Cooler than water

[Marcus]

Hi all...
Quick question re using cooler than water in cooling system...has anyone had experiences with it..? Did it make a difference...? Can you top it up with water if you happen to need to...? Basically looking for the pros and cons and looking for everything and anything to keep my 40 cool this Summer...
Much appreciate anyone taking the time to respond.
Cheers

Marcus

 

[Davidmgbv8]

I have used Redline and Royal Purple. Not miracle workers however runs about 10F cooler in my MG's

 

[Marcus]

Thanks David... I heard approx 10f benefit... so appreciate your input..
Cheers

 

[Howard Jones]

I've tried a lot of stuff. In the end, a marginal system will usually benefit the most from a system that is completely bled of air, then near-perfect ducting, and lastly a radiator fan shroud on a street car that must rely on fans.

As far as coolant goes. I tried the water-wetter stuff once and didn't see much difference but that was a long time ago. What did help was slowing DOWN the pump with a bigger pump pulley because it was cavitating due to high engine revs.

I now use 50% distilled water from the supermarket and 50% antifreeze in my street-only GT40 in California and now that I am in Texas (hotter) I may go to 66/33% water/AF. I use 80% distilled water and 20% antifreeze in my SLC track-only car. Distilled water removes the minerals and only 20% to help it evaporate if dumped on track and to prevent corrosion.

One thing to consider is an oil cooler. I know a very professional engine builder that told me once that up to 30% of the heat load that ends up in the coolant and oil will be in the oil. Oil temp control can greatly affect coolant temp management if the coolant system is marginal. Getting the heat out of the two fluid systems both ways instead of relying on the coolant to do the whole job can really be helpful along with all the benefits of lubrication efficiency.

 

[Howard Jones]

Coolant • UNEQUIVOCALLY, WATER IS THE BEST COOLANT! We recommend using a corrosion inhibitor comparable to Prestone Super Anti-Rust when using pure water. If freezing is a concern, use the minimum amount of antifreeze required for your climate. Stewart Components has extensively tested all of the popular "magic" cooling system additives, and found that none work better than water. In fact, some additives have been found to swell the water pumps seals and contribute to pump failures. • In static cooling situations, such as quenching metal during heat treating, softening agents (sometimes referred to as water wetting agents) will allow the water to cool the quenched part more evenly and quickly. The part will cool quicker, and the water will heat up faster. However, an automotive cooling system is not static. In fact, the velocities inside a cooling system are comparable to a fire hose forcing coolant against the walls of the engine's water jackets. If the softening agents actually aided in cooling the engine, the temperature of the coolant as it exited the engine would have to be higher because it would have absorbed more heat.

The above is an excerpt from Stewart racing water pumps tech information page. It can be found here on page 22

https://images.carid.com/stewart-components/items/pdf/stewart-components-product-catalog.pdf

 

[Marcus]

Thanks Howard...
Made a lot of sense and greatly sppreciated you taking the time to respond...
Cheers

 

[Marcus]

For anyone interested I have drained all the antifreeze out of my CAV and flushed throughly to remove all Glycol and am going to try VP Stay Frosty product...it's a water based coolant and I have chosen the blue Race one with Zero antifreeze... it does however lubricate and act as a corrosion inhibitor .... Whilst I agree that good ol H2O is best we still need something from causing internal corrosion. I am looking for any minimal gains in heat control for the long drive down to the Classic... I will write up my findings... wish me luck...

 

[BenL]

I'm using Be Cool coolant in my GT40. It works down to -26dF and the boiling point is 267dF. A nice feature of Be Cool is that it's compatible with standard anti-freeze so you don't have to carefully flush the coolant system before using it.

Super Duty Antifreeze Be Coolant Be Cool Radiator | Be Cool Radiators

www.becool.com

 

[Neil]

Back in the Can-Am days we used a water/sodium dichromate solution as coolant in our Mclaren M8C.

 

[Randy V]

Methanol was used up until the mid 1920’s …. It didn’t freeze, but there were other issues (other than its flammability) that phased it out of use.

 

[Neil]

Methanol was used up until the mid 1920’s …. It didn’t freeze, but there were other issues (other than its flammability) that phased it out of use.

...and none too soon!