Coolant Overflow Delete?? Old School idea

[ChuckyRick]

So as always the mod bug hit during this particularly harsh Atlantic Canadian winter and like most people i'm always looking for those little things that help clean up our engine bays. A couple of the things i have in mind are relocating the PS Reservoir just a little more towards the drivers side and make it a little more "hidden" and dong something about that god awful looking stock expansion tank. Now i am going with a WMS intake so it would be relocating to roughly where the stock airbox is anyways, however in my opinion the mounting position is a little too high and it just doesn't look like it should be there, But i guess they didn't have much of a choice or else it would no longer be the high point in the cooling system. So my question is this, yes obviously i could go with one of those remote mount catch can/expansion tank setups and probably mount it along the fender basically where the WMS kit relocates the stock expansion tank. But i'm wondering why not go old school? Get rid of the expansion tank setup completely and go with the simple radiator with filler neck and leave an inch or so air in the radiator for expansion. Now from what i understand as long as my new rad filled up to cold level had the same cooling capacity as the old rad+expansion tank there should be no adverse effects correct? Now if i do go this route it will be safe to assume that i would get a rad that would actually surpass the old set-up in cooling capacity, So really would this setup be on par if not slightly better than the stock setup and not to mention make the engine bay look alot cleaner? with about the only downside being that any excess coolant would end up on the pavement? Now someone please point out if i'm missing something here but to me it seems like a feasible option considering an aftermarket rad is only about 100$ more than one of those remote expansion tanks and would give you something that i can honestly say i don't think i've ever seen a modern mustang have. All feedback would be appreciated as i'm aware i'm definitely not an expert on cooling systems. but i think this would make for a super clean install if it would work.

cheers, Ricky

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Removing the expansion reservoir altogether puts the engine at risk of forming pockets of air/steam inside the cooling system which will impair cooling, so this is something I really recommend you shouldn't do.
The part you're missing is that when the engine cools down, the cooling system draws coolant from the expansion reservoir back into the radiator. If there's no expansion reservoir, the system will only draw air and that isn't as good as coolant in conducting heat away from hot engine parts.

 

[ChuckyRick]

Thanks dino! Yea i had the idea floating around in my head while sitting around the house lastnight but then this morning i went out to the garage to take a look at everything and i realized what you're saying; The high point in the cooling system would then be in the engine; Perfect formula for an air pocket. Looks like i'll have to deal with the WMS relocation. Might see if i can get a dual chamber tank fabbed up to go in the WMS location and also be a relocation for my PS reservoir... Hmm

 

[toorbeenee]

you mean like this


this is my engine bay, did it few years ago no problem till today.

 

[one eyed willy]

easy....just make your upper hose out of aluminum and add a radiator fill neck to it, then put a overflow tank out of the way. this was my old setup.

 

[ChuckyRick]

Toorbeenee that's almost exactly what i was thinking of! How is your overflow tanked geared up, does the rad just puke into the overflow when up to temp and when it cools down it sucks it back in? Is that hole in the top just to vent pressure? Looks great! i'd probably be able to hide the whole setup under my rad cover/extensions if i moved the overflow around a bit. That's another nice setup willy, not sure how i'd run clearance wise with the WMS airbox, definitely gets the job done though

 

[WJBertrand]

Another good reason to keep the plastic expansion tank is that it eliminates exposure of the metal cooling system parts to air and possible corrosion/oxidation. Keeping the air exposure to the plastic tank pretty much eliminates this concern. I'm old enough to remember when cars did not come with expansion tanks. Cooling systems in those days experienced a lot more rust and corrosion and it was a constant maintenance task to check and maintain the radiator level. Overheating was a lot more common as well due to expelled coolant and less than anal attendance to the coolant level.

Those old, crude, overbuilt, low output, iron block and head engines could better take the abuse than today's more highly stressed, high output aluminum engines will tolerate.

 

[toorbeenee]

Toorbeenee that's almost exactly what i was thinking of! How is your overflow tanked geared up, does the rad just puke into the overflow when up to temp and when it cools down it sucks it back in? Is that hole in the top just to vent pressure? Looks great! i'd probably be able to hide the whole setup under my rad cover/extensions if i moved the overflow around a bit. That's another nice setup willy, not sure how i'd run clearance wise with the WMS airbox, definitely gets the job done though

it works fine, when I go to the track it would puke into the overflow, I check my water once a while. sometimes its low and most of the time its ok. When I mean low it would be like 3-4 fl.oz.