Installing CPE FMIC... what a PITA

[marathonman08]

So last night around 5pm i started installing my FMIC and didn't know what i was getting into and want to share my experiance to see if anyone else has found it to be a PITA. Taking the bumper off wasn't that bad but there are a ton of screws which i hope i still can remember which ones go where. Once i got the bumper off i started to read the instructions about taking off the radiator hose and the other cooler for the steering. The pictures in the instructions are sub-par and i found myself ripping the plastic pieces apart on the drivers side without knowing if i was suppose to do it...luckely i was right. I guess my big grip is Mazda and there messed up ways of clamping hoses. This took me forever because I could not reach the radiator hose clamps to take the hose off. About 15 mins later i finally got it off and off course radiator fluid everywhere. I got the CPE hose back on and put the supplied clamps on ... they are 10 times easier to access now. Taking the stock hoses off the turbo and manifold were a b**** becasue mazda decided to point the clamp screw the oppoisite way where you cannot even use a tiny screw driver. After 20 mins of screwing with that i got huge screw driver and pried it off mangaling the clamp....oh well there cheap but its off. Now for the fun part... more hoses and clamps! putting the intercooler together was fun also with finding the right place to run the pipes and clamping them at the right angle and not tieing them down untill you move them in the proper place. I spent tons of time tighting them down only to find out i would have to back the clamp off and twist the tubes in different ways to make it all fit. Needless to say 4 hours and i haven't got it all hooked up and i still have to assemble it. Anyone thinking about installing the FMIC i wouls set aside an entire day of frustrating fun! It better be worth it! This is my last bolt on mod i can do to the speed 3 and so far i have been happy with time spent and the permormance i get so im hoping this is also worth it. Anyone else have problems?

 

[Circle9]

One of the reasons I went with a top mount intercooler

 

[TheRealDefman]

One of the reasons I went with a top mount intercooler

+1

 

[RocketScientist]

Everything takes 2-3x's as long as you estimate. Still have mine in the box, thanks for letting me know what to plan on.

 

[Santo]

I just installed the Corksport FMIC, the instructions were pretty good, I would say 8 out of 10. my kit was short in clamps although I used some stock clamps, I did not have any real problems while installing, but still it took me 5.5 hours.

If you want to do it yourself I would Advice to buy zip lock bags and throw all the nuts & bolts into bags and mark them with the instruction's step so that you do not mix them while going back. because Yes, there are too many of them.

I did it with a friend who is a professional mechanic who has amazing memory so that was not a problem for me.

Could you please post your performance Review. I was going to get the CP-E but the ram air thing on the corksport made me choose them.

 

[coyfish]

Yep usually things take like 3X as long as I expect when I install something the first time. Took me about 3 hours to install my catback exhaust yesterday because some bolts were screwed on their so tight that they stripped. Not the first time that happens. 2 hours to take out 4 bolts and 45 min to install the actual exhaust lol.

Stripped more bolts when installing my shortshifter. Had to drill it out of that tiny space which took about 4 hours when it should have taken 1.

Don't know why I strip so many bolts. I use the correct METRIC tools and they still strip because they are so damn tight.

Mazdas cheap clamps , clips, and screws drive me insane.