Last year while I had nothing else better to do, I got my wife's 74 Dodge Ramcharger SE (Factory 440/Auto/ w/AC) truck running/driving again.
Everything under the frame was replaced, enter fuel system, brake system, and cooling system. The truck had been sitting in my garage for 11 years with no radiator and when I pulled the water pump, it was BAD (I've attached a picture)..... I replaced everything that I suspected might be damaged and didn't want to mess up my new radiator and re-core'd heater core. After getting the truck running good enough to move out of the garage, I ran it for over half an our with no thermostat, heater core bypassed, and a water hose on adapted to the lower radiator hose and let everything coming out of the upper run off; then drained the block, buttoned up the cooling system, used 50:50 IAT - 4 gallons total system capacity (conventional green from Sams Club).
We've now put 250 miles on it on going to the beach and goofing off/cruising (at a whopping 6.8mpg average so far) but I've noticed what is extremely fine rust particles have settled out in the overflow tank which isn't surprising.
I'm going to get it up to temp with the coolant system circulating and do another flush and re-fill with fresh fluid. I'm thinking about going with a 75(water):25(antifreeze) mix along with some SuperCool (or the like) additive and wondering if it'd be beneficial. The reason why I'm asking, is that sometimes it's a 45 minute wait in the ferry line in 100* heat and I'd rather give this thing all the help I can in keeping it from getting crazy hot.
Should I also consider adding some other type of an additive like Catepillar SCA or the like as additional corrosion inhibitors?
Everything under the frame was replaced, enter fuel system, brake system, and cooling system. The truck had been sitting in my garage for 11 years with no radiator and when I pulled the water pump, it was BAD (I've attached a picture)..... I replaced everything that I suspected might be damaged and didn't want to mess up my new radiator and re-core'd heater core. After getting the truck running good enough to move out of the garage, I ran it for over half an our with no thermostat, heater core bypassed, and a water hose on adapted to the lower radiator hose and let everything coming out of the upper run off; then drained the block, buttoned up the cooling system, used 50:50 IAT - 4 gallons total system capacity (conventional green from Sams Club).
We've now put 250 miles on it on going to the beach and goofing off/cruising (at a whopping 6.8mpg average so far) but I've noticed what is extremely fine rust particles have settled out in the overflow tank which isn't surprising.
I'm going to get it up to temp with the coolant system circulating and do another flush and re-fill with fresh fluid. I'm thinking about going with a 75(water):25(antifreeze) mix along with some SuperCool (or the like) additive and wondering if it'd be beneficial. The reason why I'm asking, is that sometimes it's a 45 minute wait in the ferry line in 100* heat and I'd rather give this thing all the help I can in keeping it from getting crazy hot.
Should I also consider adding some other type of an additive like Catepillar SCA or the like as additional corrosion inhibitors?