Intercooler Stencil Design - Thoughts
 

Hey guys,

First off, hopefully this is in the right sub-forum. I thought that I would get the best feedback here, rather than "Cosmetic Mods".

I'm helping a friend paint something a little different on his Vortech Intercooler. I was hoping to get some feedback on positioning and/or if you think there is something better that we could do design-wise. I thought maybe if it just said "Boxer" that might be better, but unsure. Anyway, what do you think?

Stock:

http://i57.tinypic.com/aopdh4.jpg

Idea:

http://i62.tinypic.com/29n9maa.jpg

What I used as a reference for positioning:

http://i58.tinypic.com/mhf3b8.jpg

Totally up to you. I'd personally just go straight black, but it should be simple to spray it on straight. You can fix it easily if it gets jacked up as well.

You might want to try the cosmetic modification section. I'll second all black.

All black unless your going for the racecar look. "Proud of Boxer" is much better than advertising though.

Proud of boxer always seemed like a silly expression to me, but your call.

fucking dope!!!! I personally would just paint it black or silver and be done with it. I think the logo is a little much. That's just me though.

I'd rather not paint the intercooler at all.. you lose cooling efficiency in doing so.

I hate when people do this to ICs. Looks so corny. All black.

Yeah it's very engrish-y to me.

I think there's a trend here, lol. Like I said, just an idea to be a little different. The IC is already blacked out, so it would keep things much more simple to leave it that way...

For those running the kit on a BRZ, does the positioning look right for best visibility? I just counted rows based on the rally sport pic.

- Statistically insignificant (unless you're painting it with bedliner or some crap). Add temp sensors to prove it yourself if you like, I've seen enough datalogging on the subject to know the answer already.


- Some paints actually IMPROVE efficiency (why do you think the OEM's paint them?)

No, and no..

Anodized - yes. Paint - no.

Personally I would leave it as-is or go full black. "Proud of boxer" just sounds like a broken english phrase, and let's be honest it's the supercharger you'll be proud of here.

Black, for the sleeper factor!

"Proud of asthmatic four-banger that you need to supercharge just to get decent performance out of"

:lol:

"AIDSFART"

Wow. This took a crazy turn, but I like it.

Keep the suggestions coming.

:popcorn:

SLOW
BUTTS
NOT INTERCOOLER
BACK
ILLEGAL
GRAPES
BECAUSE RACECAR
<250WHP
PANTS
SLIDE TO UNLOCK
FRONT TOWARD ENEMY
PIZZA
DO NOT BUY
STOCK
PACKERS
STAPLER
HENNESSEY
NOT FUNCTIONAL

I could go into the physics of why it's better to paint it black, but it's far too much of my time (and people aren't going to read it anyway)


Ultimately, it doesn't matter. The temp difference is insignificant and it's a centrifugal supercharger setup which creates far FAR less heat than a turbo, so it's not nearly as important.


Not to mention, black simply looks better and doesn't scream to people you're boosted...

I agree with Poodles. I remember a guy in the MR2 forums (or maybe it was the Audi forums) that recorded before and after IC temps with different types of paint. Nothing really made a difference. For the most part, you are painting the front face of the IC, not the majority of the surface area which is the sides of the fins. That's where the cooling occurs. Now, if you load the thing with coats upon coats of paint you might notice a difference.

I always thought you needed a thermal paint, but this guys numbers didn't lie. I'll have to go search for it bc it's always good to have numbers to look at.

Oh, and to voice my opinion on what to put on the IC, black is always cool but I never mind graphics on an IC. I like their phrase "Built by passion, not by committee". Or you could put "Hachi-roku". Or how about "Tofu delivery" haha. Also saw a pretty cool japanese "rising sun" painted on an IC. Googled "intercooler graphics" and it was the first to come up but I couldn't find the image to link to.


EDIT: Didn't find what I was originally looking for, but found this video on Carthrottle. Looks like its about the same when the car is moving but helps even more when its stationary.

If you are so proud of the boxer, why not paint the boxer symbol on it.

All black, otherwise it's just stupid

I agree that black looks better, and I agree the temp difference is pretty small, however painting an intercooler (or radiator) does not help it.

Here's a pretty decent video that pretty much sums up why:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_mmmXTbLP0#t=2"]Black Intercooler Thermal Dynamics[/ame]

Not true look it up. Not here to fight about it.


:coolpics:

First off, I didn't come up with the phrase:

http://proudofboxer.com

Second, I get that you're trying to be clever, but you come off as a d1ck.

Third, the boxer logo would look really nice, good idea.

Fourth, don't be a d1ck.

Um, I have researched it.. and I even posted a 10 minute long video that proves my point. Not sure if you are serious?

I had no idea it was an existing phrase as I've never owned a Subaru.
I wasn't trying to be clever or a ****. I was dead serious. If you want to advertise the boxer, use the symbol. Clean, simple, anyone "in the know" will get it.
That's the problem with forum posts. It's far too easy to have one or two negative posts make everything start looking like an attack. You read a voice inflection I didn't intend, although re-reading it, I can see how.

Cool, don't worry about it then, water under the bridge.

Just keep in mind that starting a sentence with "If you are so" comes off as a personal attack and I don't know you. "Maybe try a boxer logo instead of that phrase" would have come through just as clearly. I have tough skin, but I'm a fucking adult and don't take kindly to that sort of nonsense.

Uh oh...

http://zipmeme.com/uploads/generated...8942672395.jpg

Back on topic, we've decided to go stealth with the the all black IC. A Mishimoto Oil Cooler will also be installed, so painting anything on the IC and getting the position perfect would be a PIA anyway.

Thanks to everyone for their input and opinions. Thanks to @woode and @Fender0122 for the videos, I didn't realize this was such a widespread topic.

You bet man. But don't let people bashing stop you from doing a graphic. Do what YOU (or your buddy) think is cool. But regardless, looks like a black background is the best way to go. Shoot, even just the subaru oval symbol (or toyota symbol if its a FRS) painted on it would look cool. I think it's unique and I'm all for that.

By the way, I hear you on the tone people use on forums. Like: "All black, otherwise it's just stupid." There's no need to be negative. We're all putting our ideas out there to get constructive criticism on it. You didn't ask IF it was cool, you asked WHAT would be cool.

Please people, don't turn this forum into NASIOC.

It's a good video and all, but there are many holes in his logic.

#1 He never mentioned anything about their 40deg difference when stationary.
#2 I trust people who have actual numbers from results, not just a whiteboard and a text book. I agree, thermodynamics may say it doesn't work, but their results show something different. Which means that there's something we're missing here. Only thing I can think is that with a flat paint you are actually increasing the surface area. It might just be possible that the negative effects of it being black and insulating are less than the increased effects of the greater surface area. A good test would be to try flat silver, or a light high-emissivity paint. I also remember the term 'latent heat', meaning how quickly a material changes temperature. It very well could be the latent heat of a rough, black surface affects the dynamics of it in different situations. I'm not a thermal engineer, so I'm just throwing ideas out there.
#3 He didn't even really prove anything by his equation, other than the fact that there was a 3% difference and went on a tangent on that. He made such a big deal about 3% but then talked nothing about the massive 50% difference the black made when stationary.
#4 He mentioned at the end about heat from other components like the engine and such, but wouldn't that be heat radiation and not convection? It almost seams like it's convection when moving and radiation when stationary. Side note: why do they call them radiators, then? (may be because street cars need cooling when stationary [radiation] and race cars need cooling bc they're really never stopped)

He does make some good points, buuuuut they covered a lot of those in the original video (ie. direct sunlight on the black). And I'm not trying to say who's right and who's wrong. I'm genuinely curious about the topic. More research is definitely going to be needed because, again, where I said real experiments are better that whiteboard equations, real track data is more important than bench testing.

Sorry, don't mean to keep it off topic but I think it does kinda pertain to this situation, especially it being in the FI section and not cosmetic mods. Plus, I just read in the development story of our cars how they constantly had to make sure the cosmetics were in harmony with functionality of the car. Let's keep that going!

Good points. Stationary air temps are far more important than moving air temps, and screw physics and math that are too hard to understand - way easier to just spray paint something and say it works. :bonk:

This post was originally in the cosmetic section, but regardless, spreading false information around doesn't benefit anyone. Anodizing is the correct way to make the intercooler black while maintaining maximum functionality. For a street car it really doesn't matter anyways, and it's annoying arguing over the internet.

As for your question about why they are called "radiators", here is one link. Although it is referring to home radiators, the explanation is the same.. you can find a few other sources as well. Long story short: it's not a true "convector" so they called it "radiator" despite 80-90% of it's heat (or heat dispersion) coming from convection. The term stuck. The English language is full of misnomers.

This thread is making me regret buying my car.

:D

http://i.imgur.com/ltU35bk.jpg

Awwww, it's so CUTE!

Did...did you read what I said? "May be because street cars need cooling when stationary [radiation] and race cars need cooling bc they're really never stopped." So perhaps where the data says black is better when stationary, race cars really don't need the black since they are always moving. So instead of coming off as a d1ck, I suggest you try to actually add some intellect to the conversation.

Who's the one spreading false information, and who's the one trying to expand the dialog between the two ideas? Where are your numbers that "anodizing is the correct way"? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Also, people build their cars for various reasons. Maybe it's a street car, maybe it's a pure race car, maybe it's something in between. All have different situations that require different modifications. Let's take autocross, for example. There's a lot of stationary time between runs. Hmm wouldn't heatsoak be a problem? Now, if I sacrificed 3deg during my run to prevent it from soaking up 40deg between runs I think I'll paint it black because the run isn't long enough to let the airflow get it back to, well, only 3 deg better. But if I'm doing track days, it makes more sense to have it silver.

See? Providing useful information is a lot more helpful to the community. Thanks for that. I kinda figured it was an old term that just stuck. If it looks like a radiator it is a radiator lol.

By the way, this is not "arguing" over the internet. It's called development. You put your ideas out there for them to grow, not be squashed. Do you think our car would even be here if the Subaru engineers had their way with not developing a RWD car bc it was against their philosophy? With teamwork they created the best of both worlds: Boxer and RWD. And with teamwork we can progress to make these cars even better.

It's not about the size, its about well you can use it! :iono:

:bellyroll:

Lol, looks good!

Love this