R50/R53 :: Hatch Talk (2002-2006) Cooper (R50) and Cooper S (R53) hatchback discussion.

R50/53 Heat Dissipating Coatings on Intercooler

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Old 12-23-2018, 01:59 PM
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Heat Dissipating Coatings on Intercooler

I've been around here a long time and know that aftermarket intercoolers aside from the GSR and GP are pretty much a waste of money.

Planning on Running Water Meth eventually, but in the meantime wanted to try something else.

I ended up cleaning out and coating my stock Intercooler with Cerakote Arctic Black Heat Dissipating Coating.

When I upgraded the turbo on my truck, the company I bought it from coats the housing in this coating and they swear by it.

I had run logs before doing the coating and I will run some now that the coating has been applied.



 
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Old 12-23-2018, 05:38 PM
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Nice!

How did you apply?
 
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Old 12-23-2018, 05:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Cease
Nice!

How did you apply?
hplv gun.

Then cured in the oven for 1 hour at 350
 
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Old 12-24-2018, 05:45 AM
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The black intercooler framed by the silver JCW cover is very sharp. Will be interesting to see the log information. Would think the coating would help with the frame and horns very well. Its the creativity of past and current members that makes this place the repository for anything MINI.

I am currently taking two oem intercoolers and making one GP intercooler and some basic information if my head still works a little:

1.) There are 11 tubes that are approximately 0.25" x 11" x 2". Each tube has about 49.5 sq inches of surface area so with 11 tubes there is 544.5 sq inches. This equates to about 3.8 SF
2.) Within each tube there are pieces of thin metal that create 19 pathways through the tube adding about another 4 SF of surface area for heat to interact with. With the inside of the tube itself added there is approximately 7.5 SF of surface area within the tubes.
3.) Along with the 11 tubes, there are 10 rows of fins for the outside air to flow through. The fin is like a candy ribbon with only the outer edge of the loop contacting the tube. Each fin has about 194 sq inches of surface area so with 10 rows there is about 13.5 SF. I use both sides of fin in this calculation as both sides are exposed to the air stream.
4.) Combine the tubes' outside surface area to the fin surface area and you have around 17 SF of surface area in the air stream.
5.) I am thinking the critical point of the intercooler is where the fins along with the inner tube pathways touch/connect to the tube itself. On the fins this contact area is very small, perhaps only 1 square inch per each fin.
 
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Old 12-24-2018, 05:50 AM
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What is the viscosity of the product? Walmart sells the Preval bottles and I am wondering whether they could spray it. On my DIY GP cooler I was going to go with the black cover but seeing yours I am going to paint the cover silver after I get done modifying it to fit the larger GP size.
 
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Old 12-24-2018, 08:31 AM
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Originally Posted by ThumpR52
What is the viscosity of the product? Walmart sells the Preval bottles and I am wondering whether they could spray it. On my DIY GP cooler I was going to go with the black cover but seeing yours I am going to paint the cover silver after I get done modifying it to fit the larger GP size.
viscosity is 5.40 cp (very thin)

sprays and covers well.
 
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Old 12-26-2018, 11:21 PM
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Intercooler question -

The GSR (GRS?) was mentioned by the original poster.
Does their design have the same "flow straighteners" (for lack of better words) at the entrance and the exit of each tube, like the factory intercooler ? I haven't seen any interior pictures of this assembly from the end to be able to tell.

Mike

Just looked at their web site. They have "diviters" (dividers) on the inlet side but not the outlet side, which the factory intercooler has...smooth the exiting air.
Yea, without some sort of flow straightener/divider, at least on the incoming air is just bouncing off of the flat walls between the tubes...poor design.
So that's one good point for the GRS intercooler over most of the other designs. Be that much better with "wings" like the OEM assembly has on the exit side too though.
 

Last edited by OCR; 12-26-2018 at 11:48 PM.
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Old 12-27-2018, 07:28 AM
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I would be curious to see the log data on the Delta's also. In a typical LS Turbo application, most people use the coatings to keep the heat in.......on an Intercooler, you want to transfer as much head to the air rushing through it as possible.....you don't want to have a coating on there that insulates it from the air.......There is a reason most big name Intercooler manufactures don't put any coatings on them......they leave them bare aluminum. Bare aluminum transfers heat the best...and that's the point of an IC.

I've seen come guys use that reflective heat tape on the bottom of the intercooler, the side that faces the engine. That actually made a slight improvement in the Deltas (temp of air going into the IC vs. air going out).

Post up your Deltas when you get a chance.

Thanks!
 
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Old 12-27-2018, 09:14 AM
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Cerakote Arctic Black Heat Dissipating Coating is not for coating headers. It is like a heat sink to air product. I am going to put on on DIY GP intercooler when I get it done.
 
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Old 12-27-2018, 12:04 PM
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Originally Posted by ThumpR52
Cerakote Arctic Black Heat Dissipating Coating is not for coating headers. It is like a heat sink to air product. I am going to put on on DIY GP intercooler when I get it done.
Interesting...I didn't know they even made Heat Dissipating Coatings. I guess you learn something new every day

Looking forward to seeing some data on the before/after coating temps....
 
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Old 12-28-2018, 08:02 AM
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Originally Posted by ThumpR52
Cerakote Arctic Black Heat Dissipating Coating is not for coating headers. It is like a heat sink to air product. I am going to put on on DIY GP intercooler when I get it done.
Just wondering how you will tell how much of the temp change is due to your clever engineering vs. the coating? Or does it matter to you?

Regards,
Jerry
 
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Old 12-28-2018, 02:55 PM
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My ByteTronik Full Access can log the intake temps and I will do some without coating and with coating runs.
 
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Old 11-04-2020, 09:50 PM
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Did you ever log an after coating to see a difference? I’m about ready to get my hands on a GP inter cooler and I thought about doing this if there was any benefit. I can live with silver if it’s just aesthetics.
 
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Old 11-10-2020, 10:42 AM
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That's the problem with a lot of this DIY "mods"....nobody ever backs them up with any actual data.
 
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