Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

hey guys,

i have been reading some threads about DIY painting FMIC to black.

THings i have done are:

spraying it with etch primer x 1 layer or maybe abit more.

then let it dry. it says 10 minutes drying time (second layer wait for 1 hr) which i didnt read and i sprayed the high temp paint on it after 25 to 30 minutes.

i gave the intercooler a few layers ot the high temp paint. every thing seems nice n paint seems even.

after letting it to dry for half hour(says on bottle - dried to touch in 10 minutes) after 30 or so minutes. i installed the FMIC back into the car. gave it another 45 miuntes to dry.

And i started the car. drove it around n couldnt feel any problem.

been driving the car around for a few days. nothing seems to be wrong...

so what can go wrong?? losing cooling efficiency seems to be wat everyone been telling me. besides that wat can go wrong to the FMIC or even the car?

thanks in advance.

Paint is not a particularly good or bad conductor so it wont make much difference really. You'd have to set up some experiments to confirm that. That said if all you care about is performance, painting it black really can only hamper the flow and heat exchanging. Up to you whether that is as important as the aesthetic or 'stealth' factor.

black attracts heat more so than what the color of aluminium will...something you dont want in a heat soak. I.e. say your in the sun, it will get hotter than if it were just left unpainted-something which will hamper performance. However, it also sheds heat quicker than any other color i.e. say your in the shade or the cooler is well covered then it will lose heat quicker than if it were left unpainted.

Really as stated earlier it makes sweet fa difference to performance. Main factor it changes is the attention you get-good and bad. Its up to you but iv left mine unpainted and it saves you having to paint it every so often after the paint eventually flakes off.

Edited by R32Abuser

Itll slow down the heat exchange rate a little bit (though not enough to worry about unless you put on like 5 coats). If your really worried about it use paint stripper on it and then get the cooler black ANODIZED. Changes the outer layer of material rather than coating it. And it can make it a little bit tougher depending on what anodizing you use. Plus it will never flake off.

Good luck

leewah did this a couple of months back (but he had micolour piant it...) my guess is that he researched the pro's and cons a fair bit before he did it to a 10 sec car

leewah did this a couple of months back (but he had micolour piant it...) my guess is that he researched the pro's and cons a fair bit before he did it to a 10 sec car

did what, sorry im not sure what you referring to (obviously not the glad wrap idea :banana:), the spraying or anodizing ?

OK, your problem will have uncovered a few other issues you may need to consider (despite all the other replies being full of "dun worry dude, its all good" etc etc etc.

Firstly, your "rice" level has just taken a nose dive big time! You may find that the monster tacho with a redline of 15 00000000000rpm is now completely redundant. This is not cool!

Apart from the complete lack of "fuwwly HeKtIc BrO" you will recieve at the local drive thru Macca's, your chance of picking up "wif teh womenz" will be significantly lower.

The only thing that can save this is a crapload of neons STAT!!!! A GTR badge is also highly recommended, as is a complete shopping list down both doors (bonus "uleh's" if you can slip a random Ralliart or Mugen sticker in there as well.) Oh, no matter what else happens, get a dose pipe or one of those frontal lobotomy inducing BOV's (y'know, the ones you can get from supercheap that are so loud they give you brain surgery unasked?)

Just be grateful that you didn't try this on a Honda - your v-Tec's would be horribly low due to the leakage this influx of stealth would bring!

(BTW, in al seriousness, the colour of your intercoooler will only be affected by the amount of heat it is able to reflect, ie black reflects f**k all heat and light, whereas white reflects almost all - if your 'line is white, I think that would be a much better way of hiding it and not affecting the cooling capacity)

(BTW, in al seriousness, the colour of your intercoooler will only be affected by the amount of heat it is able to reflect, ie black reflects f**k all heat and light, whereas white reflects almost all - if your 'line is white, I think that would be a much better way of hiding it and not affecting the cooling capacity)

true, but black also disperses heat faster

white fmic would look as ugly as sin

  • 2 weeks later...

I heard that if its black but properly sprayed so that it wont come off like a can will, it will actually be better for the car as the black draws the heat out of the cooler just like black radiators.

Is this right?

I heard that if its black but properly sprayed so that it wont come off like a can will, it will actually be better for the car as the black draws the heat out of the cooler just like black radiators.

Is this right?

yes, black also disperses heat fastest but it also absorbs it the quickest.

So in a a location like where the radiator is under the bonnet, there is no light contact so black is a good choice to disperse heat. On the front of the car with a big fmic on show, black would absorb heat faster just sitting there in the sun, but once you were driving around it would also disperse heat faster.

Either way it would make bugger all difference in most applications, and the only real reason you would do it is for some sort of "stealth" effect

THe colour of something will only effect its ability to absorb light energy.

White reflects light heat, black absorbs light heat.

So unless u have a 1kw floodlight in front of your fmic, colour don't do sh!t

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Latest Posts

    • Well, I can recommend the partial AV system translation CD I ordered from Car Audio Workshop in NZ. Whilst it didn't address the date issue, it has conveniently translated on-screen menu items into English, and now allows the GPS-received time to be offset in hours rather than minutes, so I can display Eastern Australian time accurately ( and bump it by another hour when daylight savings starts ).
    • Yuh, if it's 45°C outside, my car is driving in it.
    • I'd be curious to hear more. Otherwise, have you driven a modern x-trail? I wonder how it compares. Here in Australia they are/were popular for rentals and fleet vehicles. I have been in some and my impression was they are bad. But, this may have been very different in the 2000s at a good trim level. Twenty years is plenty of time to make the model worse. I do very much agree with the 2 silver cars in the garage approach. But, not driving because it's too hot would not leave a lot of time in the year for many Australians. I don't think you need to worry too much unless the car has actual issues with overheating. 
    • Back again. I returned to Japan in Jul/Aug to spend time with the car on my birthday and remind myself what all the sacrifice and compromise is for. It happened to line up with the monthly morning meet in Okutama, which I have been wanting to go to for a long time. It's a unique event at a unique spot with really rare, interesting, and quirky cars. It's where all the oldheads and OGs gather. The nighttime scene at DKF certainly has its place and should be experienced if you're into cars, but there's too much bad attention and negativity around it now. IMO the better time is Sunday morning at DKF or Okutama; it's more chill and relaxed. I'm glad I was finally able to go, but not sure it's worth the drive from all the way from Nagoya immediately the day before, unless I was already staying in Tokyo for the days right before the meet, because you have to wake up quite early to make it in time. Funnily enough though I didn't drive the car all that much this trip because it was just too damn hot. While there were zero issues and running temps were nominal and the A/C was strong, RBs already run crazy hot as it is. Sure, it took it all like a champ but something about driving these cars in the ridiculous heat/humidity bothers me and makes me feel like I'm asking too much of it. I'm just me being weird and treating the car like a living thing with feelings; I'm mechanically sympathetic to a fault. Instead I was mainly driving something else around - a KX4(silver) 2001 X-Trail GT, that I acquired in May. There's a few different flavors to choose from with Xs, but visually it's the Nissan version of the Honda CR-V. Mechanically it's a whole different story as this, being the top-trim GT, has an SR20VET mated to a four-speed auto and full-time AWD! It was a very affordable buy in exceptional condition inside and out, with very low mileage...only 48k kms. Most likely it was owned by an older person who kept it garaged and well-maintained, so I'm really happy with how it all worked out. It literally needs zero attention at the moment, albeit except for some minor visual touch-ups. I wanted something quirky, interesting, and practical and for sure it handily delivers on all three of those aspects. I was immediately able to utilize the cargo and passenger capacity to its full extent. It's a lot of fun to drive and is quite punchy through 1st and 2nd. It's very unassuming -in the twisty bits it's a lot more composed than one would think at a glance- and it'll be even better once I get better tires on it(yes, it's an SUV but still a little boat-y for my liking). So...now I have two golden-era Nissans in silver. One sports car and one that does everything else; the perfect two-car solution I think👍 The rest of the trip...I was able to turn my stressed brain off and enjoy it, although I didn't quite get to do as much as I thought. I did some interesting things, met some interesting people, and happened into some interesting situations however, that's all for another post though only if people really want to know. Project-wise, I went back to Mine's again to discuss more plans and am hoping to wrap that up real soon; keep watching this space if that interests you. Additionally, while working in the tormenting sweatbox that is the warehouse, I was able to organize most of the myriad of parts that my friend is storing for me along with the cars, and the 34 has a nice little spot carved out for it: And since it can get so stupid hot in there, that made it all the more easy -after I was standing there looking at the car and said 'f**k it'- to finally remove all the damn gauges that have mostly been an eyesore all this time. Huzzah. The heat basically makes the adhesive backing on the gauge mounts more pliable to work with, so it was far less stressful getting this done. I didn't fully clean it up or chase the wiring though; that will happen once I have the car in closer possession. Another major reason to remove all that stuff is to give people less reasons to get in my car and steal s**t while it's being exported/imported when/if the time comes, which leads us to my next point... ...and that is even though it's time in Japan is technically almost up since it's a November car and the X would be coming in March, I'm still not entirely sure where my life and career is headed; I don't really know what the future looks like and where I'm going to end up. I feel there's a great deal of uncertainty with me and as a result of that, it feels like I'm at a crossroads moreso now than any point in my life thus far and there are some choices I need to make. Yes, I've had some years to consider things and prepare myself, however too much has happened in that time to maintain confidence and everything feels so up in the air; tenuous one might say. Simply put, there's just too much nonsense going on right now from multiple vectors. Admittedly, I'm struggling to stay in the game and keep my eyes on the prize. So much so in fact, that very recently I came the closest I ever have before to calling it quits outright; selling everything and moving on and not looking back. The astute among you will pick up on key subtext within this paragraph. In the meantime I've still managed to slowly acquire some final bits for the car, but it feels nice knowing there's not much left to get and I'm almost across that finish line; I have almost everything I'll ever want for my interpretation and expression on what it is I think an R34 should be. 'til later.
    • Thanks for that, hadn’t used my brain enough to think about that. 
×
×
  • Create New...