I did a half ass drag everything out of the garage and into the driveway cleanout today. Swept out what I hope are the last of the metal shavings and even tore down the build table too. I'm not sure what to do with all that extra space in there now. Wait, I know! I'll stack junk there. yay!
I washed the car for the first time ever, then winterized it by filling up with 93 octane and treating it with Stabil. I flushed the water from my coolant system and filled up with 50% water/antifreeze since on the coldest days of the year the little sports car might have to sit outside on the parking pad while my daily driver gets the garage. Don't worry I'll throw a blue tarp over it in typical appalachian fashion. I friggin' hate getting into a cold car in the morning, and I've been doing it now for the last two winters while I worked on it.
Whoever it was on this board who said water cools better than antifreeze/water mix was right on the money. I went out for an end of season blat to "mix in the stabilizer" etc.
I actually just missed the sensation of sheer locostering hooliganism. Anyway I ran it pretty hard and when I glanced down at the temp guage it was higher than usual. When I got it back in the garage and was sitting there idling with the fan whirrling away I noticed it continued to climb until it was obvious the fan was incapable of cooling it down on its own and I shut it off.
What's strange is with straight water in it I could sit in long staging lines idling for long periods of time between runs and it never came close to overheating. I never dreamed the antifreeze would make such a difference. I suppose I need to put shroud around my fan to seal it to the inside of the nosecone to better duct the air.