FMIC or Sti8 TMIC for 340bhp??
 

Im looking for around 340bhp and similer torque using a TD05 16g; but need to know what is best to go for/peoples preferences are for the intercooler? Sti8 TMIC or FMIC? I am on a pretty tight budget, so could do with it being as cheap as possible!!

Cheers

Both will do the job - go for the cheapest option :thumb:

good things have been said about peoples cars with sti8 tmic and a tdo5!! i had my sti8 intercooler when i had a 20g turbo and it was great :D

Done both.........preferred the TMIC

Martin

Well, I got an FMIC because they had got so cheap it didn't make any sense to fit an STi 8 TMIC which seemed in some ways like more work to make it fit. Having fitted the FMIC I've got to say the chargecooling performance is spectacular compared to my old v4 TMIC. But I've had to do a fair bit of work to get it in and wonder if I would have been better to go for the STi 8 instead.

Bottom line was that at the time I made the decision, an STi 8 TMIC plus all the associated fitting hassles was just too expensive in money and time. If they came down to under £100 then it would be worth thinking about again. IMHO

If i was starting my car again, i would go for an STI 8 top mount for up to about 350bhp.
Wouldn't really bother with a FMIC unless your aiming for about 400bhp or more IMHO.
My plan is now to go for 450+ eventually so the FMIC will be ok for my future plans.

Front mounts worth doin,if you can fit it yourself to save on the fitting cost,and it looks and sounds brill!!!,also they are a lot better if you like driving fast -long distance say over 120mph the top mount suffers as its said the air goes over the top of the vent rather than through it.:)

The STi IC DOESNT suffer over 120 mph - on a newage car

On a classic car then the air intake does have to be set up correctly over the TMIC.

nick

YOU CAN GET A DECENT FRONT MOUNT FOR £315 AT THE MOMENT GOT A DEAL WITH HARVEY ON MY GROUP BUY BE QUICK THIS IS A ONE TIME OFFER ON THESE GT SPEC OR MONSTER SPEC NOT AUTOBAHN 88 ONES

https://www.scoobynet.com/group-buys...ml#post6928854

KIP :thumb:

Did my V8 and hit 400bhp for a short time, and that is the problem, heat soak and 1.5 bar
Fitted a Harvey Hybrid and it will hit 400 every time for ages and 1.6 bar

My vote is the FMIC, BUT it makes a mess of the engine bay.(IMHO)

Graham

If you intend driving the car hard for long periods, say lots of trackdays or autobahn runs then go for the FMIC, especially if your ECU isn't the later type that monitors inlet temps and has better knock correction. Otherwise at 340HP the STI8 TMIC is more than adequate

The cheapest option will be the tmic from a newage sti, the front ones will cost alot more for a good quality one and also with the top one u can fit it yourself very easily

Don't you suffer more lag with a front mount though?

IMHO that is a myth.

The V8 TMIC soaks up all the engine heat rapidly. You cannot cool that down quickly as the shear weight of the TMIC indicates the heat that the aluminium can absorb. The crimped construction can lead to one of the end cases leaking as water spray corrodes the crimp fingers locally.

To 350 or 1.5 bar the V8 is great in 'normal' driving with the occasional blat.
Looks stock and is 'easy' to fit when all the welding and cutting is done.

The FMIC is lighter and with hard pipes the lagg increase is hard to see/feel if at all.
Fitting is awkward and you need to fit a cone inlet filter which butchers the engine bay further, AND you need to get cold air to it, so install is quite a bit harder.
The intercooler is all welded so will take more pressure,it is in the cold airstream and well away from the engine heat.
At slow and high speeds the airflow is over the whole surface and can flow through/out of the matrix with ease.
I have water spray on mine to increase the cooling too.

When i hillclimb the car I add ice cubes to the spray water tank to chill the water further, but only when i race, never on the road as I never race on the road! :D

Graham.

Typical hillclimb blast;
Video of Graham - DCCD!? - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I am going back to a TMIC becuase I dont like the lag from my FMIC. Will let you know how different it feels in the coming weeks!

Did you re-map after fitting the FMIC?

I'll be getting a FMIC for my Classic.

1) Faffing around with the Sti8 intercooler fitting etc wouldn't work out much cheaper than a good FMIC

2) A TMIC regardless of how good is still in the wrong place as far as heatsoak is concerned

3) I'm lead to believe that a properly mapped one doesn't add significantly to lag, and since I have a VF35, its not like it's laggy to begin with

4) A FMIC keeps things safer at high speed cruises in a classic.

5) They look good!! :norty: :lol1:

I too am seriously considering returning to a TMIC on a version 8 STI. I had a FMIC fitted and it has made the throttle response much poorer and pickup after in-gear changes slower, despite mapping by Bob Rawle (one of the best mappers around). Yes, if you're pushing 400+bhp and intend on trackday use, I agree that a FMIC will keep the charge temps cooler and allow you to run a more agressive map. But for road use, with frequent gear chages, a TMIC car is more responsive and rewarding to drive and with less lag during gear changes, I would imagine it would actually be quicker on a twisty B road than a similarly specced car running a FMIC - my 2p worth

Right-0, my heads well and truly baffled now!! Im thinking along the lines of FMIC; but am still not sure!

What is a good induction kit to use when adding a FMIC?

Which FMIC did you have mate?

ns04

Hybrid - with the VF35 turbo. With the FMIC, the turbo stills spools up just as low in the rev range as it ever did; it's just that when changing gears at higher revs, there's now a noticeable lag (perhaps a quarter to a half second) between planting the throttle again and waiting for the car to pick up and go ...

I have the Greddy FMIC and have had it on for a couple of years, mapped by Bob as always.

As said by lunar tick, its the lag between gear changed when it has to re-pressurise the whole system again before you get full boost. I was out for big power figures a back when I had it fitted + I used to track it a couple of times a year. I dont track it now and the feel of the car is more important than a figure on paper.

911 - I would disagree with you regarding the lag, I remember it making a noticable difference on mine when I had the FMIC fitted but I beared with it, I can only add strength to my arguement when I change back though. I also use uprated headers even though these were added at a later date.

My view is that unless you want 400 bhp or you track your beast dont bother with a front mount the money could be spent better else where.

For that sort of power and as a daily driver the TMIC is by far your best and cheapest option. If Inlet temps really concern you then fit a spray system or uprate it if already in place. You can use a 50/50 mix of water and methanol for track use or prolonged high speed runs as well to safe guard.

The other downside to going FMIC on a daily driver which no one has mentioned is that you lose any of your front impact protection. Any form of reasonable impact is more than likely going to render an FMIC useless. Scaremongering maybe but imagine someone with a towbar reversing into you in a parked space a 5/10 mph. Not going to do it much good.

Right then, thats more or less changed my mine, im gonna go for an Sti 8 jobby. Now the task of finding one!

What would you say is a good price to get one for? There's a mint one on ebay now; but its at £200 for the starting bid, seems a bit high to me? Does anyone know where theres any for sale at the mo?? I

have cash waiting...

Cheers

You have PM matey :)

I sold mine for £200 a few months back so bid late you may get it. I have now got a top mount APS intercooler and my intercooler spray is now auto. Some say APS has heat soak but I have not experienced that in the last year including the record hot summer last year in all kinds of driving conditions long motorway to traffic! I have 350 - 360 bhp on my my53 UK STI (mapped at Powerstation) I also have the APS cold air induction kit to the inner wing. I may go up to 400bhp but I don't think anymore as I think c400Bhp with a 18G turbo is the most I can hope for and to keep lag to a minimum for a daily driver. My boost at max is 1.42 bar. c1.4 bar is what should be aimed for really.

Reano - what's involved in converting the inercooler spray to auto. Does it kick in under full throttle/boost?
Cheers, Andy

the wrc boys are only running 300bhp on their rally cars and they have front mounts :D

i recently put a hybrid rs intercooler on my classic and it out performs the larger aps tmic i had on ;)

interesting thread :)

i have a P1 STI6 TMIC on my car and tbh the heatsoak is truely shocking, Id say I get a couple of blasts before its soaked where the car is really rapid (mine is circa 320-330bhp) but after 10 mins or so the performance is nowhere near what it was and the temps are sky high!

I thought the STi6 would be good, but Ive seen no difference in this compared to my last intercooler (standard my99 WRX)....

Im really tore between 2 minds, do I take a gamble on an STi8 TMIC, which will no doubt give me similar issues that im having, or do I go the group buy FMIC route??

Very interesting mate. I've E-mailed Bob about this -and a few other issues- today. I guess the problem is that people are isolating the TMIC/FMIC they use without also stating their other mods, which presumably could make all the difference in how the FMIC works.

My understanding is that a good FMIC would allow my MY99 to run safer at its current level of tune (320bhp) than any top mount (and certainly the std one on there at the moment). I also understand it's much better suited to sustained high speed cruising and stops intake temps from rising significantly regardless of how hard you're driving it, something that TMICs are inherently not as good at. I also understand that the car can be tuned for a little more power as a result of the above (less important to me than having the car running nice and safe though).

As for impact protection: Well, don't crash!! :lol1:

Ns04