leon phelps

Has anyone painted their radiator?

I am putting a used corvette radiator in my 65 impala and am not thrilled with the little oxidation of the radiator and was thinking a little paint would dress it up.

Any pros or cons?

Thanks in advance.

FastKat

iTrader: (10)

I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make, but in theory the paint will act as a barrier between the ambient air and the coolant inside the radiator. The paint will reduce the radiator's ability to transfer its heat to the air.

dmracing

iTrader: (78)

Eastwood makes a special paint for this.

dmracing

iTrader: (78)

Heres the link

http://www.eastwood.com/paints/detai...ack-paint.html

rotor vs. piston

iTrader: (3)

So far as affecting the ability to cool, it doesn't. Main thing is to make sure your fins are good before and after paint.

leon phelps

thanks...

Mike52

iTrader: (1)

I was under the impression that black helped radiate heat (help carry heat away), that's the reason radiators were painted black for decades. Have you ever leaned against a black car that's been out in the sun - ouch!, or noticed the red, blue, or white car next to it didn't feel nearly as hot. Cost cutting measures from manufactures eliminated the use of black paint on radiators, especially when aluminum radiators became popular, they wanted to show-off the aluminum construction (latest technology).

FastKat

iTrader: (10)

I am pretty sure that a black car in the sun is so hot because it absorbs the heat - it holds onto the heat energy from the sun. Radiators are trying to give heat away to the air, not hold onto it.

I think for optimal performance, the bare aluminum (or copper, whatever you're using) is going to transfer the heat the best. Like said earlier, painting is probably going to have a negligible impact.

I would be interested to see if Nextel Cup or F1 teams were using painted or bare metal radiators.

rotor vs. piston

iTrader: (3)

There was an article in car craft years ago, again it's just one article I read, that stated painting your block black actually helps w/ heat dissipation, I assume the same for anything that *produces* heat.

The main reason any metal is ever painted is for corrosion resistance then aesthetics, aluminum doesn't have that much of an issue as copper w/ corrosion.

knievel

iTrader: (11)

I painted mine with the eastwood paint

It came out very nice, just make sure to get the fins from all angles so it looks covered...

I'll post a few pics of how it turned out tomorrow

Mike52

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure a Nextel Cup or F1 car would be a poor example to prove the need to paint a radiator, it doesn't matter what color the radiator is when the air flow thru it is 200mph.

Mike

FBJR

A dark color will absort heat. Have seen a few tests on this.

Painting is more for preventing oxidation which could inhibit flow and shorten life of copper. You see it little on alum.

txredxj

a flat color will dissipate heat better than a gloss. color choice other than that wont have any noticeable advantage

leon phelps

ordered my Eastwood paint. usually try to stay away from big brand names for stuff like this but will see this time.

in this little lesson I have read several articles about heat transfer and black is supposed to help. From my posts here and on other boards, the car is not supposed to get any hotter than normal with the pain.

Another thing to consider for the no paint school of thought is that the oxidation on the aluminum is also something that will cut down on surface area of heat transfer. Oxidation on a molecular level is a poor conductor of heat.

Thanks as always.

goatcrazy

I've used the eastwood paint with my aluminum radiator (new) to allow it to blend in better with the front facia. Worked greatm, no issues whatsoever. The advice that I would give as light of a coat as possible and it should be just fine!

FastKat

iTrader: (10)

Nextel Cup and F1 are great examples (pioneers, even) of what automotive performance technology works best, not what looks best!

Heck, if winning Nextel Cup teams started putting truck nutz on their cars to make them go faster or hold the road better, it would at least be worth looking into! Well maybe that's a little extreme, but you get the idea...

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

Black paint helps radiate heat. The old electromotive racing Datsuns use to paint every engine part black.

Same reason they painted the SR71 spy plane black. Even though it added 200 pounds the added cooling actually allowed the plane to go faster.

FBJR

The black paint on the SR 71 was a anti-radiation coating for radar. It was black because they thought it was harder to see, now they use dark gray. Same for subs. 200# meant nothing to a 100 ft 2000 mph plane

Any uncoated part will rust or oxidize. The trick is not to put to heavy a coat on as then it is acts like an insulator.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

I got the info on the SR71 paint from Ben Rich's book "Skunk Works". Since he and Kelly Johnson designed and built the thing I figure he must know what he was talking about.

Kelly Johnson seemed very concerned about the 200#.

Excellent book by the way.

Yellowbrother

iTrader: (2)

just general physics i guess...

darker color absorbs heat faster then lighter color...but it also dissipate heat faster then lighter color...

very reason y desert are hot as heo in the morning...and cold *** shiet in the nite...and places around water takes a longer time to heat up in comparison and also takes a longer time to cool down...

same principles....