Evans Coolant

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Pete Ratledge
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Evans Coolant

Post by Pete Ratledge » Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:12 am

Has anyone used Evans Coolant in their Model T? What are the plus's and minis's using it. I used it for years. It never boiled. My Machinist told me that it is making my engine run too hot. The Evans Company told me that it should be run with a water pump. I do not have a water pump.
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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Kerry » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:20 am

Never used it myself but after reading their web site info on the stuff I agree with one thing they state when I'm thinking T,

"Water is considered the best heat-transfer medium, in it's liquid state"


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Moxie26 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:44 am

Peter...., not to worry one bit. I've used Evan's coolant in our 26 for almost 20 years. I have a motor meter and even on the warmest days the temperature really doesn't get too close to the bottom of the visual circle. I did check the motor meter with another thermometer in the house with hot water and it is in the ballpark with a calibrated thermometer so that is not an issue. The only negative comment I have for Evans is that the supplied rubber hoses for Model t's have an interior surface that does look very shiny and in my opinion cannot conform to the metal connection thus causing leakage. Evans does supply tablets to add to that cooling system to stop that leakage.


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Moxie26 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:47 am

Pete ..... Sorry, forgot to mention no water pump coolant system works fine as designed and also running a aluminum "Z' cylinder head. Also like to say that Evan's coolant protects non-similar metals such as aluminum cast iron copper as found in Model T engines


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by mgarrett » Tue Jul 21, 2020 10:27 am

Like Marvel Mystery oil, there are a lot of opinions about various products on the market. I can tell you from personal observation that a friend of mine here in Texas (where it gets REALLY hot in the summer) was having a problem with a Model A engine boiling over any time when speeds would exceed 45 mph. We checked everything...replaced the head gasket - no head gasket leaks into the cooling system, radiator cleaned and pressure checked, new hoses, radiator filled to correct capacity with 50/50 anti freeze, etc. I told him to drain the anti freeze/coolant and replace with pure water and a corrosion inhibitor like Water Wetter. The car now never boils over, even on our 101 degree days in July. What made the difference?
You can draw your own conclusions. Moving into winter weather, he'll return to using 50/50 coolant for obvious reasons.

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by paddy1998 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:54 am

While I haven't used Evans coolant in my Model T, I did use it in my 1971 Triumph Spitfire.

The primary benefit to the Evans coolant is no corrosion, high boiling point (350 degrees or so), and that it lasts the life of the engine; the cooling and anti-corrosive characteristics do not deteriorate over time.

Yes, it tends to run hotter because it is not as effective at heat transfer as water, which is the trade off. With 50/50 ethylene glycol and water my Triumph ran about 175-180, or up to 195 on a 100 degree day stuck in traffic. With the Evans, it ran about 190 or so and up to 220-225 on a 100 degree day stuck in traffic, and the engine is perfectly fine operating at those temperatures.

The thing to remember is that the only reason we think of @212 degrees as overheating is that is the temperature at which water boils, turns to gas (steam) and stops acting as a coolant. Your engine can handle a lot more heat than that. Keep in mind, your temperature gauge does not measure your engine temperature, it measures your coolant temperature which is not the same thing.

The only reason I haven't used it in my Model T yet is that I'm still planning on doing some things that will require removing the radiator and I don't want to deal with carefully saving the coolant every time I do that.

As an aside, I initially thought this was some kind of snake oil and it was Jay Leno's video about it that prompted me to give it a shot.

Naturally, it will not "fix" a poorly functioning cooling system, but its waterless formula does prevent corrosion and that's why I used it and will use it again.

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by TonyB » Tue Jul 21, 2020 12:48 pm

When I first rebuilt the 14 Touring I decided to use Evans coolant because of the Z head. It never appeared to boil but would run very hot. I discussed the hot running with the agent for the Evans coolant and he told me the specific gravity does not change with temperature. Oh oh this mean the thermosyphon cooling of the T will it work and it NEEDS a coolant pump. I added a Texas T pump and it ran cooler.
Check the facts.
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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by TRDxB2 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:27 pm

TonyB wrote:
Tue Jul 21, 2020 12:48 pm
... the agent for the Evans coolant and he told me the specific gravity does not change with temperature. Oh oh this mean the thermosyphon cooling of the T will not work and it NEEDS a coolant pump...
Check the facts.
Excellent point and I got some facts this link really explains it well http://what-when-how.com/automobile/the ... utomobile/
The thermo-syphon cooling system operates on natural convec­tion caused by variation in density of water, and hence does not use a pump. The heated water expands, due to which the density decreases. When it cools down, its volume decreases and hence density increases. This variations in density sets up convection currents so that circula­tion of water takes place.
NOTE: You should not add water to Evans Coolant. Nice unbiased review https://www.restomyride.com/hotter-cool ... res-evans/
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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Pete Ratledge » Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:37 am

Gentlemen, Thanks for all the comments on Evans. I am going to do more research and then make a choice on what coolant I am going to use. I just had my engine completely rebuilt. I don't want to mess it up. At present,I am using 50-50 coolant. It is running warm. The temperature has been in the high 90's around here lately.

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Walter Higgins » Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:19 am

I have experience using this in three non-Model T early cars -- a larger 1913 four cylinder as well as a 1904 two cylinder and a 1907 two cylinder.

The 1913 lost its water pump and needs a new one fabricated from scratch, yet the car is usable otherwise. It tended to run hoter with Evans but didn't boil - the radiator was 300F degrees at the top and 100F degrees at the bottom when checked with an infrared thermometer. We knew that it would run hot without its pump which is why we tried the Evans because of its higher boiling point and it has been a very good thing. Later an electric pump was added which improved the situation.

Both two cylinder cars have a water pump, but no fan. That configuration doesn't like to sit for too long without air moving across the radiator. Both cars can now sit without boiling over (not possible for more than a few minutes before) and there are no adverse affects. As mentioned above, they run hotter, but even at the higher temperature there is plenty of room to go before any damage is done. To us this is preferable to steaming at a lower temperature and doing damage as it is very easy to find yourself in such a situation where you get stopped and cannot bring down the temperature. Once you are steaming you aren't carrying away heat anymore and then you will get localized heating over 300F very quickly and that is when the damage is done.


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Moxie26 » Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:55 pm

The engine our '26 does not have a water pump.... And with using Evan's coolant I have observed a gradual warmth of the upper radiator tank and then shortly after the bottom of the tank gets warmer and thus the thermo siphon effect does work. Evan's coolant will not boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit because there's no water in the mixture true, it will boil at a higher temperature but it aids system cooling by keeping in contact with the metal surface plus the thermo siphon circulation through the engine and through the radiator to do its job as a coolant plus protects dis- similar metals in the whole system


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Moxie26 » Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:04 pm

A water pump to move coolant will decrease temperature regardless of what you put in as coolant

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Tim Rogers » Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:15 pm

"A water pump to move coolant will decrease temperature regardless of what you put in as coolant"

Please explain...
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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Moxie26 » Wed Jul 22, 2020 6:45 pm

Tim... A pump moves coolant through the engine into a radiator which is a heat exchanger with air going through to lower the coolant temperature to be brought back into the engine to repeat the process..... Thermosiphon works basically the same without a pump and a much slower rate of heat exchange.


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by J1MGOLDEN » Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:15 pm

Has anyone done any research on how many horsepower is taken from the engine to run the water pump?


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Kerry » Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:06 pm

James.
Well I'm going on what I can remember from some 45 years ago when 1\4 mile time drag racing, the train of thought back then was at least 5HP for the type of pump back then and another 5HP for a generator. So our team raced with no pump or genny and the cooling system was filled with casting sand, that was a 6cyl Australian GM engine, running on alcohol, fired it up, race, shut it down, :D

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by TRDxB2 » Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:35 pm

J1MGOLDEN wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:15 pm
Has anyone done any research on how many horsepower is taken from the engine to run the water pump?
That's a good question. But the Model T cooling system design is entirely different than that of used in modern cars. I have also wondered if anyone measured the increase in water flow as a result of a water pump in conjunction with the thermosiphon method on a Model T. I have had several different Model T water pumps, some with paddle impellers others with propellers. The designs don't look like they would do much to speed up the flow of the coolant and the only drag on the engine might be do to improper shaft lubrication. Having said that, the thermosiphon method requires the coolant to get hot in order for the coolant to flow. So on starting a cold engine the pump may have some effect but once the thermosiphon action starts then what? I have included a few pictures of the impellers - you be the judge.
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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Pete Ratledge » Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:55 am

There has been a lot of very interesting information posted . I am going to run the 50-50 coolant for a while and see what happens.
I am using the Tru-Fire Ignition system and running a 5 ball carburetor. I am going to recheck the timing and make sure that the carburetor is not too lean. I don't want to put a water pump on ( I need all the horse power that I can get ). The car has never liked hills !! If I can't keep it from running too hot,I will put Evans in with a water pump.


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by John Codman » Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:37 am

I'm a firm believer in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have been stuck in traffic in my T with the outside temperature at 90 plus and my waterpumpless T does not overheat. If everything is working as designed and in good shape, a flat-tubed Model T should not overheat under any normal circumstance.
To me, a water pump on a T is a measure to help an already existing cooling issue. I would prefer to just fix the issue.

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Susanne » Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:15 pm

I had a waterpump on Angel, the shaft was wearing so I pulled the pump off, and realized there was a HUGE constriction at the casting next to the block inlet, I realized that rather than aiding the water flow it was actually constricting it. As an experiment I rigged it up with a pan of water to see exactly how much it pumped - the answers were in dribbles, the water mainly just whirling around with the impeller... not moving anything of much import.

I put the stock components on the car, and it seemed to flow better... There are some pumps I'd still like to try (the Atlas style, being at the bottom of the radiator and pushing water up the pipe, has me curious) but at least I know the thermosyphon works just fine.

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Tim Rogers » Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:42 pm

Sorry, but a water pump on a T does not necessarily result in cooling- this is an ongoing myth...

Circulating water does not universally result in cooling the engine. That's why it's called a "pump" and not a "cooler".
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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by RajoRacer » Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:53 pm

And - "pump" is a misnomer as the T isn't pressurized thus all those bolt-on gizmos are indeed "water circulators" !

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Susanne » Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:49 pm

And some of those - as I well know - circulate only within themselves, not wihtin the engine. This one was a pretty whirleygig, leaked water between the packing and rotted out shaft, and not much else. But it looked cool... and gave me a rust assessment of the cooling system passages...


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by John Biggs » Sat Jul 25, 2020 4:25 pm

Greetings from England where our temperatures are never extreme.

I use Evans coolant (Vintage) in my 1904 Ford Model A and the Model C. These cars have a 'water pump' which appears to circulate the coolant well as the radiators warms up quite quickly.

I used to run the Model A with water and it worked fine when the car was on the move. However, if stuck in traffic, the car would boil up within two minutes. The same problem occurred whenever stationary, so a queue at the start of a day's touring would cause steam to billow from the tank vent. I had to carry extra water for regular top-ups. Driving through London on the London to Brighton Run was a nightmare.

The highest temperature appeared to be in the head of the front cylinder measured with a temperature gun.

Changing to Evans coolant has transformed my experience of the car. I can now run the car all day in any weather without concern for the cooling system. A temperature check of the front cylinder shows it runs no hotter than it did when I used water. I also do not have to worry about anti-freeze in the winter. The only drawback is the cost of the fluid so keep all hose connections tight and don't allow the water pump to leak. I carry a small bottle of Evans in the spares kit as the system cannot be topped up with water if there is a leak. I too was advised that the fluid did not 'thermosyphon' so could not be used with a water pump.

Hope this helps.


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by J1MGOLDEN » Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:38 pm

The actual engine temperature is a better gauge than the boiling point of Evans, which is about 40 degrees F above water.

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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Walter Higgins » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:27 am

J1MGOLDEN wrote:
Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:38 pm
The actual engine temperature is a better gauge than the boiling point of Evans, which is about 40 degrees F above water.
That is incorrect. The boiling point of water is 212F and regular green antifreeze mixed 50/50 is 265F.

Taken straight from a bottle of Evans:

"Evans High Performance Coolant (HPC) remains a liquid down to -40F, and its boiling point is 375F at atmospheric pressure."


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Re: Evans Coolant

Post by Pete Ratledge » Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:18 pm

Hi John,
Thanks for your thoughts. Will you send me a private E-Mail please? I would like correspond with you by E-Mail.
Pete Ratledge

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