Hi guys,
I just finished installing the engine in my Pantera (again! Long story...). Ordinarily filling the cooling system is a monster pain in the ass. Just like a GT40, the radiator is up front, the engine in the back, there's a remote pressure tank, and it takes forever to fill and bleed and purge the system, and you never seem to get all the air out no matter what you do.
A few years ago a guy turned me onto a vacuum-operated cooling service tool. Mine is actually from Harbor Freight (since discontinued for some reason?) but a similar product is available from an outfit called UView:
UView: Product Detail
It's fiendishly effective. All you need is a source of compressed air (your shop compressor). You fill a jug with your coolant mixture and drop the clear hose w/filter into the jug. The unit is jammed into the mouth of your coolant tank/radiator (where the cap would normally go), and compressed air is hooked to it.
In practice, you shut the valve leading to the water, and run the air. As it passes over the top of the tank, the venturi effect creates a vacuum. On a completely dry cooling system, you can get about 20-25 psi of vacuum. You can test for leaking hoses etc. Once the system is secure, you open the valve to the water jug, and the vacuum sucks the fluid into the system! As it does so, the vacuum drops to zero. Then shut the water valve, and repeat again and again. As the system gets more and more filled with water, you can build vacuum more quickly, and lose it during filling just as quickly. Eventually, you just can't vacuum any more water into the system, and you're done!
When you're done, there is NO air in your system and it's full to the brim, no muss, no fuss! Brilliant!
Asking prices for this setup are all over the place, but you can find it really cheaply on Amazon—about $80.
Money well spent! :thumbsup:
I just finished installing the engine in my Pantera (again! Long story...). Ordinarily filling the cooling system is a monster pain in the ass. Just like a GT40, the radiator is up front, the engine in the back, there's a remote pressure tank, and it takes forever to fill and bleed and purge the system, and you never seem to get all the air out no matter what you do.
A few years ago a guy turned me onto a vacuum-operated cooling service tool. Mine is actually from Harbor Freight (since discontinued for some reason?) but a similar product is available from an outfit called UView:
UView: Product Detail
It's fiendishly effective. All you need is a source of compressed air (your shop compressor). You fill a jug with your coolant mixture and drop the clear hose w/filter into the jug. The unit is jammed into the mouth of your coolant tank/radiator (where the cap would normally go), and compressed air is hooked to it.
In practice, you shut the valve leading to the water, and run the air. As it passes over the top of the tank, the venturi effect creates a vacuum. On a completely dry cooling system, you can get about 20-25 psi of vacuum. You can test for leaking hoses etc. Once the system is secure, you open the valve to the water jug, and the vacuum sucks the fluid into the system! As it does so, the vacuum drops to zero. Then shut the water valve, and repeat again and again. As the system gets more and more filled with water, you can build vacuum more quickly, and lose it during filling just as quickly. Eventually, you just can't vacuum any more water into the system, and you're done!
When you're done, there is NO air in your system and it's full to the brim, no muss, no fuss! Brilliant!
Asking prices for this setup are all over the place, but you can find it really cheaply on Amazon—about $80.
Money well spent! :thumbsup:
