With reassembly just a few weeks away, I'm looking into some details I haven't looked into for years - decades, even. It's been a while since I had a car in which the cooling system wasn't either a "sealed, forget about it" system or a "just keep adding to it all the time" system.
So: "anti-freeze." We don't freeze here - at most, we have ten or a dozen nights that dip into the high 20s. So I don't need freeze protection.
I do need corrosion protection, especially with a bimetal engine. And as we all know, I need all the cooling capability that can be crammed in - especially in 100-110 degree summer days, which we have plenty of.
I've done a fair amount of digging and as nearly as I can tell, anti-freeze doesn't do anything WRT cooling except raise the boiling point a little - like, to 220. Unless I'm missing something, most race vehicles not only don't use (ethylene glycol) coolant, but aren't allowed to for track safety reasons.
And, finally, I came across THIS piece of commentary. This guy is a Ph.D. with special interest in heat transfer and liquid heat characteristics, as well as a gearhead... and he says firmly that 100% water has the best heat-transfer capabilities.
So what are the arguments AGAINST running 100% distilled water with Water Wetter and a corrosion inhibitor instead of any standard anti-freeze mix? With a slightly higher pressure cap to increase the boiling point?
So: "anti-freeze." We don't freeze here - at most, we have ten or a dozen nights that dip into the high 20s. So I don't need freeze protection.
I do need corrosion protection, especially with a bimetal engine. And as we all know, I need all the cooling capability that can be crammed in - especially in 100-110 degree summer days, which we have plenty of.
I've done a fair amount of digging and as nearly as I can tell, anti-freeze doesn't do anything WRT cooling except raise the boiling point a little - like, to 220. Unless I'm missing something, most race vehicles not only don't use (ethylene glycol) coolant, but aren't allowed to for track safety reasons.
And, finally, I came across THIS piece of commentary. This guy is a Ph.D. with special interest in heat transfer and liquid heat characteristics, as well as a gearhead... and he says firmly that 100% water has the best heat-transfer capabilities.
So what are the arguments AGAINST running 100% distilled water with Water Wetter and a corrosion inhibitor instead of any standard anti-freeze mix? With a slightly higher pressure cap to increase the boiling point?