Does anyone anodizied their aftermarket aluminum IC? I am planning to do it on my Blitz SMIC and want to know hot good the anodized aluminum resist the heat in the engine bay.

BTW I am just planning to anodized the top IC tank.

Thanks

BC

 

Anodizing doesn't really "resist" heat, but it dissipates heat better.

Also, whatever you are having anodized, it must be 100% aluminum or you can't do it.

 

I filled the lettering on top with JB weld, and sanded it smooth. Then I painted it with black BBQ paint to make it look stock. It turned out pretty well, with no ill effects.

 

Is all anodizing the same? I had some pulleys anodized and it sure seems like there is some kind of coating on the part, rather than just a "dye" of the original material. I am used to seeing machined parts anodized, where my pulleys had been polished. Perhaps that's the difference, but I don't know. If some processes do actually add a coating, it seems like that would be bad for heat transfer.

I have been curious about anodizing's thermal properties as well. I hope someone will chime in with some info and relate it to IC anodization.

-Max

 

I have been thinking about doing this and alot more, does any one know if the fins on an APEXI core are aluminum, I think they are from looking at it.

 

Hey Max,

My Cusco strut tower bar ends are "listed" as anodized. However, when I took them to a shop to get them re-anodized to a different color, they informed me that the parts were power coated, not anodized (which is right since it chipped).

I think the confusion comes from the "home style anodizing" kits which really aren't the same thing (like in the following thread):
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/anodized-intercooler-386723/

Here's an older post about the thermal properties:

I looked at having several parts anodized just a few weeks ago. Pretty much nothing could be done that I wanted as it was not 100% aluminum (or was not originally real anodized).

 

I was thinking about the UIM and LIM. but after reading that you have to have 100% aluminum, it probably won't work. Doe!

 

For the manifolds, I would recommend ceramic coating. That will help resist heat (which is what you would really want to do rather than worrying about dissipating it... stop it before it gets hot).

Actually, I think it was Max that had his UIM polished then ceramic coated which looked nice as well as functional.

 

I dont know to much about the thermal properties, but anodizing isent just a "dye", it actualy changes the chemical properties of the surface. which is why it might seem like a coating I believe it has something to to with changing the formation of the valence electrons, but dont hold me to that. it makes the surfice a lot harder, alters electricly conductive properties quite a bit.
from http://www.pfonline.com/articles/030101.html

"Thermal Properties. Hard-anodized coatings exhibit low thermal conductivity and expansion. Pistons for internal combustion engines are hard anodized to minimize the amount of thermal expansion in relation to possible thermal expansion of the engine block."

this implies to me that it would not transfer heat as good

 

If you are just talking about doing the top of the tank, it wont make any difference in performance.

 

Even if you do the entire fin surface, it won't help a lot - the fins will just radiate better to each other...

Even if the fins were exposed to the outside, most of the heat transfer occurs by conduction to the air, not radiation.

 

It actually adds a very thin layer to the surface thus changing the properties like izanami said.

 

and the air inbetween them :0

 

Wow so many replies in just half an hour. Thanks for everyone input.

I am planning to anodize my SMIC because I got the IC used and the surface isn't perfect. It is only for cosmetic purpose for the top tank only. I was reading about anodizing and it is capable of resisting heat. However I am not sure about color fading issue on anodizing part when you going to in some color. I think you can anodize any type of aluminum as i used to do it at my old work, ( we anodize any type of commerical aluminum tubing, 6061, A356 cast aluminum etc.) Does anyone know what type of aluminum the Blitz SMIC made out of?

I will be sending out to a place to anodlize which my old company always use, maybe I should ask the people there for any information.

BC

 

I think the Cusco bar itself is clear anodized and the tower ends are powder coat.

BC

 

I whant to do it so you cant see a shiny intercooler from the front of my car I was also thinking about the radiater. I know some shops that specialize in anodizing. they charge like $75 for how ever much you can fit in ther tank. I don't know the size of the tank of hand, but since this is all they do it should be big enough for a crap load of stuff. I have fuel rails anodized there and they look great.

 

Anodizing won't cover up defects.. it's not a layer of something that "gets applied." It's a process that transforms the top layer into a different material. It won't cover up nicks and dings, just color them and make them hard.

 

Yes, but read the description:

http://www.rx7store.net/index.asp?Pa...ROD&ProdID=489


This piece greatly improves the steering feel of any RX-7 that does not come equipped with a factory front strut bar. The addition of this attractive polished bar results in a noticeable improvement in car turn-in. This piece is made of polished aluminum and includes blue annodized mounting plates.

While I'm not really singleling out the RX7Store (since I didn't buy my bar from them, they are just easy to link to), every place has the same description.

 

Of course I will pre-treat the surface before I anodize it. I will sandblast it or maybe polish to clean up the imperfection. I have seen an anodized sandblasted aluminum piece and they look great. There is still a lot of pretreatment for anodizing and that will be taken care by the anodizing process. Polished aluminum is not my preference that's why I am thinking of anodizing.

 

Yes, you can anodize any type of alumimun as long as it's 100% aluminum.

 

The Cusco bar has an aluminum center bar which is polished and probably not anodized (though I don't know for sure). The end plates are defintely steel and are painted metallic blue. Mine came with a Cusco sticker, in a GREX bag with cardboard top, in a GReddy box. It is the same Cusco bar, but I always thought the packaging was hilarious with a different brand name at each level.

I think you can anodize cast aluminum like out manifolds, but it turns out dark and ugly. Polished or machined surfaces produce the most attractive anodized surfaces. AN fittings are probably forged or cast and aren't polished or machined, yet they look nice when anodized, so I suppose other surface conditions can turn out nice. too.

I had my polished UIM and my unpolished LIM ceramic coated with that chrome-like stuff. They turned out nice and don't look all that different from each other (in reference to the polished versus cast surfaces). The LIM and UIM are 100% aluminum once you remove all the stuff, so I don't see any reason why you couldn't anodize them. However, you would really have to polish them first if you want it to look pretty. It should be a nice durable finish once it's done, but ceramic coating is a lot less work and is probably about the same in terms of durability. Bare polished aluminum is harder to keep pretty.

For the IC top tank, I don't think heat transfer is very important, so any coating would be fine. For maximum stealthy appearance (and very low cost), I would go with flat black paint.

-Max

 

"Traditional" anodizing doesn't change the thermal resistance of the metal. The aluminum will still turn to mush at the same temp (which is around 1221º F). The coating ends up only being a few tens of micrometers thick.

There are new (read expensive) anodize coatings if you search around, however I doubt any of these places will do any non-commercial work. If "heat resistance" is your goal, Ceramic Coating is what you should be looking at.

 

I just want to find out if the dye-in color when anodizing aluminum will be long lasting. I ask this because I have seen faded out color from anodized piece, however I am not sure if it is due to wear and tear or will heat casue any affect.

BC

 

I do anodizing, and have done IC's and radiators and they have turned out great! I will post pics today as I happen to have one in the showroom.
As far as "what" can be done, DO NOT try doing a cast piece as it will turn out like $HIT! I wish I took some pics of cast pieces like manifolds I have tried... they turn out very blotchy and ill collored. Welds also do not turn out as clean as surfaces.
As far as disapating heat, unfortunatly I do not have a way to test before and after. I just know what is "suppose to happen".

 

Anodizing is somewhat like polishing in that if you have a defect in the material, it will show in the finished product. I.E. if you have a scratch in an aluminum part, and you polish it without getting the surface smooth, you will just have a polished scratch.
Anodizing leaves such a thin "layer" that it would do the same thing.
I wish you the best of luck though.