Drag Racing - Filling the block with water and capping it.

All legit questions.
I'd thing that if you filled it with water and didn't get all the bubbles out then steam would be a problem.

Your idea of a water tank is good I got an old compressor tank that we can strap across your frame horns if you want.

Here's the deal, if you leave it dry. Only run a belt to the genny and we push you into the stageing lanes dragster style you should be running less than a minute on each pass, then let her cool between runs. As long as no one slow stages on you you should be fine.

There is one other option. I'm down to the shed friday, I'll drag my '29 radiator out. Get some copper elbows and Ts. We'll braze you up some adapters for your flatty and you can use mine for the drags. You'll have to come up with a puke tank, ah hell I probably got one of those also.
Drop me a note.

 

I would play it safe and try to put some sort of radiator in your car even if it is a small, cheap, temporary one. It would suck to fry your flattie.

 

Get a radiator, man.
I'm sure we can come up with something temporary.
Hec, let's go to the pick-n-pull and get something cheap and small.
r

 

I used to help a friend of mine with his Super Comp dragster (rear engine, big block Chevy) with no radiator.

Where the water neck would normally go, there was a fitting with a radiator cap, and a small fitting for an overflow hose.

Before a run, I would fill the motor with water. After each run, I would open the drain plugs on the bottom of the block, remove the radiator cap and stick a garden hose in there, and “flush” the hot water with cool water.

Of course, the car ran a high 9-second quarter, plus I pulled him up to the staging lanes, and pulled him back to the pit after a run, so it didn’t run for very long!

 

im sure you could set up a little honda radiator with some copper 1 1/2 elbows and a tee . just to be safe. i would not want to take that gamble for a couple of passes at the track

 

Don't try to run it dry.You will develop hot spots for sure.

Fill it with water.As long as the system was sealed tight,and you ran a temperature gauge,it wouldn't be a problem.

What does Sam do on the Hokey Ass Gasser ?

 

Just like Colorado51 said, we do the same on the puller tractors. Where your water inlet is, you use a neck with out the thermostat and cap it off with a typical filler neck. Use a normal rad cap with a small tube running down the side of the engine. Bolt a small puke tank so you dont have to ge back and clean up the track if it taeks too long to stage or its an exceptionally hot day. On ours, we just leave the tube open so we know when it gets too hot, but were talking dirt track here for tractor pulling, and you would not want to puke all over the asphalt track where traction is NOT helped with the addition of water.

 

That's what we did on the BFD last year. It used to be a common practice, but now with the racing radiators, real drag racers have gone to a cooling system so they can run laps at the drag strip.

You can expect to take 45min to an hour to cool it down... a real pain in the ass, but if you are crunched for time, it will be totally fine.

Just be sure to get one of those adaptors so you can run a radiator cap and an overflow. They will not let you run unless you have one... and it will prevent you from blowing a head gasket and/or puking water all over the track. Pit some pet-cocks down low... or a valve, so you can drain the water. Then top it off, run it... tow it back to the pits, drain the water and slowly poor the cold stuff in as the hot stuff drains... you do this until the temp gauge goes down to the peg... and then start all over again!

Sam.

 

1. Ask yourself: Which is more important, racing at the HAMB drags or risk frying your flattie?
2. Didn't one of the "101 tech tips" suggest Mustang radiators for pre-war Fords? Surely somebody around here has one you can borrow.

Sorry- no answers, but you can see which way I'm leaning.

 

Here's what I'd do.
Run tube/and or hose from the pump to the neck on each side.
Then up top kinda behind the generator put in a small crossover type tank, maybe an old small fire extinguisher..solder a rad cap holder to the tank, install cap with hose and puke holder, enjoy...
Wow runon sentece.

 

i'm not exactly sure of the answer,but i think you have a flathead.i don't know what they cost out there,but here,they are hard to find and expensive.i have alot of time and cash into mine to chance it.that's the kind of stuff you do to sbc engines.if you run it thogh,post your results

didn't the bug just run some kind of tanks up front?

 

If you tow it to the line, and tow it back from the run, I don't think you have to worry about it.

If you were real worried, you could set it up with a little pump to circulate the water...

But if you go through all the trouble of that... may as well rig up your radiator.

BTW, you will have a hell of a lot more fun if you have a radiator and can drive it around...
Sam.

 

Here's what a friend does - filler neck to both heads, petcock on both lower sides, canteen overflow catch.
Pushes to the line and fires just before burnout. Stages, and makes run, tows back to pits. Then he pours water through the filler and lets it run out the petcocks to cool. He seldom gets over 200deg. on a run.

 

I think the right answer is to run a radiator, but I don't think anyone answered this question of yours...

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Should I even use coolant or would plain water make more sense?

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just plain water, first of all, water is THE best coolant ever, it absorbs more heat per unit than any other common liquid (specific heat I beleive its called) and if you wanted to run antifreeze and circulate some water through there at the end of the run you are going to get antifreeze all over the place and have to refill it with antifreeze.

 

Many a drag race flathead ran a wet block without a radiator back in the day. A couple of years ago, I helped a fellow with a flathead altered. He was running a wet block with no radiator or circulation. He boiled over one time on the weekend I helped him. Any delay on the starting line can cause overheating and modern starting line crews are not used to cars that overheat if they run too long, so they aren't very sensitive to delays. A number of flathead racers run dry blocks, but the blocks tend to crack eventually. Gasolene and nitromethane will overheat faster than alcohol. If you have the pumps installed, I would hook up some kind of radiator, even if you have to build some Y tubes for the hoses so you can use a modern radiator. Even one too small for street use will work reasonably well for drag racing. It will just take more time to cool down.

 

If you want a higher comfort level than just running water in the block, you could run a small external water tank. Connect it to your water pumps and heads and put a filler neck on top.

It will still boil, but if you double the water capacity it should take twice as long to boil. Plus it will circulate the water to stop steam pockets forming. Put a temp guage in it and you will know exactly when to shut it off as well.

Having said that, it would be just as much work as adding a small radiator !

 

Heat is hard on the flathead,It can be done but i would not do it.I would at least plumb it to a tank.Flatheads are prone to craking anyway.I get exited anytime mine gets over 200.

 

Most drag strips do not like coolant ,only water. Coolant is sticky and hard to clean up .
My thought would be have a small tank ,5 gallons or so ,in the tow vehicle and run two garden hoses with quick-connects and an old electric pump. When the tow vehicle hooks onto the car,hook up the hoses and let the pump run while towing back . It should be stone cold by the time you get back to the pits.
You could probably run one of those harbor freight inline pumps that have garden hose fitting and an electric drill powers them . A cordless drill and your in business.

 

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Thanks for the suggestions everybody. I have pumps on the block so that isn't a problem. Anyway it looks like porknbeaner came through with a loaner radiator to get me through the drags. Sam is right - I need to be able to cruise it around a bit.

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Grim, with all the "blood", "sweat" and "tears" you have invested in that engine, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE,
DON'T RUN IT DRY!

Trying to cool down after a run by running water through the engine after a DRY run WILL! cause some cracking!

It sounds like you have a way of cooling it, PLEASE use it!

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Body goes back on and firewall will be bolted up tonight. Trans is officially sealed, spoon pedal and bracket installed, and I'm cutting some pieces for my floor on my lunchbreak today.

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Just a quick thought. Does the gas pedal need a "lift strap" in case the throttle return spring fails? (I don't know what the rules are for the class your going to run in)

 

Grim, Your radiator will be there sometime early Friday. Bring some hoses & clamps tho. DAVE