Nice one Stan, true to your profession

Shucks, thanks guys, didn't honestly expect that reaction and I am truly humbled


Now, in true mod fashion.......back on topic!

sooooo............. anymore options anyone????

I think it's pretty much covered in the thread ... the Pro Alloy option, or a DIY Evo-style option are what most people seem to favour.

Personally I run the Pro Alloy set-up, as it is well made and fits nicely. If the 'short pipe routing' option that is/has been explored progresses a some sort of group buy, then I don't think you'll be able to do much better than a Pro Alloy with that routing

I have the evo option and my mate's have the pro alloy.
my pipes sit slightly lower and the pro alloy is an easier job to fit but Costly. performance Nothing in it.

surely a fmic pipe kit and a smaller intercooler for different car like a universal cooler would be a better option for bumper editing and turbo lag reasons???? it could save even more money!!???

their is always the turborevs intercooler which i found easy to fit and pipe work is much the same as the pro alloy set up.and also cheaper than pro,and its a very good finish aswell.

But what about Lag with these big coolers? are they really that nessecary for people who only need 50-70% of theyre capabilities??? surely a smaller cooler will be better for 'lag' and easier for fitting i.e. less chopping of bumper and undertray???

Often wondered this,say using a smaller fmic for just say a gtir hybrid turbo etc. What makes the pace smic better than a small fmic? Just throwing some ideas.

its something ive pondered also surely a slightly smaller unit would have less volume and again with the pipework the smaller unit with smaller diameter pipework holds less volume of air so must have an effect on lag.. anyone? also..some of the ebay intercoolers seem to be of good quality and efficiency ,is it carl 16v? the project turbo self build guy tested his and it was very good and only cost £50 dont get me wrong i know the pro alloy etc are better quality but if you havent got the money and they work whats wrong with the ebay jobs ? i am having a gt28rs and all the usual mods done and im going to buy an intercooler this week the turbo revs one ive seen in the flesh and its a well made substantial piece of kit the only reason im considering another is what i mention in the first part of the post the rves one is good for 650bhp (claimed) if i can find one as good a quality rated at 400 with smaller diameter pipework would it not help with the lag issue? and ones like that are on there at £69 im temted to buy one just to see.. if it works result if not back on ebay she goes

Its not really the rate thats you looking tho is it-650bhp etc.
Its the efficiency of the the inter-cooler surely.

Im far from knowledgable on fmic but surely running a relavant sized cooler to turbo sounds right?

You guys explain,educate me.

Erm?

1. What are the gains in bhp when fitting a FMIC to a 20VT with 360 roller bearing turbo?

2. I suppose, after fitting the engine will require another map for the existing re-map?

sorry what i meant using the bhp figures was the size of the unit they tend to be bigger physically when bigger bhp figures are quoted thus more volume if you see what i mean

1. depends of general engine health and other modifications

2. Yes, a visit to flea is advised to get full potential from a fmic as it is with other mods. but it is not urgent.

cmon people! anyone out there to educate us with our questions on intercooler sizes etc?????????

no one??????

The FMIC discussion of death

someone help me revive this thread, still need more answers!!!

You're going to be waiting a while then.....

There are essentially only two FMIC choices

1) ProAlloy - pricy, but superb quality and fits perfectly

2) EVO (or other universal IC) - much cheaper, but then you have to work out your own pipe route and source your own hard and silicon pipes

IMHO, by the time you've faffed around with hoses and pipes, you'd have been better off spending a few quid extra on a proven product that fits first time - it took me about three hours to fit my ProAlloy FMIC, and that included the small mods to the undertray and the cutting of the bumper inserts

Its still going strong, 100,000+ miles later

i agree with nigel, just spend the little extra (or source one second hand) and go with the best!

Seems like a no brainer to me!

That's a bit strong, he was only asking!

BUT.... surely if i were to get a smaller universal FMIC and then fabricate the pipe work myself there would be less 'Lag' especially as im only looking for figures just past the 300bhp mark. rather than a mahooosive pro alloy good for 600bhp ish?????????????

I think the problem is that most people on here, who have an aftermarket FMIC, have followed one of the two routes that Nigel, myself and others have noted.

You'll be breaking new tuning ground on the coupe, therefore It would be good to see some directly comparable before and after figures if you do decide to go ahead.

yeah i guess so, im just suprised no one else has seen this logic and attempted to do anything about it!?!?!? as all of us turbo owners know LAG =

Before and after figures do you mean before FMIC and after? just for graph references of spool up?

The latter. Graphs showing spool up vs revs before your fitment of a 'small' FMIC and after its fitment.

better create a shopping list for my small FMIC kit on ebay! and book myself in at the local RR. just gotta wait for this snow to clear!

*numpty alert*

i had a pro alloy fmic fitted at motormech monday and although i haven't been able to test the set-up vigorously since due to the weather, there has been no discernible increase in lag. when i hap my car mapped a couple of months back flea said my turbo spooled up pretty quickly.

After reading through the thread here's my 2p's worth:

The issue with coupe tuning is that there are not that many proven tuning options out there, but the options such as do you go for an Evo or Pro Alloy IC have been tried and tested.

Both of them work well enough with benefits and drawbacks. It's far more important to have a well designed cooler and pipework than the dimensions of the IC itself, however most IC's that will fit and are not dual pass will do the job well enough.

If you want to try something different then that's great for the community - BUT you have to consider the time this will take you to make a go of it, and the expense that is associated with it. I spent a long time designing custom brakes and suspension for my 20VT - far longer than I thought it would take. If I i was to go through the process again then I would have gone the tried and tested route.

If you consider the cost of the Pro Alloy FMIC, £600 is not a lot of money for what you get fully fitted. To put this into perspective I paid more than three times this price for the V-mount IC that I run on my RX7. You could put together something that would save you a few hundred quid on a coupe - but you wont be sure it will work as well as you hope, and if it does not then you are back to the drawing board.

It's not the answer that people want to hear, but having been tuning cars for a good while now you really have to think about doing something once and doing it well - if you can't do so then I dont think that you should be tuning the car in the hope that what you do will either perform as you want it to, or wont cost you more money in the long run.

In Summary - go for the Pro Alloy!

excellent post suba, even for those of us (me) with little tuning knowledge - thanks for that

It could be argued that a hybrid turbo running 300bhp would need more cooling than a larger unit running 310bhp at less boost... Not sure how this relates to IC vloume, but I'd want as much cooling as I could get within reason.

I ran 292bhp through the 'GTiR' and it was no more 'laggy' than standard. Even with a 28RS I wouldn't say the car is laggy. Boost threshold is higher, but when the revs are up, this thing spools pretty quickly, even with a restrictive standard downpipe.