painting intake manifold

[Raptor]

If you really believe that theory, isn't the air moving at roughly the same rate through the intercooler? If it is moving at too fast a rate in the intake and piping that anything you did wouldn't cause an effect either way, then what good does it do to bother with finding better core designs etc.

Of course intercoolers are designed to remove heat from air, but the same basic priciples apply to both applications and adding more thermal insulation via paint etc to any alluminum casting will alter its ability to dissapate heat. Also, if it doesn't matter, why bother cooling the intake on the dyno with water? See that done all the time, if the air is moving too fast, that certainly is a waste of time. You also neglect to consider the intake manifold is also an additional heatsink for the head to draw heat out of it and reduce combustion chamber temps. That heat also needs to be able to dissapate into the atmosphere and not be held in. That is the only decent argument against using a phenolic spacer that I agree with as it cuts that effect out.

Not to step on your toes Steve, but I completely dissagree with you on this.