....for stock radiators on 1st gens? Especially for hot dry climates.

What brand do you guys use?

 

I've never heard anything but 1:1, but it all depends on your anti-freeze needs. If it doesn't really freeze mutch, then you should lean more towards the water, as it has better heat transfer properties.

 

50/50 is a good way to go

 

This might seem dumb to you guys.... but I thought you didn't need antifreeze in places that are warm?

 

If you live somewhere that it does not freeze you do not need antifreeze. Thus the name ANTI FREEZE. Just make sure you use corrosion inhibitors and don't go on any trips in winter to where it does freeze.

 

antifreeze is also a lubricant for the water pump it also kkeps the water from vaporizing

 

In So Cal, you CAN get away with water only...( I did)....but something like Water Wetter or something like that, AND/OR some water pump lube (can be bought at the auto parts store) would help.

Personally, I'd put a gallon of antifreeze in it and the rest water....just as protection, along with a NEW cap (they DO go bad....)

 

Another benifit of anti-freeze is that water boils at a lower temperature than anti-freeze.

 

Here in California I've always run 1 gallon of Prestone, then filled it up the rest of the way with water.

However when my 68 RS was my daily driver, I was running a US Radiator Desert Cooler and a Weiand Aluminum WP.

 

this is why you should use a water/antifreeze mix always

also I think good antifreeze has rust inhibitors too

 

TALK TO YOUR MECHANIC! ! ! Use a 50/50 mix.... ALWAYS.
Buy/borrow a glycol meter and measure your Freeze/Boil rating.

A 50/50 mix provides the Highest Boiling Temp and the Lowest Freezing Temp. "AntiFreeze" also provides anti-corrosion additives and lubricating additives. Chemical eggheads spend thier days enhancing the formulas, and thier companies pay them spend lots of money for them to so. Take advantage of that experience.

Look at the back of the jug.. most of the info you are looking for is contained there.

Cheers,

 

This is a total misconception.

Antifreeze is ETHELYNEGLYCOL. A type of alcohol. Its freezing point is LOWER (for the ANTI-freeze effect) thus making its boiling point LOWER. The coolant in the system is UNDER PRESSURE thus RAISING the boiling point. This means even running pure water, it will NOT boil at 180*. Simple chemistry.

 

i thought water boiled at 212*

 

Bzzzzzzz. Red flag on the play. You would think that the boiling temperature would be decreased... that is not the case.

You are correct when you say that "Anti-Freeze" is made from Ethylene glycol. The most widely used antifreeze materials in automotive engines today are methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, and ethylene. Most glycol mixtures contain a phosphate, nitrate, or other anticorrosive agent.

However Ethylene glycol will raise the temperature at which water boils. When a nonvolatile solute is added to a pure solvent, the vapor pressure of the solvent decreases. In order for a molecule in the liquid phase to enter the gaseous phase, the molecule must be at the surface of the liquid and have enough kinetic energy to break the surface. The addition of a nonvolatile hinders this situation in two ways:

1) The solute particles occupy space at the surface.
2) The solute particles introduce a new set of attractive forces with the solvent molecules.

SUMMARY:
With a 50-50 mixture of water and antifreeze, the coolant's boiling point will be raised to 130°C -- much higher than that of water alone (100°C)-- and thus further protects the engine from overheating in summer temperatures. This ADDED to the fact that the engine coolant is under pressure will increase the boiling point up to 180°C (sorry I am Canadian so I work in metric)

See some of the following sites for the Colligative Properties of Antifreeze.

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...+of+antifreeze

Cheers!

 

Back of a Prestone Jug


Another intersting thing to look at is Raoult's law

Raoult's law
[for F. M. Raoult] states that the addition of solute to a liquid lessens the tendency for the liquid to become a solid or a gas, i.e., reduces the freezing point and the vapor pressure (see solution). For example, the addition of salt to water causes the water to freeze below its normal freezing point (0° C) and to boil above its normal boiling point (100° C). Qualitatively, depression of the freezing point and reduction of the vapor pressure are due to a lowering of the concentration of water molecules, since the more solute is added, the less the percentage of water molecules in the solution as a whole and therefore the less their tendency to form into a crystal solid or to escape as a gas. Quantitatively, Raoult's law states that the solvent's vapor pressure in solution is equal to its mole fraction times its vapor pressure as a pure liquid, from which it follows that the freezing point depression and boiling point elevation are directly proportional to the molality of the solute, although the constants of proportion are different in each case. This mathematical relation, however, is accurate only for dilute solutions. The fact that an appropriate solute can both lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point of a pure liquid is the basis for year-round antifreeze for automobile cooling systems. In the winter the antifreeze lowers the freezing point of the water, preventing it from freezing at its normal freezing point; in the summer it guards against boilover by raising the boiling point of the water.