I have ran a search and got some information. The thing I want to know is if there is a way to buy an intercooler that is already black or of a darker color (made of darker material). I dont want to paint it because I am afraid that lower the effectiveness of the intercooler. Any info would be great.

 

It wont lower the effectiveness. Someone who has the equipment should actually prove it though. I went from aluminum to spray painted black and felt absolutly no power difference. I know some other people have done it without problems.

 

First of all, don't believe anybody when they tell you that it has heat issues. Completely false information.

Second, yes you can buy intercooler's that are already black. You just have to shop around.

My intercooler is painted black, and I haven't noticed any problems.

 

last time i checked, our radiators are painted black, and they are just heat exchangers like ic's. ANd it coems liek that fro mthe factory, so it must be ok

 

and contrary to what some people will tell you, black has nothing to do with how much heat is retained (unless it is in sunlight).

 

Nice and sleeper that is for sure!! Go for it. I also have not heard of any problems with this, maybe a powdercoat woud be nice....??

 

best advice someone posted on here was to use black pantyhose

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by civicqm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nice and sleeper that is for sure!! Go for it. I also have not heard of any problems with this, maybe a powdercoat woud be nice....?? </TD></TR></TABLE>

powdercoating is too thick for anything but the endtanks... and im not too sure, but i thought it wasnt used on aluminum... but you could get it annodized

 

thanks y'all

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by int3gra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">best advice someone posted on here was to use black pantyhose </TD></TR></TABLE>

That was me.... I had mine that way but then me and my roomate got to thinking and we came to the conclusion that if it was to be daily driven it would get way to dirty too fast and inhibit the air flow. Especially if it saw rain. So I just sprayed it black. I think it would work fine if the car saw minimal drive time and no rain though

-Ryan

EDIT- Just noticed you are in Seattle. I am in Tacoma. Definatelly get the painted one. The weather here sucks ***.

 

Just don't lay it on too thick and you'll be fine... you'd prolly need to repaint like once a year... mine faded quite noticably over 6 months of use.

Powder coating would be quite thick and it's heat absorbtion properties might lock heat in the intercooler, inhibiting the heat transfer... I wouldn't use that method of coloring it....

X2

 

why not jsut keep your grill over it .. to a certain point the color does matter but for intercoolers not really........just dont overspray it thats why all new cars went wit the aluminum finish now..on radiators, condensor blah blah blah

 

ive done it looks more stealth, havent lost any power, only used one coat of flat black engien paint, so little of a coat that when i put the silicone hoses back on it started to scratch off the paint

 

Shhhh! Don't tell anyone

 

thats what my custom i/c is.
they were ford cores...black from factory!

 

If you're scared of paint then go the ghetto route and slap some panty hose over the IC or spend a few bucks and get it anodized.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Diego Boost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're scared of paint then go the ghetto route and slap some panty hose over the IC or spend a few bucks and get it anodized. </TD></TR></TABLE>

IMO pantyhose would impede airflow more than just throwing a thin coat of engine spray paint.

X2

 

anyone know how much would it cost to anodized? and where would one go to get this done?

thanks

 

black panty hose man...

 

ask motormatrix.com for anodizing.

 

If powdercoat is too thick, you've used the wrong stuff.

Most of the anodized black finishes you'll see on IC's are actually from a special heat dispersing powdercoat that actually comes out looking black anodized after being baked.

 

bump bump

 

anodized black would be clean.

 

i like that picture... it gives me an idea to do it to mine also

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by genop &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">and contrary to what some people will tell you, black has nothing to do with how much heat is retained (unless it is in sunlight).</TD></TR></TABLE>

Planck's Law:

"This is a derived formula, from the German physicist Max Planck, that portrays the amount of radiation emitted by a blackbody as theoretically determined by its temperature. It is an equation that produces a curve, termed Planck's blackbody radiation curve, which illustrates that the warmer a body is, the greater is its blackbody emission at each wavelength and the shorter is the wavelength at which emissions peak."- http://www.webref.org/chemistry/p/planck_s_law.htm

A black color will enhance emmisivity, but the thickness of the synthetic coating(i.e. paint/powder coat) may reduce the ability to transfer heat more that the black color would help emmisivity. Enter anodization, which increases the emmisivity of the aluminum without the possible caveats of insulating properties.