Reply to "Pantera Cooling System"

Problems with alloy rads can usually be traced to improper mounting or something wrong with the coolant.

If a radiator is mounted too securely in a chassis the flexing and twisting of the chassis will flex and twist the radiator resulting in cracking, because aluminum work hardens. The lower mounting points on the Pantera radiator are two pins that slip through two rubber grommetts, no solid attachment. The upper mounts are "channel" shaped, they slip around the tanks and grip them with rubber. They are attached to the chassis with via another grommet type mounting arrangement. There's room for slipping there too. If those upper mounts are replaced with tabs welded to the radiator tanks, you must be careful to avoid fastening those tabs to the chassis in any solid manner.

The use of demineralized water you buy at the grocery store for steam irons is a good product to mix with your anti-freeze, it has very little mineral in it, but is not as corrosive as purer forms of bottled water. I also recommend the use of RMI-25. RMI-25 Web Site

When motorcycles were first water-cooled, some of them had a terrible problem with erosion, corrosion and scale in the cooling system, the radiators would plug up and the engine cases would erode until they leaked. RMI-25 was recommended to me 20 years ago for my motorcycles, and it absolutely solved all cooling system issues in my water cooled motorcycles. I use it in all my vehicles now. Choice Quality Stuff.