water or not

[xlr8]

Hey guys, hopefully you can help me settle a dispute on the topic of water or no water in a injected methanol FED with a cast iron Pontiac factory block. I was told that if it is a factory cast iron block that you MUST run water. True? The block has
"hard blok" in it and the heads are Edelbrock aluminum. If it has to have water, does it have to have a radiator? Or can it simply circulate through the engine without one? I just don't see many FEDs running water and radiators unless they are running race gas.

[opa1]

I don't know on the Pontiac but, I run water in the block on my FED (chevy) methanol engine. It will work without it though. I just do it to try and keep all the cylinders in a even temp. I don't use a radiator or pumps of any kind.

[dreracecar]

Only time you really need to run water through the heads (only) is when you have 2 exhaust valves next to each other like a SBC. If the exhaust valves are separated by an intake valve then no because the fuel charge cools the head as it enters the cyl. In such cases where you have to run water, you can get solid copper head gaskets without water transfer holes and circulate with a camshaft driven WP and a 2 qrt tank

[jeff/21]

Ran water in the heads block filled, no rad or pump

[THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER]

You do have a tow vehicle to tow you to the lanes and back up the return road, yes?

[xlr8]

You do have a tow vehicle to tow you to the lanes and back up the return road, yes?

You do have a tow vehicle to tow you to the lanes and back up the return road, yes?

Yes I do have a tow vehicle for towing it to the start and back from the return road.

[glofria]

No water will be needed. Alcohol (water based) is a cooling agent unlike gasoline (petroleum base).

If you do run water, make certain you have a vented catch can reservoir on board for expansion.

Are you only doing the 1/8th mile or going to run 1/4 mile too?

[xlr8]

We will run both eighth mile and quarter mile.

[George]

I ran a SBC with Dart LIL M block and Dart Iron Eagle 230 heads. The block was fully filled with a hard block filler. We did NOT run coolant. Methanol fuel at 13-20 PSI boost pressure. The SBC does have a hot spot at the cylinder head center. We ran a solid copper gasket . The heads were cut with a receiver groove and the block o-ringed. No problems.The best performance was 4.50 @158 and 7.08 @ 193. I know very little about Pontiac but I can share my info with the Chevy. George

[Curly1]

A lot of people run them dry on alcohol. I do not feel comfortable doing that and I bracket race sometimes to. So I run a small Honda style radiator with water pump and fan. I have complete control over water temps and it does not weigh much. Whole system including block takes less than 2 gallons of water. With this set up I do not need to be towed to the lanes and back, I can drive it all around and if I am hot lapping in later rounds my water temp stays in control. The cost is maybe an additional 20 Lbs? Well worth it to me for the security of protecting my motor and the consistency of being able to control water temps. By the way the little Honda radiator on Ebay with the fan was under $70 shipped.

[wideopen231]

I have ran water in injected engine but it was way way back. We ran factory block with brodix heads injected and never ran water,never had heat issue except trying to build heat and car was consistent as could be. My combo in FED is solid black and billet heads so no way to run water if I wanted to. I have found that if you run a little rich its almost impossible to get heat you want and have a richening  valve that allow me to add a little fuel to motor and cool it if ever needed. No problem with oil doing so either as long as you have vacuum pump and/or heat motor and let breath before putting away for the day.

  Running water has been found to be worth cpl horses on some combo's .

[glofria]

We will run both eighth mile and quarter mile.

Blown or injected? Do you have a data recorder and if so, what are the EGT saying? Otherwise, what does the plugs say?

[xlr8]

No data recorder, and so far the plugs look slightly on the rich side.

[glofria]

That's a good place to start. Take notes on everything and adjust for weather conditions.

[coupemerc]

I'm not running any water. My deal would be leaking all over the place if I tried! Dart Iron Eagle SBC with no freeze plugs and iron heads ported into the brass filled jackets. I can make it idle at any temp I want with stack injection and methanol. I prioritized lighter weight, more radical porting and never having to worry about leaks. I've never run a Pontiac but can't see any reason why it could not be run the same way.