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Water Wetter and distilled water

RagTop

RagTop

Old Grumpy
I've struggled with heating problems since I bought my '69 302 vert., and that's going on 19 years. I've added a shroud, a 3 tube core, an aluminum water pump (most recently), a 160* thermostat, a five bladed stock Ford fan and I've tried various combinations of coolant. On the negative side, I've had it bored .040 over, I've replaced the stock cam with a single profile .224 duration @ .050 with a .500 lift, a 4V Road Demon, a J code '68 custom curved distributor, Ford GT40P cast iron heads, custom tri-y headers and full up Motorsport roller rockers. The dizzy was custom curved and runs at 14* base and 34* all in. This car has always hated things like parades, heavy traffic and fast food drive throughs, to say nothing of long stoplights on a hot day. In the Bay Area, where summer temps are usually in the mid 80s and a really hot day is 90*+, it struggled. Here in Sacramento, with 100*+ days a common event, it gets really hot really fast. I'm presently running 50/50 water and glycol. I am considering switching back to Water Wetter and distilled water. I am about to attempt to drain my coolant and I have a question. If I open the petcock and drain off the radiator contents and then close the petcock and allow the water pump to push additional coolant into the radiator, will that account for most of the coolant in the engine? I am concerned that running the water pump dry might damage the bearings. I don't want to pull the whole damn radiator to get most of the coolant out of it. Suggestions?
 
Just remove the block drain plugs on both sides of the engine. That will get rid of a LOT of water! You could also flush it all out with a hose.
 
Ken I doubt the small amount of the remaining coolant will have any affect on your replacement with water and water wetter. In fact you should run a little "anti-freeze" even with the water wetter. I do. Mine has been running cool for years now even in high temps.
 
It's gonna take some flushing to get all the coolant out. Does water wetter prevent corrosion?

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You're doing yourself a dis-service by having a 160* thermostat instead of a 180 or 195*. The higher temperature thermostat will keep the water in the radiator a bit longer so air flow will be able to cool it down that much longer. With a 160*, water is continuously circulating and doesn't stay long enough in the radiator to cool down.
 
Keep in mind, they don't allow antifreeze in track cars. It's too slippery if if gets on the track. I also usually drain all the water over the winter since there's no anti freeze!


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msell66 said:
Keep in mind, they don't allow antifreeze in track cars. It's too slippery if if gets on the track. I also usually drain all the water over the winter since there's no anti freeze!


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That makes sense. I don't know what direction to go with mine. I'd like to drive it in the winter when the weather permits so either antifreeze or 150 bux for that Evans.

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I was thinking of electrolysis and corrosion, but my daily drivers run it without issue. We treat our labors a little different though lol.

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I have one of those fancy radiator caps that has one of those sacrificial anode's hanging off of it to combat electrolysis problems.


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Midlife said:
You're doing yourself a dis-service by having a 160* thermostat instead of a 180 or 195*. The higher temperature thermostat will keep the water in the radiator a bit longer so air flow will be able to cool it down that much longer. With a 160*, water is continuously circulating and doesn't stay long enough in the radiator to cool down.
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Careful, Mid. I got into a very long and heated debate one day making such a claim. I know it's true BTW. Some folks can't handle the physics of it, I guess.
 
Horseplay said:
Careful, Mid. I got into a very long and heated debate one day making such a claim. I know it's true BTW. Some folks can't handle the physics of it, I guess.
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The key here is that the thermostat sets the floor of the engine coolant temperature while running, not the ceiling.
 
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