Stealth FMIC

[Ronin 09]

Has anyone had their FMIC painted matt black? I am looking at a FMIC but want it to be inconspicuous (yeah, yeah, driving a skyline and all!). Does this greatly affect efficiency of the intercooler?

[Joe]

The orginial gtr cooler is black...if u do it right i cant see the problem

[meggala]

mine is pretty stealthy

[ed]

If you're worried about the effeciency of the cooler, why not get it anodised black? then you don't need to worry about the coat of paint affecting the cooler's effeciency

[Ronin 09]

Aha, anodising whould be a good idea, i forgot about that. Cheers, ed

[JH32]

What does anodising do/mean?

I know it changes the colour ... but how?

Doesnt it effect the cooling ability of the cooler?

[Ronin 09]

Aluminium doesn't corrode, because when exposed to atmosphere (air) it oxidizes (kinda rusts) pretty much straight away, preventing corrosion; it forms its own protective layer.

When you anodise aluminium, you use a electrical current and an acid (i seem to reacall) to increase the thickness of this protective layer. When this has been done the protective layer is porous, and can be dyed, any colour you want...

So you could have a pink FMIC, if that floats your boat

Not sure how much it would cost to do, and if they can just anodise the outside... i'd guess it wouldn't be cheap!

oh, and it shouldn't affect the performance of the FMIC at all (paint will, as it fills the small bits of the cooler with paint)

[inark]

ooooooooooo a pink fmic... lol to be different

i think i'll just use mesh to hide/protect mine.

[StraightSix]

Black will actually improve heat transfer; this is the same reason that solar panels are always black. You should be able to use black radiator paint which is designed to cover with a very thin coat.

J

[ed]

Originally posted by StraightSix

Black will actually improve heat transfer; this is the same reason that solar panels are always black.  You should be able to use black radiator paint which is designed to cover with a very thin coat.

J

yep, but black also absorbs heat moreso than white :uh-huh:

anodising would be the way to go, they'd probably just end up doing the whole cooler black as they just dip the thing in acid and add the dye.

[Ronin 09]

I'm not sure you'd want to anodise the inside of the cooler though; how fine are the fins inside?

[Duncan]

Anyone know what colour any car's standard radiator is?

Always black. It can't be that much worse than no paint.

[red17]

Always black? Alot of radiators in modern cars arent black at all, just raw aluminium. I know mine aint black, and every car ive owned wasnt black.

They used to ALL be black because they made them out of copper which corroded if it wasnt painted.

Ally solves that problem

Red17

[StraightSix]

Originally posted by ed

yep, but black also absorbs heat moreso than white :uh-huh:

That's basically saying the same thing If heat transfer is improved, the intercooler will cool more if it is hotter than the ambient air, and will also heat the charge air more if the ambient air is hotter.

anodising would be the way to go, they'd probably just end up doing the whole cooler black as they just dip the thing in acid and add the dye.

Have to agree with that.

J

[StraightSix]

Those quote tags don't quite do what you expect do they . . .

J

[Roy]

I have powder coated black mesh in front of my cooler, to both stop rocks etc and also hide it.

Does a good job for $30, only i dont know what i chould do about the pipes either side of it protruding thru where i had to cut the bar to fit it.

I'm not sure you'd want to anodise the inside of the cooler though; how fine are the fins inside?

The oxide layer is something like 0.05um thick, if anodizing adds the same thickness again (i think less) then i dont think it would present any sort of restriction.

[Mr Squiggle]

remembering guys that black does absorb heat faster white/aluminium, BUT it reaches a certain heat and then stops absorbing. Whereas the white/aluminium keeps absorbing.....

[Ronin 09]

How does that figure? I would have though that all things equal a black surface would end up absorbing more heat than a (matt) aluminium surface...

[MIKGTR]

Black keeps absorbing at the same rate, it doesn't stop.

Black's emmisisivity is constant it doesn't change with heat absorbed

[Mr Squiggle]

i'm not a 100% but when i was a tschool the teachers always used to relate to aborigines or even those little tribes ppl of the Gods must be Crazy. ie; they are better suited for the heat.

this is getting a bit off track tho'. prbably has nothin' to do with FMIC or radiators.

it is a good kwestion to start with tho'...

Rhys..