black intercooler

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Seany-izzle

Seany-izzle

Member
It is okay to just lay the thing down and spray paint it? id like to have a black one so people dont see it. <_<
 
Sure is. Don't use high temp paint, though, unless you plan on baking the IC in you oven. And why don't you want people to see it? Is it perhaps that you have intercooler envy, and know you just can't compete with my gargantuan IC? ;)
 
Spray painting the outside might not be a problem, but there are some issues I'd be a little leary of. 1) you can clog or fill the areas between the fins of the intercooler efectively reducing the cooler capacity of the intercooler, and 2) black absorbs and hold more heat than any other color.

it's probably best to have the unit if it's aluminium anooized if you really want to change the color. but even in doing so I'd stay away from black. white would be ideal.
 
white would not really serve the purpose of hiding the intercooler, now would it?

and black is diffrent from other colors in terms of the heat absorbed from light, so i don;t think that would be a consideration on something under the car and out of direct sunlight...

however i do agree with it filling air gaps, but as long as you spray very light coats to ensure no runs then it should not clog anything...
 
When you get to the point about what color disappates/ absorbs more heat, you're really splitting hairs, and there's more power to be found elsewhere, for a lot less effort. One light coat of paint and call it a day.
 
Because high temp paint won't cure unless baked in an oven, or operated at high temps. The IC doesn't get hot enough to "cook" the paint, so it'll just wash off the first time you drive in the rain, covering your engine bay in paint. Go ahead and ask me how I know. ;)
 
lol, i shall assume from personal experience, but we don;t need to discuss that, lol

so how hot does an IC normally get? would it be warm to the touch?

and what temp would you say high temp paint needs?
whatever temp it is rated for?
 
I don't know how hot ICs get. I know that my top mount IC in my AllTrac would get too hot to touch, the piece of shit. Anyway... Figure, roughly 125° temperature rise over ambient for the compressor outlet temp, and ~75% less than that for intercooler outlet temps, and you'll have how hot an IC gets.

High temp paint needs, I think, about 400° to cook itself. I dunno; read the back of the can. You can use it on whatever you want, but before the paint will adhere, it must be cooked.
 
Originally posted by CRX-YEM@Sep 17 2004, 01:01 PM

it's probably best to have the unit if it's aluminium anooized if you really want to change the color.
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Did you mean Anodized?
 
Originally posted by Loco Honkey@Sep 17 2004, 05:15 PM
I don't know how hot ICs get. I know that my top mount IC in my AllTrac would get too hot to touch, the piece of shit. Anyway... Figure, roughly 125° temperature rise over ambient for the compressor outlet temp, and ~75% less than that for intercooler outlet temps, and you'll have how hot an IC gets.

High temp paint needs, I think, about 400° to cook itself. I dunno; read the back of the can. You can use it on whatever you want, but before the paint will adhere, it must be cooked.
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when my car was on the dyno- the driver side was hot, but bareable, to he touch, and the passenger side was barely noticable that it had heat going though it.
its amzing what 20 inches of space can do...
 
Originally posted by Loco Honkey@Sep 17 2004, 03:32 PM
When you get to the point about what color disappates/ absorbs more heat, you're really splitting hairs, and there's more power to be found elsewhere, for a lot less effort. One light coat of paint and call it a day.
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Or just get a ricey mesh grille insert and you will hide it.
 
i think sport compact car or something reported that testing by turbonetics proved that a light coat of flat black paint doesnt in any way affect the heat transfer or efficency. go for it... this is exactly what im doing with mine.
 
Black is actually better for radiating heat away from a heat source- it's more transmissive whether you're absorbing heat or getting rid of it. I would either anodize the intercooler black or send it to Swain Tech for their Black Body Emitter coating if you can afford it.
 
Originally posted by pissedoffsol+Sep 17 2004, 11:20 PM-->
pissedoffsol @ Sep 17 2004 said:
Loco Honkey
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pissedoffsol @ Sep 17 2004 said:
@Sep 17 2004, 05:15 PM
I don't know how hot ICs get. I know that my top mount IC in my AllTrac would get too hot to touch, the piece of shit. Anyway... Figure, roughly 125° temperature rise over ambient for the compressor outlet temp, and ~75% less than that for intercooler outlet temps, and you'll have how hot an IC gets.

High temp paint needs, I think, about 400° to cook itself. I dunno; read the back of the can. You can use it on whatever you want, but before the paint will adhere, it must be cooked.
[post=391651]Quoted post[/post]​
Click to expand...


when my car was on the dyno- the driver side was hot, but bareable, to he touch, and the passenger side was barely noticable that it had heat going though it.
its amzing what 20 inches of space can do...
[post=391758]Quoted post[/post]​
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On my freinds, his inlet was semi hot, nothing too bad, but his outlet was actually cold to the touch, and had a decent amount of condensation on the outside.
 
I read in Sport Compact Car when they had an article about "How to make your car a perfect Sleeper" or something along those lines, they said a company did a test on their intercoolers (garret I think?) with one that was not spray painted and another that was, and they said the temp difference wasn't that much. I say stay with the original look of the intercooler, if you decide to sell it or something later down the line, who's gonna buy a black intercooler???
 
Originally posted by YangpaNemsay@Sep 18 2004, 08:02 PM
I read in Sport Compact Car when they had an article about "How to make your car a perfect Sleeper" or something along those lines, they said a company did a test on their intercoolers (garret I think?) with one that was not spray painted and another that was, and they said the temp difference wasn't that much. I say stay with the original look of the intercooler, if you decide to sell it or something later down the line, who's gonna buy a black intercooler???
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Just get a stupid rice grill insert! Besides, that way if you ever decide you dont want a ghetto black spraypainted intercool then you just take the grill out.
 
If I weren't so lazy to take my bumper off, I'd spray my intercooler with a light coat of black paint, but until that day I'll stick with the bling bling look. :)
 
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