painting charge pipes

Hey has anyone here painted their charge pipes on a turbo'ed car? What kinda of process does this take? What kind of paint? Do you need some kind of enamel? Thanks!

You could powder coat them and they would stand up to the heat, but if you want a more glossy metallic finish then anodized paint would work great and can stand up to the heat. You can buy anodized paint from most any place that sells paint and Krylon is a good brand to go with.

You could powder coat them and they would stand up to the heat, but if you want a more glossy metallic finish then anodized paint would work great and can stand up to the heat. You can buy anodized paint from most any place that sells paint and Krylon is a good brand to go with.

Thanks Polygon. Off the top of your head do you know if that stuff's spendy or not?

EDIT: anyone know when they say "heat resistant up to 400F" if that means that the paint melts at 400F or if it stops resisting heat at 400F? Also, do charge pipes get much hotter than 1200F? Thanks.

If it says "up to 400" then probably wont last too long at 400....if it says somethign like "400 degrees resistant" then it should work....if not sue em! hah hah jk jk

1200 degrees? i hope thats a typo....your engine would be a nice big blob of iron, aluminum, and plastic if it got up to 1200 degrees!

If it says "up to 400" then probably wont last too long at 400....if it says somethign like "400 degrees resistant" then it should work....if not sue em! hah hah jk jk

1200 degrees? i hope thats a typo....your engine would be a nice big blob of iron, aluminum, and plastic if it got up to 1200 degrees!


I found a paint that'll be fine up to 1500F so that should work. Also, i thought exhaust temps reached 1500+ degrees F...?

Yes, you are right, exhaust temperatures do get up that high, but the charge pipe air temperatures never reach those levels. your manifold/hotside of turbo/downpipe reach high temperatures, but the intake side of the turbo never touches the exhaust.

well, it does...because the turbine and compressor housings are connected, but heat isnt transferred well enough to get past 500 degrees(rough approximation).

if you want to do it the cheap way, maybe try some duplicolor paint from walmart. the kind that is heat resistant to 900 degrees or something.

I can beat the hell out of my car, I am running 5 psi and no intercooler, I have sections of PVC pipe (spraypainted with regular paint) and They hardly even get warm. the only pipe that does get kind of warm is the one next to my throttle body, and that just gets hot because of the engine bay heat. you will be all set with the 400º stuff, but if you get higher temp kind it sure wont hert.


Yes I said PVC pipe, yes i am a hack, yes it works fine, yes it will be being replaced as soon as my intercooler and some mendral bends come in

Kyle

pvc you say? that sounds kinda good...seeing how mandrels are expensive....what other pipings work?

pvc you say? that sounds kinda good...seeing how mandrels are expensive....what other pipings work?


you can use anything you want that can hold a few PSI and doesnt expand to much. I will be getting Mandrels soon, but honistly the PVC is working great although im sure the flow in the bends isnt the best.


My cold side on my compressor never seems to get more then warm, maybe its because you can look through my front bumper and see the turbo (BW bumper, no A/C)