It seems like if somebody were to offer polished, or powdercoated bullhorns for the mini they could get alot of buisness...Maybe offering to sell and you mail in your core. I could take them off and find a place to do it.. but that puts me out of commision for a while. It would be easier and faster to be able to order them, install them, mail the old ones back...

I just really like how they look when they are not the stock, cast-silver look.

anybody else ever think about this?
I guess if i have the time someday i'd take them off and paint them... but i just dont have the place to do it right now.

-Malcon

 

From what I've heard it's not very easy to get the pre intercooler horn off. I believe you have to remove the intake manifold to get to the bolts. The post horn is easy to get off if you've ever taken your TB out. I don't know how well pre polished pieces would sell being that the install wouldn't be for everyone. I think I'm going to polish mine over summer myself when I have some time.

 

oh yeah? I didn't know how the installation would be. Let me know when you do your polishing.. I may do mine also.

 

id wonder if the powder coat would effect heat dissipation?

 

I would think they dissipate heat best in the original finish as the surface area is maximized. It may look cooler as polished, but it and your intake charge will be hotter.

Don't paint it and don't polish it. Don't do it.

If you want to spend some time on the intake system then port match and polish the entire system. It will help HP a little bit on ans S, and a little bit more on a non S.

 

How will polishing them make the intake charge hotter?

 

How about a colored intercooler?

 

The idea is that by polishing the surface of the horns, you're reducing the total surface area that's exposed to the air compared to the rough factory finish, thus reducing heat dissipation.

Of course, this is only important if the factory horns dissipate very much heat in the first place, relative to the heat that's dissipated by the intercooler itself. If the heat dissipation in the horns is negligible compared to the dissipation in the intercooler, than polishing the horns is more of a theoretical drawback than an actual one.

 

I'm going to have to say that the reduced surface area when compared to how much heat the horns actually dissipate will be so minimal that it wouldn't warrant not doing it.

 

If a bright color is desired, have the aluminum color anodized, anodizing won’t insulate like paint or powdercoating. If black is ok for the look you want, have the aluminum coated with a thermal dispersant coating. Thermal dispersant coating improves thermal exchange of the metal, protects against oxidation (white powder spots on aluminum), and is easy to clean. This coating has maintained as new condition after 60k miles and four years.


With the intake parts off the vehicle, perform any “porting”, smooth out casting flash, and remove casting blobs.

I had my oil pan externally coated with the thermal dispersant and internally with an oil dispersant. I smoothed the outside surface before having it coated and to this day it looks like slick Teflon and cleans like it too.



Painting an intercooler diminishes its ability to transfer heat as it was designed, once again anodizing is a better approach and a thermal dispersant better still.



The problem with polishing aluminum is maintenance. Without a clear coating, over time aluminum dulls and oxidizes.

 

ScottRiqui, yep you got it!

K-huevo, you really got it, and did something about it, WOW! Anodizing is definitely the way to go.

cartar452, we are certainly talking Thermodynamic theory here as I do not have a table with data showing various finishes. So yeah, in this situation the surface prep options may not be statistically significantly different in terms of heat dissipation performance. Theoretically though, polishing or painting are the wrong things to do specific to the function/performance of those parts.

 

I like the idea of the heat dispersion coating. I think there is something called Jet Coating that does that. Hmm I'll look into that

I wonder if they can do colors??

 

You may be thinking about "Jet Hoat" coatings. They do offered colored coatings, but they're not dispersive. They're actually insulating coatings intended to keep as much heat inside your headers as possible, so they wouldn't be very good for heat exchangers. I'll see if they have any dispersive coatings, though.

 

You can also check out this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=polished+SC



Too bad they have removed Nitrominis pictures, his stuff was sick You can see some of his stuff over on M/U

 

Yes He's on motoring underground though I've seen his pictures... and yes his car has to be the most modified here....he's done everything.. and its cool that he does it al himself...

 

http://www.motoringunderground.com/f...t=12570&page=2

 

I'd have to agree. I have a bunch of buddies who run fully polished engines in their Vdubs with massive HP turbo engines without any problems. The difference is probably minimal at best.

I say polish them, it would look killer

 

Yeah ok, theoretically the wrong thing to do, but damn it sure does look awesome. And it does look faster, so that has got to be worth something.

Killer indeed

 

yes I would really like to get them polished....
I'm not running an 11 second quarter mile... so i think FOR ME, i would rather it look nice. and be maybe the slightest bit warmer.

looks awesome!

 

Hey so how did you polish this, I see the grinder you removed the texture with, but what did you use to get that final polished look?? I am looking to polish a set of wheels myself.

 

For a little bling , use a tooth brush and simichrome polish on the cast, scrub and scrub, then burnish with a clean cloth, it will give a nice polished cast look.

 

this isnt my work, I wish it was. It belongs to Nitromini on Motoringunderground, This might help

http://www.motoringalliance.com/foru...d-madness.html

 

Thanks gonna try this

 

We've been powdercoating them for customers. But I have to say that looks good. Alot of work to do that so hats off to you.

 

I bet the polished cast look does look cool. It would kind of look like an uber OEM dress-up upgrade.