Rex4Life

Thought I'd post this over in the 2nd gen section also, maybe some of you guys could use the info. Hopefully on the next hot Texas summer day I'll get some intake temp data. Also the best turbo critics are here--you guys have been a lot of help on technical matters. Keep in mind this is installed in a S3 so things are a little different and no kits exist for a FMIC.

Post from " The Chronicles of a Turbo II Swap" thread in 1st gen section:

Well I finally have a working intercooler. Broke down and decided to install a Porsche 944 FMIC--couldn't make myself cut into that perfect hood to put in a scoop.

My design goals were:

1) None to minimal impact on oil/coolant temps.
2) Keep A/C, P/S, and battery locations.
3) Use aluminum piping to avoid rust (a must in Houston).

I got a good deal on E-bay--$140 but it has a small dent that can't be seen.



And a few pics of the 2-1/2" intercooler piping and FMIC installed. I know the IC is not necessarily the best, but it fit in my budget and as you can see it fits very well in the stock FB front air duct. Note the N/A oil fill pipe vs. the stock T2 pipe.







I purchased all the piping, hoses and clamps from Road Race Engineering. They have really good prices for mandrel bent aluminum tube. Their main focus is Mitsubishi Eclipse mods but they have a DIY section to buy stuff like this.

If I had to do it over, I would buy that new fiberglass T2 hood from New York Mustang (at the time I started I didn't know it was available). Installing this FMIC was ALOT of work--a real lot of work. If you can't do pipe fitting and design stay away from this job. Now if you don't have A/C and P/S and relocate the battery, the job will be much easier but still nearly the same cost.

Overall cost was about $762: 944 IC=$120; piping, hoses, clamps=$380; welding=$110, N/A oil fill pipe=$12, P/S cooling coil=$25, battery=$60, misc=$55.

You can't go anywhere and buy a FMIC kit for an FB. This was not cheap at all but I got a quality install and it appears to work very well. The TMIC would be maybe a few $100 less but would work no where near as good. The P/S cooling coil was removed and I installed a new one from Summit (This one actually has fins on it). Also, I had to fabricate a new battery tray and purchase a smaller battery of the same capacity.



This was one real expensive and PITA part of the project, however, this FMIC works good--but I don't have any hard numbers to put out yet. The outlet seems to be near ambient and the inlet is warm to hot. So far I haven't noticed any turbo lag. About 1/3 of the IC is obscured by the front bumper--but--the stock FB inlet vane grill (not shown) will install with minor changes and help move more air into the FMIC. I still need to fab up a front license plate bracket and I might also add some ducting to improve the airflow.

And another pic of the engine bay from above.



Now I'm ready to up the boost a little but first I need to get a descent boost controller. Will update when I get more info--almost done--whoo hoo!

Scott

cwsttu

awesome... nice car man... i love first gens... if i actually found a clean one around here i would buy it in a hearbeat... but props on your car

Audiofight

very nice, a turbo FB will be extremely quick and responsive.

My buddy owns an FB and his car feels soooo much more responsive than my FC. May have something to do with the 400lbs he is missing

Looks really nice and clean thus far. Keep me posted as I am considering doing some major mod work to my N/A FC (either turbo or supercharge it this coming winter)

Rxmfn7

iTrader: (4)

Very nice job, good to see some people can still do things on their own. If I may make one suggestion, it would be to buy an aftermarket throttle body adapter that comes stright out, so that you dont have that abrupt 180* bend right at the TB inlet. Other than that , looks great You may want to invest in a small welder to do jobs like this, it will pay itself off after a while, and really comes in handy.

luiml73

iTrader: (1)

Damn, that thing is pretty thick!!

Nice work

RotaryRyan

you took the words right out of my mouth!

1984se

whoa ! ! Power steering too... NICE !

coldy13

Very nice, that thing is thick as ****! After running it hard feel the intake manifold and let me know how cool it is. For my FMIC I welded two TII intercoolers together. After running my car hard my intake manifold is COLD, it even has water condensing on it, and this when it's 85deg outside. I'm gonna have problems with ice forming on it during the winter. I'd like to know if it's normal for it to be that cold, or if mine just cools insanely well for some reason.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Is that even possible? I didn't think you could get any colder than ambient with an intercooler, unless you pack it with ice or something.

coldy13

I didn't think so either. All I know is my manifold is COLD and has beads of water on it.

pengarufoo

it's possible if your intercooler is in ambient air that is significantly cooler than your engine bay air surrounding the intake manifold, I wouldnt be worried about icing though because it sounds like the engine bay is toasty.

coldy13

Yeah, engine bay is toasty. No heat shield above the turbo, but the bottom 1/2 of the manifold is wrapped in heat wrap. I'm not too worried about the under hood temps though, since the engine temp always stays exactly where it should be and I know my intake temps are cold.

snake eyes<l><l>

sweetass, u gotta bring that to a houston club meeting

<l><l>

1sgen

iTrader: (1)

very nice setup and good choice on the ic i think its one the best "factory" intercoolers out there , the core is good and shold flow plenty. i had a volvo intercooler on my 1stgen also running a microtech and was watching the air temps going up like cray the cooler was big but not efficient so measured that room in the front and got a 19"x13"x3" and the temps went down like crazy, my present ic has similar core like yours.
one suggestion though is to get the N\A plastis elbow that goes on the throttle body and nstall it on yours. it will fit straight on and it has a 3.5" outlet which is great.the thing is you have to go back to the turbo oil filling tube.
and dont worry , money well spent the top mount is worthless.

Rex4Life

Yea I thought about it--would save me 90*, but the AC compressor (not shown) is in the way. I could have had a custom one made up but didn't want to go thru all the trouble. I still haven't reinstalled the AC but I did check all the clearances and it will be OK. Closest interference is the AC belt. The best way would have been just put a FD or Cosmo motor in, they have the TB that sweeps around to the front.

Well the IC outlet is cool and the manifold/pipe is warm but not hot. I think I may have a boost leak or the pipe is just getting heat soaked. A few more weeks and I'll have a better idea how well it works.

I'll try to go in the near future. Been wanting to--just busy finishing up the car, lots of OT at work and summer stuff with the family.

Scott

CarlRx7

true, and intercooler with 100% effiency can only drop the temps to ambient temp, but a in a vacumm temps drop also, so if the temp is the same as outside and your engine is pully lots of vaccum then your manifold will sweat.

my sidedraft manifold does the same thing untill the engine is warmmed up and the manifold gets head soaked, but before that it freezes up reall good at idle in the winter! it sucks

Carl.