FMIC

[Alais DJA]

The Forge FMIC is £600 (ish)

Seen aftermarket one's for £300....

Baring in mind im only going up to 300bhp max.....what one do i get?

[S3featesV9]

Both probably cope with the same amount of bhp. Depends if your want to spend more or less. And both require modification to bumper. I'd go cheaper. Unless you want the big brand factor.

[Jimgrim77]

I dont have experience of others but I have the forge one and in one word...immense.

Its a Great bit of kit. Straight out of the box, onto the car and a perfect fit with no faffing. Takes about 2 hours to fit.

Major mid range range performance gain and similar to the downpipe upgrade as a comparison.

In life, More often than not, you get what you pay for. The decision is yours.

Hope that this helps.

Good luck with it.

[Alais DJA]

How much bumper work :-()

[Jimgrim77]

Both probably cope with the same amount of bhp. Depends if your want to spend more or less. And both require modification to bumper. I'd go cheaper. Unless you want the big brand factor.

Sorry.

I Thought it was an s3.

Not sure about a3 variation.

Apologies.

[<tuffty/>]

Stickies....

<tuffty/>

[Paradox1]

ths intercoolers are highly recommended on the 18t fwd setups. I have a eBay fmic but doubt it will handle 300bhp so I will just change the core to a slightly larger one.

you can buy the eBay intercooler pipes for 100 quid and get a decent larger for under 100quid

[HEKTOR]

another option - Wagner Tuning AUDI S3 8L Upgrade Intercooler Kit - 200001018 Not 100% on the fit, but would assume it could be modded like the forge one and fitted without to much trouble.

If you need anymore info, drop me a pm and i will ask my friend who works for wagner about this kit and his opinion on fitment.

[<tuffty/>]

The AH Fabs V2 should fit on that basis and would work out cheaper...

Not tried a V2 on an A3 as yet but can't see why it wouldn't fit... would imagine the bumper will need a little fettling as they would do to fit any large core to an A3...

Have fitted a deeper cored version of the Forge S3 FMIC to an A3 before and that needed a lot of trimming but the V2 is 62mm vs the 76mm of that particular one...

<tuffty/>

[krisrg87]

mate my head is fried after reading the fmic section, Fantastic stuff in there though but i still dont know which way to go haha. I would love to buy the forge and have everything i need all in one box but its mega bucks. Tuftys looks the more sensible option but i do like the look of the pipes showing.

Im aiming for around 300bhp too but all in good time.

[Alais DJA]

mate my head is fried after reading the fmic section, Fantastic stuff in there though but i still dont know which way to go haha. I would love to buy the forge and have everything i need all in one box but its mega bucks. Tuftys looks the more sensible option but i do like the look of the pipes showing.

Im aiming for around 300bhp too but all in good time.

Well, the way it is now ->

£300 kit from ebay
£??? AH Fabs V2
£600 + Forge......

Also, how "difficult" are these to fir scale 1- 10

Marcus

[<tuffty/>]

Well, the way it is now ->

£300 kit from ebay
£??? AH Fabs V2
£600 + Forge......

Also, how "difficult" are these to fir scale 1- 10

Marcus

AH Fabs V2 is around 350/400 mark iirc plus cost of hoses...

All the fitting info is in the FMIC thread in the stickies but Forge is the most complete kit and is essentially a bolt on, AH V2 is a cooler only so you need to buy the hoses (see the stickies) and cut the crash bar so is a little more involved, ebay cooler (if a Welly cooler) is typically the trickiest as it needs mods to bumper etc as well as all the above and again doesn't come with hoses (see stickies....)

<tuffty/>

[Alais DJA]

AH Fabs V2 is around 350/400 mark iirc plus cost of hoses...

All the fitting info is in the FMIC thread in the stickies but Forge is the most complete kit and is essentially a bolt on, AH V2 is a cooler only so you need to buy the hoses (see the stickies) and cut the crash bar so is a little more involved, ebay cooler (if a Welly cooler) is typically the trickiest as it needs mods to bumper etc as well as all the above and again doesn't come with hoses (see stickies....)

<tuffty/>

Looks like it's gonna be the forge then, plus the Ko3 hybrid.

better start saving lol

[Prawn]

no no no no no no no no no.

Once more for good measure: NO.

Don't go spending £600 on the forge kit.

The AH fabs core is great, but it's £350+, AND you still need to make up pipes.

The forge cooler ISN'T as good for the A3, at all, it's a twin pass core, and retains the nasty pancake pipe and charge pipes, and it costs FAR too much money.

The £200 ebay kits arn't really man enough for hybrid power I wouldn't say.

I've just fitted the Wellycooler to mine, and the whole lot, including full 63mm pipes and the core and all clamps cost me £250.

Sure, it's a good bit of work fitting it, but no harder than fitting coilovers or a brake kit, and I've ended up with a setup that's far better than the forge in terms of cooling, flows amazingly, and doesn't cost the earth.

Check out page 27 of my build thread for more info:

Prawns A3 track car / Nurburgring toy

[<tuffty/>]

Looks like it's gonna be the forge then, plus the Ko3 hybrid.

better start saving lol

Humm... the Forge one is for an S3 and all the hoses will be for the S3 setup... AH Fabs still do the V1 which is cheaper and same sort of size as the Forge..
A H Fabrications - Alloy products for the motorsport industry.

The AH Fabs V2 will flow more but Bill is using a V1 on the Lupo at over 300hp so it will be ok for your K03 Hybrid..

That way you can buy the hoses you need to fit the A3... cutting the crash bar is easy btw...

<tuffty/>

[Alais DJA]

no no no no no no no no no.

Once more for good measure: NO.

Don't go spending £600 on the forge kit.

The AH fabs core is great, but it's £350+, AND you still need to make up pipes.

The forge cooler ISN'T as good for the A3, at all, it's a twin pass core, and retains the nasty pancake pipe and charge pipes, and it costs FAR too much money.

The £200 ebay kits arn't really man enough for hybrid power I wouldn't say.

I've just fitted the Wellycooler to mine, and the whole lot, including full 63mm pipes and the core and all clamps cost me £250.

Sure, it's a good bit of work fitting it, but no harder than fitting coilovers or a brake kit, and I've ended up with a setup that's far better than the forge in terms of cooling, flows amazingly, and doesn't cost the earth.

Check out page 27 of my build thread for more info:

Prawns A3 track car / Nurburgring toy

Is that £250 available to the public?

I'lll pay now....

Marcus

[krisrg87]

I wish i had an Intercooler named after me haha. I would also be happy to pay that price right now. Im guessing u bought the parts seperate? Oh but mines an s3, will this still be ok?

[Prawn]

Is that £250 available to the public?

I'lll pay now....

Marcus

All off the shelf parts bought from ebay mate! Core, clamps, hoses all for £250, and very easy to fit too, just take your time.

[<tuffty/>]

I wish i had an Intercooler named after me haha. I would also be happy to pay that price right now. Im guessing u bought the parts seperate? Oh but mines an s3, will this still be ok?

Stickies...

<tuffty/>

[Alais DJA]

All off the shelf parts bought from ebay mate! Core, clamps, hoses all for £250, and very easy to fit too, just take your time.

I've PM you prawn, do you still have the item listings in your ebay account

ebay really grates on me, especially after the downpipe issue i had on my 1.8TQS. But i wont get started

[Reesy]

I've PM you prawn, do you still have the item listings in your ebay account

ebay really grates on me, especially after the downpipe issue i had on my 1.8TQS. But i wont get started

If Nick PM's you, which i'm sure he will, could you pass the PM over my way as well..?

Thanks

[Prawn]

Will do Reesy!

I assume you're staying ko3 frame and A3 inlet mani? TB on drivers side?

[Reesy]

Will do Reesy!

I assume you're staying ko3 frame and A3 inlet mani? TB on drivers side?

Yes mate, thought about a k04 in the long term, but having the technical ability of an untrained chimp/Halfords worker means that a k03 Hybrid is a slightly more realistic option for me. My inlet mani is hot to touch after a serious blast, so an FMIC is a must, just not sure how I'm going to squeeze it in behind the A3 bumper!!

[Prawn]

Mine fits, so it's possible. You could always run a slightly smaller core and it'd fit NO trouble. Just a bit of trimming off the back required, for which I use an angle grinder with a flap disc

[<tuffty/>]

How about posting the list in the FMIC thread in the stickies then everyone will know like forever without having to PM or ask the questions repeatedly...

Just a thought

<tuffty/>

[Reesy]

Mine fits, so it's possible. You could always run a slightly smaller core and it'd fit NO trouble. Just a bit of trimming off the back required, for which I use an angle grinder with a flap disc

If it's going to be done I might as well do it properly and squeeze the welly cooler in there as the k03s really does like to chuck out the heat, as you well know. Liking the pipework on yours mate, having it run down the side of the engine rather then over the top is a lot smarter..
Whenever you get time to PM/post in the stickies, that'd be ace. No rush on my part, still recovering from Xmas/Jan spending

[Prawn]

PM sent, will add to the stickies later on