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custom fmic

1K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  greenmatt 
#1 ·
i just fitted an fmic (27"x8"x3"), and didnt even need to remove the bumper or drill any holes in my car! pics will follow at weekend. just waiting for delivery of hard pipe kit. ive gone for 2" pipe work to aid spool time. i know a few people have done this, so question is- 1- any tips on fitting pipes? 2- do i need to cut and use standard pipes to help fitting or just make up whole new connections? 3- has anyone tried custom fmic compared to the likes of abbott ect with what results? thanks dudes, look forward to learning more :D
 
#2 ·
#4 ·
that sounds great man! post some pics when you can. Just make sure all your clamps are tight when you're finished. I did not tighten one of my clamps enough and when I floored the car for the first time I blew the pipe off of the cool side of the FMIC and it scared the (blank) out of me. good luck!
 
#5 ·
spoolin'Aero said:
I did not tighten one of my clamps enough and when I floored the car for the first time I blew the pipe off of the cool side of the FMIC and it scared the (blank) out of me. good luck!
Hehe, I just fitted this 2 weeks ago as well and did the exact same thing a mile from my house. Was not the most pleasant experience getting it back, Thats for sure!

Turbophille, I'm not sure if you did this already, but I would suggest some 90 degree silicone bends. I ended up having to use 3 L bends, 1 straight and 1 90 degree bend of pipe and 5 silicone couplers and re-used some of the stock rubber piping as well.. I went with 2" piping as well in hopes to lessen turbo lag. Here's my picasa web ALBUM.
 
#7 ·
spoolin'Aero said:
that sounds great man! post some pics when you can. Just make sure all your clamps are tight when you're finished. I did not tighten one of my clamps enough and when I floored the car for the first time I blew the pipe off of the cool side of the FMIC and it scared the (blank) out of me. good luck!
ha ha have blown a few hoses off. problem was no swaged ends! sorted that now by flaring ends out and cut 2 beads around end as well. will defo sort pics including 1 of a hose with a hole blown in it!! such a worth while mod, ive had uprated intercoolers on all my cars :D
 
#8 ·
jynxxxed said:
Hehe, I just fitted this 2 weeks ago as well and did the exact same thing a mile from my house. Was not the most pleasant experience getting it back, Thats for sure!

Turbophille, I'm not sure if you did this already, but I would suggest some 90 degree silicone bends. I ended up having to use 3 L bends, 1 straight and 1 90 degree bend of pipe and 5 silicone couplers and re-used some of the stock rubber piping as well.. I went with 2" piping as well in hopes to lessen turbo lag. Here's my picasa web ALBUM.
looking nice mate! i ended up using thoso t-clamps as well (should have used them to begin with). didnt have to remove bumper, i just moved horns down and used their bolt holes to bolt up fmic with a bracket, then used 4x90 bends, 5x joiners, plus some standard pipes and finally GOOD clamps :D roll in the next mod
 
#9 ·
Quick bit of advice re: front mounted IC's, really about any IC in general.

Its very important to ensure you are actualy getting flow through the core. Now this sounds really simple, you stick the IC in the front of the car and job done right?...... Nope! What you need to ensure is that you have high pressure on the front face of the IC and low pressure at the rear of the IC. The higher the front pressure and lower the rear pressure the more flow you will get through the IC. You also want to duct the air to the IC, idealy creating a sealed box around the front face of the IC which extends to the opening in the body which is feeding it, this will create a very high pressure zone in front of the IC, if you can couple this with a very low pressure zone behind the IC then you will have excellent flow through the IC core.

Now something very important to note, an IC is a heatsink pure and simple. It reduces the temperature of the charge air moving through it by direct transfer of thermal energy from the air mass to the aluminium of the intercooler. The intercooler then transfers the thermal energy 'stored' in it to the ambient temperature air flowing through it. Thermal mass, in simple terms is the abilitiy of the IC to store heat. As an IC is just a heat sink an IC with a very large thermal mass will cool the charge air for a greater period of time than an IC with a small thermal mass, however without good flow through the core it will eventualy reach a point where it cannot store any more heat and the charge air temperature will rise. In short you can have the largest IC in the world but if you have no flow through it you're just delaying the innevitable heat soak.

Because a good air/air charge cooling package (i.e. an intercooler) relies so heavily on ensuring it can shed heat into the ambient air flow an IC with a very large surface area and very thin core is by far preferiable to an IC with a small surface area but very thick core. Ambient temperature moving through the core can only absorb so much heat from the core, as such a very thick IC will not cool unless a monumental amount of airlfow through it is available as by the time the ambient air has made it halfway through the core it is already heated to the point where no significant transfer of heat will occur. A thin core on the otherhand exposes the air to the core for less time and as such a thin core with a large surface area will outperform a thick core with a small surface area for a given amount of ambient air flow through the core.

One thing to note though, on a road car you are on boost for circa 10% of the running time. As such, providing it has sufficent thermal mass, a small IC with poor flow through it can still provide more than sufficent charge cooling as it has a very large 'recovery time' between periods of boost in which to shed heat.

Cheers
Icy
 
#10 ·
P.S. As for hose clamps you want a good quality clamp with a rolled edge and most importantly the pipe it is clamping a hose to should have a correctly raised step or 'bump' running around it. The purpose of the clamp is not to clamp the hose against the pipe but to stop the pipe expanding beyond the 'bump' as such when pressure is applied the hose is forced into the bump just behind the clamp forming a perfect air/water/oil tight seal. As such the clamp should be correctly posistioned and the hose/pipe free from fluid and debris contamination. Do not do a clamp up mega tight as all you'll do is damage the hose and the clamp. If you have boost hoses popping off then its either a poor quality clamp, poor quality hose or a pipe with an insufficent or none existant 'bump'
 
#11 ·
jynxxxed said:
Hehe, I just fitted this 2 weeks ago as well and did the exact same thing a mile from my house. Was not the most pleasant experience getting it back, Thats for sure!

Turbophille, I'm not sure if you did this already, but I would suggest some 90 degree silicone bends. I ended up having to use 3 L bends, 1 straight and 1 90 degree bend of pipe and 5 silicone couplers and re-used some of the stock rubber piping as well.. I went with 2" piping as well in hopes to lessen turbo lag. Here's my picasa web ALBUM.
Do you have the dimensions for that intercooler? It seems to fit very well and you have excellent pictures showing all the connections, looks like a very neat job. Unlike many your undertray looks like it fit properly again.
 
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