absinthe

You are SOOOOOOOOOOOO smart, you must know everything.

Why dont you actually do some research and figure out what your talking about before you open your mouth and insult people. Greddy yes the turbo people ran tests on this a while back and it doesnt make one god dam iota of difference in performance if you paint the IC black

absinthe

see post above. only I dont mean to be disrespectfull to you just him and any one else in the thread who insulted the guy for painting his IC. You can tell me Im wrong and you can think that too but I'll take actually sceintific data from a respected aftermarket parts house over the bench racers that often populate this baord.

SinCityEvo

iTrader: (3)

Damn, I spent a whole day trying to polish my IC to a chrome like shine (end tanks). I wanna show of the bad boy, not mask it. I want drivers ahead of me to get a mirror full of intercooler coming at them. In fact, I want a bigger, brighter shinnier one. Whatever makes you happy. Who are we to criticize.

Mitchubishievo

iTrader: (310)

That looks sleeper . This is something to consider if you don't want you car broken into. Great job xtnct.

EVO8 WHOA

iTrader: (10)

screw that idea
'

I preffer showing off a huge front mount besides most people that drive sports cars and mod them and/or ricers haha know what an EVO is and looks like they know its Turbo out of the box so theres really no point hiding it. IMO

mifesto

iTrader: (58)

i agree with 2cool... painting yourself is different then painting with OEM specs. They use fine mist paint spray and possibly paint made for radiators and intercoolers. Did you use paint specifically made for it? My guess is, your black IC looks nice but you made a nice layer of auto paint which will reduce efficiency noticably.

mifesto

iTrader: (58)

i also agree with people that a black intercooler will be less efficient. ever sit in a black car or a white car in the summer? its night and day. i'm sure in the end it will be a marginally difference between a black or silver IC but hey why hurt efficiency?

oguratevo

iTrader: (7)

The Black painted FMIC is awesome!! In Stealth mode

JDF

Polishing reduces surface area and would reduce the ability to radiate the heat. haha Although it was just the end tanks and I doubt that the % of heat transfer from the end tanks is significant compared to the heat exchanger portion.

The right paint may actually increase efficiency if the coefficient of heat transfer Al-paint-air is greater than that of Al-air. Plus if it is not smooth and creates turbulant airflow rather than laminar, the heat transfer improves.

ex-honda

I used to have a screen on my Evo and i took it off due to the fact, it does loose airflow through the ic. Here is the best way to test it out. Get one of your gf/wf hairdryer and put it on high. Get a piece of the screen and move it side to side covering and uncovering the hairdryer as it blow air. Guaranteed you will notice a big reduction in the amount of air going through the air as to no screen at all. What happens is, those little "holes" deflect the air flow and causes turbulence, so instead of going straight, it goes every which way it wants to. If you don't believe me, try it yourself.

Cr0mster

This is correct. I was thinking about doing this to my intercooler. I just read about it in Sport Compact Car. Here is a link to Swain's web site. They claim it increases the thermal efficiency of you IC.

http://www.swaintech.com/race.html

Pesto360

iTrader: (2)

well..Im not gonna flame anyone...but logically and factually....you should not paint your intercooler....Im not a master mechanic....nor am I some techy scientist....but I do ask alot of questions and I always try to not be ignorant...you wont lose alot of power but you definitely will reduce the efficiency to some degree...without major mods and if youre not racing i dont think it will make THAT much of a difference if youre going for asthetics..same with blocking airflow....Ive actually tested this on my GLHS way back when (Id love to find another one)....they used to come with painted intercoolers on the side of the radiator...a common practice was to put the intercooler in paint thinner remove the paint and the car had a more brisk feeling to it...forget jackets and color...put all that aside...even if you painted it silver...youre still coating the aluminum which conducts temperature so well..thats why there is an intercooler sprayer...it sprays water to increase the ability to dissipate that heat through the evaporation of the water off the fins...when you coat these fins you eliminate, to a small degree, the aluminums ability to do this.. if you dont believe me....here is an expert opinion (Im certainly no expert)

http://www.bellintercoolers.com/Pages/tech.asp#aa

Pesto360

iTrader: (2)

these thermal conductivity coatings are obviously the exception..they seem to conduct heat better than aluminum.....i say we make the intercoolers out of that stuff.....i think they key to intercooler efficiency is to find the alloy or whatever that conducts heat the best..for u stealth guys....maybe its a dark color...who knows...i think we need a metallurgist to tell us this...but...i bet at some point there will be ceramics that may take the place to aluminum intercoolers...

2GDSM

This forum is yet another winner... Nobody will probably see my response, but I have to give one anyway. First, I like the black look, I think it looks pretty badass. If the guy likes it then I dont see what the problem is. Four pages of arguing if the paint will reduce horsepower. Who really cares, whats it going to drop? 3 whp? If its black it will absorb more heat from the sun? Thats irrellevent, the sun wont heat it quick enough to make any difference on a moving car. Using my engineering expertise on this one, Im going to say he'll lose 1% whp or less, and thats on a sunlite burning hot day over the same car in the same conditions with an unpainted intercooler.
Nobody will see ceramic intercoolers on the street for hundreds of years. Simply too expensive to manufacture, especially for a marginal gain. Al is a decent heat exchanger, one of the better ones for its price and strength/weight ratios. Aluminum is here to stay for IC's.

Speedlimit

A light coat on the outside (front) edge of the heat exchanger will make little difference. The front edge total surace area as compared to the entire cooling surface area is minimal, as long as cooling channels are not clogged with paint.


We have a constant parade of "experts" who offer superior technical input without a superior edge. I hope you are the latter.

Speedlimit...