Valkyrie

Can someone tell me if the newer Greddy FMIC kits let you keep your air conditioning?

I take it that it doesn't work as well as stock if it does... what if you install a fan?

warlock78

mine is a sniper racing kit, which i believe is a greddy copy. still have air con connected, it's never worked since I've had the car, but it is there.

Valkyrie

I was wondering if those eBay kits were any good.

How is it?

It might be cheaper to buy one of those than to buy a used Greddy kit here because of the high Yen... plus, none of the used kits every come with all the brackets and bolts.

Valkyrie

Come of think of it, does it let you keep your washer fluid bottle and pump?

Rob XX 7

iTrader: (8)

greddy does, you move the coolant overflow a little, and yes you can keep the AC, not sure about the battery though

the brackets are not a big deal, one is welded to the IC itself so that one cant go nowhere unless someone cuts it off, and the bottom is a very simple bracket if I remember it right.

MMoore4545

iTrader: (7)

The ebay kits are okay.
On mine the compression tube was poorly made, had to re-drill the holes.
Intercooler was a little lacking in quality control, a few rows of fins weren't sandwiched straight in.
The piping was pretty perfect though.

I've not had much experience with the actual Greddy kit, but with the ebay kit you get to hack up your bumper, loose your fogs (S5) and loose your crash bumper with it.
Honestly couldn't imagine there would be a difference between the two in terms of dimensions though.

The intercooler was way to big for what I needed, and made my electric fan work extra hard.
I couldn't imagine it keeping up with the a/c condenser dropping lots of hot air over the radiator.

You can physically keep your A/C, I didn't have any interference with my ebay "Greddy Kit," though my a/c was removed after installation of the front mount.
My windshield washer fluid stayed where it was.

Battery needs to be relocated from the factory position.

Don't remember if I moved my coolant overflow one notch over or not.

I ended up ditching my ebay fmic (just sitting in the garage), re-installing my a/c and replacing it with a top mount with alcohol injection.

Valkyrie

I'm pretty sure you've got to cut your bumper either way.

Plus, if you don't open up a new hole in it, you won't get as much airflow.

DR_Knight

iTrader: (23)

like the above ^ post. im running a ebay greddy kit.. it's only $350.00. it's really not that bad, but even though i am running a 3" fluidyne radiator, i still have slight issues with water temps... and that's without air conditioning.

what size turbo are you going with?
is the boost pressure or turbo size too great for a stock topmount?

i'm running a stock turbo with the greddy replica kit, and its a considerable amount of lag. only reason im using a stock turbo is because my old setup was a t3/t4 pushing 15 lbs, and i wanted maximum cooling. plus i drift, and i did not want to suffer from heatsoaking the intercooler.

power increase was very noticible, no dyno results. turbo lag was somewhat noticible.

top mount with alcohol injection does sound like the main contender

Valkyrie

Temperature problems while driving hard, at freeway speeds, or while idling in traffic?

Because I think if it's while driving at speed, getting a front lip would make a difference. Taping up the ducts might help too.

My air conditioning has never worked very well for very long, but that's because I installed it myself from junkyard parts, and never bothered to install an electric fan on the condenser, or replace the leaking compressor. I think I had to flush and fill the system about three times... sigh.

Somehow I managed to pick a parts car with the dealer-installed version of the air conditioning system, which isn't compatible with the parts from the right year...



Anyway,

I'm thinking of swapping a turbo into my NA, and I figure I'd just assume get an FMIC than having to source a TII hood.

Plus, having the FMIC means I have more room to work with as far as boost goes with the stock turbo.... one less thing to worry about.

(Plus it looks cool)

I don't want to deal with injecting anything into my engine besides fuel and oil.

It sounds to me like the smaller-sized Greddy core might be a better match for a stock turbo. IIRC it comes in two sizes. Don't know which size the eBay guys copied.

warlock78

i did have a few fitting issues also. compression tube holes required opening up. also, the pipe that goes past power steering pump needed to be bashed in to fit, as the kit was made for s5, not s4. had to relocate coil packs, trim a corner off the battery tray, and lots of front bar trimming!!! also had to move a couple of emission controls. didn't have to touch washer bottles or anything, but in saying that, there may be differences between u.s and aus spec models.

MMoore4545

iTrader: (7)

I had temp problems, oil and coolant, at freeway speeds and driving hard.
Idling my fan could handle it fine. The intercooler just blocked way too much airflow.


I added a splitter, and ducting, it helped a little bit. Not enough to make me comfortable in the North/South Florida Summers. I considered adding a second air dam/scoop underneath the intercooler to toss some fresh air into the radiator but I never got around to it.

Looking at hoods vs FMIC I had the same debate, since my car is swapped too.
The hood is marginally harder to source, put up a wanted ad in your regional forum, it took me less than two weeks to find one, and pick it up. for free. (Swapped my N/A Hood) Also, if you end up wanting the n/a hood back, people generally prefer the TII so it shouldn't be a problem.

I was running 10psi on a BNR stage 1 on the top mount before adding alcohol injection. I think for our little factory-ish turbos the top mount is fine.

Also to address the issue of the "heat soaked top mount" I've never really had issues with it. I've had my car waiting on a track just after a run, the intake temps can get up there while idling after beating on it(130ish*F at the throttle body), but as soon as I got moving again they drop really really quickly.

Valkyrie

BTW, what were your actual temperatures?

Because generally oil is OK to about 230 (over 260 means you will need to change the oil) , and water is good till a little lower...

How much hard driving exactly? Like, several laps of a track driving worth, or just a few bursts?

Valkyrie

Also, is your bumper stock or cut open for better airflow?

MMoore4545

iTrader: (7)

I cut the front bumper up, had a lip, and had ducting between the bumper/intercooler/radiator.

Don't have any pictures of the front mount and lip though. But here's the extent that I cut. The most annoying thing about trimming the bumper was that I had to trim the area around the fog lights too so now they don't quite look right anymore.



I saw consistent temps around 195ish while just driving in the city.
There were a few days where it creeped higher to 215-220 during a two hour trip.
Oil temps liked to sit right around 200 during cruise.
Air temps were around ambient though, I guess that was the good news

Beating on it at the local drift course, (~2 minute lap) with a Taurus fan on highspeed the entire time. (Fan normally set to come on 185 via megasquirt) Saw oil temps of over 250 and the car actually came right up to ~220 coolant wise. Air temps were around 110-115.

The track temps were tolerable, having to stop between laps with a hose on the radiator/oil cooler wasn't fun though.

What worries me is the cruise temps, so much air is blocked by that huge core on the highway I don't think I can really recommend the kit for an a/c car. I will be getting another front mount, don't get me wrong, but I will just put it together myself, with a much much smaller core.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

V mount!