I just got done painting my intercooler. Looks good to me. I tried a new method of painting that I had not seen someone do. Instead of spraypaint, I used a painting roller, like you use to paint walls, and painted it with light rolls across the FMIC. It works excellent

No paint on the fins except for the VERY top of them, so it didnt gunk them up. I then masked off the fins and painted the shiny end tanks a flat black. I did this for theft/police reasons, being in California. Thanks HT for the info on painting, the FMIC goes in tommarow!

*EDIT*
Just want to add, I used a coat of Automotive Primer from Rust-oluem and then a Satin Black finish from Rust-oluem, both purchasd at Home Depot.





Modified by Hoodwinked at 6:10 AM 10/22/2003

 

looks good

 

nice work, looks like you did a good job... post pics of it on the car if you get a chance.

 

Why in gods name would you paint an IC?? An IC is there to reduce intake temps, and coating it with paint will just diminish how effectively it can dissipate heat. Just my .02 though.

EDIT: I can see the pics now

 

Looks great. Man black looks almost as good as shiny metallic.

 

im going to be stealing his exact way of doing it....ill post a step by step way to do it...that way everyone can know how to do it the "right way"

**** looks awesome

 

I just got mine today....28x8x3...it was polished (used)..i sand blasted it and painted black...i dont want it to be noticed...

 

what a waste of a nice intercooler .. honestly imo people are gonna know ur turbo from the bad assssss spppooolll and blow off... y hide it? and i think by painting the intercooler i dont think the intercooler will be doin its job very well.. but nice work post some pics of it installed

 

a waste?
huh?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiRkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a waste?
huh? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly

 

Yah must not do a good job haha. I rattle canned my friends on his eclipse and we made just under 400 whp with it, so I don't think its an issue.

 

What do you mean it's a waste. He's from California... they're strict on emissions. If a cop sees a nice intercooler ...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what a waste of a nice intercooler .. honestly imo people are gonna know ur turbo from the bad assssss spppooolll and blow off... y hide it? and i think by painting the intercooler i dont think the intercooler will be doin its job very well.. but nice work post some pics of it installed </TD></TR></TABLE>

true, they can hear spool and bov, but im not concerned about fellow citizens knowing i have turbo. I don't want theives/police to know i do. I know police could hear the bov and turbo spool, but im not going to be spoolin it up when im right next to a cop

as for intercooler efficiency, yes, it MAY decrease efficiency, but it is such a small amount that it is worth knowing that I dont have a big "steal me" shiny intercooler behind my bumper, IMO.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what a waste of a nice intercooler .. honestly imo people are gonna know ur turbo from the bad assssss spppooolll and blow off... y hide it? and i think by painting the intercooler i dont think the intercooler will be doin its job very well.. but nice work post some pics of it installed </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't think you read the reasoning behind painting the car.

Efficiency shouldn't be sacrificed that much, I think heatsoak and a huge drop in efficiency is far too commonly "said".

EDIT: downloading vids slowed down my reply (original thread holder already posted)

 

all i have to sat is black paint isnt really gonna reduce the efficiency of an intercooler. Just llok at my stock civic radiator, its black and cools the car well while its turbi. I totally understand the black on the intercooler. Nice paint job. Integra_gsr98 can vouch I should have painted mine black long ago

 

The fins arent even painted, as far as my understanding goes this is where the majority of the heat will escape from.

So i dont think painting it is an issue at all

 

STOCK R32 and R34 GTR intercoolers are BLACK! If a light coat is used efficiency will not be harmed. There are also Aluminum specific paints on the market that will decrease inefficiency and heatsoak related probelms caused by painting. for stealthiness!


Modified by Dee at 4:19 AM 10/22/2003

 

well im in cali also.. the cops wont know what the hell their lookin at.. but i dunno.. my kits street legal anyways thats y i got a sticker from pogi

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well im in cali also.. the cops wont know what the hell their lookin at.. but i dunno.. my kits street legal anyways thats y i got a sticker from pogi </TD></TR></TABLE>

sheesh, ur lucky, the cops from my area are addicted to nailing people for cars and emissions. so stealth turbo is the only turbo option for me...

 

painting the front only shouldn't hurt efficiency at all. All the surface area for heat transfer is on the fins in the middle of the ic. for stealth

 

looks nice. Im thinkin about doin the same to mine.

But it requires a front bumper first lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what a waste of a nice intercooler .. honestly imo people are gonna know ur turbo from the bad assssss spppooolll and blow off... y hide it? and i think by painting the intercooler i dont think the intercooler will be doin its job very well.. but nice work post some pics of it installed </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry, but some of us don't like to flaunt what we have. Some of us have a ***** size that is respectable or large enough that we don't need to make up for it every minute on our drive to school or work.

If you want to be the jerk blowing off after every stop light, be my guest.

But I'd rather not let the local law enforcement know, or even potential theives.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bigwig &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im going to be stealing his exact way of doing it....ill post a step by step way to do it...that way everyone can know how to do it the "right way"

**** looks awesome</TD></TR></TABLE>

The correct way would be an electro auto plateing or anodizing. You will have a loss in cooling from a painted intorcooler, maybe not enough to notice, but it will be there. But I like the way the black looks
EDIT: i just read that you allso primed the surface, honestly that may be a bit thick.


Rob

 

i painted the FMIC back in may ( https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=509299 )
and have no probs with it.. heat related or otherwise.
i live in cali.. the central valley to be more exact. there are rumors of cops in a town south of us checking under cars with mirrors to check for cats... it may be b.s. but it's bad enough here that i could believe it.
i painted mine for a lot of reasons. these are the most important:
1. POLICE
2. so the ricers don't have ANOTHER reason to steal my car
3. sleeper
4. see #1.
i would love to have let it stay all nice and shiny... but it's just not worth it in cali. i took some pictures before painting it and left it at that.
if you are going to a car show or something, you can always flip it over?

 

Anyone know of any good metal based paints?

Brands, Places to get them...etc..etc