Fitting a FMIC on a 555 - A long weekend special !
 

This thread is picture heavy so beware :)

Paulo Palmer has a 555 and has been wanting to fit a FMIC for ages now. He has had the core, pipework etc for a while and since it was the bank holiday weekend coming up, it seemed rude not to use the extra days for a spot of tinkering :D
I suggested he come over to mine as the driveway is large enough to accomodate a few cars and there was lots of room, plus I had tons of bits left over from me breaking my scoob a year ago so if we got caught short for parts, we had ample stock. Also bacon butties were on offer :D

Day 1 - was all about stripping the scoob and fitting of the FMIC, pipework and associated faffing.

Midday Paulo turns up and we set to work

Car up on stands ready to go

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/20a8cef7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/d3c520da.jpg

Lights out and wheels off

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/b7b861c2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/8e3354cb.jpg

TMIC out, battery, washer bottle and various other parts removed, wing off and bumper removed to see the state of the bumper bar

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/f51d28c4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/109009a9.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/401f21e1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/543eada6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/52787845.jpg

That is when we noticed the power steering oil cooler ! Bugger that thing is going to be a pain as it would kick the FMIC out too proud :mad:
The solution was to flip it over 180 degrees and mod the bracket so the oil cooler fitted flush against the air con rad giving enough clearance.

Then it was time to cut the bumper bar to fit the core, grinder out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/350f0ecf.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/41117c2d.jpg

Next up the access hole for the pipework, never a fun job as the access is a bitch and wiring looms etc to get in the way

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/89cdfd78.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/5e11a0d2.jpg
One mate, gossy to shield the paintwork from the sparks
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/645ec54e.jpg
He did get burnt in the process :lol1:
Paulo inspecting his handiwork and this was all filed and painted to stop any rust

Bumper bar drilled and core fitted

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/0cb1aeff.jpg

I fabricated a couple of ally strips to brace the core underneath the car

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/d482687a.jpg

Pipework in, bit of a pain through the wing section but we managed it

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/9fbd7c5c.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/17961d19.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/6e0cb98e.jpg

A lot of grinding on some of the corners

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/3480f365.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/b9ae045e.jpg

Finally all in !!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/0afc87ee.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/a7390149.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/89da8733.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/2cf9e93c.jpg

End of day 1 , knackered but well worth it. Cleaned up and the headed out for a well earned curry and a few beers :D



Day 2- was all about the bumper trimming, fitting, offering up, retrimming and plenty of 'whacking' action . Since this was Paulo's scoob, we left him to do most of the tricky bits :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/5231711c.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/61553f50.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/4df34e57.jpg

I couldnt resist adding my little touch to the front mount :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/0170c653.jpg

Finally we had the bumper on

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/b5f706af.jpg

Then everything was put back on which always takes longer than you think
Also took the opportunity to fit a cold air feed

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/7262416d.jpg


And finally after a day and a half, several cups of coffee, few bruises, cuts and grazed knuckles we were finished

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/25ab8e34.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/cc79edc1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/d56499bb.jpg

As you will see the FMIC being painted black gave the whole front end a real stealthy look :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...t/70533d06.jpg

Hope you like it and comments are always welcome :thumb:

Damn that pipework is nasty!

Hope Paul's going to get it powder coated of something.

And are you sure Gossy was protecting the paint, looks like he was angling for something else. ;)

Tidy work, looks good. :thumb:

Nice job again tony ! fitted mine quite easy really ,think the awkward bit of all is the bumper cutting noticed you uesd a grinder...! should have thought of that instead of a hacksaw blade with tape as a handle was a right pig doing it that way.

Another thing i noticed when i removed my front bumper i noticed the Bumper bar was rotten so located one on here when it came its the same as your mates with the extras bits at the bottom now my bumper dosnt sit right !!!!!!!

Any how nice work ..hows the sport coming on not heard much for a while .

good work

wish I had the confidence to fit mine, don't supposeyou are near hampshire? !

Chris is in High Wycombe.

You know Paul, he is not about the bling, he is all about the speed and getup 'n' go :D. Nasty looking pipework, dirty cars you name it does not bother him :D

Bang tidy job it was :D

Grinder and dremel are very useful mate :thumb:
Oh and a fair amount of balls :D

My sport ? Been bust as well mate, see here
https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...stage-2-a.html

In bucks mate, you need to cross our palms with money for that amount of dedication and a long weekend :D

Thanks for doing the writeup Chris and taking the photos, I forgot to take my camera :lol1: Luckily I remembered the intercooler though :D

Thanks for the comments, it was the 4th time I've fitted a front mount and it's easily the best one I've done :) I love the way the car looks now and all I need is a square number plate over the nearside foglight cover to complete it :) It's been a busy few days on the car with doing the 6 speed box with Rich from FB tuning and doing the front mount but it's all worth it :)

Paul :)

thats on pissed!

Great write up fella...

Not a fun job. Is the intercooler core in the centre? It looks like it is a bot to the passanger side

Nice job. What's next though, how to fit new brake discs?;)

I'm pretty sure it's in the centre and it's the fact that none of the shots are straight on that's giving it that impression. If not I'll adjust it because the holes are elongated :)

What's next is the new engine and I'll rebuild the front calipers and fit new disks :D No point fitting new disks when the calipers need attention when it's off the road.

good work,thanks for sharing.

Bumper bar measured for centre, core measured for centre. Dead centre mate :thumb:

Just my photo taking is on the piss :lol1:

You look fit as fook in them wee shorts:D

Take a look at the pics of my car for number plate placement.
It would look better than a square plate over the fog light cover.

nice job guys do you fancy doing mine lol

honestly tho it looks really well. will help me with mine when it come's to fitting it

Your garage on here is empty so I can't take a look at photos of your car. My sister runs a sticky number plate on her bonnet and that was my idea because I used to run one on my integrale but I'm open to suggestions because I've not bought a number plate yet :)

I still need to check the FMIC alignment because that wasn't my job, if it's not right I'll adjust it but I'm sure it's not far out. It won't take much to adjust it if it's slightly out and to be honest this was just a rough job until the new engine is fitted :) The pipework will either be painted or wrapped and I have another inlet manifold etc so I'm not bothered :)

Buddy, click onto my public profile and have a look at the picture album there.

That's exactly what we did with my sisters number plate, I fancy something different to hers :) Lovely brakes on your car :cool:

I think your options are slightly limited tbh.
1. mount a small plate on the bumper itself, something I thought of and then dismissed as it looks messy

2. Sticker plate on bonnet per z's wrx

3. Square plate over fog light