Hi folks.
I got interested in this stuff last year when I saw a demo at a car show. As I only use the MGB for Drag Racing now I thought it might be a good safety addition to the engine as it reduces stress on the hoses.
The fluid is a dehydrated form of glycol. This gives it a boiling point of over 180C (over 356F) which means at normal engine temperatures it does not develop any pressure other than the discharge pressure from the water pump when the engine is running. I've been to the track twice now and after a run I've come back to the pits with the engine at 90C (194F) and removed the exp tank cap to hear just a tiny whisper of air pressure being released. This is due to the exp tank being 3/4 full of air in a hot engine bay.
The fluid itself seems slightly thicker than neat antifreeze. And the average temp gauge readings seem just a couple degree's higher than normal. But after a pull on the strip she seems to cool down as normal. I normally warm it to 65C before I run. Then in the burnout the engine temp creeps to 80C. By the time I'm in stage its reading about 85C. Then i hit it for 10 seconds and the gauge shows about 98C as I cross the line. By the time I have slowed for the exit gate its back to about 85C as per normal. And then a slow cruise to my pit area where the temp is 85C to 90C depending on ambient temperature. Then I shut it down and open the bonnet. The temp is creeping a few degree's by now with heat soak. But when I remove the exp tank cap all I get is a little pshh! and thats it :)
Its not a cheap fluid as the process for making it is expensive. It costs about £65 per gallon here. I bought 2 gallons and have plenty to top up if i need to after any works on the engine where I may need to drain the stuff out.
So I give the Evans Waterless Coolant a big thumbs up :)
Regards
Perry
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I ran it in a while in my MG. It did not cool as well as traditional coolant and did do better with traditional coolent.... Evans admidts that but that is not it's intent. The purpose is to be able to run unpressurised systems and to run hotter without hot spots.
I found due to it's cost $$$$$ it was required to recover it and store it durring maintenance and it was also difficult if you should need some on the road. There was a specific collant you could use...if you had too...but if you get caught on the road and have to add water that is not an option.
Ironically after doing some work I failed to get a hose tight. I dumped my coolant over board after I started my trip. When the temp began to rise I pulled over as I knew something was wrong. I pulled over and was able to reattatch/tighten the hose, walk down to the lake and scoop up some water form the lake then turn around and drove home. Then flushed the system so again I was glad I did not have evans $$$$$.
Evans is also flamable and there are a few storries of people burnt from it including a salt lake racer which is well known.
I think there are specific applications which might be advantageous but I preffer standard coolant.
Flammable coolant?
I've noticed that propylene glycol ("pet safe") coolant is gone from my local stores. They're back to just carrying ethylene glycol stuff. Bummer.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700261440/Driver-burned-after-topping-land-speed-record.html
http://www.freelists.org/archives/ratpack/09-2010/jpgy9lbx6tWGM.jpg
http://www.chevyasylum.com/lsr/bsf2008/shootout/missile/part4/080924_0203r8_jpg.html
They made an emergency rule change after that fire; no flamable coolant allowed any more in the salt flat racers.
IIRC the specific heat of Evans coolant is about 0.66 while that of a conventional 50/50 antifreeze mix is about 0.82.
That would seem to indicate that you need to increase the mass flow through the cooling system by about 24% to extract the same amout of heat from the engine when using Evans instead of coventional coolant.
For those interested
I've been using Evans NPG+C in my 79 4.8 Rover V8 conversion since April, about 500 miles, so far so good... The warmest weather so far was about 99 the other day in Montana.
I'm at 3300 ft in elevation.
In heavy stop and go, during rush hour for about 45 minutes of driving, the V8 never went above 200 (mechanical temp gauge).
It's really an odd feeling to open the radiator cap after turning it off and nothing happens, just a little expansion, no steam.
My cooling system is sealed, no over flow or expansion tank. Two stock pusher fans and a mechanical (non-shrouded) puller on the water pump.
Ron Davis alum rad, MGV8 specs.
Yes Evans is expensive, but cost/ benefit is a personal decision.
I tried to ignite a capful with a propane torch, sorry no burning.. If I had concerns, I'd worry more about the gasoline we pump under pressure to the engine.