[andrewkthompson]

Mighty Car Mods just posted a new video about intercoolers and after seeing this I'm tempted to paint my stock intercooler black.

I thought this was really cool, and I'd love to hear what you think of it.

 

[Dcannon203]

I am suspicious that there may be chemicals in the primer such as methanol that lowered the temps of the unit.

 

[Sbnmatthew]

Well my mind is officially blown!

 

[JadesMarine]

:crazy: Mind blown x2. Am I the only one who want to go paint their inter-cooler now lol

 

[MA1tR!X]

I knew there was a reason I had my 845 done stealth!

 

[SnailPower]

Interesting results. So are they saying because it's black that it doesn't retain heat as much as silver? I'll have to do more research, but this is a good find indeed.

 

[andrewkthompson]

I am suspicious that there may be chemicals in the primer such as methanol that lowered the temps of the unit.

Yeah that does make me wonder. The only way we'll know for sure if it's effective or not is to do it to our cars and have them dynoed several times over a long period.

 

[Mr.MattyV]

Or someone could take readings with the torque app, paint it and then take readings again

 

[JadesMarine]

Didn't older hot rods use to paint their blocks flat black? Can't wait to see someone try this. Someone should do it this week with there stock ic. Tell us what paint you use.

 

[Darkhill240]

No they used and still do to paint them bright rediculous colors and add chrome all over.

It would only be worth the time to do it if you livenin a hot area or idle it alot.

 

[SnailPower]

Here is a table of material emissivity, to furth confuse you.

http://www.infrared-thermography.com/material-1.htm

TL;DR: Paint is the worst thing you could do to an intercooler, because it seals the pores of the metal and creates a barrier between the air and the fins. If you wanted to use a coating, anodizing would be the best. Anodizing creates additional pores in the metal which would increase surface area.

http://www.speedmaxperformance.com/Store/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29936

 

[Gerid]

They painted it via a leaf blower which helps to push the paint through the fins and allow it to adhere to the inside. Besides, with 40 degree temp diff at no air flow, I don't think they were worried bout a couple fins being blocked. All in all, seems to me, that painting/anodizing my IC black is not a shabby idea! Now, this is some make-shift testing in my opinion as there's several other factors not taken into account, but it'd be interesting to see some more hard tests (torque logs and such)!

 

[Turbosocks]

If you are going to do temp logs with this type of stuff, I would highly suggest using a nice gauge and an actual temp probe pre-TB and on the hot side (glowshift sells a dual kit)

This will take the throttle body (bypassed or not) and the intake manifold out of the factors in the temps.

I am going to have two of my customers (one in china, one in Philippines) grab some before FMIC logs and some post logs. Both of them will have anodized piping AND intercooler.

 

[Dcannon203]

let us know. change the world....

 

[Malgadar]

I painted mine with Eastwood radiator paint. Very light coat that is now getting beat off with rocks.

 

[RichieP]

I have this dual temp gauge in my car and I run the 845 FMIC not painted. My temps just before the throttle body are between 4-5 degrees above ambient in the summer and 2-3 degrees above ambient in the winter when driving. When it was really cold this winter (I live on Long Island in NY) I actually went below ambient. It does heat soak a little sitting in traffic though The painting or anodizing does make the I/C blend in more but I personally don't mind a little heat soak.

Mach V Digital Intercooler Temperature Gauge | FastWRX.com

 

[JadesMarine]

I painted mine with Eastwood radiator paint. Very light coat that is now getting beat off with rocks.

sounds like an intercooler thats living the dream.

 

[JadesMarine]

I painted mine with Eastwood radiator paint. Very light coat that is now getting beat off with rocks.

sounds like an intercooler thats living the dream. notice any difference in temps? your paint might be getting beat off because of poor adhesion?

 

[Malgadar]

sounds like an intercooler thats living the dream. notice any difference in temps? your paint might be getting beat off because of poor adhesion?

Well its been on there for almost a year so I guess it doesn't look as bad as it could be. lol I painted it when I first installed it, so no way to test temp diff.

 

[Velosynter]

I'm the dope that just uploaded the same video ... Every time I reference MCM on other post or threads I heard nothing but crickets ... Lol glad to see they have some fans here ... I thought the video was amazing ... I don't think it was the property of the paint as they said the paint was thoroughly dry and Marty and Moog... Are pretty thorough