FMIC's on ebay, any good?

I've noticed these FMIC kits for sale on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=72205&item=7987325662&rd=1

I'm kinda tempted for the future, does anyone know if they are any good? anyone bought or tried one?

CW said before that the end tank design was appauling and that half the IC wouldn't see any air...

It's your money...

ah ok, glad I asked now lol, sounds like a potential performance downgrade, not upgrade lol

any recommendations for a good vfm FMIC that does a better job than the stock one without breaking the bank?

GReddy or Blitz 2Row FMIC's as seen on a few Single Turbo'd car's I could mention...1 of which is mine

Or Chris Wilson's own SMIC replacement for £500.

personally i'de give one of these a go its got to be worth it for the hard piping alone, if you've got a crumbling sidemount that is fead through an opening the size of a tennis ball this has got to be an improvement regardless of what people (with a vested interest) say about the end tank design (which does'nt look a million miles removed from some more famous named and very overpriced brands) i run a pace fmic with a standard front bumper so half the i/c is masked but it still does a good job and i'me sure my old side mount would not have allowed me to run 500+ rwhp, i say go for it

I bought a frontmount off ebay,for 100 pounds and in my, and a guy who makes them opinion the quality is 1st class.but you make ya choice,it cost me 60 pounds for the pipework,and 100 for the cooler,thats 160 all in,mabye i should of paid around a grand,and totally took the piss outa myself.

mabye i should of paid around a grand,and totally took the piss outa myself.

PMSL nice one Mr keef, i concur

Ok I appreciate the advice, I'm all for paying sensible prices for stuff rather than inflated brand name prices! Even if the brand name stuff is a little better (sometimes), often the cost difference is not in proportion at all!

However I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to FMICs and so mixing and matching pipework and coolers and fitting brackets is a bit of a mistery to me. I guess its not too hard really, but if you've never done it before then it's hard to know where to start.

Thats why that kit I linked to appealed to me, it seemed to contain everything (pipes, clamps and brackets) that would allow a newb to get up and running quickly.

Is fitting an FMIC quite straightfoward once you have all the parts needed? Are there any special mods (hacking bodywork etc) needed to make it fit in the car? I have a top secret front, I think this would allow good airflow to the cooler, in theory it should work quite well.

cheers for the help

I will be doing these hard pipes kits in the near future which should fit these aftermarket jobbies - but they aint cheap!

i've got one of these front mounts and fitted the kit on a sunday morning no probs,just watch out for the import charge.

Hi sedge, have you noticed any difference? Was it hard to fit, did you get everything you needed in the kit? So overall, thumbs up? Down? What was the import charge?

L

yeah i noticed a diffrence straight away,it only took about 3 hours to fit,the worst bit was removing the front bumper,the only thing i had to buy was a length of hose to relocate the rad bottle so its a thumbs up for me import charge about £60 though

I went for an ebay intercooler and to be honest, by all accounts it does seem to work, it certainly has more surface area than an SMIC, and after pushing the car fairly hard for a while, I felt both the in and out side of the FMIC, and it certainly felt cold on the outside, which it me means that it is working and doing its job...

For the money can't really go wrong..

Gav

Thanks for the info everyone, sounds like for the money these are a good buy then! Certainly a lot cheaper than some of the branded parts and probably more than good enough for most applications, and definitely a lot better than the stock smic!

I'm only taking my car to bpu+ type tuning initially, so one of these will do the trick nicely by the sounds of it

Think this will be one of my first mods, just after I've done the obligatory front brake upgrade!

did you go for the same one on the link provided gav?

One last thing, I don't suppose that anyone knows of an "idiots guide" to fitting one of these?

I'm sure it's not too hard, but having not fitted one before I'd like to see whats involved and make sure I have all the tools/parts before making a start on it.

...definitely a lot better than the stock smic!

how definate is that then?

I've swapped mine at minimal cost for a much younger one and I'm in no rush to junk it. It, too, stays cold even after full boost runs, and so is my aircon, with nothing to obstruct it, along with the coolant rad.

Dyno runs give the wrong impression about the SMIC, because it's RWD car - so don't be fooled by anyone datalogging chargetemps on a dyno.

lol well good question. I have no quantitative evidence to prove this. Are you suggesting that everyone who fits an FMIC has done this needlessly?

I guess the general consensus is that an FMIC is a lot better than an SMIC and thats why so many people fit them. If I'm not going to see a noticable improvement for the effort then I won't bother with it!

...Are you suggesting that everyone who fits an FMIC has done this needlessly?

Not everyone, but in my view some have actually harmed their overall balance within the engine bay.

I guess the general consensus is that an FMIC is a lot better than an SMIC and thats why so many people fit them.

In such matters I treat consensus just like my grandmother's opinion on stockmarket prices (bless her soul)

People are very easy to herd into emptying their pockets, just by using 'technospeak'. Just look at the proliferation of useless (or even harmful!) 'performance' bling garbage.

If I'm not going to see a noticable improvement for the effort then I won't bother with it!

I'll do a writeup on the SMIC on my site when I find some time. It is much better than most people give it credit for, I can tell you this much.

It can be improved upon, yes, with something like Chris Wilson's unit, but then it comes down to bang/buck. As these cars drop in resale value, a £600 investment starts to bite, being a 10% of the car's value instead of 5% which it was 2 years ago, or 2% 8 years ago

If you are going to hold 2 bar boost, then you need the mass of a FMIC, there is no way round it (well there is, but it's not everyone's cuppa).

But if you're planning on 18psi or less, things are not clearcut.

If you have an old, tired SMIC falling apart from the road salts, then swap it for a newer one, members here sell them for £50 -70 once they move to a FMIC.

I remember reading somewhere that a guy on the Supraforums had x-ray tested these and came up with results like: -

Welding was not too good and did not seal properly.

The metal used was not full grade so had some flaws at high temps?

I will have a look and see if I can post a link.

IMHO you pay for what you get. I don't think I would use one for a car that I was racing or drag racing, but for an everyday car and a bit of spirited drive I think it will be okay but I am no guru...

I remember reading somewhere that a guy on the Supraforums had x-ray tested these and came up with results like: -

Welding was not too good and did not seal properly.

The metal used was not full grade so had some flaws at high temps?

I will have a look and see if I can post a link.

 

IMHO you pay for what you get. I don't think I would use one for a car that I was racing or drag racing, but for an everyday car and a bit of spirited drive I think it will be okay but I am no guru...

 

I agree that you always pay for what you get, but its maybe not always true that get what you paid for, if you see what I mean.

I guess an intercooler is no piece of rocket science. If it has a leak, well thats something significant, wouldn't that be immediately obvious on the car?

I'd be very interested to see the link. Was he unbiased?

In such matters I treat consensus just like my grandmother's opinion on stockmarket prices (bless her soul)

People are very easy to herd into emptying their pockets, just by using 'technospeak'. Just look at the proliferation of useless (or even harmful!) 'performance' bling garbage.

I couldn't agree more there...

I'll do a writeup on the SMIC on my site when I find some time. It is much better than most people give it credit for, I can tell you this much.

It can be improved upon, yes, with something like Chris Wilson's unit, but then it comes down to bang/buck. As these cars drop in resale value, a £600 investment starts to bite, being a 10% of the car's value instead of 5% which it was 2 years ago, or 2% 8 years ago

I'll have to double check the condition of my SMIC then. In terms of value, I guess thats why I was interested in an FMIC for circa £300 not £1000 or more, even if its not _quite_ as good as the branded products.

If you are going to hold 2 bar boost, then you need the mass of a FMIC, there is no way round it (well there is, but it's not everyone's cuppa).

But if you're planning on 18psi or less, things are not clearcut.

If you have an old, tired SMIC falling apart from the road salts, then swap it for a newer one, members here sell them for £50 -70 once they move to a FMIC.

For the moment its more like the 18psi, I wanted to upgrade these things such that a big single (or rebuilt twins) would be possible as the last upgrade step, if you see what I mean...

To be more accurate, it is not just the 'psi' value that is important, rather the airflow and air temperature needed to be tackled.

A big single is likely to produce cooler air exiting at 18+psi, compared to stock twins.

There is very good ducting around the SMIC which is totally lost when moving to a FMIC

There is also good ducting around the aircon condenser and coolant rad, which is typically hacked and compromised when fitting a FMIC.

The warm air from the outside of the SMIC core goes away from the vehicle immediately, while the warm air from the FMIC goes straight into the core of the coolant rad, and then into the engine bay.

Also the pressure difference across the typical FMIC core is much lower than that of the SMIC core, so it's deceptive when you compare core sizes.

Finally being a RWD vehicle ends up with deficient airflow through the SMIC during dyno runs, while the FMIC fares better (but not on the road)

The Supra is not a Scooby with a ludicrous top-mounted i/c ---> there the case for a FMIC is clearcut.

I see what you are saying. I know its important not to upset the engine bay ambient temps so that the car doesn't start sucking warm air.

I'd happily defer my FMIC install until its actually needed, but how will I ever know when it's need, I guess thats part of the problem. I could install a post IC temperature sensor I guess.

Sounds like from what you are saying, a diy quick FMIC install might be worse than the SMIC, and an FMIC will only start to give the benifit its capable of if installed very carefully, with ducting and so forth. I wonder how many people go to this level of effort.

If the FMIC install does not offer a clear cut benifit for a typical install then I'd sooner leave it alone.

Has anyone else had any experiences to add to the mix?

Chilli, im in the same boat, was thinking of one a while back but was not sure if i really needed one, im running just over standard boost at 1.1 bar. So not sure if I really need an FMIC or not..???