Should i paint my intercooler?
 

Hello, I'm a bit on the fence as to wether I should paint my intercooler, so i thought i'd ask your opinion on here? also how much would a layer of paint affect the intercoolers performance? It's an HDI ic if that helps.

Attachment 68447

Thanks a lot.

I'd say it looks good the way it is :thumbup:

Looks good as it is

Did you make your Gardiner redundant or is he still on holiday :D

Technically you should leave it as it is, Painting the intercooler can interfere with how efficient it is in dissipating heat to a certain degree from what I understand, Harvey would be the best man to ask on this subject..

Leave it as is :thumb:

I wanna matte black mine to

Mine is fine painted, I used the Eastwood Radiator black to do mine, it appears to last longer than the normal paints.

surely if you paint the fins on the intercooler it is going to stop the heat dissipating, dont know what perrin etc use to coat the black ic's though

as above not as effiecient when painted , by how much god knows

Go for a mesh look to protect it, that way you can paint the mesh and it wont effect the airflow to the fmic ;)

not sure about the ic but i have a hdi one from harvey and asked him about powder coating the pipes and he said only do the cold side as it keeps the cool air in and not the hot side as the heat dissipates on its way to the ic core.

that was my solution.
a black zunsport grill:thumb:
http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/a...43848888_n.jpg

^^^ Thats a tasty Looking Blobeye mate.. Wish I'd Kept mine now

cheers fella,its my project, coming together now.

I think you should paint it, surely a thin layer of paint is not going to affect cooling that much. I have mine painted black over a year now, it looks better painted.

Attachment 68448

when its black it looks like a radiator to me ?

defeats the aim of the front mounts look a little

Here is my Spec C which has an APS FMIC fitted behind the Zunsport lower grille.

http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/s...817-WA0014.jpg

Attachment 68450

I was told by Harvey not to paint mine,

1) Because it restricts the air flow.
2) Because of its location the paint will only get damaged and will look tacky in no time and you will for ever be repainting it.

solution = mesh grille :D

Painting may look shabby quite quickly as you're supposed to etch prime before painting ally. Darker colours may cause it to retain heat as well.

Leave it, the way it is. Don't paint it. A mesh for protection is a grand idea!

Just a quick attempt as I'm on my iPad.
Attachment 68449
I vote paint it!

have you got the "stone chip" ap because it will be covered in a few weeks.

if your not bothered about if it effects the cooling and just aesthetics then it looks ok.

Mines barely chipped after 2 years, although I used proper radiator paint not the cheap Halfords satin black most use.

Thanks for the comments. It does look good in black, Not keen on it affecting performance however. I know currently (sub 300bhp) the ic isn't doing a whole lot of good, but it's only in there for future engine plans. I think mesh is a great idea though and keeps the ic free from bent fins blah blah blah.

leave it as it is i,m,o

If you have a front mount intercooler fitted for performance reasons, do not paint it.
If looks are more important than performance then paint it any colour that suits you.
For me, painting an intercooler defeats the whole purpose of having one and those people that have them powder coated will lose a large chunk of performance. Anyone who doubts this might like to invest in an air charge temperature guage.

Harvey I fitted a gauge before and after intercooler what temps shal I be seeing ?cheers rob

I'm interested in this.

Have you tested temps Harvey ? Before and after a thin layer of paint, what were the results and what was the outcome with regard to performance figures ?

I'm also interested in your reasoning behind not wrapping the hot side pipe. Surely the wrap holds the heat inside the pipe so it does not dissipate into the engine bay. My hot side pipe for instance runs very close to my induction filter, dissipated heat near that would have a obvious negative effect. The heat is lost when it enters the core so I can't see the point in trying to dissipate heat before it reaches the core.

APS is powdercoated.

We are run painted intercooler for few months without the problem.ACT has been still the same like with painted or non painted FMIC

Jura