Intercooler Advice

[Gr8Panoz]

Availability aside, I was considering an custommsp smic upgrade with hardpipes. Pricing-wise its close to a fmic. The guide for a daily driven msp thread states a fmic will cause me to lose some throttle response etc... It then states that new fmic i.e. turbolife etc... could solve that problem. I guess the question is this. If i were able to find a turbolife fmic would this be a better choice than an upgraded smic. Any pros or cons. I realize this is unique to a cars setup so for the record the car has a j-pipe back 3" exhaust and a lowering kit as the only mods ( that i know of ). Secondly, if the turbolife is a better choice whats the availablity like? Thanks in advance
Dave

 

[Gr8Panoz]

Oh and a cai. I think its a cheapy. no branding and the previous owner has it secured with some wire. this will be fixed, but since its functional it can wait.
Thanks again.
Dave

 

[theEZV]

the turbolife is a great kit. cant go wrong there. i believe he has a few extras from the current gb, i woould look into that first

keep watch on the "for sale" section, you can get a great deal on a used smic/hardpipes.

kinetic motorsports makes a great fmic also. its a little more expensive than a new smic/hardpipes combo

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

I would get the turbolife or a mental addiction FMIC.

 

[alca0811]

I never got around to installing my FMIC on my MSP. . . when I had it. . . but I would go with that. The Turbolife FMIC is a great kit, and highly recommended, but you could find a smaller IC and custom make the piping. Smaller cores will have less lag, and will not cause you to cut the crash bar. If you do a custom set-up, then IMO go with a 2.5 in hotpipe and 2.75 in coldpipe.

 

[Ricktalife]

Turbolife is king from what I hear. Like alca stated if you are okay with losing the crash bar then I do not see any cons with that kit. Yes, you probably will experience a little more lag than you would with a SMIC upgrade, but I'm told it is so minimal that it really isn't a factor. There are some who say if you are running under 10psi on the stock turbo you will benefit more from a SMIC but the fact is you will get much cooler air from a FMIC, regardless of the turbo size.

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

The MAM front mount intercooler is a really nice one also. I love my kit. And i get to keep my crash bar.

 

[alca0811]

Turbolife is king from what I hear. Like alca stated if you are okay with losing the crash bar then I do not see any cons with that kit. Yes, you probably will experience a little more lag than you would with a SMIC upgrade, but I'm told it is so minimal that it really isn't a factor. There are some who say if you are running under 10psi on the stock turbo you will benefit more from a SMIC but the fact is you will get much cooler air from a FMIC, regardless of the turbo size.

Just so there isn't any confusion, you will experience just as much lag with a SMIC upgrade as you would with a smaller IC set-up; but you still won't feel as much as the Turbolife set-up. Depending on what you are looking to do with your MSP is what set-up you should take a look at. If you are looking at upgrading the turbo to a larger snail and putting out "big" numbers, then yes, the Turbolife is the best bang for your buck. Moderate to good gains, but nothing over - example only - 275 HP, then a smaller FMIC set-up would be the best way to go. Trying to keep it a daily driver and not have to worry about taking everything off later on when you trade it - go with a custommsp SMIC.

 

[alca0811]

The MAM front mount intercooler is a really nice one also. I love my kit. And i get to keep my crash bar.

It is/was a great kit . . . but how often do you see them for sale on the FS threads??

 

[theEZV]

these turbos are tiny and spool up very qiuck, theres no lag. the turbolife has very short pipe routing as well. i felt absolutely 0 lag when i went from the stock smic to the turbolife.

i would go for the kinetic/ion kit instead of mam because of the shorter pipe routing.

corksport makes a nice kit as well

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

I cant tell that I have any turbo lag with the MAM kit. I love it, there is a reason that they don't come up in the forsale section that much. I had to piece together my kit but let me tell you it was worth it! BTW if anyone has a MAM intake ill buy it.

 

[Ricktalife]

Just so there isn't any confusion, you will experience just as much lag with a SMIC upgrade as you would with a smaller IC set-up; but you still won't feel as much as the Turbolife set-up. Depending on what you are looking to do with your MSP is what set-up you should take a look at. If you are looking at upgrading the turbo to a larger snail and putting out "big" numbers, then yes, the Turbolife is the best bang for your buck. Moderate to good gains, but nothing over - example only - 275 HP, then a smaller FMIC set-up would be the best way to go. Trying to keep it a daily driver and not have to worry about taking everything off later on when you trade it - go with a custommsp SMIC.

I was unaware of that.

OP: I may be upgrading to a FMIC soon, and if so I will have a SMIC upgrade and hardpipe setup for sale shortly after. That's all I'm going to say since this is not the For Sale section. If you are interested, shoot me a pm for details...but I'm going to bed now. lol

 

[yudkib]

myself and most insurance companies are extremely opposed to the removal of crash bars.
turbolife is hands down the best kit performance-wise but i personally would never ever install it.
im waiting on either a MAM or a hiboost kit.

 

[littlemimus]

hmm i think we need pics of those with different fmic kits

 

[Gr8Panoz]

Wow so many replies so quickly and some options i wasnt even aware of. I dont "plan" on ever getting rid of my msp. I love the exclusive-ness and IMO the car is dead sexy. Im put off a little by the big #'s talk from the reading i have done since a forged motor is well out of budget for at least a good while. Im still at a loss on the best option for me though. I would like to keep the crash bar since in order to purchase this car i had to convince her it was a good "family car".i noticed there was a fmic kit in the fs section but cant recall the branding. keep the info coming though this is all very helpfull. got some time for research.
Thanks
Dave

 

[theEZV]

how much $$ are you looking to spend?

 

[yudkib]

im glad to see youre putting time into doing research up front. i learn something new about these cars every day. (today it was the 626 oil filter is a direct fit)

the intercooler i saw in the FS section looked like it might have been a do-it-yourself with a garett core. probably a good setup at a pretty good price, but i dont know if the crash bar would have to be removed. i dont think it would but to know for sure you would have to ask the seller.

 

[Gr8Panoz]

Im certainly not made of money but 700-800 seems about ballpark. Im hoping when the cash is avail to also be able to buy a ss afc as the hesitation in boost really bothers me. need some gauges too so cheaper is better.
Thanks
Dave

 

[yudkib]

if you look hard enough, you could probably get a used split second v2, a used IC or a new one from altered customs, and a couple of autometers for around 800 bucks. i dont think you could squeeze a BOV in there though.

for gauges most people would recommend boost, wideband air/fuel, and oil pressure.

 

[Gr8Panoz]

The 700-800 was actually intercooler money. Im hoping to have more for the rest of the components, but thats good info. I never looked at altered customs fmic. Its cheap and i know you get what you pay for but is this a good kit?
Dave