PG FMIC review

[zx2man]

Right on Sally glad to see your making further progress on your car..should be running really nice with that front mount.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Right on Sally glad to see your making further progress on your car..should be running really nice with that front mount.

Thanks man, yea I'm excited. Kind of ironic though because yesterday idling at the gas station while getting her filled there was definitely blue smoke coming out and the workers started harrassing me so I had to shut her off. Didn't do it the rest of the day though, even while idling for a few minutes. I'm ordering the PTP fix today. Not going to freak out about it unless it starts happening consistently.

 

[feldm4n]

Ken you got a PM.

 

[RichB]

I've had this kit for a few months now and Love it!
Some advice, Make sure you install the piping under the power steering lines. When I first installed it, I had the pipes on top of the PS lines which didn't make it fit very well.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

thanks to all my loyal customers at OCC and here on Mazdas247

 

[SallySpeed3]

So my PG FMIC is installed and I gotta say I'm pretty happy with it. Ken did a pretty good job on the powdercoating. Only 1 imperfection which probably happened during shipping. I removed the air ducting and front bumper the night before which took about 1/2 hour. Removal of the stock stuff and installing the kit took probably about 3 hours. Half of that was trying to figure out how the hell to make my bracket work. Just a heads up, Ken provided an assortment of nuts/bolts/plates to make the bracket line up with their new cores, but I couldn't make it work that way. The core is barely bolted onto the bracket which I bent the crap out of to make it fit. It is very solid and doesn't move at all. Here are some pics of the whole process

Pic #1 - Bumper off, stock TMIC still on
Pic #2 - Everything that needs to be put on
Pic #3 - Kit installed (buddy of mine who helped)
Pic #4 - Engine View
Pic #5 - Ready to go

 

[SallySpeed3]

Performance wise, I gotta say the car runs alot smoother throughout the whole spectrum. I drove all the way down to my hometown to see my dad and it ran great, didn't really get on it too much, but moderate acceleration. On the way home, getting on 295 on-ramp I decided to floor it in 3rd gear and immediately heard a "pop" and the engine started bogging. I figured it was just one of the pipes coming off. Popped the hood and everything looked okay "HOLY CRAP I BLEW MY ENGINE".....no, I didn't, but thats what I thought, it was one of the couplers right under the bumper. Luckily I was able to fix it while on the side of the highway without any tools. Drove it like a baby on the way home and took care of it properly. Still have not gone WOT since just cause I'm cautious. I'm posting this last pic because the only other snag I ran into was after the kit was installed with the bumper back on. While trying to put it into reverse I could barely get it into gear. Found out it was the shifter weight rubbing on one of the pipes. After stressing out about it for an hour trying to move the pipes, all I had to do was shift it back one notch and it's fine. Thanks again to Ken for hooking me up although I still want that protegegarage sticker to put on the top pipe!!! Best kit on the market in my opinion.

 

[RichB]

A lot of us have done that before! Me included. You have to be extra cautious when tightening down that U-pipe on the passenger side. Make sure the pipe is in the coupler correctly and the clamps are evenly distributed on the pipe. By the way how the hell did you fix it on the side of the road without tools? That's impressive.

As far as the shifter weight, a lot of FMIC kits require the weight upgrade (like the one PG currently sells). Not only does the shifter feel better with them but it gives you a lot more clearance when you have an FMIC installed.

 

[anm6]

Nice write up, Mine is on the way,

Nice color car,, Mine also.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

Thanks again to Ken for hooking me up although I still want that protegegarage sticker to put on the top pipe!!! Best kit on the market in my opinion.

thanks alot

 

[SallySpeed3]

By the way how the hell did you fix it on the side of the road without tools? That's impressive.

Haha, well desperation can make you do all kinds of things. Thanks to north jersey roads all my splashguards have been beat to s***, so I decided to not put them back on, so that gave me clearance to the pipes, although I had to lay down on the highway shoulder, Not something I would recommend. Didnt have a flat-head and my fingers couldn't get it tight enough so, by chance, I have my old cat Jimmy's ID tag on my key-chain....I know I know, sounds stupid, but hey whatever. It basically acted like a flathead and that was that. After typing it down it doesn't sound that impressive, lol

 

[Jdm_Mica]

thats a really nice kit! hmmm wonder if i should go ap or fmic first....

 

[RichB]

Haha, well desperation can make you do all kinds of things. Thanks to north jersey roads all my splashguards have been beat to s***, so I decided to not put them back on, so that gave me clearance to the pipes, although I had to lay down on the highway shoulder, Not something I would recommend. Didnt have a flat-head and my fingers couldn't get it tight enough so, by chance, I have my old cat Jimmy's ID tag on my key-chain....I know I know, sounds stupid, but hey whatever. It basically acted like a flathead and that was that. After typing it down it doesn't sound that impressive, lol

Now it all makes sense! Nothing like a little effort and a splash of creativity to get you back home!

 

[SallySpeed3]

haha

 

[anm6]

Haha, well desperation can make you do all kinds of things. Thanks to north jersey roads all my splashguards have been beat to s***, so I decided to not put them back on, so that gave me clearance to the pipes, although I had to lay down on the highway shoulder, Not something I would recommend. Didnt have a flat-head and my fingers couldn't get it tight enough so, by chance, I have my old cat Jimmy's ID tag on my key-chain....I know I know, sounds stupid, but hey whatever. It basically acted like a flathead and that was that. After typing it down it doesn't sound that impressive, lol

I know exactly what you mean, Same thing happened to me in my Evo8, After I installed my Greddy went out on the Mass pike and BOMB Lower pipe came off, Laid in the break down lane with a flash light.. LOL All tho I had tools in the trunk, I must if you own a DSM,,

 

[zx2man]

Looking pretty good there Sally..very nice..Hopefully I dont have any fitment prablems with my Jbarone shifter weight. I can be one creative sob when I want to though

 

[jay32m]

Looks good Sally. I did the same when I first WOT it, makes you kind of scared to floor it again but once you get things tighten down make make your first good wot without anything popping off you will feel better about flooring it lol. Just in case I do carry a small suitcase-like of tools lol.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Thanks guys. Haha yeah, I went WOT yesterday for a datalog and everything was fine, but I will now have a mini ratchet set in my trunk at all times.

 

[Sport6]

Do you remember the shipping method? I am still waiting on mine.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Do you remember the shipping method? I am still waiting on mine.

Well, all in all it took about 3 weeks for me to get mine. Will come in 3 packages. The tubes and couplers came about 4-5 days after order using UPS but the pipes weren't powdercoated. Gave them back to Ken at the mazda meet a week later. Core finally arrived a few days after that and then the pipes were shipped overnight by Fedex. Just keep in touch with Ken and everything will be alright.