# Black FMIC



## RaBiT2.5T (Jun 29, 2011)

I want my FMIC black..... Does painting a FMIC defeat the purpose? or is there a safe way to paint the one I have?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

It doesn't defeat the purpose, but the thicker the paint the more impact on performance you will have. The best option would be to have the intercooler anodized black. If you have to paint it, grab some of the radiator paint and spray it as light as you can to get the coverage you're looking for.


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## RaBiT2.5T (Jun 29, 2011)

Sounds good im sure that a light coat will give me the look I want. Its behind a black bumper anyways.


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## SVTDanny (Aug 8, 2005)

A light coat will be fine, but it's going to look like crap after a short while due to rock chips.... you'll have to find someway to strip it off so you aren't layering the paint every month when you have to respray it.


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## vergessen wir es (May 12, 2010)

I blacked mine out with a sharpie. But then I arn't picky.


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## jimivr6 (Feb 18, 2003)

vergessen wir es said:


> I blacked mine out with a sharpie. But then I arn't picky.


 Seriously how long did that take. You must have lots of time .


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## TBT-Syncro (Apr 28, 2001)

three options that work well 

1. the best - techline dispersant coating (actually improves the intercoolers performance) 
2. radiator paint- minimal impact on performance 
3. bbq paint. 

:beer:


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## RaBiT2.5T (Jun 29, 2011)

TBT-Syncro said:


> three options that work well
> 
> 1. the best - techline dispersant coating (actually improves the intercoolers performance)
> 2. radiator paint- minimal impact on performance
> ...


 Do you know where I might find some techline dispersant coating?


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## RaBiT2.5T (Jun 29, 2011)

I just found some $49.99 not as bad as I thought it would be.


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## vergessen wir es (May 12, 2010)

jimivr6 said:


> Seriously how long did that take. You must have lots of time .


 Like a minute per side with a magnum sharpie.....d1ck lips.


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## Big_Tom (Aug 19, 2007)

light coats, dont over applicate


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## sleepin gti (Jan 21, 2011)

anyone have pics of said blacked out front mounts. preferably on a black car? would kinda consider this.... maybe


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## Boost112 (May 8, 2002)

...my front mount is black... Painted with vht black header paint...light coats and a good sanding before painting...only problem so far is you notice the dead bugs much more...lol...


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## sleepin gti (Jan 21, 2011)

hmmm. i may retract my previous statement. still in for pics if anyone has them tho


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

leebro61 said:


> The best option would be to have the intercooler anodized black


 Wouldn't this cost more then the IC? I use to have Paintball gun frames anno'd & it was an easy $200-$300 for a little PB gun. I can imagine the cost to get an IC done. The turn around time is typically long also.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> Wouldn't this cost more then the IC? I use to have Paintball gun frames anno'd & it was an easy $200-$300 for a little PB gun. I can imagine the cost to get an IC done. The turn around time is typically long also.


 Sounds like you need to find a new ano shop. The local place here advertises less than 24 hour turn around time and the prices are very reasonable (provided you go with black, custom colors I'm sure are more money/time). I'm dropping some parts off soon and I'll ask for a quote for an intercooler. 

I'd be curious to hear more about the thermal dispersant coating mentioned above. I did some searching on their site and I didn't find any real tech detail. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the potential benefit. I guess the ploy is to increase the emissivity of the surface, but in a relatively low temperature environment where radiation effects are small, my first guess would have been that whatever emissivity benefit you get doesn't help you as much as the coating insulation hurts you.


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## RaBiT2.5T (Jun 29, 2011)

I agree Lee. I have been looking into this option as well. I think the real benefit would come when the car has been running a while and the temps are high. For a daily driver this would be the best option


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## 12V_VR (Aug 11, 2010)

sleepin gti said:


> hmmm. i may retract my previous statement. still in for pics if anyone has them tho


I have a mishimoto black intercooler on my vrt, the car is also black but atm I have red couplings so its not 100% stealthy, other than that it looks like a radiator behind the bumper. Ill post pics when I get off work


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## 12V_VR (Aug 11, 2010)

here it is:


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## sleepin gti (Jan 21, 2011)

12V_VR said:


> here it is:


kinda liking the idea. another aspect to bring to my sleeper


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

leebro61 said:


> I'm dropping some parts off soon and I'll ask for a quote for an intercooler.


I was told $65 to do a radiator or intercooler in black. Keep in mind that $65 is their minimum order, so if you wanted to anodize a single bolt it would still be $65. I'll just wait until I've got a small batch of parts together and then send them all at once.


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## 12V_VR (Aug 11, 2010)

sleepin gti said:


> kinda liking the idea. another aspect to bring to my sleeper


 yes sir, sleeper status like a boss especially now that i modified the factory cat so it has a 3 inch mate to the 3inch downpipe and the rest of the exhaust is a autotech cat back. I wanna say its as quiet as stock . i kinda miss it when i just had the downpipe open and the amazing gurgle it had during deceleration:heart::heart:


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## RaBiT2.5T (Jun 29, 2011)

Yes sleeper mode thats what im shooting for


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## sleepin gti (Jan 21, 2011)

RaBiT2.5T said:


> Yes sleeper mode thats what im shooting for


do it! makes people with corvettes and too much money way more fun to drive near lol


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

leebro61 said:


> Sounds like you need to find a new ano shop. The local place here advertises less than 24 hour turn around time and the prices are very reasonable (provided you go with black, custom colors I'm sure are more money/time). I'm dropping some parts off soon and I'll ask for a quote for an intercooler.
> .


It was long ago. Maybe it's gotten cheaper since. After posting my last reply, i searched around & found a nice complete Anno kit that comes with 10 colors. They even have a few how-to vid's on their site and it's not that bad. Only thing you need is 2 big igloo coolers.

How about thermal barrier coating? Turbo-X 2000 comes in satin black & it might benefit from it. I never heard of an IC powdercoated before so i dunno if it can be done. Just a thought because my DP it Thermal coated with this stuff.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

You wouldn't want to powdercoat or barrier coat (aka insulate) an intercooler because you WANT it to release heat... which is the opposite of what you want for exhaust system components (both for performance and heat management sake).

The benefit of anodizing is that you get a color change without adding any material (insulation) to the core. To go a step further, you may get a slight bump in performance due to the core now being black (~better radiative properties), but in these temperature ranges that's almost certainly not going to be noticeable/measurable.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

Make sense.. :thumbup:


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## D_GoLf-GtI_VR6 (Mar 7, 2007)

leebro61 said:


> The best option would be to have the intercooler anodized black.


I was also looking into this, so what type of anodizing would be best, hardcoat anodizing or basic anodizing.


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## Norwegian-VR6 (Feb 6, 2002)

Kinetic intercooler painted black


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## TCFGLI08 (Apr 6, 2011)

I just put some window screen behind the grill took care of bugs ect. with no effect on the IATs
Terry


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## Bryoc (Apr 24, 2009)

before 








after 








spray light coats at an angle not directly into the fins of the intercooler :thumbup:


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## TCFGLI08 (Apr 6, 2011)

Good job...looks great
Terry


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