im putting a xs t04s in my 93 , what type of fmic , and if i should change to 3mm apex seals or not ?

 

Its not necessary as long as your tuning is good, you will be running some type of standalone right?

 

you dont need 3mm seals as long as your car is tuned properly, and you dont detonate. bigger seals do not protect you from bad tuning.

as for ICs go...it depends on how much boost you plan on running. for example, if you plan on running >15 pounds, dont get a GReddy 2 Row. any FMIC will do, and there is no significant performance differences between the brands. or if you want, you can get a custom FMIC made. this usually will cost less than the brand name kits, but you need someone that knows what they are doing.

 

It isn't that easy to just 'install 3mm seals'.

The seal depends on what you want from the car. If you are swapping parts often, then check out the Hurley seals. They allow more preignition than others.

If you have more consistancy, and wanting that little extra power, go with the 3mm Ceramic seals.

As far as an intercooler goes, its all about efficency. JoeD made a good point about boost pressure. What do you plan on running?

Keep in mind, that if you purchase a Greddy 2 row/Apexi FMIC and sometimes run in excess of 15 psi, it will be fine. It is not like the IC isn't going to work. Rather, it will just be less efficient at those ratings giving less than optimal power.

The Greddy 3 row intercooler has the same idea. If consistanly running less than 15psi of boost, it will still work A.OK. Rather, it will have more of a pressure drop.

Either way; Good luck!

 

coulda sworn that 3 piece 2 mm seals seal better than 3 mm seals so they 2mm equpied motor would be making more HP if everything else was exactly the same

 

i am going to run it at 15-16 psi

 

From what I understand, the 3 piece seals seal better at lower rpms. You will get better idle at vacuum with them. The 2 piece seals tend to seal better at higher rpms but will not seal as well at lower rpms. I agree with your statement about the 2mm seals sealing better than 3 mm seals. Mazda switched back to 2 mm seals because the springs can apply more force per square units of area on the 2mm apex seals than they can on the 3 mm seals. This creates better sealing while sacrificing a some apex seal strength. If this is wrong then someone please correct me but this is what I understand from talking to different people on the subject.