So spray on liners are excellent against external impact. For instance my local place has all sorts of things like pop cans, balloons, etc. coated and you can beat these things with sledge hammers, run them over with trucks and the interior items is unscathed.
What do these coatings do against internal pressures?

The reason I ask is because I have a very large and efficient intercooler. However it’s Achilles heel are that the end tanks are plastic.
When folks exceed 25lbs of boost and creep up on 30lbs these tanks can crack.

I don’t plan on exceeding 25lbs and plan to keep it around 20lbs.
But as we know things don’t always go as planned.
I could spend $300-$400 on a intercooler with aluminum or titanium end tanks.
However I have this intercooler and it fits perfectly in the nose of my car and I have too modify nothing to make this intercooler fit.
So I’d really rather not spend the money and it got me wondering what if I just coated the end tanks as a little bit off added strength?

Would the bed-liner help keep the tanks from cracking?

Do they crack or do they separate from the aluminum portion of the intercooler?

If the former, then I don’t see how it wouldn’t help. If the later, then I don’t believe it will help.

You don’t heat soak the stock intercooler? Lucky!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

Some strength, sure it would add "some" strength. IMO not nearly enough to solve either problem. And would you really want to risk it? I've never seen any aftermarket performance intercoolers that weren't tig welded. Maybe there is a reason for that. I've pulled out two oem coolers. Bth had plastic tanks but they were both for low boost applications.

See YouTube video on the use of spray on bedliner to make a house withstand an explosion better.

quote:

Do they crack or do they separate from the aluminum portion of the intercooler?

That's what I want to know. If the plastic tanks themselves are cracking, yes, a bed liner coating couldn't hurt and might help. If the tanks are separating from the aluminum core, it won't do anything. Or … you could pony up the bucks for the all-aluminum, TIG-welded one, or even [gasp] not run so much boost. I know, it's a silly idea. But part of the hobby of "tuning," "souping up" or "hot-rodding" is that you break stuff.

What car is this going in, anyway?

Easy enough to install a 20 PSI pop off valve.
https://www.eindustrialsolutio...V0g8XJRoCRHIQAvD_BwE

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

Do they crack or do they separate from the aluminum portion of the intercooler?

That's what I want to know. If the plastic tanks themselves are cracking, yes, a bed liner coating couldn't hurt and might help. If the tanks are separating from the aluminum core, it won't do anything. Or … you could pony up the bucks for the all-aluminum, TIG-welded one, or even [gasp] not run so much boost. I know, it's a silly idea. But part of the hobby of "tuning," "souping up" or "hot-rodding" is that you break stuff.

What car is this going in, anyway?

My understanding is the tank is cracking and not separating. Though this does not seem to be an issue under 25 lbs.

It’s going in a 92 Mustang.

I’d really like to do this kit but it’s costly when I already have a good (granted not great) intercooler plus a fair amount of modification needs to be done.

https://www.stinger-performanc...e/fmic-stock-mustang

They make the piping for the intercooler I have as well and $179 is much more appealing that $529

https://www.stinger-performanc...-npr-volvo-stock-kit

I’m not confident that you’d even get good adhesion and bonding to the plastic. I think the solution you are really looking for is to replace the intercooler. Is there any way that a good radiator rebuilder could fabricate metal end pieces to attach to the intercooler in place of the plastic parts? It certainly wouldn’t be cheap, but it would allow you to not make additional modifications.

I had a 2009 Subaru WRX. I had it tuned. Tim told me that 19 psi was all that my intercooler could take. Low RPM fifth gear roll to full boost and I over boosted. End tank separated from the aluminum core. The little tabs were all straight and the plastic was mostly together.

Hindsight is 20/20.

I put a solid aluminum, badass, top mount intercooler. It was incredible. Heat exchange was awesome. It had welded end tanks. Everything was solid in the system now.

Again, had one of those lazy moments where you don’t downshift, and roll into full boost from low RPM’s in fifth gear… Overboosted like a mofo. Mapping shows I hit 42 psi. The ringlands on the number three piston became friends with the oil pickup tube.

Moral of the story… shitty plastic capped intercooler are super cheap insurance for your engine. Run it, if it blows apart, replace at that time.

At that kind of boost, you will have an all-aluminum tig-welded intercooler in that car. Sooner. Or later.
Use good t-bolt clamps and have ridges welded on the end of every pipe to prevent the couplers from popping off.
Ford factory ICs are crap. Speaking from experience.