Alternative To Engine Coolant

[Girorostar]

Hello everyone,

Dunno if this has been talked about before but i did a search but couldnt find the answer i'm looking for.

So, last year the drag race association here on the island joined IHRA and we got a lot of new rules and this year one of the new rules is that cars that are competing cant run with coolant that has glycol in it.

Is there any alternatives to coolant or any other types of coolant that doesnt have glycol in it? Because i dont really want to rely on just water to keep the engine temperature down.

Thanks in advance for the replies.

Take care

[Duncan]

HI mate, water cools better than glycol anyway, it absorbs more heat for it's volume.

We run straight distilled water in the race car with a corrosion inhibitor. Castrol make the inhibitor I use but I am sure there are other brands available.

If you find you still need more cooling capacity, we also use redline water wetter which made the car run about 5-10o cooler.

[Girorostar]

I didnt know that water cools better than glycol, thats good to know. I had a look at the castrol corrosion inhibitor and the redline water wetter, both looks good. Gonna talk to my friends and see if they want to join in on a group buy so we can order some online.

Thanks for the reply Duncan.

[JAS-25T]

Distilled water.

if you use tap water, it has too many contaminants in it and reduces the boiling point.

[Girorostar]

Thanks for the reply JAS-25T

Thats what i thought about tap water, reason why i didnt want to rely on it to keep the car temperature down.

[Duncan]

BTW I should add that glycol does have a role....it adds the anti-freeze ability. When we are going to goulburn in winter we change back to coolant, the extra cooling isn't really important that time of year anyway

.

I just assumed that wasn't an issue for you in the caribeean but it might be for others reading

[superjet760]

Is that a billet wheel presision turbo i see??????

[GTRPowa]

When we are going to goulburn in winter we change back to coolant, the extra cooling isn't really important that time of year anyway

Out of curiosity, what do you add to the plain water to keep it's pH level right?

[Duncan]

absolutely nothing. And it's never been a problem?

[tm_r33]

HI mate, water cools better than glycol anyway, it absorbs more heat for it's volume.

We run straight distilled water in the race car with a corrosion inhibitor. Castrol make the inhibitor I use but I am sure there are other brands available.

If you find you still need more cooling capacity, we also use redline water wetter which made the car run about 5-10o cooler.

do u use the water wetter and corrosion inhibitor together?

like im asking if they are compatible together?

full bottle of each in each full colling system fill up?

i know that the redline water wetter has an inhibitor in it but prob not very much and and if your using de mineralised water i suppose it cant hurt to add the 200ml castrol inhibitor also?

[Duncan]

I've never used them both together, when running the redline water wetter it has stuff in it already like you said. once again, i've never had a problem.

but be careful of sub 0 evenings...

[Girorostar]

Is that a billet wheel presision turbo i see??????

yup! and its going in pretty soon, my wastegate and wideband should arrive this week, just need piping and hoses to get the turbo in.

[Girorostar]

BTW I should add that glycol does have a role....it adds the anti-freeze ability. When we are going to goulburn in winter we change back to coolant, the extra cooling isn't really important that time of year anyway

.

I just assumed that wasn't an issue for you in the caribeean but it might be for others reading

Yea, thats not gonna a be a issue here in the caribbean. A good thing too otherwise a lot of people would protest against this new rule.

[tm_r33]

im going to give de mineralised water and water wetter a go and see how it performs in the track car.

[Beer Baron]

yeah the whole point of so called 'coolant' is that it lowers the freezing point so your liquid doesn't freeze up at 0 degrees C. like dunc said it doeasn't really help much with the cooling capacity it does raise the boiling point a bit but under 0.9-1.3 bar pressure (depending on your cap seat pressure) water's boiling point is increased a fair bit anyway. that's what stops is boiling in your engine, the pressure. under 1 bar atmospheric pressure plus the added 1 bar system pressure pure water will boil only at about 120C.

[tm_r33]

lol well if my car even got close to those temps id be sorting out a better cooling system.

i have found both my r33s have pretty good factory cooling systems (not talking about oil)

no matter how hot the ambiant temp is or how long im being hard on them, the water temp is pretty stable.

genuine thermostat, a regular cooling system flush and retaining clutch fan probably have a bit to do with that though.

more horsepower and thermo fans and water instead of coolant will be the test in the near future when car is back on the track