[DeTomaso] A new 56,000 pound Pantera tool

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/30/10 12:27:33 PM, MikeLDrew at aol.com writes:

> That said, I'd be surprised if any radiator could withstand massive 
> pressure, and would imagine that the fire hose was throttled back more than a 
> bit (which is the smart thing to do).
> 

KIrby's right- somewhere around 25 psi shoved into a radiator will balloon 
the cooling tubes, cutting down or eliminating air flow between the tubes 
and thru the core and resulting in overheatong without causing a leak. Above 
around 30 psi, something will usually rupture. Running a 22 or 25-lb NASCAR 
thermostat on a street engine to overcome boiling problems can do this. I ran 
a photo in the POCA newsletter a couple of years ago of the results of a 
blown head gasket on an aluminum radiator. The pressure increase from 
combustion gasses leaking into the cooling system of a running engine wrecked the 
nearly-new aluminum radiator without causing a leak. In another case, a 
crewman used a high pressure building washer to blast rubber and track debris out 
of the core of a dirt track racer's radiator. That flattened the edges of 
the tubes enough to cause overheating, too. Those things are FRAGIILE! FWIW- J 
DeRyke