spanners Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 So whats the deal? How much more inefficient will my cooler be if its painted black? My personal opinion is that the layer of enamel will be more harmful than the change of colour if you know what I mean. While im on it, is it a bad idea to paint rocker cover/plenum/wholefuckingengine etc black? My thoughts would be anything on the inlet side should be reflective/silver? Dont know if im gonna do it black but just wanna know if its even an option Chur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insani-T Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Dont know about the intercooler question, but I have seen plenty of engines get totally painted (inlet manifold and all) and cant say I have ever heard of any problems because of it. Part from the odd person not using heat proof paint where they should have and it burnt off. I cant see anything wrong with painting it all black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escorted Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 one would think that painting the intercooler would be detremental. On another note is powdercoating heat resistant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Hha, I have been apart of this conversation before. Black is the best colour for radiating heat, but an intercooler doesnt work as a radiator, it acts as a conductor. The only benefit I can see of painting your intercooler black is that it wont be seen behind the grill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanners Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 Yeah I just wanted low key stz. Maybe not tho More interested in doing plenum etc in a satin black. I reckon that would own your pants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 There is no reason why you cant paint it black, it just wont help it to cool any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanners Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 Ah yeah I know that, I just wonder if it will make it worse or not. Wasnt expecting any gains! Dont wanna cook my motor all cos I was trying to be stealth. Although I suppose theres no point hiding cooler when turbo stickin out the bonnet. I fail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Ohh, I didnt read the question properly, motorbike blocks are painted black so that they radiate the heat better. UJ was saying that after he painted his engine completely with hammerite, the only place that it burnt off was directly above the exhast ports. Yu will be fine to paint everything black, as long as you prep everything right and use a good quality (maybe even a high temp) paint it will last all good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuel Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I gave mine a light dusting of matt black just so it didn't stick out like dogs balls, doesn't seem to affect it at all. Mind you it was a light dusting enough to disguise it behind the grille. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemi Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 radiator peeps coat rads with that black paint, although i think that mroe anti corrosion. but im sure it cant hurt the cooler tooo much otherwise they would use it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 The black paint wont hurt the cooling properties of a intercooler. And it will help the cooling properties of a radiater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maru-So Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Intercoolers are heat exchangers. Transfering the heat energy from the hot intake air to the cool air passing though it. They act as a heat sink to some degree aswell, like after short bursts of hard driving. The metal of the intercooler will absorb the heat from the intake air and dissipating it into the atmosphere later. Colour affects radiative cooling. As long as the paint isnt any form of insulator it shouldnt have any negatitive effects on the ability for the heat to dissipate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CUL8R Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Thought about using really fine grade meshing? (although this idea may fail due to shit getting stuck infront of it - hay,straw,rubbish etc etc - Bathurst Stz..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8Pete Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Intercoolers are heat exchangers. Transfering the heat energy from the hot intake air to the cool air passing though it. They act as a heat sink to some degree aswell, like after short bursts of hard driving. The metal of the intercooler will absorb the heat from the intake air and dissipating it into the atmosphere later. Colour affects radiative cooling. As long as the paint isnt any form of insulator it shouldnt have any negatitive effects on the ability for the heat to dissipate. Wouldn't it just radiate back in on itself between the fins etc. It'd be like those cereal boxes with a picture of a person holding a cereal box with a picture of a person holding a cereal box... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Yea, at standstill it will. But as soon as there an airflow it will cool down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 black intercooler = 20 RWHP straight away. no doubt about it. i painted mine black because a guy on toyspeed said to, also black is closer to red and red is way faster than any other colour. ferrari's are red for a reason. seriously, if you can measure a difference in RWHP between a black intercooler and the same intercooler without paint ill give you 100$. paint it any colour you like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanners Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Ahhh sheepers I was waiting for your oh-so-valid comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vvega Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 black intercooler = 20 RWHP straight away. no doubt about it. i painted mine black because a guy on toyspeed said to, also black is closer to red and red is way faster than any other colour. ferrari's are red for a reason.seriously, if you can measure a difference in RWHP between a black intercooler and the same intercooler without paint ill give you 100$. paint it any colour you like. can i dip it in the paint till its looks like someone has pusged cheese in a all the fins ? BTW im still completely disillusioned about you been fat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 if you actually put cheese in the fins it will give you more horsepower, its the "curds effect" pioneered by the famous dutch engine designer "Schmelting Van-incident" look it up on wickapedia. second to an oldschool tec thread wickepidea is the most precise knowledge available on the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidstripe Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 Intercoolers are heat exchangers. Transfering the heat energy from the hot intake air to the cool air passing though it. They act as a heat sink to some degree aswell, like after short bursts of hard driving. The metal of the intercooler will absorb the heat from the intake air and dissipating it into the atmosphere later. Colour affects radiative cooling. As long as the paint isnt any form of insulator it shouldnt have any negatitive effects on the ability for the heat to dissipate. Someones on the ball! I would so do a epic essay of a reply on this but at the moment I'm trying to do a test on Thermal Properties of building materials/energy/climate/enviroment/E, R, K, kWh, kw, etc etc etc values/azimaths and a whole heap of other totally useless (to me anyway) infomation that is totally doing my head in, seriously... I got to go have lunch. End of day, light spray of black shouldn't affect intercooler efficiency and IF it did, it would be negligible. But as you say, the turbo's sticking out like a sore thumb so why bother? Want people to think it's a old unintercooled carbie set up? Edit- forgot to mention Reflectence/emittance. Polished metals have a high reflectence value (the capacity to reflect radiated heat). So spraying it black will take it's reflectance value down quite a bit and make it not so good at reflecting radiated heat. But again, that's going into the whole heat soat thing when not at speed so meh. But making a shiny surface duller (i.e paint) will increase it's ability to emit heat. So IMO, I think I'd paint the front black (so it emits heat well) and leave the back shiney (to reflect heat radiation from the engine). Best of both worlds perhaps? What do others think about that idea? Also, some stock intercoolers/radiators are black, so it can't be that bad for the engine could it? If it robbed the engine of a couple of Hp, i'm sure they wouldn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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