Water Wetter effectiveness?

Shelby Cobra · #1 (**permalink**) 07-29-2012, 08:40 PM

I vintage road race a Corvette and thats what we all run in our race cars - distilled water and Water Wetter. No antifreeze/coolant allowed in the cars in case of a spill on the track. It does work.

mdross1 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-30-2012, 04:59 AM

When first started running the 460 in our car was really concerned how fast the temps rose to 190f in stop and go traffic,when it got over 200 a few times tried a can of WW in 50/50 mix and saw no results.My solution was to close all gaps around rad with aluminum at first was anal about watching temp gauge.Now know it is normal for this setup to work the way it does.

trularin · #3 (**permalink**) 07-30-2012, 12:37 PM

We just had a rework of the cooling system as the fan would not turn on by itself as designed. Found the fan had aged and took near 40 amps to turn it.

To replace the fan, the radiator was pulled. Hence we needed to redue the collant. Used to run over 200 degree ( 205 - 208 ).

As it turned out, we run about 200 degrees in the 96 degree heat with 50/50 and 1 bottle of WW.

That is good for a stop light.

So it works for us.

Just weighing in.

Tom Wells · #4 (**permalink**) 07-30-2012, 06:49 PM

Things to check: thermostat & cap, fan turning in the correct direction, standard pulley sizes (no undersized crank pulley/oversized waterpump pulley) and on a small block, water pump rotation in the correct direction.

If these are OK, nearly always overheating at a stop indicates an air bubble.

Most Cobra owners go into denial about this.

It is the cause in a large number of these cases....

Your radiator sounds big enough.

Just sayin,

Tom

Luce · #5 (**permalink**) 07-31-2012, 06:36 AM

Another thing for you guys with idle speed cooling issues to consider is idle timing. If you have a vacuum advance and it's hooked up as ported and idles at 8-14 deg advance or so, you're burning a lot of extra fuel to keep your catalytic converter up to temp (which you should not have in the first place).

On the 1978 Chrysler 360, there's a thermostatic vacuum switch (I'm sure many other cars have one as well, but this is one I read all of the emissions chapter on)in the intake manifold's water passage that can switch your vacuum from ported to manifold at somewhere near 200 deg. If you can't be convinced by the recent vacuum advance thread to run your vacuum advance on the manifold, add this little emission device, and when you're about to overheat, it'll give you a few more degrees, upping the idle speed 300 rpm and running cooler.

YerDugliness · #6 (**permalink**) 07-31-2012, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Wells

Things to check: thermostat & cap, fan turning in the correct direction, standard pulley sizes (no undersized crank pulley/oversized waterpump pulley) and on a small block, water pump rotation in the correct direction.

If these are OK, nearly always overheating at a stop indicates an air bubble.

Most Cobra owners go into denial about this.

It is the cause in a large number of these cases....

Your radiator sounds big enough.

Just sayin,

Tom

Thanks for the suggestion, Tom. Here is what I did when I changed out the coolant...once I had the radiator as full as possible I capped the place into which I fill the radiator. It is clearly the highest point in the cooling system, standing well above the area where the thermostat is located. I ran the car up to temperature (felt the top hose to make sure hot coolant was making its way past the thermostat), then filled the system. I did this at least 3 times and got it to the point that there was no more room for coolant every time I would check it.

Then I jacked the front end up enough to set the tires on some ramps I have and proceeded to repeat the process described above. Only once would any coolant fit into the cooling sytem, after that the coolant level was consistently at the location where the radiator cap seals against the fitting (my Griffin radiator does not have the cap on the radiator)

Should I be doing anything else to make sure there are no bubbles in the cooling system?

Thanks...not in denial here, just looking for answers. Today I had the Cobra out about town and at one point the temp gauge read 210*. The ambient temp was about 95*, sure wish I had an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of the asphalt!

I am pretty firmly convinced that adding shrouds to the side of the radiator will help, will start working on cardboard templates so I am ready when the car is put up for the winter.

Cheers!

Doug

CowtownCobra · #7 (**permalink**) 07-31-2012, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YerDugliness

Today I had the Cobra out about town and at one point the temp gauge read 210*. The ambient temp was about 95*

I thought you said it ran hot? In my book HOT does not begin for another 20-30 degrees.

YerDugliness · #8 (**permalink**) 07-31-2012, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CowtownCobra

I thought you said it ran hot? In my book HOT does not begin for another 20-30 degrees.

It is quite common for the temperature to reach 230* during the long, slow stop 'n' go freeway traffic in Houston...at times it can take 45 minutes to crawl only one mile. When that happens, I try to get to the "inside" lane so that if I blow a radiator hose I can get off the freeway, but then that initiates a "Safe-tow" process where the city will come and tow my car to a place off the freeway...for a huge fee, of course.

I agree...I do not worry about 210*...

Cheers!

Doug