So I have a 95 civic hatch, I've been doing some research but so far all I've been hearing is that air to water intercoolers are only really functional when on the track.however,I live in the desert where summer time temps can reach up to 130 degrees.and the air gets just as hot.I have recently upgraded turbos,gtx35r to the gtx3592r.I am still underway on the build but as the days keep dwindling down til it reaches those temps,...I constantly feel the need for an air to water.now my question is,can I paint my intercooler agonized black(to help keep temp down with the air to air) and at the same time run an air to water to help further cool it down? I will also be running a water method kit soon so that should also be beneficial.any comments on how well this setup would work for me,my last tune was 555 on E85 so I'm definitely not tryn to blow up or overheat my car.

 

painting intercoolers can be a bad idea, you can disrupt the aluminum's ability to shed heat.

i'm sure your IATs will be fine, especially if you're running a meth kit. an a2w intercooler would definitely lower them, though. airs got nothing on water in terms heat-absorbing abilities

 

You can also plumb you A/C system through the A2W. I have a buddy that did it in south FL. Just drive around like normal with the ac on. When he wanted to race he would just turn it off for the race and back on afterwards. It always stayed very cold and even on the hottest of days he would have a really low IAT. I cant mem what the IAT's where but way lower than any A2A and lower than most A2W that was using water, ice, or any other additives.

You have to think you can get the AC blowing out of the vent at 35* to 40*. Your A2W will be atleast that cool if not cooler. At times his would be covered in a layer of frost. No normal A2W will be that cold even with ice and the ice melts. The freon dont go away as long as you dont have a leak.

 

i wouldnt think painting your intercooler black, a color that attracts heat would help in lowering temperatures, but an air to water intercooler intercooler would be good, however you have to think that if temps are as high as you say they are, then you are probly going to have to constantly be adding ice or cold water, to keep the temps down, its not going to take long to get that water just as hot as ambient temp if the car sits in the heat

 

There was a guy on one of the Chevy forums that did a write up on how painting then engine black proved to lower operating temp. In theory the same would work with a intercooler. It attracts it more but it also dissipates more heat and quicker. There is a complete right up with scientific backin somewhere but I have lost the link to it. He even proved that a cold air painted black on the same vehicle lowered IAT's. I dont see why painting a IC wouldn't do the same.

 

i'm a little embarrassed, i just took physics not even a semester ago, and we learned about 'black body' radiation. black bodies do, in fact, have the greatest rate of emissivity.

 

You are right though. It can be a bad idea if not done properly. Deff cant have to much on here especially on the fins. Just enough to make it black.

 

You can buy proper radiator/condensor paint which goes on thin and comes in black, and meant for this application. Regular paint depending on type, can sometimes go on too thick and end up insulating and trapping heat. On some dense cores (e.g.: Garrett or Precision), the fins are so dense that if you just paint it without much caution, it will block all the air passages between the fins (which renders the core completely useless).

 

Thanks for all the input guys.I knew I heard somewhere that there's paint that helps eliminate heat.now with all that being said,would it also be an advantage if I left the intercooler on and ran the AtW in the tubing as well?the best place I found was right behind the intercooler,next the the radiator.but the air would pass through the AtW before the intercooler.I would think that would also help cool the intake temp.maybe even a little more than jus having the AtW.that's jus my two cents though.I live in a hot place(for now) so I have to keep it as cool as possible.plus there's tons of benefits that come from having a cold intake charge.and with the water/meth kit,it would also help with the temp and give me a lil more increase in power.

 

Where can this radiator paint be obtained at?

 

Tony is correct, dont just use regular paint... The Eastwood Company sells "Radiator Black" and that is what I would recommend.

I think you are way overthinking all of this, If you are running a good sized A2A and E85 WITH Meth that is going to be about the best you can get without moving from hell.

For the A2W setup to work correctly your going to need a HUGE water tank otherwise after a while your just going to heat the water all to hell and eventually your IAT's will creep up to the outside temps, not to mention the weight you are adding to run all of this stuff, your talking 100+lbs of stuff just to keep IAT's down lol

I was going to run an A2W setup with a 24x10x3.5" condenser behind my bumper (which would be bypassed for track use), an icebox inside the car and a Precision 1000hp core mounted underhood, the cost of that type of setup can easily run over $1000 once you plumb it and add a good 35+gpm pump.

 

ice box is the only point in doing W2A and at that point its no good for daily. just drag/top speed.

 

I had my intercooler coated with Thermal Displacement powder. Its just a super thin layer of black, supposed to make it up to 20% more efficient but we will see how that works out. I too am in the desert, but definately will not dd my Civic...