE and w124 260E) told me. I would likely do this on a 300 SEL or maybe even 420 SEL, 86 - 89.

Im not sure about availability here, but I looked into prices back in Poland, shouldnt be a problem to ship the kit over and buy the tank here. With the trunk size of the w126, I dont think it would be a space issue. Its good to hear that they dont explode, and they last longer, I just have to determine if availability of the fuel would make it worthwhile.

Omegabenz, I'll remember to email you when I start looking at this more in depth.

Snibble, later today I'll send you a PM and we can talk about our trips, I am also going back next year.