Best coolant to use?

[BaylorCamaro]

Had a track day yesterday and for the first time I over heated the engine (twice!) and had to cut a couple track sessions short. I've heard great things about Engine Ice, Water Wetter and Motul Mocool. From what I've heard/read Engine Ice is the best. Anyone else have experience / suggestions?

[SPCBA]

The best coolant in my experience across multiple platforms and multiple venues of automotive competition/hobby is distilled water with a little water wetter for anti corrosion and anti rust. THIS IS NOT FOR FREEZING CLIMATES!

It happens man, upgrade your coolant and think about adding some coolers. Add an oil cooler and the oil stops heating your water

[BaylorCamaro]

Originally Posted by SPCBA

The best coolant in my experience across multiple platforms and multiple venues of automotive competition/hobby is distilled water with a little water wetter for anti corrosion and anti rust. THIS IS NOT FOR FREEZING CLIMATES!

It happens man, upgrade your coolant and think about adding some coolers. Add an oil cooler and the oil stops heating your water

Being in Houston I really don't need to worry about freezing. The ZL1 has oil coolers OEM but apparently they're not great.

[Stoneb1]

The ZL1 does have OE oil cooler, but it uses the coolant loop (ie radiator). For track purposes I would suggest to separate those two. It will also help with oil temps.

What temps were you seeing on the coolant? What was ambient temp?


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[BaylorCamaro]

Originally Posted by Stoneb1

The ZL1 does have OE oil cooler, but it uses the coolant loop (ie radiator). For track purposes I would suggest to separate those two. It will also help with oil temps.

What temps were you seeing on the coolant? What was ambient temp?


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Oil temp was around 295, coolant temp can't remember but it was starting to get pegged and the DIC displayed the engine was over heating so I immediately went into a cool down lap. Outside temps were in the mid 90s.

I've tracked this car for about a year including last summer and never ran into this issue. However since last summer I've added a slightly smaller upper pulley and as such creating a little bit more boost. However looking at Eaton's efficiency map for the TVS 1900 I really shouldn't have lost much efficiency up high.

[KRich2587]

Granted I don't have a ZL1 but I never had overheating issues until I went to Fontana on a super hot day and with all the long straights there I got the overheat warning. What I did was install a 165 tstat and installed a large oil cooler split from the coolant loop. last time out to Fontana before I moved I was maxing at 265 oil temp and never saw over 220 coolant temps

[Stephen12ZL1]

Originally Posted by BaylorCamaro

Had a track day yesterday and for the first time I over heated the engine (twice!) and had to cut a couple track sessions short. I've heard great things about Engine Ice, Water Wetter and Motul Mocool. From what I've heard/read Engine Ice is the best. Anyone else have experience / suggestions?

I've been down this road with my '12 ZL1. I could run no more than a 10% overdrive lower pulley with a stock upper or the temps would keep rising over a 25-30 min session even with the ambient temps in the low 80s. I went with a bottle of watter wetter and decreased the concentration of dexcool to increase efficiency of the radiator. I went with a larger radiator by Dewitts but a Ron Davis unit is probably a better unit that will require no fabbing. Oil temps would push past 300 a few times and my water temps went to 243 at the highest. I went into limp mode once due to excessive heat when I tried running the 9.55" lower pulley. After I perfected a good road course setup with my 10% lower pulley and accompanying conservative tune, larger radiator, and water wetter, my water temps never went higher than 228-230 and oil temps stayed below 290. Boost translates to heat in the cylinders which in turn pushes more heat to the coolant, then to the oil. Good luck and consider the Ron Davis radiator. I have the Dewitts one that I used for sale which is a direct fit, just need to adjust the a/c condenser brackets to secure it in place. The plastic on the lower fan mount needs to be adjusted slightly also.

[BaylorCamaro]

Originally Posted by KRich2587

Granted I don't have a ZL1 but I never had overheating issues until I went to Fontana on a super hot day and with all the long straights there I got the overheat warning. What I did was install a 165 tstat and installed a large oil cooler split from the coolant loop. last time out to Fontana before I moved I was maxing at 265 oil temp and never saw over 220 coolant temps

Do you have a link to the oil cooler you used?

Originally Posted by Stephen12ZL1

I've been down this road with my '12 ZL1. I could run no more than a 10% overdrive lower pulley with a stock upper or the temps would keep rising over a 25-30 min session even with the ambient temps in the low 80s. I went with a bottle of watter wetter and decreased the concentration of dexcool to increase efficiency of the radiator. I went with a larger radiator by Dewitts but a Ron Davis unit is probably a better unit that will require no fabbing. Oil temps would push past 300 a few times and my water temps went to 243 at the highest. I went into limp mode once due to excessive heat when I tried running the 9.55" lower pulley. After I perfected a good road course setup with my 10% lower pulley and accompanying conservative tune, larger radiator, and water wetter, my water temps never went higher than 228-230 and oil temps stayed below 290. Boost translates to heat in the cylinders which in turn pushes more heat to the coolant, then to the oil. Good luck and consider the Ron Davis radiator. I have the Dewitts one that I used for sale which is a direct fit, just need to adjust the a/c condenser brackets to secure it in place. The plastic on the lower fan mount needs to be adjusted slightly also.

Yeah I'm stock lower and only a 2.55 upper, before I did this I studied Eaton's efficiency map of the 1900 and I'm still well within the efficiency of the blower, but like you said I'm still going to be creating more heat. It didn't help that it was in the mid 90's here and I was driving the absolute piss out of the car.

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Man I would get a good air-to-oil cooler set-up like I did, all your problems will be solved. Those oil temps scare me. My dual air-to-oil coolers keep the oil very cool, and eliminate the coolant-to-oil lines that went through the radiator, so the coolant only has to cool the coolant. I think a stock radiator would be more than sufficient if you did this. You may have seen my thread, but here it is...

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=410224