Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance polypropelyne glycol......reverse the radiator??

Reverse Flow cooling has recently been used in some High Performance Engines such as the Chevrolet Corvette, and I believe that GM also used it in most of its V8 engines during the 90s.
The Buick RoadMaster from 92 on, used a 235HP variant of the Chevy Corvette 5.7L V8, but it was Throttle Body Injected, rather than Sequential Port Injected. The Collection Series of the RoadMaster, I believe, built for 1996 (last year built), has the Sequential Port Injected V8. All of these V8s were REVERSE FLOW COOLED. GM claimes that by reversing the coolant flow, the engine burned fuel more efficiently than with the conventional coolant flow.

Pete...

Roadrunner is correct. The idea is to hit the heads with the coolest coolant from the rad first and then the block. Keeping the heads cooler allows more ignition advance, thus more power. I think only the 350 in the Vette, Camaro and Firebird have it though.
As for running straight water, don't do it. The glycol and other additives also raise the boiling point and give corrosion protection. There is very little heat exchange when you've got steam in your pipes. Best mix is 50/50 if you don't get snow. I run 70/30 cause we hit -40 some days.

I believe you're talking about "Heads", not "Headers". Headers are smooth flowing tubular exhaust manifolds. Heads are what sits on top of the cylinders and also contain the valvetrain on most engines. Cooling the heads first makes sense for cars designed with the right computer in mind, but for our cars it may throw a pretty big wrench into the spokes. Todays OBD-II ECUs are very sensative to operating temps... many people of the Mustang GT crowd can attest to this... The 5.0 used to love a colder thermostat... try it on a 4.6 OBD-II car, and you'll run rich and loose performance without a serious reprogram on the computer. I'd venture to guess that the same could be said for the Contour or any other Ford car made today. If it's not overheating or taking to long to heat up, leave it be.

Polypropelyne (sp?) is a common plastic resin. I think that might poison your gerbils.
BB

Antifreeze is Ethelyene Glycol, and it is very harmful to dogs. It is also costly to save one's dogs life if they decide to drink it, so keep that stuff under wraps and outta the way of your animals (I could care less about the kids cuz I don't have any :p )...yes Cleo is fine, just cost me a grand in Vet bills and hospital stay.

Ethylene glycol is toxic and when left loose often poisons dogs and cats. Propylene glycol, on the other hand, is so nontoxic that it can be legally used as a food ingredient. The performance differences are small enough that I am baffled why most antifreeze sold is not propylene glycol. You only need ethylene glycol if you live someplace that gets like 50 degrees below zero.

Sierra is not an alternative company, by the way, it's just a brand used by one of the regular antifreeze companies for their propylene version.

Consumption + profit margin = sell the cheap stuff even though its toxic!

thanks for the input everyone.....bnoon, roadrunner, and NMC are with me on this one and they seem to read me exactly with what i am talkin about, and what my question refers too, thanks guys for the input....

Quicksilver wrote:


This can still be very bad if you use the A/C or defrost. The iar travelling over the heater core is well below freezing when the a/c is on. It is possible to freeze the heater core with the a/c.

Red Line with their water wettter (and amsoil with the product you mention), still recommend using about 25% antifreeze to protect against this problem. I'm guessing the systems that shut off the waterflow to the heater core when the heat is set tot cold are most vulnerable to this problem. I don't know the contour system well enough to know if it does this or allows the coolent to flow, but simply redirects the air.

Not a recommended path.

Richard

Plain water only for racing, that glycol is extremely splipery. ethylene much cheaper than than Polypro. I've forgotten the specs, but polypro's used in solar and dry coolers etc the big AC systems (building etc). ethylene stands up to the engine enviroment much better.
This Dex-cool stuff suppose to have a property that idea for heat transfer in the head area. As usual I've forgot the word!
Paul