Going to be installing an FMIC. What are the plus and minus of each?

I can get a local muffler shop to weld the piping for a little over a hundred bucks.

or

I could get a FMIC kit from ebay along with some good silicone couplings for about $200 or maybe a little more.

I could see the advantages of having it welded is that there would be no leaks, cheaper, have them do the install.
Downside would be that it could not be removed unless cut and it would be welded to the fmic.

Does anyone have their system welded together? IOr would the Ebay route be the best way?
Thanks.

 

Most ebay kit's don't use very high qualily silicone couplers. And you'll have to buy seperate T-bolt clamps.

Cons for this way, theres a huge possibility that you will have one blow off once in a while. I'd weld all the ones that you can, without losing the ability to take them out.

 

i prefer welding as much of it as possible, more couplers means more chances of one blowing off.

 

also, you have to have a few silocone jointis in the piping somewhere, same reason as having rubber motor mounts, the motor twists, so there has to be flex in the piping somehwhere, otherwise, you'll start to see cracks in the piping........

personal opinion......

muffler shop ..... there is no way you'll get a muffler shop to do a full fmic for 100 bucks (at least the right way) ...for $100 youll probubly get wrinkle bent piping... u-bends alone are like 25-40 a piece, and youll need a few of those..... plus the piping is just plain ugly!

ebay piping..... alot prettier, very cost effective, but i would recommend getting everything cut..THEN going to a muffler shop, and having them weld a few of the pipes together (less solicone to blow off like karack said)..... and since its already polished, you'll have the bling!

hell, if your too lazy to do it yourself (like me) .... buy the ebay kit, then go to the muffler shop w/ it, and have them do all the work w/ the ebay kit...... thats what im doing..... they are gonna charge $100 to use my kit, do the cutting, welding, and install (which isnt bad, labor rate here is $75 an hour)

 

most of the ebay piping is thin gauge polished crap, get the thick gauge aluminum piping or a few U bends from summit or jegs and cut the pipes yourself. mark the pipes with pointers for the welder and just have them weld the pipes together.

i believe we used 2mill thick piping for the aluminum stuff, the mild steel is about the same thickness but much easier to weld yourself since mig welders are a dime a dozen these days but you need a tig welder(welding shop) to do aluminum piping.

 

ive never seen a reason to use thich guaged metal for piping.... its not the piping thats the weak link on fmic's ... its the silicone conecting the 2 pipes ...... and ive been doing alot of research on this "thin" piping, and it seems to hold up just fine on 400+ hp cars... just ask sleeperfc ... thats what he bought, and it works great....

so what an Actual drawback to thin guaged piping? its not gonna burst.... it can handle 20+ lbs of boost, wont rust (if you get the plated piping) ..

 

much more susceptible to cracking and harder to weld with. pros is it probably can drop some heat through the thin gauge metal but it can also pick some up on the flip side. i wouldn't really worry about bursting but it will crack easier at the welds if put under any type of twisting stresses while the engine is torquing, i just feel the thicker guage aluminum will withstand the test of time better.

 

so where's the best place to buy2 mil aluminum piping? I have a guy local to me that has the machine to bend the pipe to whatever is needed, so all I really need is straight pipe. Anybody got a link to where I can buy this?

 

Thanks for all of the great inputs karack and vipers.
Javen, Karack suggested Jegs or Summit. I also see a few ebay kits with 2mm aluminum piping.

 

Use couplers at the TB elbow, at the turbo, at the intercooler, and anywhere the pipe has to pass through the car... That way it will be removable... Everywhere else it's better to just weld it...

Oh and as was already stated, the ebay kits don't come with REAL silicon couplers, so you're better off buying them through SARD, or another company that makes high quality silicon...

 

Do I need to purchase the "higgi elbow" off of these forums? Does that go onto the TB?

EDIT:
For those who ordered some silicone couplings, how many did you purchase? Were they 2in in length?

 

Either hIGGI, Greddy, FEED, whatever... I purchased the hIGGI elbow and it came in record time! 6 days from CZ!!!

 

(1) coupler for TB

(1) coupler for turbo

(1) coupler for intercooler hotside

(1) coupler for intercooler cold side

(1) coupler for where cold pipe comes through the body in the battery area

 

13b4me, Thanks alot man for all of your help. I'll get to ordering the parts

 

Take measuremements of all your fittings first... For example, where the turbo connects to the i/c piping, the TB elbow connection, etc... Some of them may need reducer couplers, depending on what turbo, pipe diameter, TB elbow, intercooler, etc, that you're using...

 

Oh and make sure you get a welder that has experience welding thin gauge aluminum, or you're gonna end up with a very nasty mess on your hands...

 

hey 13b4me, I had pmed you awhile back about the possibility of making intercooler piping kits. Is this something you're still thinking about doing?

Where can I find pics and a price for this Higgi elbow?

 

hIGGI is running a "kinda" group buy on the elbows RIGHT HERE...

We are still planning to make the kits, but I ended up getting rid of my car, so I have to wait until I pick my new 10AE up from TX before I'll get the chance to design a universal kit... If you'd like, you could bring your car down, and we'll make use your car to design the kit for a discounted price...

 

^^ dang beat me to it haha

Higgi, its a guy on the forum

 

PMing you now