Cooling system reminder

[ndutton]

If you were ever considering FWC, please keep in mind your RWC engine is slowly rusting to death every day, every month, every year. The only way to arrest this deterioration is with anti-freeze cooling.

What prompted me to post this is I just learned the viable blocks for rebuilding that are returned to MMI as cores has fallen to roughly 50%.

Time marches on relentlessly.

[joe_db]

Good reminder to drag all my FWC stuff out and get it working correctly.

[sastanley]

Joe, If I could cobble something together successfully, anyone can do it. I completed my mark I FWC in about 2014..I ran with no t-stat and the undersized HX for years (I've always been a gauge watcher so no issue there with it running 185-190°F), and finally got the larger HX in 2020 (Mark II) and then I was able to put the t-stat back in and it settled in nicely about 165°F.

I do highly recommend upsizing the side plate like Neil and I did to 1/2" NPT and a 3/4" coolant inlet hose. It seemed to help a lot with flow volume. Everything else was 5/8" hose. One of the things I fought with the larger SenDure HX was the inlet from the head was on the opposite side, so it liked to kink the hose. On MkI with the gold cap, it was a much cleaner install.

[Golfdad75]

Heat exchanger

Can you tell me where you got your Mark 2 heat exchanger? It appears I have to get another.

[Sailorsb]

RWC when only in the Great Lakes

If you were ever considering FWC, please keep in mind your RWC engine is slowly rusting to death every day, every month, every year. The only way to arrest this deterioration is with anti-freeze cooling.

What prompted me to post this is I just learned the viable blocks for rebuilding that are returned to MMI as cores has fallen to roughly 50%.

Time marches on relentlessly.

We sail / motor only in the wonderful fresh water of Lake Huron and the St Clair river. Is converting to FWC as necessary for us.

Steve Beeler
C&C 35 Mk I with 2004 MMI short block.

[Al Schober]

The other advantage of glycol cooling is that you don't have to worry about winterizing the engine! This will appeal to those in Northern climes.
Only disadvantage is that you need a system free of leaks. If you're leaking raw water, no big deal as there's plenty more. If you're leaking glycol, it's like leaking blood - you'll soon run out!

[edwardc]

We sail / motor only in the wonderful fresh water of Lake Huron and the St Clair river. Is converting to FWC as necessary for us.

Steve Beeler
C&C 35 Mk I with 2004 MMI short block.

Not quite as necessary, but still beneficial.

Whenever you cool directly with "raw" water (fresh or salt), you ingest a lot of microscopic organic matter into the hot engine. These organisms die in the heat and plate out onto the hot surfaces, forming a thick tar-like coating which reduces cooling efficiency and eventually obstructs the cooling passages.

[hanleyclifford]

Also, "fresh lake water" is still far short of pure clean water. It contains some minerals which make it an electrolyte though not nearly so much as salt water. We have shown that even antifreeze has very, very slight electrochemical properties - but it is still the best you can do.