[DeTomaso] Red Line Water Wetter = Good stuff!

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

Hi guys,

During a recent visit to the Red Line Oil factory, on impulse I bought a 
bottle of Red Line Water Wetter.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10

I've used this stuff, on and off, for years, but hadn't put any into my 
Pantera before.   Today I took a break from working on Profiles, and I siphoned 
out an appropriate amount of coolant from the pressure tank and then dumped 
a whole bottle of Water Wetter in.   It's good for 3-5 gallons, and the 
Pantera's system is 6 3/8 gallons so arguably I could have used two bottles, 
but one is what I had so one is what I used.

After topping off the cooling system, I fired it up and let it idle.   I 
could see the water temp rise until the thermostat opened, then it dropped 
suddenly as the engine got a shot of cool water from the radiator.   It 
eventually settled down right at 190 degrees on the gauge, verified by a laser heat 
gun on my radiator which showed 185.   (I've got a 180 degree thermostat).

One fan came on, then it just sat there.   After 15 minutes, I decided to 
force the issue, and revved it up to 3000 rpm for about five minutes.   The 
temp climbed up to about 210 and the second fan was on.   I then let it 
settle back to its 850 rpm idle, and after a fairly short time, the temp dropped 
back to 190 and the second fan turned off.

Nirvana!

My cooling system is as old-school as it gets.   I have a standard Hall 
Pantera stock replacement radiator (brass) in the normal stand-up 
configuration, and Hall Pantera Meriah pusher fans, and a Brand X aluminum water pump 
from Pantera Performance Center.   Oh, and I use a RobertShaw (Flowkooler) 
180-degree thermostat instead of a cheap auto parts store thermostat.

It just goes to show that one doesn't have to go to great extremes to get a 
Pantera to run at the proper temperature.   Having said that, it appears 
that the addition of water wetter may have knocked 5-10 degrees off my temps, 
because normally my car idles with both fans running once it's warmed up, 
and indicates just over 190 degrees.   At about eight bucks a bottle, that's 
one of the better improvements you can make from a cost-effectiveness 
basis....

Mike