I had been searching for months for a good FMIC kit, and finally decided on the one from DV/DT Fabrications. I was sold on the cast aluminum end tanks that seem like they'd have better, more laminar flow than most sheetmetal end tanks, so even though the price was a little steep, I still went with it.
Before, during, and even after the install/purchase, Albert (the owner of DV/DT Fab) was very helpful with answering questions and being willing to work with me to make sure the kit fit my car (98 GS-T A/T) nicely. I was concerned that the short route piping might not clear the huge automatic transmission, so he volunteered to customize some piping if the need arose, but as it turned out, it wasn't needed.
On to the details:
The package arrived in perfect condition, professionally packed and even in a box with the DV/DT logo printed on the side (a professional touch). In the below pic, one of the two plastic ziplock bags contains the silicone pipe couplers, and the other one has the T-bolt clamps and other mounting hardware-- bolts, brackets, etc. The only drilling needed is putting one hole into each one of the corner mounting flanges to run the mounting bolts through. There's no sheet metal cutting of your car needed because the piping runs under everything.
I began the install Saturday morning with the help of a couple of fellow DSMers. The install went pretty smoothly, with only a few minor hiccups:
1) I had to smooth out the inside of the throttle body elbow pipe because the flange weld wasn't quite perfectly centered. Since the piping and flanges were all aluminum, this went quickly.
2) The TB elbow pipe and BOV pipe ended up having a little more distance between them than I would've liked, but the coupler was still long enough to connect them.
3) When the core was mounted as per the instructions, there was a slight gap at the bottom, between the core and the bottom of the bumper cover. We had to add some small spacers on the bottom mounting bracket to lower the core a little so it would better fit the grill opening.
I also removed the stock tranny cooler and put a B&M SuperCooler in the old sidemount location, so I didn't get totally finished with the install until Sunday afternoon. All in all, I'm very happy with the kit so far. I haven't really wailed on it much yet, since I had to remove the battery for an unrelated incident and I had to let the ECU relearn everything before hammering on it. The tranny is also beginning to slip a little, so I'm trying to be a little easy on it for now.
As mentioned on the DV/DT web site, you have to get rid of the fog lights because of the size of the end tanks. Plus, you will also have to lose the bumper and bumper support brackets, but the good news is you won't have to cut any of it.
Initial impression is good-- car feels strong at 19PSI, but I'm getting a touch of knock which could be due to a few small boost leaks I discovered the other day (I've fixed most of them now, but the TB seals are leaking quite a bit). Car is still completely untuned, though, so I need to get out and start tuning soon.
Before, during, and even after the install/purchase, Albert (the owner of DV/DT Fab) was very helpful with answering questions and being willing to work with me to make sure the kit fit my car (98 GS-T A/T) nicely. I was concerned that the short route piping might not clear the huge automatic transmission, so he volunteered to customize some piping if the need arose, but as it turned out, it wasn't needed.
On to the details:
The package arrived in perfect condition, professionally packed and even in a box with the DV/DT logo printed on the side (a professional touch). In the below pic, one of the two plastic ziplock bags contains the silicone pipe couplers, and the other one has the T-bolt clamps and other mounting hardware-- bolts, brackets, etc. The only drilling needed is putting one hole into each one of the corner mounting flanges to run the mounting bolts through. There's no sheet metal cutting of your car needed because the piping runs under everything.
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I began the install Saturday morning with the help of a couple of fellow DSMers. The install went pretty smoothly, with only a few minor hiccups:
1) I had to smooth out the inside of the throttle body elbow pipe because the flange weld wasn't quite perfectly centered. Since the piping and flanges were all aluminum, this went quickly.
2) The TB elbow pipe and BOV pipe ended up having a little more distance between them than I would've liked, but the coupler was still long enough to connect them.
3) When the core was mounted as per the instructions, there was a slight gap at the bottom, between the core and the bottom of the bumper cover. We had to add some small spacers on the bottom mounting bracket to lower the core a little so it would better fit the grill opening.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
I also removed the stock tranny cooler and put a B&M SuperCooler in the old sidemount location, so I didn't get totally finished with the install until Sunday afternoon. All in all, I'm very happy with the kit so far. I haven't really wailed on it much yet, since I had to remove the battery for an unrelated incident and I had to let the ECU relearn everything before hammering on it. The tranny is also beginning to slip a little, so I'm trying to be a little easy on it for now.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
As mentioned on the DV/DT web site, you have to get rid of the fog lights because of the size of the end tanks. Plus, you will also have to lose the bumper and bumper support brackets, but the good news is you won't have to cut any of it.
Initial impression is good-- car feels strong at 19PSI, but I'm getting a touch of knock which could be due to a few small boost leaks I discovered the other day (I've fixed most of them now, but the TB seals are leaking quite a bit). Car is still completely untuned, though, so I need to get out and start tuning soon.
