Intercooler fin straightening

I'm going to be taking my front bumper off to install AN oil cooler lines in the next couple days and I'm wanting to straighten the (VERY bent) fins on my stock sidemounts at the same time. I've seen a lot of info about folks straightening them out with tweezers or screwdrivers, but I remember Ohnoo saying he used some sort of nylon "sticks" to straighten them out on the old site. Anyone else used this method or know where to find something that might duplicate this? In addition to being bent 20 years of road use and a on poor tape job on a bumper respray have left the fins that aren't bent quite full of bug guts, dirt and tiny rocks which I think the "stick method" and some simple green would take care of.

I've built a simple pressure tester for the smic's and am planning on testing them with the dunk tank method used at radiator shops to look for minor leaks that may not be obvious with a normal boost leak test as well, I just can't for the life of me figure out what Ohnoo was using as his "push sticks". In my mind I'm picturing nylon popsicle sticks but don't know where to look to find such a thing. Any ideas or inputs are appreciated.

I thought about this recently and thought the easiest method might just be to somehow cut the top 2-3mm off the fins leaving them nice and straight. The hard part is finding a method to do this without damaing the rest of the core.

I may have found something to fit the bill perfectly. Cafe from vending machines here in Italy comes with miniature plastic popsicle stick like instruments to stir with. I've had two or more cups a day and never paid much attention to them before, but without my car here at work I can't test for fit until I go home. I'll post results when I get a chance to test it out.

They make combs designed for this. You just need the right spacing. We used them all the time in the Nuclear Equipment Service Center.

Something like this

http://www.google.com/url?source=img...hI4g8swHgWGpVQ


or this

http://www.google.com/url?source=img...CZNmRidCj4KFnw

I had bought this set to do mine, but decided a pair of hobbyist flat-headed screw drivers yielded better results for my liking...It was certainly more tedious, but I liked how I was able to get them closer to the original bends than with the fin rakes.

Here's the kit:
Radiator Pliers and Fin Rake Set

Quote:

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Originally Posted by green-lantern

They make combs designed for this. You just need the right spacing. We used them all the time in the Nuclear Equipment Service Center.

Something like this

http://www.google.com/url?source=img...hI4g8swHgWGpVQ


or this

http://www.google.com/url?source=img...CZNmRidCj4KFnw

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The top one looks like it might not work so well for an intercooler, but it would work wonders on a bent condenser or radiator. That second one is inspiring though, I've not seen anything quite like that before. Thanks for the ideas.

Gave the stir stick a test, no go unfortunately about 2mm to wide and maybe a bit too thick as well. I might sand it to size, but I'm not entirely convinced that I can't find something better or maybe even another size of stir stick. I venture to say that at least 60% of my fins are bent to the point that no air could flow between them, the only ones in pristine condition are in the upper corners out of the path of direct airflow.

I've always used a flat head screw driver. It takes hours but it gets the job done if you take your time with it.

I wonder if something like a heavy (1/4" width or so) wire-tie might be useful?

Push it through wherever you can, then walk it back-and-forth in both directions, working the fins back into shape?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Badandy247

The top one looks like it might not work so well for an intercooler, but it would work wonders on a bent condenser or radiator. That second one is inspiring though, I've not seen anything quite like that before. Thanks for the ideas.

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They work pretty well, those are just an example though. They make all kinds and some work better than others. If you have a digital caliper you can measure the distance between the fins and get a good idea of the one you need. You are pretty much better off getting one like that instead of getting a universal one or one that has the different sizes.


I’ve had the best luck with ones like this but sometimes you just got to break out the ole screwdriver or knife and get them pointing in a decent direction to use it.

http://www.livepast60.com/heatpro/se...es/fincomb.jpg

It's a tedious task no matter what you use, I've always used a small screwdriver. If I were you though, I would pressure test them FIRST... otherwise you may find that you spent hours straightening intercooler fins only to have them leak horribly.

Just to test with the intercoolers still mounted I clipped the end of a plastic zip tie and rounded it off a bit which I then poked through the fins from the back side. It looks as though it will work quite well to get the basic shape back to them so they can be straightened properly. The last set of fin rakes shown looks like it may be the solution for a final form. I will likely lose the front row of fins on 50% of the coolers because the damage is so severe, but the plates seem to have suffered no apparent physical damage. I am planning on pressure testing before and after straightening and barring any serious damage I have repaired radiators in the past and should have the required skill to repair these as well.

I'm not sure what direction I will be going if these turn out to be complete garbage, My Y pipe is junk and my factory intercooler hoses aren't in fantastic shape and I believe that a hard pipe kit and new side mounts would run a similar price to the CXracing FMIC setup. I'm not to the point yet where I need to upgrade as a support modification and would like to make the SMIC's last a little longer so as to be able to spend my money elsewhere.

Damn, looks like one of the previous owners had a fender bender and didn't replace the intercooler he bent when he wrecked it. I think I'm just going to try to replace the passenger SMIC for now, I'll be taking the driver side off to pressure test in a couple hours and I'll probably pressure test the passenger side just for fun. There is no way that thing is leak free, it's not even close to square.

Please disregard the dirty car, I haven't been driving it because it needs oil cooler lines.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/DSC00062.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/DSC00072.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/DSC00071.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/DSC00069.jpg

Pulled the passenger side intercooler off and pressure tested it. No leaks at all, I pressurized it to 25 psi and put it underwater and not a single bubble. I'm in total disbelief that it held any pressure at all let alone be leak free.

As you can see the damage even extends into the piping, the upper pipe must have slammed into the abs pump. It's getting replaced, but I was really hoping to see it leak in the water tank.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/DSC00079.jpg

I use a large pin(the thick pin that is a T), that radiator tool has ZERO chance... its fine if you want to destroy the intercooler...

A pin is thin enough to break the fins apart but not destroy them, i find a screw driver will rip the fin. Maybe a very small phillips.

flat head edge tears the fin