How To Keep Cool In Staging?

[02 Vortech]

what do yall do to keep cool during staging, because after two runs tonight my temp went up to about 205-210, and my E/T's struggled. My best R/T accounted for my worst E/T witch was my last one. But what do yall suggest? Ceramic coated headers?, E-fans?, Thermostat?

[XxInFaxX]

e-fans with a lower t-stat will def. keep the truck running cooler...if you have headers, and not ceramic coated...i reccomend them!

[LilYellowZQ8]

Probably the worst thing IMO is when you shut off the engine and start it back up again. Have you ever noticed that after your truck has been running at its operating temp and you shut it off and restart it a few min later? The temp climbs up to 10-20 degrees hotter. Why? The engine has no way to cool itself off while the water pump isn't pumping coolant, the radiator isn't flowing coolant and the fan isn't drawing air through the radiator to cool the coolant. Where does the heat go, right into the coolant that sits in the water jackets in the block and since there is no flow, the coolant can't dissipate the heat resulting in the engine getting hotter than normal operating temp. Thats why you see most of the top drag racers pushing their vehicles through the staging lanes instead of driving them under their own power and shutting them off everytime they stop.

[joker2040]

I have a 180 t-stat and ceramic coated headers.... I usually don't have much of any problem even on hot days. I also have an SS hood so it lets a small amount of heat out of the engine bay.

[Sparky2263]

An electric fan is the easiest way. Always raise the hood as soon as possible after the previous run to get rid of latent heat. You want to run the fan just long enough to cool off the water in the radiator (about a minute), then crank it up for about 5 seconds to exchange the water. Repeat about 3 or 4 times and it'll be cool enough to run again. A 3/16" hole in the thermostat allows you to cool it even lower (I make my runs at 150-160). The problem with having a hole in the thermostat is warm up times are ridiculously long and you've got to change it come winter time. But worth it for me.

[joker2040]

As Sparky stated... open that hood as much as possible

[LEADFOOT]

Ceramic coated headers, E-fans, Thermostat. And all the other things they^^^^^said.

[KODIAKWARRIOR]

In addition to what you guys said, how about Water Wetter or something like that. Might be worth a few degrees. But every little bit helps

[LEADFOOT]

In addition to what you guys said, how about Water Wetter or something like that. Might be worth a few degrees. But every little bit helps
I used that when I put in the 180* t stat. I've heard it helps.

[Sparky2263]

Water wetter is for straight water systems. Reduces the surface tension of straight water. Not needed when running antifreeze.

BUT, because straight water transers heat much better than antifreeze, reducing the antifreeze concentration is a big help also.

[LEADFOOT]

Hey sparky since we live in Fl, what would you say is a safe low concentration of antifreeze. we don't need much just enough to lubricate the pump and other things right?

[Sparky2263]

I put in a half gallon. That puts me at about 25 degrees freezing temp (and that'd be a hard freeze for us. Rare).