Coolant Overflow Catch Can (small version)

[Large Arbor]

Ok, I am completely confused here. Why is an overflow bottle needed? If the intent is to save cats, ok, save cats. I can't ever recall seeing any antifreeze or water on the floor after a hard run. Oil yes, water or antifreeze, not a drop. So what is the intended purpose?

Phil

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by Large Arbor

Ok, I am completely confused here. Why is an overflow bottle needed? If the intent is to save cats, ok, save cats. I can't ever recall seeing any antifreeze or water on the floor after a hard run. Oil yes, water or antifreeze, not a drop. So what is the intended purpose?

Phil

The purpose of overflow tanks on 427's and 289's is to allow for fluid expansion. When the car is driven, especially on hot days, then shut off, the coolant's temp rises with heat soak. If it's just water, at 212 it boils-bit higher with coolant. Radiator caps rated 16-20 pounds pressurize the system so the boiling points are a bit higher. Boiling=expansion; that's why the tanks are there. If the expanded fluid fills the tank, it runs out the thoughtfully provided overflow tube-onto the ground.
Race sanction bodies only permit water and prohibit you from putting any on the surface.
That's what the overflow bottles prevent.
Pet owners have found a new use for the...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Large Arbor

Ok, I am completely confused here. Why is an overflow bottle needed? If the intent is to save cats, ok, save cats. I can't ever recall seeing any antifreeze or water on the floor after a hard run. Oil yes, water or antifreeze, not a drop. So what is the intended purpose?

Phil, first a note on what this is not. It is not a coolant recovery system. I do not have a coolant recovery style radiator cap, so it would not suck the coolant back in the system even if the volume of the bottle was large enough to support a recovery. Second, the first time you change out your coolant you will undoubtedly over-fill your surge tank a bit. Then, periodically, you will have a little coolant overflow (you would only notice it if it occurred in your garage). More coolant comes out at the beginning, less each time after that, eventually none at all. My "sprinkles bottle" system is mainly there to protect my pets, as my children no longer lick concrete floors. Finally, most tracks require some sort of coolant catch can (like the nice Moroso can Chas posted, not my little bottle). This is because of the dangers of fluids on the track itself. The harder you run your engine, the hotter it will become, and the likelihood of a spritz of coolant will increase. We don't need Rick Lake going in to a corner at 140MPH and hitting patrickt's puddle of Prestone.

[ACademic]

Originally Posted by patrickt

...as my children no longer lick concrete floors.

That explains SOOOOO much. Priceless.

[patrickt]

Large Arbor, as another continuing courtesy to the Cobra community, and so you can visualize the answer better, I cleaned out the sprinkles bottle and took her for a run this afternoon. It's in the low 80's and I kept the revs up high so I had a nice heat soak when I pulled back in the garage. The temperature on the gauge went to 95C in the garage. Here is what she spit out (it's fairly typical for my engine):

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by patrickt

...and I kept the revs up high so I had a nice heat soak when I pulled back in the garage.

Wow!-must have pushed the tell-tale needle to 3200 huh??

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Wow!-must have pushed the tell-tale needle to 3200 huh??

What would you do if I didn't keep you entertained?

[ACademic]

patrickt, your car shouldn't be doing that if you had the cooling system set-up correctly/optimized. Just install a puke tank like the ones previously suggested. Jegs and Summit sell small ones that are black and against the frame rails you can't even see them (ERA Chas' photos prove that). That residual that flows into your sprinkles bottle will just get sucked right back into the expansion tank after every one of your spirited runs.

You are definitely the queen of drama at CC. Congrats.