My FMIC install

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Gregmckenna
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My FMIC install

Post by Gregmckenna »

Okay well I recieved a few PMs as to what I did in the form of doing my FMIC... so heres a little post on how I did mine if anyones interested....

I pulled the hood fenders and bumper off of mine as Iw as painting it but all that really needs to be removed is the bumper... I didnt take the shell off or anything I took the 4 bolts out that hold the whole monster to the car (17mm I think?? but it was a month ago)

then I set that aside an dug out the trusty measure... I measured an found the center point were I then mounted the intercooler using the 2 mounting plates out of the bottem... I bolted it to the lower section that runs under the radiator (lower rad support)

I then measured to find the center of the metal bumper beam an cut just enough out of it using a grinder to mount my intercooler in there ( Its a big ass intercooler) so I also ended up cutting the ends of my fog light holes to get the pipeing in there...

after making sure everything cleared an that there were no rubbing issues I stuck the bumper back on an waited....

I ended up ordering a kit of mandral bent pipes off of ebay that contained

4- 90 degree mandral bent corners
2- 75 degree mandral bent corners (I used as 90's )
2 straight pipes

this kit was all aluminum and came with 16 decent couplers... or which 2 are right hand corners....

I did not have to take out my ABS unit however to avoid 1 extra right hand bend I placed my battery in the trunk...

the kit wasnt quite enough so I had to get 1 right hand peice from an exhaust shop and a peice of straight pipe

as far as going from the 1 inch turbo outlet to the 2.5" inch pipe I took a stock intake peice from a turbo Legacy at the junkyard and cut it in 2 mounting the 1" peice to the turbo (as stock) but twisting it up a bit and coupling the intercooler piping to the stock black peice ( not the greatest but it works and I dont see anything wrong with it)... as for attaching to the 3" throttle body I used the other half of the stock intake as another right hand bend and coupled the pipes to that ... ( I ran the throttle body pipe under the turbo one by twisting the turbo outlet pipe upwards)

I also had to take the black peice out of my scoop so to clear the pipes but IMHO it works well an no one notices it

the kit I used was found easily when searching intercooler pipe kit I bought it in 2.5" its made by revospec an will contain red couplers.... not expensive by any means around 100$ CAD shipped to my door an its not a great looking set up not that its bad but it wasnt the look I was going for ,on this I had a budget and including buying the car ,rims ,tires ,pads and everything ive done to it I only have 3200$ invested into the whole build

theres alot of pictures in hopes of making someones install a bit easyier


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Canadian Turbo
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Want the job done right, leave it to the canadian

Post by Canadian Turbo »

Thanks for the post. Will probably be installing my own FMIC in the spring on my 94 ss. I don't understand why everyone seems to be going bananas trying to squeeze TMIC into their engine bay, when,
A: it's not even vented properly and probably gets heat soaked frequently
B: your instal seemed so much simpler and maybe cheaper?
C: Less dicking around looking for "what fits" , I could potentialy instal any ic that I choose, depending of course how much I want to chisel away at my bumper, right??


Any feedback since your instal??
douglas vincent
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Post by douglas vincent »

Other than Pooh Bear will attempt to beat you down, I say....


FMIC

FTW!
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Post by Canadian Turbo »

Good thing PooBear is Canadian!!!

From Wawa Ontario, slept in the back of my "97 impreza couple of years back in the poobear "museum" parking lot.
New92
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Post by New92 »

Nice write up Greg, thanks for the info. Ive been wondering about the eBay pipe kits.

Hey Canadian Turbo, not to criticize but......

A. WRX scoop
B. I spent $100 total on my topmount with a good quality BOV and MBC. You also need to know what your application needs. On the stock turbo a FMIC can in fact be counterproductive.
C. The threads on here will dictate exactly what you need and in most cases even tell you where to go to get it so there is not really any guesswork left in such a project.

Anyway, just wanted to keep the facts strait so as not to lead any newb's astray.
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Post by Aerotech »

NICE PAINT! What color is that?

Thanks for the write-up and pics... good to know it can be done with an Ebay kit.
Jerry

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Post by Canadian Turbo »

You don't need to be gentle New92, if you don't like what I say, don't apologise first before you say so!

100$ for a TMIC with a WRX hood scoop, amazing!

I'd preffer to leave the body of my car stock, personal pref.

Seems to me like an FMIC is pretty easy to find (as easy as say aan 06 WRX or Forester TMIC) and the piping as well. It doesn't look like there is any more guess work involved in this instal than any other.

Honestly being a newb myself I do kinda feel like many threads are DICTATING what I should do so far as an intercooler. I like this post because it demistifys the FMIC for me, and takes some of the guess work out of the instal.

There is one thing however that you mention that I will be looking into, and that's the "counter productiveness " of a FMIC on the VF11 , by which I gather you mean turbo lag .
-------Jonathan--------
New92
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Post by New92 »

Thats cool man, I get what you mean. There are quite a few posts on here referencing the lag issues of the vf11 with an FMIC. I, like you, am excited by this post and am anxious to convert from the TMIC but I think I will wait until I decide on another turbo. The thing I really liked was the way he nested the IC into his bumper without cutting away more than half the cover. It looks pretty clean...and shiny!
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Post by New92 »

Ok so I did a quick search and...........I may have misread to a extent. :oops:

It would appear that noticeable lag on the vF11 is countered by smaller piping, 2" to 2 1/2" max, and running higher boost, so I guess the FCD would be a must, while staying with the the range of the turbos efficiency.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... t=fmic+lag
legacycentral bbs :: View topic - FMIC Questions

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... t=fmic+lag
legacycentral bbs :: View topic - FMIC vs TMIC w/ ducted hoodscoop

Having said that, they do seem to agree that if your not looking for BIG gains, 300hp +, then there is no real benefit to going FM.
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Canadian Turbo
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Agreed!!

Post by Canadian Turbo »

Ya, not too much cutting the bumper, fresh!!

Totaly agree, after the same reaserch, no need for FMIC if you don't want 300+ hp. Someone cited that even the 300hp STI is still TMIC.

That being said, I still want one. I also agree that it's probably a waste of time on the VF11. So I'll probably change the turbo as well when I do my IC instal. I really like how the VF11 gives power in the bottom end, I'd just like it to pull hard past 4500rpm. Looks like the VF12 will fit the bill for me.
-------Jonathan--------
555BCTurbo
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Re: Agreed!!

Post by 555BCTurbo »

Canadian Turbo wrote:Looks like the VF12 will fit the bill for me.
Good luck finding one
Nick

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Post by BXSS »

I had my FMIC (31x12x3) on my car with the ej22t/VF11 for a little while & I felt no additional lag - to my surprise.

My FMIC tubing starts @ about 1.75" (whatever a 16g's outlet is) for the first 2-2.5' then flares out to 2.5" for the rest of the system.

I used a Ebay GC8 WRX FMIC kit on the SS & it basically dropped on - 1 pipe had to be re-worked (hot-side I/C pipe), & 1 had to be lengthened (T-body-radiator area pipe, had to be cut & a 6-8" long pipe of silicone connector was used to reconnect @ the correct length).

Funny thing is that this $100ish IC core looks exactly like my $800ish Spearco core inside & out.
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New92
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Post by New92 »

I was wondering how yours worked out. Thats good to know. There is a lot of guff in the auto world about eBay but in my experience you just have to be smart about your dealings.
1992 SS 5MT
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Gregmckenna
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Post by Gregmckenna »

welll guys i figured this thread died a year ago when my Legacy did... I bought a Honda and my Legacys "nice paint" which was just redone and is a burnt orange has bin out in a 6 foot snow drift all winter... I sold the car for 1500$ to a guy an the deal sorta fell through... car is no longer intercooled but since I have a TD04 on the shelf in the garage I figure Ill push the legacy in come spring time buy another ebay kit ( which worked great for my needs BTW) and make it into a winter beater... My delsol witha a B18C swap seems to work better then the turbo soob did so Im gonna stick with it for the summer.....

As for ur turbo lag questions an what not I noticed no more lag after putting a header on which was supposed to make it lag more and even with the FMIC no more lag... I found my car spooled faster when I ahd the TD04 on it...

as for which is better both have the pros and cons but the FMIC looks fuckin cool which u cant say for the TMIC :P

in my opinion do as u want because there is always gonna be people on here or on subaru sites someweres knocking what uve built and done so dont build it to beet so an so an build it stricktly for your enjoyment... if a FMIC is what u want then by all means go for it its what I did and im only 17....

As for lag... if that .3 of a second that u wait for boost on the highway is gonna kill u then go buy a V8 lol... or learn to brake boost... as said Ive had no lag problems with the set up i ran but more so one thing after another breaking.... if anyone has any questions about this feel free to PM me or add me to messanger greg-mckenna@hotmail.com

just befor I gave up on it I upgraded to T-bolt clamps and 2.5" big rig rad hose for couplers... it was very cheap and it did the trick for the 15lbs or so i ran on it...
New92
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Post by New92 »

Hey, thanks for the update Greg. +1 on the t-bolt clamps. I had to use them because of the awkward angles of my ghetto rigged piping. Good tip on the rad hoses BTW.
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Gregmckenna
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Post by Gregmckenna »

yeah so u guys motivated me :? I just went out an bought my FMIC back and Im gonna have a hell of a winter beater :P
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Post by Gregmckenna »

so has anyone come to find a kit for an impreza or a newer legacy that works to mount a FMIC on our cars or do I have to pioneer this one to :P
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Post by gtlegacy »

i got a GC8 HDI kit and adapted it to my RS/GT ej20 version of your SS had to add a couple of cuts
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Post by 94SS_Canada »

SO would this equal fail
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Post by 93forestpearl »

You'd have a much easier time starting with this. It would need a slight modification. I started with a universal piping kit like you posted, but my FMIC is radically different than most. I fabbed and welded all my piping because its totally different than all FMIC's for factory mount turbos.

GC FMIC kit
→Dan

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Post by 94SS_Canada »

WEll this is the core i have to work with already so i need a good kit...

Will that posted link work, ill look into it

http://www.godspeedproject.com/store/in ... ducts_id=2

It looks lik my cores inlets are 2.25 and the piping 2.5 i can easily have a machine shop stamp em down to size..
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