How To: Ebay FMIC

[Wagonbacker9]

unless you're going over 14psi, you should be FINE with that core. even then I wouldn't suspect problems, but that much I can guarantee.

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

also I have been thinking about this lately, since we are removing the SMIC fan, and the FMIC doesn't have a fan, while sitting in traffic a fan might come in handy, is there any room at all behind the core to fit a small fan like a 6X4 fan, or 2 of them? I know I could in the front, and just have a switch in the car next to the foglight switch, or just hook it up to the original SMIC wires, and I don't want to put it in front because that's just ugly.. but has anyone ever thought of this?

 

[Wagonbacker9]

no real need for a fan on the IC seeing as you can't exactly boost while standing still, and I left my SMIC and fan in place. The fan you're talking about removing is your primary radiator fan as well though... so if you're taking it off, you really need to replace it with something to keep your coolant temp correct.

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

ya I noticed it is 1/2 way on the radiator too, I just thought people removed that but I guess not, I will eventually get a full sized rad. so I will just leave that in there I guess, I also notice that the right side goes on a lot more than the left, I haven't really seen the left fan go on.. maybe it's broken and I just never noticed it but I dono.. I got a slimfan for the left side anyways, but ya I will just keep the other one in (btw I am using the left and right as far as when you are looking at the engine bay from the front of the car)

and ya I guess there really is no point to having an IC fan lol, although it couldn't hurt during low speeds or cruising around town, but I don't think there is any room behind that anyways (right?)so it doesn't really matter I guess, I just thought it would be sometime unique to have, kinda like my custom made "ram air smic" scoop thing lol I love that thing

 

[Wagonbacker9]

honestly, the full width rad is NOT an upgrade over what you have now, because it is thinner, as well as shorter. the pass side fan is an AC fan... while the driver's side is tripped by a temp sensor.

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

oooh, ok (well the full size rad. I was planning on getting would be like the CS one I think if that is the big one, but my brother has a "Cool" rad. that is huge, it's about 2" thick at least, and it takes up the full front and where the smic use to be, but that thing is huge... it's just something I would get in the future eventually.. so also since the driver side fan is the one tripped by the temp sensor and it is only about 1/2 on the rad. would it be beneficial to rig the wires so that both fans go on when the temp sensor is tripped? that would cool it down more right.. and I almost never use the A/C anyways so that pass. side fan is almost useless, I just figure cooler temps would always be good

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

hey guys, how did you mount the slim fans? without having those connection brackets, I was thinking about custom making some, but I still don't have any of little clips to mount it, should I just get them, or is there an easy way to mount them, I can use zip ties for now, but would like to find a better solution

and if I wanted to have the A/C fan go on when the driver side fan went on, could I just run a connection wire from the positive wire of each fan? so they should both trigger then when 1 goes on right?

 

[littlemimus]

i was wondering this as well.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

zip ties are the standard... unless you use your AC constantly, I'd just wire the 2nd fan into the factory wiring. only issue there is overloading the circuit may blow a fuse.

 

[the_jaf]

Hey guys i'm just wondering where you have you maf sensor placed. Can it be connected to the cold pipe (with blow off valve, vta) or do you guys have it placed on the turbo intake? Also what do you do with the stock air intake sensor that dips into one of the pipes? Is that needed and which pipe should that connect cold pipe or turbo intake?

Thanks

 

[b_dues]

^^ I have my MAF on the cold side but others say that it is better to have it on the hot side. Wherever it is, make sure there is at least 4" on either side of the MAF of straight piping (don't put it in the middle of a U-bend). As for the sensor, just drill a hole, put the rubber grommet from the original piping in the hole and stick the sensor in. I drilled a hole in my intake piping and put it in there.

Any more questions about this, just look back a few pages and you will find detailed pictures illustrating how to properly set it up.

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

ok... so I pretty much had all of my pipes set up, I routed the cold pipe like the cs way has it, kinda... and the hotside is like Dub has his on the first page, one bigggg problem, I tried to see how my bumper would fit.. it doesn't I hate those damn fog light housings... if I had the money for an extra bumper or something I would just cut that crap off, but anyways, can people with the 03 fog lights please show me how the hell you have your pipes routed, I was all ready to finish this thing up... but this is a big problem standing in my way...

my guess is that I would need to somehow have the pipes coming out of the IC to angle down and somehow go under the foglight housing or something? but even then, there doesn't really look like any room what so ever for it to fit under there, without cutting the splash guards, which I really wanted to avoid..if someone can just help me out here a little bit, again I need to find my camera so I can get some more detailed pics.. but this is just annoying

 

[b_dues]

I can't help you there, I cut my bumper in several areas. Some people did manage to route the piping under the fog light housing, hopefully they will chime in here.

 

[littlemimus]

ask delb i was asking him that lol

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Cut bumper or splash guards. Unless you spend the next couple of days and figure out a magical way to make it work. I went with the splash guards. Cut them as little as I could.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

I cut neither. just bent back the corner of the frame Pics on the first page.

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

ya I had actually figured it out the next day, I just freaked out that night because everything was all set, and then I found that it wasn't, sooo I just ordered 2 more 45* couplers, and I had already cut the sides of the frame area that sit behind the fogs but I am going to route the pipes under the fogs but not so low that I can't keep my splash guards, I had also cut the crash bar so the FMIC sits flush and I don't see the crash bar like I can with my brother's, I just don't like it at all, so that is why the pipes were so high, but the 45s will fix that, and then I found out that the bottom of my front bumper is pushed out too much and the grill area and stuff was hitting the FMIC core, soo, the brackets I had welded onto the fmic sides, that were on the front of the crash bar first, I switched the fmic core around so they are in the back now, I will put 1 or 2 washers to push the fmic core back about 3/4" so that my front bumper will fit perfectly and I will have plenty of room for the from grill and be able to screw the bottom in where it was before, so it all works out now, I just need to wait for the couplers again, it sucks because it's $15 shipped each time, so the last 2 times was around $70 for 2 90* and a 45* and this time it was like $50 for 2 45* and I ordered them like 2 days after I got my other ones in, but oh well, I guess people will be able to learn from my mistake I guess, when I am done and find my damn camera hopefully I will take pics and post them up and let future people know how I routed it without going to CAI way and with 03 fogs and without cutting the main parts of the frame, just the side sheet metal parts that don't really support anything..

and now that I don't have work for the next 2 days I think, I can get everything else all set and remounted and worked out for when my couplers come, and I hope to hell they come fast, I want to drive my car.. I'm also having trouble getting my C clip off of the HKS BOV, the clamps that i have, that I can reach into there suck and are too weak, and the stronger ones I have, don't fit in there.. so I gotta use the weak ones and then use pliers somehow then get someone else to use a flat head screwdriver and kinda work its way out a little, oh well, I guess I should have seen things like this happening, which I did kinda, I just had hoped it wouldn't be so much, and such a pita

 

[thecrash91]

sooo i read about 10 pages of this trying to look for an answer. but i have perrin fmic, came with the car, and the previous owner said that the AC had to be disconnected in order for it to fit, does anyone know if that means the pipe as previously someone stated? im going to try to take a look today, where was said pipe located? id rather not have to take off my bumper

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

ok, so I finished this about two weeks ago but forgot to post anything, I only really have a few cell phone pics because I had lost my camera (my mom had put it "away" but really just put it in a place she couldn't remember, but I found it now) but I had finished the install before I found the camera, but here is the recap...(also this is with the 03 spicy msp with the fogs in there, I just had to move my HID ballasts because they were on the splash guards before but now are on the frame above the fogs kinda.)
I cut the crash bar about, 1"- 1 1/2" up so that the fmic core was flush with the front bumper, I am very very happy that I did that, I don't think I cut enough away at all to sacrifice any real structural protection besides any small loss (but if you think about it your replacing a small section of metal with a big fmic core if you do get into a crash lol)
-I had bought the reccomended kit, I found that I didn't need many of the pipes, and that it MIGHT be cheaper just to go to CX Racing to get the couplers and pipes ordered seperatly or just call them and see if you can work a deal for the right pipes, I routed mine like CS fmic did, but with this kit, so it was a little different, but not by much, I had some WeaponR hardpipes left from my previous set up which I used on the cold side, but could be substituted for 1 90* pipe...

here is what pipes I used and instead of the WR pipes, what pipes you can order and couplers...all pipes were 2.5"
Hot Side- 1 2"-2.5" reducer coupler, 1 "U" bend pipe,1 straight coupler, 1 90* pipe, 1 90* coupler, 1 90* pipe cut to fit, I took off about 4-5" about and 1 45* coupler connecting to the fmic core (which was I think 27" L (total 21" core I think)

Cold Side- 1 45* coupler coming off of core , (I used the WR pipes here but you can use the 90* bent pipe, might want to cut the pipe so you can angle it better but just put a coupler there, but you prob. won't have to) 45* coupler after going through the frame section as seen in the CS install instructions, then I used a 45* pipe that I cut a few inches above the bend, this is where I put the MAF sensor, and with that I was able to reach the TB with 1 90* coupler, (straight couplers obviously for the MAF part), but it fit like a dream for the most part, once I finally got it all set, I didn't have to cut the splash guards, (although I did for the hot side just a little to trim it where it shows in the CS install instructions but I didn't really need to, I was just fed up with everything and wanted it in now lol) but I had the BOV flange welded onto the U bend of the hot pipe, right now with the HKS v2 bov only it flutters/turkeys a little at lower boosts, but is a good solid sound/blow off, when at mid to high boosts(from about 4-10psi), I plan to eventually get another hks v2 BOV welded onto the cold side before the MAF sensor just to take care of any turkey I might have at any boost, but not just yet...

here are a few cell phone pics I took while I was going through the process, I also got a slim fan for I think $15-20 off of amazon.com that works great, and I would HIGHLY recommend getting one for the hot side, I also had went the route on the hot side that is shown on the first page where I removed the windshield wiper fluid because I didn't have any need for it with the CF hood, but I'm sure you can just move the pipes down a little and keep it(also shown on the CS install instructions)
(quick bad pic of MAF relocated)

pic of the mounted core, without the cut 90* pipe on the hot side, and missing the 45* couplers coming off of core

test fitment for fogs and everything else before putting everything back together(and before I had my 2 last 45* couplers come in the mail that would come off of the core)

I will have complete and good pics in one of the up coming MOTM once I get my GT Spec strut bar (sssh)

 

[ScratchNSniff]

Pretty sure I will be going this route...