Hmmmmm now to find an anodizer

 

I have heard the same - Anodizing is OK, but off the shelf black-paint is not. I have heard that the radiator specific paint is safe in light coats, but will chip off easily and need several coats. Kind of a catch-22 there. Just my 2 cents!

 

There is so much more to this then a "1st year Physics class". AS long as you keep the thickness of paint under .003" and make sure to use a radiator paint or some other type of paint with a high Boron Nitrite content you will be fine and on the crappy stock intercooler you will see no difference at all. Now if you use some genero paint like home wood paint then you will see a big difference as you have succesfully insulated your intercooler. I like the look.

Oh yeah and for all the people who think they are engineers and have "heard" that it will affect the cooling, why not take a look at any turbo Ford or turbo Chrysler made from 85-93, all the intercoolers are black. Oh yeah and Garrett themselves painted cores for the better part of 20 years.

 

Sorry to correct your first year physics, but it actually depends on the coating. You will learn that in your senior level thermal dynamics class. Coatings can either aid in the radiation of heat or the retention of heat. Some paint types (think radiator paint) will aid in the transfer of heat (radiation) and that is the purpose of an IC and a few coats will not impact air flow through the cooler.

How about some real science. Here are a some books that deal with coatings, thermal effeciency, turbines, turbo chargers and heat exchangers (intercoolers). Not very entertaining reading, but informative.

Fundamentals of Thermal-Fluid Sciences, by Y. Cengel and R. Turner - great resource for radiation effeciency, covers paints, aluminium and most everything else
Heat Transfer Essentials: A Textbook, by L. Jiji - good general resource
Handbook of Turbomachinery, Edited by Earl Logan, Jr. and Remenda Roy - not automotive, but helpful
Heat Transfer Enhancement of Heat Exchangers, by S. Kakac, not automotive but great resource for understanding principles of heat transfer.

 

i've actually read of a product that's made to coat the front of the intercooler to help its efficiency and it comes out looking like black paint. they tested the stuff out and it worked pretty well...cant remember where i read it at though. when i find it again i'll post it. the engineers who made it said that black paint won't help, but won't hurt the intercooler's efficiency either.

 

+1
Looks good though but if it's painted then that a no no.

 

Yea I love black IC but I am not about to paint mine.

 

i beleive atlantic motorsports in Wash DC does anodizing... but it might be powdercoating... i think its powder coating... hmm find a chemical place to call

 

word. haha i was about to say the same thing.

 

Full-Race does anodizing. Check out their website. But it will make you want to buy some stuff from them.

 

.003" huh? Where did you get that figure...oh yeah: right out of thin air. By the way I AM an ENGINEER.

 

here u go I got it done at Swain Tech in NY.








By the Way u have a evo. Theres not point in doing this.
I like the fact that i can roll on the highway get into the left lane and have every car in front of me, just move to the right! LOL its just GREAT

 

thats nice

 

Man, where's this flame coming from? Can't engineers get things wrong? I'm not talking about my own post here, but in a way painting it does effect the efficiency of the i/c and that effect is detrimental if you use the wrong paint or if it's too thick. The fact is that if you just walk in to a hardware store and grab a tin of black paint, it's probably the wrong type.

If it's a DIY job, then it is likely that you'll get too thick a coat. And about the maximum thickness of the paint, that entirely depends on the properties of your paint.

In anycase, I think manufacturers paint radiators more for surface protection and looks rather than to aid efficiency.

btw, in my original post, i said the color only affects the radiative properties of the i/c. [which has no significant effect, i think]. I even mentioned that the oil cooler is black.

 

Why do so many people think that there's something wrong with having a clean, or sleeper evo? Not everyone buys them to be obnoxious toy-looking cars.