Greetings from Jax, FL... I would be in for this upgraded SMIC also.
As a newbie here with few posts, but who has read a great number of them, it seems worth mentioning what others might be thinking: that an upgraded SMIC strikes a good compromise between better performance and warranty retainment when compared with a FMIC.
I'm also wondering if the stock radiator's small size and limited effectiveness is being given sufficient consideration by those thinking about converting to a FMIC. Some of the FMICs popping up of late have the inlet pipe (turbo to I/C) crossing in front of the radiator to get to the FMIC inlet. This is bound to block air flow to the radiator, which must already contend with diminshed flow due to the I/C itself blocking the flow to the lower half of the rad. There's a string from a while back where someone even had some cooling concerns with the stock radiator with the ION FMIC installed (which does not have the long piping in front of the rad). The recommendation there: install a rad from a P5, which is possible with the ION kit. That kind of talk discourages me from upgrading to a non-ION FMIC that might cause even more heat disappation problems then the ION kit, much less not allow for an upgraded rad.
But it seems the chief disadvantage of the ION kit is that it might jeapardize the warranty. The upgraded SMIC could easily be swapped with the OEM SMIC for warranty work, and warranty retainment my friends, is worth ALOT in my book.
Just felt like commenting...
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