Franz, lp

[Sberry]

Hey old fart, I have a single cyl 16 hp Briggs I wouldnt mind setting up on LP. I know I would lose a litle power but dont think its an issue. Would be nice to be able to drive indoors with it. Do they make a dual fuel kit? Or is the thing just to go to lp? How much?

[Franz]

Welcome aboard S, I knew you'd come draggin in eventually.
16hp is above the cutoff for tank vaporization, so you'll have to use a liquid feed tank and a vaporizer, like a forklift. That alone is going to get expensive unless you have an air heated vaporizer sitting around.
Let me do a bit of digging, there are a couple sites with conversion information for SE carbs.
BTW, do you ever open yopur email?

[Sberry]

I can go to a 40# bottle, would that help being able to run vapor? I run vapor on a 500 Cadilac and on a 383 Mopar but I am running them from 500 gal tank and a 1000

[Bolt]

I picked up a propane vaporizer to run my Chevy 350 (previously natural gas) irrigation generator engine of a 1000 gallon liquid tank, and it ran me $183.

I would imagine a smaller one to be somewhat cheaper, but not a whole lot.

[Franz]

Actually, a pair of 20# tanks have more vaporization area than a single 40 if all are verticly oriented. Surface area counts for a lot when vaporizing propane, or any other refridgerant.

Here's a site that shows a lot of information,
http://www.bigeasychoppers.com/festival1.html

It looks to me like a farm boy with a chunk of aluminum and a drill press could probably make one of these units up. The only thing you'd need to calculate would be orfice size. Since we're talking about a machine that runs constant RPM, propane conversion isn't too difficult.
The block between the existing gas carb and manifold is an easier way to go since you retain the butterfly and the choke.
Biggest problem I see is vaporizing sufficient propane to keep 16hp running without resorting to a vaporizer and liquid feed tank.

[Sberry]

I know a 20# bottle is marginal for cutting with a torch in cold weather. I forgot how much LP weighs. 23 gals per 100# I think. So about 10 gallons in a 40#. I would think it use maybe 1 gallon per hr??? I can work a half a day depending, on 2 1/2 gals of gasoline. Not sure what the actual rate is under full load.

[Franz]

S the only thing I can find on the web using a 16hp engine that runs off a 20# bottle is a vacuum cleaner, and that is obviously for inside use.
I think you want at least 2 20# bottles running into a manifold for your application. If the machine is going to idle and recover you may even want to add a lo pressure damping chamber between the regulator and the engine.