FMIC advice needed

[8------D]

looking for a CHEAP fmic.

few questions...

can i stay below $400?
any stories on the el cheapo ebay brands?

i noticed a lot of ebay stuff doesnt come with piping and promotional FMIC on vortex are in easily in $600-1000 range. it may be a case of conflicting requirements (read: my budget), but id like something that doesnt require too much bumper cutting or modifying to fit it...

any advice welcome...

[a4wdhybrid]

ok..first off..nothing is "CHEAP" ..espicially when it comes to modding your car

you are either going to pay w/ $$ or time

if you spend extra $$ and buy a "kit" it will be a lot less of a headache to install and will come w/ all needed accessories, simple bolt on/off kind of deal

if you go custom then yes, you will save $$ but you are going to make it up in time and headache of getting it all on your car..custom totally depends on your fabrication skills and your confidence in them

my front mount was a total pita to get to fit behind the bumper and still doesnt fit 100%, going custom also requires you to take into account youre going to need a welder and youre going to have to fab mount brackets and nipples for your dv, n75, and map sensor (42dd can handle that for you though), and you will also have to source silicone connectors, clamps, and you will also have to have a good idea what size and kind of tubing/silicone

if you really want to go custom, search for "treadstone" on ebay..quality cores that are cheap and you can also find universal piping kits on ebay as well..you will still have to do a lot of fab work though to get it all working correctly

[8------D]

thanks. i figured it would be something along those lines. one of the things that worries me is whether FMIC will close off too much radiator area since it will obviously be placed in front of it. would hate to solve the problem of heat soak, just to cause another overheating problem due to lack of circulation.

[a4wdhybrid]

you worry to much

if that was a problem dont you think that 1 of the thousands of ppl that have front mounts would have made a note about it somewhere..?

[8------D]

well, you are talking to a newbie when it comes to FMIC subject. i was just reading last night in corky bell's "maximum boost" about this issue so i thought i bring it up. haven't really done much research on vortex.

as far as a complete kit that would require little to no fabrication, what would you recommend within reasonable price?

[a4wdhybrid]

ahh...i applaude you for reading

i would say either greddy or the kinetic

fitment on both seems to be top notch and never heard anything bad about either one

both are around the same price, greddy is prob cheaper actually

both travis and abe have the greddy type 31 i believe

[8------D]

ok, ill see with whether Travis or Abe can hook me up with some good price or a source at least.

thanks

[a4wdhybrid]

def talk to travis..see what source he recommends or try doing a google search and see what comes up

[evan@absolute]

I've said it before but only on the old forum. I like the stock look and from what I have heard the performance is great.
http://www.tyrolsport.com/vwperformance.htm

[zooyork155]

I've said it before but only on the old forum. I like the stock look and from what I have heard the performance is great.
http://www.tyrolsport.com/vwperformance.htm
That or the boostfactory setup.
http://www.boostfactoryonline.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=12

[dekroon]

Evan is right about tyrolsports offereing. They compared that BFSMIC to the EVOMs,APR and one of the smaller Eurojet cores and it out performed them all.

My biggest drawback to that BFSMIC and the aforementioned FMICs is that they retain use of the stock intercooler piping.

The greddy,atp and Kinetic kits all reroute the piping and remove the factory pieces.

The only kit I know of that does'nt require alot of trimming is the forge fmic. But again it retains the stock intercooler piping.

I paid about 699 for my greddy. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably piece together a kit.

There is a decent offereing on ebay for 399 plus shipping for the core and piping. The piping is a clone of the greddy. With that setup you will need to purchase a map sensor flange and have it welded to the piping.

The greddy kit has a map flange, however it's not compatable with 2003.5+ 1.8ts.

[8------D]

good info. Thanks Travis.

[Eur0-SpeC]

Ebay fmic :thumbsdown2:

Its best to just get somthing thats good. also APR's FMIC has one of the simplest installs, 1 hour 30 mins at most took me like a hour. and trimming wise it was very little i just took a angle grinder with a cut off disk and took some parts of the back of the lip...

http://x402.putfile.com/4/10418014369.jpg

[dekroon]

Ebay fmic :thumbsdown2:

Its best to just get somthing thats good. also APR's FMIC has one of the simplest installs, 1 hour 30 mins at most took me like a hour.
Some of the cores on ebay are hack jobs. Others are very high quality. Some are tube/fin others bar/plate. All of the Ebay intercoolers I've seen have performed as well, if not better than name brand kits.

Most of the FMIC with simplified installs have smaller cores than the others, and they use the factory craptastic routing. Anything that keeps the pancake pipe and OEM charge piping for over 1k is'nt a viable upgrade IMHO.

[Yareka]

Someone on vortex just got the godspeed kit off ebay....its 400 with shipping and it looks to be very nice. I didnt pull the trigger on one of these earlier because I didnt want to be the guinea pig. You have to weld on a MAP, DV, and n75 bung but for the price...its awesome.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2634376