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Painted Intercooler

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:05 am
by J-MoNeY
Image

Here's my painted Saab Intercooler on my 93 Sport Sedan. Lemme know what you think.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:48 am
by ciper
I think it makes you slower

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:37 am
by NuwanD
lol, slower.... well it should be fine as long as you didn't manage to coat all the fins in paint :D

looks nice and stealthy however, gotta show us the outside of the car as well :D

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:00 am
by ciper
Weight reduction!!! Strip the paint off.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:59 am
by J-MoNeY
NuwanD wrote:lol, slower.... well it should be fine as long as you didn't manage to coat all the fins in paint :D

looks nice and stealthy however, gotta show us the outside of the car as well :D
Check the picture forum :wink: .

Ciper: Come out to colorado and I'll be glad to show you how "slow" it is. :roll:

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:19 am
by QuickDrive
What kinda steps did you take to paint it?

What kinda paint?

I don't care if it makes my trap time slower or not.. I find it looks good.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:24 am
by J-MoNeY
QuickDrive wrote:What kinda steps did you take to paint it?

What kinda paint?

I don't care if it makes my trap time slower or not.. I find it looks good.
I first steel wooled it. Then dremmeled it with a fine sand paper. 2 coats of primer. Then I applied 3 coats of 500 degree semi gloss black engine paint.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:28 am
by THAWA
too much primer, I'dve just gone with the 3 coats of engine enamel, maybe two though

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:55 am
by ciper
$J-MoNeY-$: Okay, it will have to be near the end of the year though.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:00 am
by J-MoNeY
ciper wrote:$J-MoNeY-$: Okay, it will have to be near the end of the year though.
The longer you wait the bigger the lead I will have. :lol:

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 8:03 am
by ciper
Until the point that I have my stand alone engine management installed.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 8:09 am
by J-MoNeY
Your going to need it.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 12:01 pm
by ciper
Not really, especially considering I have more displacement than you.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 12:02 pm
by LegacyT
Looks good, nice stock black color instead of a crappy attention drawing puke green color. Thumbs up

Mark,

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 12:03 pm
by LegacyT
oh yeah you should relocate your coolant tank.

Mark,

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 6:30 pm
by J-MoNeY
LegacyT wrote:oh yeah you should relocate your coolant tank.

Mark,
I was thinking that, but I have read that the coolant tank is the highest part of the engine and it flows coolant to the turbo to cool it down after the car is shut down. If you relocate it to the place where the AC used to be, won't it defeat the purpose of having it as the highest point of the engine to cool the turbo?

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:29 pm
by rsstiboy
paint actually ABSORBS heat, not a good idea considering how crap a air/air intercooler is top mounted on a RS, try the saab setup then try a FMIC please!!! you won't be putting the saab one back on! or even try a liberty/legacy water/air cooler, you'll be wondering why you wasted your time on such a small intercooler, i'm sure it does make a difference, just saying the other 2 methods will work better as the RS scoop is way too small to get enough air through that thing (maybe try putting a small thermo fan below it or something) to help suck air in through the scoop

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:34 pm
by boostjunkie
rsstiboy wrote:paint actually ABSORBS heat, not a good idea considering how crap a air/air intercooler is top mounted on a RS, try the saab setup then try a FMIC please!!! you won't be putting the saab one back on! or even try a liberty/legacy water/air cooler, you'll be wondering why you wasted your time on such a small intercooler, i'm sure it does make a difference, just saying the other 2 methods will work better as the RS scoop is way too small to get enough air through that thing (maybe try putting a small thermo fan below it or something) to help suck air in through the scoop
I agree with the statement about the paint, and was going to go FMIC on my car this spring, however, I've noticed where I've been parking lately . . . in parallel parking spaces. For me to run a FMIC, I'd need to SEVERELY deteriorate the structural integrity of my bumper, and if you'd see how people parallel park in DC, you'd want as much of that bumper support left intact as you can!

Believe me, I wish I could go FMIC, but I can only forsee my front end being crushed in because some d-ckwad was playing bumper cars trying to park in front of me.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:43 pm
by vrg3
J-Money - I think you can still mount it as the highest point in the system if you route the hoses right.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:56 pm
by LegacyT
As long as the rad cap is still the highest point in the system then your fine. Even in place of the A/c compressor it can still be mounted more then high enough.

Mark,

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 12:00 am
by BAC5.2
boostjunkie wrote:...and was going to go FMIC on my car this spring, however, I've noticed where I've been parking lately . . . in parallel parking spaces. For me to run a FMIC, I'd need to SEVERELY deteriorate the structural integrity of my bumper, and if you'd see how people parallel park in DC, you'd want as much of that bumper support left intact as you can!

Believe me, I wish I could go FMIC, but I can only forsee my front end being crushed in because some d-ckwad was playing bumper cars trying to park in front of me.
I was thinking the same thing. But the number of times I parallel park, or don't park nose-out, I think I'll be alright.

I'll talk to the guys and see what they think, but an FMIC seems to be the number one option at this point. I'll wait until I can stand alone though ;)

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 12:33 am
by boostjunkie
I'm actually considering converting my wxr intercooler into an a/w intercooler instead.

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 12:37 am
by BAC5.2
That's another viable option I suppose. Jury is still out on how I'll cool the intake. Going to talk to Hill at Agile Auto and see what he thinks about the situation.

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 12:48 am
by J-MoNeY
rsstiboy wrote:paint actually ABSORBS heat, not a good idea considering how crap a air/air intercooler is top mounted on a RS, try the saab setup then try a FMIC please!!! you won't be putting the saab one back on! or even try a liberty/legacy water/air cooler, you'll be wondering why you wasted your time on such a small intercooler, i'm sure it does make a difference, just saying the other 2 methods will work better as the RS scoop is way too small to get enough air through that thing (maybe try putting a small thermo fan below it or something) to help suck air in through the scoop
IT DOES!?!?!?!?! :roll: I sort of realized that with the whole tread on painted intercoolers. I really don't care much for the Saab IC. My plan is just to have something on it tell this summer, then the FM will be on. :)

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 12:53 am
by NuwanD
I mounted my coolant tank where the ac compressor was, i measured it ou and it is the highest point in the cooling system. I actually don't believe you could mount it too low in that location.