Just like my ebay-turbokit thread, this one is intended to show you possible ways to fit FMIC and route piping. Not for your criticism. Especially if you have never owned/ran one yourself.

Note: This car has full functioning AC system, so if you weren't sure if you can keep the AC, I can tell you. Yes, it's possible (but be ready to invest into alum. radiator)

Placing FMIC for general idea of height and position:


frontal view (using hood latch as top align mark)


Marking bumper support cut-out.


Cut bumper test-fitment:


Bumper-cover test firment:


Upper FMIC support fabrication closeup:


Shot from below. Starting piping fab.


FMIC exit lower pipe in place:


FMIC inlet pipe (lower shot):


FMIC inlet pipe (upper shot):

U-pipe (temporary solution for T25, while customer desides on new turbo):


Everything bolted up and piping finished:


UICP (fabbed for 1G BOV and GM MAF):


FMIC outlet lower pipe (finished):


Everything assembled, bumper cover trimmed slightly to contour piping:



This setup has been already running long enough for me to be sure in FMIC quality, so I have nothing bad so say about it.

Nice however you don't really need a aluminium radiator.

RavenX said:

Nice however you don't really need a aluminium radiator.

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You dont really need alot of things, and it looks really good man. I just did my ebay fmic install about two months ago. Also is that one of those koyo radiators they sell on ebay?

-nick-

I have two questions regarding the piping you used.

1. What radius of 180* bend did you use on the inlet side? The way the pipe coming off the turbo looks, it's about where my piping is going to run.

2. For the outlet side, did you just use two 90* bends and weld the long legs together?

The intercooler looks great, btw.

MrBoxx said:

1. What radius of 180* bend did you use on the inlet side? The way the pipe coming off the turbo looks, it's about where my piping is going to run.

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I used a 6" radius U-bend from Magnum Force on my car and it places the inlet pipe right at the turbo outlet.

Awesome. Thank you.

Looks really nice.

Just 1 question, why not short route the piping instead of running it through the stock location?

CanadianTSi said:

Looks really nice.

Just 1 question, why not short route the piping instead of running it through the stock location?

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Two reasons.

One, it was customer's request
Two, because of the length of the intercooler, running it 'short route' would require sharp U-bent (more like 8-bend , kinda like 1G setup in my turbokit thread, except on the other side ) which would invoke more bumper support cutting and increases cost.

looks good.

RavenX said:

Nice however you don't really need a aluminium radiator.

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Coor looks good. That outlet pipe from the turbo scares me a little but I am sure it works fine. Its also not such a big deal on the hot side of the i/c

nice, though on a 2gA front end, i would use a 1g type of intercooler. its not as tall, but is longer and doesnt have as much wasted surface flow. the one like you have(as did i) has alot of wasted surface, even in a 2gB bumper, theres around 5-8 rows that are behind the bumper that wont recieve any or limited airflow. this makes the fmic less efficient. like i said, a longer but shorter would have more rows exposed, and would fit and look better in the opening of a 2gA smiley face front end.

though any fmic is better than the sidemount. good job, now you can go stick it to the dummies who spend 1000+ on their fmic just cause it has a name stamped to it, but came from the same sweatshop as the one without.

Thomas91169 said:

nice, though on a 2gA front end, i would use a 1g type of intercooler. its not as tall, but is longer and doesnt have as much wasted surface flow. the one like you have(as did i) has alot of wasted surface, even in a 2gB bumper, theres around 5-8 rows that are behind the bumper that wont recieve any or limited airflow. this makes the fmic less efficient. like i said, a longer but shorter would have more rows exposed, and would fit and look better in the opening of a 2gA smiley face front end.

though any fmic is better than the sidemount. good job, now you can go stick it to the dummies who spend 1000+ on their fmic just cause it has a name stamped to it, but came from the same sweatshop as the one without.

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Well, if you think about it, using shorter (in height) FMIC will cut the flow, although a slightly longer one can be used, I doubt it would make significant difference in cooling. So in the end, this FMIC will cool about as well as a shorter one (height-wise), but will flow more air.

Did you have to use slim fans?

Thomas91169 said:

good job, now you can go stick it to the dummies who spend 1000+ on their fmic just cause it has a name stamped to it, but came from the same sweatshop as the one without.

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It's simple, people spend a lot of money on name brand stuff, because they can. Why do people spend $30k for a new Evo when they can just buy a $3k DSM? Because they can!

And if you have a problem with the one bought off eBay who are you going to contact ?

szewczyd said:

Did you have to use slim fans?

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No. I have always gotten better results with stock fans. No slim fan has ever done a better job then stock one, regardless of their claimed flow numbers.
I use metal (AC) fan, turned on its side, moved to pass. side and wired as a primary fan. Never had a single car with overheating problems with that setup.

On a 2G, it's a little more comlex, depending which turbo is chosen. (T25 and 28s outlet is too far on the pass. side, so stock fan may need to be trimmed to fit. Either way, if there is any possibility to reuse stock fan, I go for it.

Flash said:

It's simple, people spend a lot of money on name brand stuff, because they can. Why do people spend $30k for a new Evo when they can just buy a $3k DSM? Because they can!

And if you have a problem with the one bought off eBay who are you going to contact ?

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It all depends what you're buying from Ebay. Some things just have very low risk of malfunction and are def. worth a try.

As for 'because they can', I agree with you there. I have always been a type of person who would prefer to take a risk trying thigns out, rather then going with proven and often boring stuff. I could afford an evo, but instead I stick with my 91 DSM. Why? Because I live for the look on the face of the dude, driving his 30, 40 80K car and getting beat by a 15yr old shit-bucket, but that's just me.

On a side note, this discussion doesn't belong to this thread, so let it stop with with post.

I think he ment why not go short route on the upper intercooler pipe. I was also interested in why you have the upper intercooler pipe going through the stock hole. Even a hole next to the coolant resiviour would have probably cut like a foot in lenght from that pipe.

With an endtank design like that , you will have to do TWO 90* turns that go through the short route way. In essence, adding two 90* turns is exactly (if not more) the same in length of air travelling than routing it the long way.

dude you did a very good job

Thanks for sharing. Might I suggest throwing this into a Tech article so that others can learn

Newlogics said:

No. I have always gotten better results with stock fans. No slim fan has ever done a better job then stock one, regardless of their claimed flow numbers.
I use metal (AC) fan, turned on its side, moved to pass. side and wired as a primary fan. Never had a single car with overheating problems with that setup.

On a 2G, it's a little more comlex, depending which turbo is chosen. (T25 and 28s outlet is too far on the pass. side, so stock fan may need to be trimmed to fit. Either way, if there is any possibility to reuse stock fan, I go for it.

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I agree completely. I've seen several cars with FMICs running slimlines that have overheating problems in traffic. I have always used the single stock radiator fan with shrowd and have never had problems. I now have a slimline mounted in front of the AC compressor on the driver's side of the radiator just for fun.

I was able to use the stock 2g fan with an EVO III 50-trim, external wastegate, and the same FMIC you have with 2.5" pipes.

DSM90AWD said:

Thanks for sharing. Might I suggest throwing this into a Tech article so that others can learn

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1G setup is already in there. I'll add 2G process soon.

God, I hate those end tanks.

Coup D E'Tat said:

God, I hate those end tanks.

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???
Elaborate please.