FMIC poll Whats important to you.

[Victory]

Features:

Piping material (Steel, SS Steel, Aluminum)

End tank design

Price

Core

Bling Factor

Performance

Quality

Manufacture name

Feel free to add more and if someone knows how to set up a poll that would be great.

 

[Victory]

Feel free to bring up other features I haven't thought of.

Scott

 

[thegreatms]

i said performance, I think that overs many aspects of "core", "quality", "short piping", and "end tank design" i.e. all those things lead to good performance.

I don't care about the name brand IF you can prove it is well designed and made. The problem is you often can only get good info on the big name brands.

 

[99gst_racer]

Here's what I feel is important....

- Piping material has never been much of an issue w/ me. Anything durable.
- Price definatily matters. If the $850 kit works just as good as the $1300 kit, it's an easy decision.
- Quality is maybe one of the most important factors. When spending that much, you want great fitment, good clean welds, etc....
- Manufacturer name is not important.
- I've never found entank design to be real important. I just figured pressured air will find it's path....
- Core is important. Luckily all of our trusted DSM vendors use nice cores.
- I've had long route before and I have short route now. All I can say is I'll never go back.
- Performance is important. It's nice to know the intercooler was tested before produced and sold. Performance proven on paper always helps.
- Bling factor is not important. Everyone wants their FMIC to look good on their car, but investing extra money in 'bling only' features is a waste.
- Warrantee always makes you feel good about buying something. But I dont see very many people needing one for a FMIC.... What kind of warrantee are we talking about?

Another thing that is important is ease of installation. (many people are affraid of fabrication and heavy modification)
Also, I look for small things like, if there is worm clamps or t-bolt clamps; silicon or cheap couplers....

 

[daren_p]

All of the items you mentioned above would be important to me, except don't really care about the bling factor. Price vs performance would be a big factor & would also want one that you would have to hack up the car to make it fit (inner bumper ok to hack, but not the rad support etc.)

 

[Lunch_Box]

I think quality, price and performance are the most important. Hard to get all 3 though.

 

[gixrman]

performance, performance, performance. The Intercooler is one the most if not the most important upgrade you can make. I painted mine black so that tells you how much I care about bling.

 

[TSIfreek]

You get what you pay for with FMIC. I am looking for Fit, quality of core, and performance. Cant forget well made tubing and couplers.

 

[Spidey]

End tank design effects efficiency, how much we do not know, but I personally do not like any of the square stuff out there. I voted for quality, price, end tank design, and performance.

I don't see myself removing my Evo8 FMIC any time soon, but if I were to upgrade I would definitely go with this kit (DVDT), or do another custom setup with similar end tanks.

 

[destruckeclipse]

I would say performance first, but price aslo greatly affects my decision. Name brands don't make any difference. I agree that installation ease is another area. If it requires too much fab work then most people can not do it themselves, which also would affect price again.

 

[NEASport]

I have an ADFX FMIC and my problem with it was the way it gets install. You have to cut part of your core support. It a pain in the ass.

 

[boostedinaz]

For me quality is the top spot. I want a product that I know will handle the abuse it will be put through and that it will no fail unless under severe conditions.

The endtank design isnt that high up because sometimes the space it will be going in dictates shape more than performnace will.

I obviously want a good performing part, but I also want selection. Alot of 2G's dont have a choice of sizes and that is bothersome. Not all of us want a large by huge core even if it is only a few bucks more. I am glad that, having a 1G, there are alot of options for me size wise. The other option would be for different BOV's and MAF placement. Not all kits have the flange for the BOV I may want to use and almost none of the kits I see have an option for a blow thru MAFT. Now this is as easy as calling the vendor and asking, but I would rather be able to just see that is an option then having to call and make a special order.

Price is also a factor. I dont mind paying more for a good product but some of the prices out there are very high. In that case I would go with the next best product for a good price.

 

[goofynick6]

End tank design is one of the most important parts I think; the right angle pipes off the square endtanks like slowboy uses, although they say they see no difference, logic says that it does matter. The DVDT fab or whatever their name is has awesome end tanks, but the price is too steep. I think the intercooler has to have low psi drop, proper size, and great flowing endtanks to be a great performer (if that wasn't obvious).

So, that's what I think is important, bling is just a byproduct

NIck

 

[DsMWookie]

I voted for all...find the best of all those and buy it

 

[sickgsx-316]

Short routed piping, quality clamps/hoses, and durability are a high priority to me. One thing that bothers me with so many of the kits out there that offer short routed piping is that they almost ALWAYS needs extra custom fabrication to fit (another $95/hr). You pay for a high dollar kit thinking the most difficult part of the install is hacking up the bumper support and find out the piping is off by too great a margin to be compensated for with humped hoses. Lame. Then the shops offer you no help whatsoever in regards to the matter. I think the onlyshort routed piping kit that actually fit properly the first time was ProStreet's but they disappeared (I wont get into that since they are sponsors here).

A nice option would be black anodized cores. I live out in Cali, so stealth is a must. Not only does it help the thieves look past your car, and help you take lunch money from the local V8 guys, it helps keep you out of the eyes of the ref happy Johnny Law.

 

[Victory]

Vote what's important to you. Don't let this fact change your opinion. This is for informational purposes only.

I've got a contact at Garrett Boosting Systems in California. He is an engineer there and well his job (credentials) speak for itself. He stated that as much as 75% ( I couldn't believe it was this high!) of the pressure drop in a system can come from the end tank design alone. This speaks to how important it really is. I wanted to get feedback from him about our designs so I sent him pictures and drawings with the specs. He gave us thumbs up on both kits and made a few suggestions that we incorporated. We’ve also got another innovation I’m incorporating into all our system that will be available in March or April. Details to follow.

Just remember the core is only one aspect of the entire system. True tests of a FMIC system include efficiency and pressure drop starting from the outlet of the turbo to the inlet of the intake manifold.

In response to the length of the core. Longer cores will generally (there are other factors) cause higher levels of pressure drop. By-product, efficiency will go up.

Scott Belcastro
VPE

 

[doug]

If I could've voted for only one of the options, it would've been end tank design. In this poll, I also voted for quality and performance.

I do think piping material makes a difference, but I didn't mark that one since I already chose three others. I think aluminum piping is a much better choice because of heat and weight issues.

 

[damax03]

I know its not on the list, but service is also very important. I know that I will spend the extra couple dollars with a company that is behind their product 110%. I also care about quality and performance, looks of it are an afterthought. Most front mounts look good in a bumper, so no big deal. What type of design differences did Garret Boosting Systems reccomend you incorporate into your design that is going to be an improvement over what is already on the market?

 

[Victory]

While I won't get into details you can see from our web site the end tank on the bottom was changed to improve air distribution across the core. (Look at the 2G picture of the kit then look at the picture of the core on the car) Another not so evident change is the taper to the tank. Not from top to bottom but from side to side. One other change we made early on was the volume of the end tank. While these changes may seem subtle, consider reading the thread regarding head porting. Check out how much better the head flowed each time he removed small amounts of material from various places. Huge improvements in airflow.

VPE has made changes to the system to improve the quality of airflow through the tank, minimize pressure loss (improve transient throttle response), and maximize use of the entire core area (improvement in efficiency). As I said we’ve got another significant change coming at the end of March we’ll be introducing.

There were also some recommendations I chose not to incorporate due to cost, placement and production difficulties. I love designing cool stuff, but you’ve got draw the line somewhere.

 

[Jafro]

I have an ADFX FMIC on my 2g. I fully expected to have to chop my car up for any IC install, this one required a bit more than I expected. The pipes didn't fit right, and now, 3000 miles later, I'm blowing the end tank welds apart at 21 PSI on a big 16g. Weak. Twice in one week. I'm ****ing furious.

I like the core, but I can't stand these end tanks. Anyone know somebody that does good aluminum work in the VA area? I need a new set of end tanks so I didn't chop my car up for nothing.

 

[white 91 tsi]

I think price, and performance are the biggest then if u have to hack up front bumper and support