Painting bottom of the intake white?
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From: schenectady, ny
Painting bottom of the intake white? I have heard that you can pick up a few ponies by spraying the bottom of your intake white with spray paint or whatever. I have heard that the white paint reflects heat coming from the bottom end, has anyone tried doing this?dont flame me, its just a question. 
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TECH Addict
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Even if you did paint it or insulate it with some space age thermal ceramic paint, how would you deal with the heat coming off the heads that are in contact at the intake runners? How about the heat kept in by the hood being reflected back down at the intake from the top?
Keep in mind composite doesn't really "retain" heat like a metal does, but it's seriously not going to do anything for the intake.
Keep in mind composite doesn't really "retain" heat like a metal does, but it's seriously not going to do anything for the intake.
True.Black objects absorb light much better then white objects,not infrared heat.Which means if you painted it white it would be the exact same temp as if it was black.def old wives tale.
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2005
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From: PNW
If you are going to paint it, then get some thermal-barrier cremaic paint. You will have to paint the bottom of the intake and the face of the flanges, and I would even paint the intake bolts shoulders (not the threads). I would also paint the valley cover.
But IMO, I don't think it will do much (if anything) unless you are running an aluminum intake.
But IMO, I don't think it will do much (if anything) unless you are running an aluminum intake.
That said, the effects are going to be miniscule at best (at best being an old iron intake SBC with no valley cover), and non-existant on LSX motors.
FWIW oil/heat shedding thermal coatings have shown improvements on older SBC motors, as they keep hot oil off the intake (and back down to the pan where it belongs). Still very, very small, and utterly irrelevant to our composite intakes w/ valley covers.
