I was thinking today, why pay 1500 for a greddy FMIC when i can make my own for less than half that. I was thinking of just taking the stock IC out of a Grand National for example, it is many times larger than the stock POS, and find someone to bend some pipe for me, voila, i got a FMIC (i do realize that i wil lhave to think of a way to mount it and such, but i will take things one at a time) what does everyone think of this, i mean all an IC is is a radiator for air, why pay 1500 for one? let me know what you think.

 

do what you want. There is a reason you pay so much for IC's like the Blitz one. I contemplated the same question and bought an HKS FMIC.

 

What is the reason for paying so much?

 

It's always easier said than done. If you are a do it yourself person go for it, it's really not all that hard, but don't think for a second it's going to be super easy unless you have a mandrel bender and a few other tools handy.

 

i never thought it would be easy, its just that 1500 dollars, why?

 

i spent about $1100 - $1300 on my custom setup. its hard man. . . if youre going to do it, you have to be innovative and make it worthwhile. dont just go out there and slap something together. thats when you run into problems later on down the road, or it ends up looking like doodoo. you have to do it right. . . and thats where the money is spent.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...light=gtr+core

actually, i may have spent more. . . i never added it ALL up. theres a lot of labor included as well.

paul

 

Because they use thick, custom sized cores which would cost you $400-$800.
The weld mounts right where you need them.
They also use a $30,000 pipe bending machine to bend the pipes so they fit just right and have max flow. In most cases the pipes are hand polished, which isn't the most fun thing to do.
They come with radiator relocation brackets and hard lines.
Some kits also include power steering loops, new battery hold down or A/C parts.
They also include couplings and all the connectors to connect everything together down to the last bolt.
R&D isn't free and these places are in business to sell you things and make money.

 

Exactly, you get to have the pride of something you did as well as have something custom, but most people wouldn't want to do that. You have to ask yourself is it worth all the trouble? Paul, I'm sure you looked back a few times and said to yourself, "would have been a lot quicker and easier to go with a kit."
And it most cases you don't end up saving all that much. Sure you could throw a bunch of junk yard parts together with scraps of metal and pvc pipe, but it's not the same thing as the $1,500 IC kit you think is a ripoff.

 

oh, i agree. SEVERAL TIMES, i looked back and said. . . just get the greddy kit, but i knew that my kit was superior to the greddy kit. thats why i kept going. . . that and the fact that nobody would buy my core. hahahahhaa.

i have a lot of pride in my setup, i know there arent too many out there like mine. thats cool. . . to me. . . not so much everyone else.

when tackling this sort of thing. . . you HAVE to take in account the amount of work it takes to do this. . . and it IS A LOT!!!!

paul

 

The fact that you have no clue what you are getting into indicates to me that you should just buy a kit....besides the smaller Greddy for the stock twins is under $1000, I believe. Or you could pick up a used FMIC or SMIC for under $1000.

 

yea, it looks like i will end up getting a used one, thanks, also, if i will eventually convert to single turbo and i want a FMIC, i currently will have non-seq conversion, is there anything i could buy that would support both, or should i just wait to get a single turbo to get a FMIC

 

What kind of single turbo are you going to use?

 

hell if i know, i have not researched it yet, i will probably do that when the time comes that i have the money for it, any recommendations, i am looking for a reliable 400 horse street car

 

The GM Z06 kit is in your future!

 

are you saying its not a plausible thing to want? i mean obviously i know what comes with the rotary, but is that really not realistic?

 

well I did my own v- mount intercooler and it wasn't that bad. I actually got lucky because evrything just fell together pretty nice.
I used an intercooler that the core was 7"x13"x3" w/aluminum end tanks. so its bigger than the stock (5"x12"x3") and opens up the flow for the radiator.
I didn't go really big on the size because I'm running the stock turbos at near stock boost levels yet its bigger than the stock without the crappy plastic end tanks so its getting better cooling.
I had a Radiator shop that works with aluminum weld a bracket on the front top of the intercooler and weld bigger inlet/outlet pipes, and a exhaust shop weld sections of pipe together to make everything come together and fit. I don't know how much it has helped but it has helped with the engine temps as far the temp gauge goes and because I didn't go really big on the intercooler I didn't lose any boost pressure, I'm still making 11-12lbs of boost.
its not as pretty as the aftermarket intercoolers but the functionality is still there, so if money is tight you can definatly do it yourself.

 

No, I was just being an @$$ as always.
Almost all of the turbos can give you that with the right supporting mods. You may want to research whats need to mate IC's to single turbos, to save yourself trouble later.
GReddy, A'PEXi, Blitz kits can come with piping for the stock twins or single turbo. GReddy kits mate to GReddy turbo kits, etc...

 

Everything has been fabbed for you, engineered, and made sure to fit. With custom, you need the cash to pay for welding and/or bending, if you can't do either yourself.
For example, It took me 5 hours to fit/weld custom piping from my mid pipe to my muffler. Now imagine something less forgiving like working with piping in an engine bay. WOW is all I can say.
I'd much rather go for something that is guaranteed to work as opposed to learning the hard way. Not that I am lazy or anything, but something that big I'd rather pay to have someone engineer it for me . Also, because I just don't have that kind of spare time.
hope that helps...
and this is my opinion... lol

 

i suppose you are right

 

Ehhh. . . just from reading blown motor stories, and engine failure stories, the general rule of thumb is reliability goes downhill once you pass the 325 rwhp mark. . . . . If you wanna call stock reliable. . . .

 

It is hard to do your own unless you have all the tools (or know people who do). I did my own with a good condition used one off ebay but mounting, and making the pipes work (and still close the hood) tood some time and cost more than I expected. There was also the unexpected things such as a battery change and making my own air duct (SMIC). By the picture you can see that it is show looking quality but it does work well. I spent about $700 in all (aluminum tubing, couplers, new battery, and misc. parts). In retro, I would go with a good SMIC under a $1000 and sell it on ebay when you upgrade to single turbo and then get a good FMIC too.

 

I looked at a lot of ICs and I agree that the prices out there can be stupidly high, so I ended up doing all my own kit , it was easy as pie and the result was stunning.
Do it urself!!!

 

buy my greddy 2 row with onlt 350 miles. comes with everything (ps line, all brackets and clams, piping, ect) for 675 plus shipping. cheap and no headaches. Mike

 

I did my own custom FMIC. It uses an apexi gt core, which if I'm not mistaken was the same one paul used. I made all the ic and radiator brackets and had the piping done through the mail and obviously just bought the couplers and clamps. Once I had it mounted I molded dryer ducting to the shape of the piping that I needed, wrapped the ducting in duct tape so it would hold its shape and sent them to the pipe guy on ebay: ubendman. I also had him weld on my bov. all in all I actually only ended up saving a few hundred bucks doing it this way, but like others pointed out now I can look at it and get that warm fuzzy feeling knowing I made it myself. My entire setup is actually my custom job...lots of fun..also I've probably cursed more and bloodied my knuckles more in the past year than in the rest of my life combined.