Fmic Installed!

[grnmachine02]

When I talked to greg about it, he gave me a list of the pipes he used and some pics to go by. I figured I'd just route them the same way he did becuase A) I knew it had been done so it would work, B ) I knew I would have all the piping I needed and C) RIP piping looks cool.

cool. just wanted to make sure there wasnt some thing i was missing

[gdizzle]

My bad. I meant mark (BlackT5)

Oh, I just didn't remember.

[Hellas850 T-5]

I have same question with 98silver70.If the condeser was off,the oem intercooler would be much better.than the small fmic.Because it has much more area to cool down the intake air.and about the radiator for what most of you are talking about,if the car is moving it doesn't have negative effect to the intercooler's performance.But has anyone have thought to fit a smaller condeser.

[maiku]

which would you rather do, upgrade the condensor and keep the stock intercooler, or upgrade to FMIC?

assume costs are the same

[Hellas850 T-5]

Well personally I wouldn't do nothing from both of them.I would prefer to install a water injection,Because many times I've checked the intercooler's top cap and it is

quite cold but the inlet manifold is very,very hot so a water injection kit would help more than an aftermarket,but also I believe that many guys put FMIC for visual upgrade than performance upgrade.

[Auburn T5]

I have same question with 98silver70.If the condeser was off,the oem intercooler would be much better.than the small fmic.Because it has much more area to cool down the intake air.and about the radiator for what most of you are talking about,if the car is moving it doesn't have negative effect to the intercooler's performance.But has anyone have thought to fit a smaller condeser.

The factory intercooler has horrible air flow to start with. Yeah it's got more surface area but it's shooting itself in the foot being behind a hot radiator so it gets hot air coming through the radiator across it. On top of that, it's a fin/tube design rather than the much more effecient bar/plate that most FMIC's are.

So with a smaller surface area FMIC, you get nothing infront or behind it to obstruct air flow or pre heat the air hitting the intercooler, more air flowing through it, better heat dissapation due to better construction and on top of that, it just plain looks cool.

bottom line is that after I installed it, I noticed the turbo spools into boost faster so there's less lag, there's more lower midrange power (I assume due to the faster spool) and I'm typically getting up to 14 PSI for a few seconds when shifting to 3rd, which never happend before.

[Hellas850 T-5]

The factory intercooler has horrible air flow to start with. Yeah it's got more surface area but it's shooting itself in the foot being behind a hot radiator so it gets hot air coming through the radiator across it. On top of that, it's a fin/tube design rather than the much more effecient bar/plate that most FMIC's are.

So with a smaller surface area FMIC, you get nothing infront or behind it to obstruct air flow or pre heat the air hitting the intercooler, more air flowing through it, better heat dissapation due to better construction and on top of that, it just plain looks cool.

bottom line is that after I installed it, I noticed the turbo spools into boost faster so there's less lag, there's more lower midrange power (I assume due to the faster spool) and I'm typically getting up to 14 PSI for a few seconds when shifting to 3rd, which never happend before.

Had you checked your intercooler before or the hoses for any worn part or if the intercooler was broken?Because the intercooler lines now are much more longer than before and the intercooler is much more thicker than the stock.If there is no pressure drop between the inlet and the outlet of the FMIC so it is normal to see higher pressure and less lag,but it could be and a bad point that the FMIC doesn't cool enough the air.

[stick70]

Had you checked your intercooler before or the hoses for any worn part or if the intercooler was broken?Because the intercooler lines now are much more longer than before and the intercooler is much more thicker than the stock.If there is no pressure drop between the inlet and the outlet of the FMIC so it is normal to see higher pressure and less lag,but it could be and a bad point that the FMIC doesn't cool enough the air.

Another added benefit should be less soft hoses, as most of the FMIC lines are metal, there should theoretically be less chance for the hoses to loose pressure as they do in the stock location.

The horrible design of the stock intercooler is the huge thing here like drew said, though you may be going to a smaller core, the better design should make it more efficient IMO.

Sweet write up man, it will come in handy when i start my set-up

[Auburn T5]

Sweet write up man, it will come in handy when i start my set-up

Do it while you've got the car apart if possible. And that little power wire or whatever wire connects to the front facing side of the AC unit (below the alternator) has to be moved aside and the metal clip either bent back or removed.

[stick70]

I wish i could, but i dont think ill have enough funds to do it. O well, o btw, you can remove that factory intercooler pipe mount on the top of the motor fairly easily.

[Auburn T5]

yeah I pulled it off yesterday.. just gotta figure out how to get the factory intercooler out now. do I have to pull the whole front end apart to do that or is there a simple way to get it to drop out without hacking it to pieces. I'm sure I could get a little $$ for it on ebay.

[stick70]

yeah I pulled it off yesterday.. just gotta figure out how to get the factory intercooler out now. do I have to pull the whole front end apart to do that or is there a simple way to get it to drop out without hacking it to pieces. I'm sure I could get a little $$ for it on ebay.

The easiest way is to take the condensor, radiator, and intercooler out through the bottom of the car as one unit. They are all attached together. But if you dont wanna get an a/c re-charge you should be able to get to the bolts to seperate them through the front of the rad support, then drop it out.

[Vos]

So you have had the FMIC on there for a few weeks now - give us an update!

Working really well? Better than stock intercooler? Now that you have lived with it a while, is there more or less turbo lag? Any idea on if your timing seems more advanced than before?