cooling system for blown alcohol bracket car?

Building a 572 Ford, iron aftermarket block, aluminum heads, copper head gaskets with O-rings. Induction is an SSI 14-71 planning on about 20 pounds of boost. This a bracket car looking to run mid to low 7's 1/4 mile. Only running time will be pre-burnout, burnout, and full pass then towed back to pits. Do I need to run water in the block and a cooling system or can I get by without? Wondering about using a thermostat housing with a radiator cap like Moroso makes, then just fill the block with water and use an overflow tube routed to a catch can. Any ideas please let me know. Chris

 

Real race car don't use water..remember alcohol runs cool, also you might wanna think about hard blocking that thing..Dave
www.myspace.com/daveloweswr

 

Its an Eliminator Ultra block, thick cylinders and splayed 4 bolt caps, 4.5 bore now and good for 4.70 max. How much weight added by filling the block? Worth it in the long run? Thanks for the reply! Chris

 

Just keep in mind that the guys that have cooling systems will burn you down if they can, and if you do put a cooling system in it to use alky as coolant if it gets in the cyl. true a blown head gasket or any other way alky wont blow up your motor water will.

 

Gene;

While using alky as a coolant in the radiator sounds like a good idea, isnt that a bit dangerous?

Won't it eat up the seals in the water pump?

 

They used alky back in the 1900 before anti freeze was invented, however thinking about this they used leather for seals back then, i don't know now, maybe get a seal from the water pump rebuild kit and soak it in alky and see if it melts or what ever, I'm sure some one makes a pump to handle alky. with a blower i dough if he can use a stock type pump.

 

I'll call Meziere tomorrow and see if the seals can handle it.

 

i ran a blown chevy for several years with out water the block was solid filled i just put a fan in front of it after a run never any problems it ran low 4s and mid 6s water will just be one more thing to worry about are get under the tires

p.s. we pulled it to the line and pulled it back after a run

 

Looks like I'll try and run it dry this season without filling it just to see how it goes. About the methanol for cooling, I think you could use an alcohol electric fuel pump mounted in a remote location to circulate the coolant. Chris

 

Water under the tire is a problem, but getting burned down on the starting line from some guy that don't have to stage for 5 minutes and recking your motor is worse, and trust me if the other guy can do it he will. when we first built The BB/A we had no colling system, first time someone burned us down we made one. of corse you can beat the S#1t out of the guy that burned you ,but that dont get you to the next round!!!

 

True, but then people might see the pump and question what you're running for coolant. For that matter, you could simply run a dual fuel pump drive and have an 80A circulate the coolant.

I don't know. I'd have to further sleep on it. Methanol as a coolant seems like a good idea... but then again, so does Propane in place of Freon.

 

So what? is having a cooling system on a blown car illegal now? never heard of the propane deal.

 

Propane actually works better than freon in an A/C system. The downside is that if you spring a leak near the header, you wind up with a rolling fireball.

I'm all for a cooling system with the blower. I also like the idea of methanol instead of water. I'm only concerned about the flammability factor.

 

How high a percentage of water is needed to reduce the flammability ?
Jim

 

What happens if your fuel line springs a leak and it sprays the header??

 

thats one way to go out in a blaze of glory if i had to cool one i think i would say with the water even thow the other stuff may work the risk is way to high i think there is enough of the what if s when we drive these things

 

Going to stick to a dry block this time and if I have problems then will add water to see how it goes. Thanks for all the replies! Chris

 

You could 'what if' all day long.

But why add more possible points of trouble?

 

WJ Birmingham
You do what ever you want, If you had a bunk bed and slept on the bottom you would feel safe, if you slept on the top you would always fear falling out of the bed..................
When was the last time you fell out of bed????
Blownfastback ....Let us know how you make out, one way or another, especially if you get burnt.

 

Eli;

I'm not sure if I pissed in your cereal in this discussion, but it wasn't my intention. My intention is to share information with other racers, and gain an advantage by this information.

That being said...

I talked with Meziere this morning, and he said using methanol for a coolant was about the worst idea he had ever heard of. He stated that if you blow a head gasket, that the volume of coolant (whether water or methanol) entering the chamber is going to hydraulic the cylinder either way. Additionally, you now have a pressurized void in the cooling system that the flame front can enter. The motor has basically become a bigger bomb that it already was. If that wasn't enough, and it chunks a hole in the block, you now have several gallons of methanol being thrown under the tires, more than likely on fire.

I didn't think it was a good idea when you mentioned it, but I was open to it, pending further research. I think I've made my decision to stick with water, sorry.

Sorry Eli, but it seems 'your way', in this occasion, isn't the 'right way'.

-WJ