Coolant recommendation

[Joseph Adamek]

Hello everyone, hope you're staying safe!

Question I have is what type/brand of coolant are you using in your older engines? I have a rebuilt 440 with a new aluminum radiator and water pump housing and getting ready to put coolant in for the first time. What are you guys using?
Standard? Long life?

Let me know, thanks.
Joe

 

[CCKen]

We recommend a glycol based green 50/50 mix

 

[Joseph Adamek]

So do not use the new OAT or HOAT coolant that is out there? I would think with the aluminum parts that I have that that type of coolant would be better.

 

[Huskidrive]

I have PEAK long life in mine right now. 383

 

[moparleo]

Distilled water and G-05 . 50/50 mix . Don't buy the premixed. It is 1/2 water. Get full strength and mix with distilled water yourself. Distilled water is around $1.00 gallon. The newer coolants are designed for aluminum/iron components. Make sure to pressure check your cap. A lot of new ones are bad.

 

[wedg2go]

I always leaned towards an old reliable. Especially if is contains corrosion inhibitors.

 

[doubleyellow]

Anyone have a big block and try the "Be Cool" brand coolant? Mancini recommended it, but I haven't tried it yet.

Running pretty hot and trying as many options as possible (tuning, etc), and was wondering if this coolant improved a bit.

Thanks

 

[doubleyellow]

I'm currently running the 50/50 Prestone BTW

 

[Lee W.]

IMO Evans waterless coolant is best on a new rebuild because they run a little hot in till break in. Evans won't boil until 300+ Degrees & keeps engine clean with a lot less pressure on cooling system. A lot more cost but won't have to worry about over heating. IMO only

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Evans is good stuff , no water is added so you will need almost 4 gallons tho

 

[toolmanmike]

Plain old Ethylene Glycol. The green stuff.

 

[doubleyellow]

Well looks like every coolant known to man was recommended......as usual there is no one general answer.....have to try out different options with your unique car.......

 

[toolmanmike]

Plain old Ethylene Glycol. The green stuff.

Well looks like every coolant known to man was recommended......as usual there is no one general answer.....have to try out different options with your unique car.......

 

[toolmanmike]

Unless your car has special needs, (Aluminum block or heads or a heating problem) Just use Ethylene Glycol. It has worked for a half century in millions and millions of cars without issues.

 

[moparleo]

He said he was running an aluminum radiator and water pump. That was why the aluminum compatible coolant recommendation.
<meta property="og:title" content="Engine Coolant – Choosing the Right Type for Your Car" />

 

[toolmanmike]

Here's a good article but after reading it I still am undecided as to which coolant to used in a combination system. It sounds like Dex Cool but I m not a fan of that stuff.

https://www.streetmusclemag.com/tech-stories/fuel-cooling-ignition-tech/antifreeze-chemistry/

 

[Joseph Adamek]

Thanks, I ended up putting the OAT coolant in. Says it good for all american made cars, that's why I went with it.

 

[Ron-B-Cuda]

Thanks, I ended up putting the OAT coolant in. Says it good for all american made cars, that's why I went with it.

Joe, good morning. Question on your choice of anti-freeze; did it work? Any issues or concerns?
- I have a brand new Blue Print Engines crate 360 / 408 with a brand new aluminum radiator. They’ll be going in my Barracuda hopefully early next month. With all new components, and aluminum, I want to use the correct anti-freeze.
- Thank you for your time!!

 

[michiganhotrod1]

Hello;
The key point here is the aluminum radiator, etc. Combined with he iron engine this is a corrosion sensitive setup. Use a HOAT fluid, which has the anti corrosion chemistry to make this live.
Leave the old green stuff for the all iron motors with brass radiators.
Mark

 

[Adam]

Hello;
The key point here is the aluminum radiator, etc. Combined with he iron engine this is a corrosion sensitive setup. Use a HOAT fluid, which has the anti corrosion chemistry to make this live.
Leave the old green stuff for the all iron motors with brass radiators.
Mark

This is an old thread, but others will read it so I will add my two cents. I agree the HOAT coolant will help the aluminum components. Also it’s ok to use straight green coolant with NO water in an iron engine. I have been doings this for decades will no ill effects or overheating. This is my reasoning: Water is corrosive. Ever have a pool? You must continually test the water and add chemicals to keep the water ph in balance. If the ph is low (acidic) the water will eventually eat the pipes, the plaster, and the grout b/t the tiles. If the ph is high it will leave the dissolved solids on the surface (hard water deposits), we have all seen this, most of us have hard water in our homes. The reason there are hard water deposits (dissolved minerals) is: water is NOT ph neutral, it will corrode iron and dissolve some rocks and carry the dissolved solids in solution. Anyone have to re-pipe their house because of galvanized pipes? I did….some parts of the pipe were rusting thru, while other sections were clogged with rusty crap.

Anything below 7 ph is considered acidic; distilled water can have a ph as low as 5! Don’t take my word for it, check some distilled water with a cheap pool test kit… Water and iron = rust. Aluminum is much softer than iron… how do the coolant passages look on an old aluminum intake manifold? Why put water in your engine? If you must use water, use neutral ph water…. Good luck finding that.

Oh, and the last part of my rant… back in the 80s/90s we heard much about acid rain destroying all the trees. Well, if you test the ph of rain water, guess what… acidic.