A3 Front Mount Intercooler ( FMIC )

[Dave_Bayern]

Today I recieved my FMIC for the A3/Mk4 series.

I was very interested after seeing this post on VW Vortex:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3172487

So I contacted the seller and got them to send one to me.

It was £279 including delivery to the UK and customs charges. (I got stopped for customs).

However, buying from America has its downsides.

They sent me the large core instead of the small core I asked for.

They sent the silcone reducers to fit the small core FMIC, so I have had to order new reducers at the additional cost of £20 from www.siliconhoses.com

I also don't like the clamps they sent, so I ordered some Mikalor clamps instead for the Turbo to pipe, and the FMIC to pipe on inlet and outlet.

Anyway, this is what you get for £279:

The Core itself is approx 26" by 10", the hot side pipes are 50mm and the cold side pipe is 60mm.

They supply more silicone than necessary, however, in my case, the FMIC and cold side to throttle body did not fit, so I ordered replacements.

The piping has a DV takeoff but nothing for the N75, so I paid £10 to have an ATP quicktap sent over, this allows me to use the silicon piping instead of having to drill and weld a hole for the N75 valve.

So I suppose I've paid £300 total.

Not bad for £300 considering the price of other UK suppliers.

 

[Prawn]

looking good dave....

personally, id kick up **** about the core size though, you specifically asked for the small core, and were given the larger one.....

for a start that core is NEVER going to fit inside your bumper without some serious crash bar modding, and secondly, its just SO big its not needed....

a good friend of mien is running around 400bhp in a volvo S40 through a FMIC the same size as the small core you ordered, and it copes EASILY with that much flow.... the 240 you will be pushing will hardly even effect it!

with such a HUGE core your going to see such a big pressure drop across it,

shame the whole US idea didnt work out QUITE as perfectly as we expected it to.....

for those interested, have a look at this kit instead!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260137714471&rd=1&rd=1

 

[Dave_Bayern]

If you look at the vortex thread they got figures for the pressure drop, 0.5-1psi.

Not enough to affect anything really, especially considering its going to be holding that 1psi less for a lot longer due to lower intake temps.....

 

[Jampublic]

FMIC uk prices are about £600 aren't they!

Looks good dave, when does it go on?

Its more than $2 to the £1 at the moment, great time to buy from the US..

 

[Dave_Bayern]

OK, Fitted it yesterday, its UGLY!

Had to take off about 600lbs of plastic from the bottom bumper, at some point I'll buy an uprated type which will accomodate the FMIC properly, however, for now, this will have to do.

It took about 10 hours total I think, as far as I know, I'm the first person to fit this kit to an Audi, (If anyone knows otherwise, I'd love to see pics of other installs).

As I didnt have any reference, it took a bit longer to fit, the crash bar is completely different on an Audi, and I needed to jigsaw a lot off and make a custom bracket to hold the intercooler.

I also needed to trim pipes and buy different silicone connectors and clamps as the supplied ones were not suitable.

Anyway, its here:

 

[Bellic]

have you felt any difference?

 

[Dave_Bayern]

The car isnt mapped for the new turbo yet, I lost a lot of torque when I fitted the 3" downpipe too, so no, and I won't be able to tell, as its being remapped next week taking into account the new spec.

 

[Bellic]

around how much power will you get with the setup ?

 

[Dave_Bayern]

According to JBS, 240Bhp and 250ft.lbs, sustainable, obviously, due to the FMIC.

 

[Bellic]

what exhaust you got?

 

[nickaudi41]

Well done buddy, got there in the end!

How it's just the remap to do next if I remember correctly.

When are you away to the States again?

 

[Jampublic]

Looks good, but yeah its ugly for sure!

Roll on the remap!!

 

[Dave_Bayern]

I have a 3" downpipe, decat and 2.5" milltek from decat back.

I'll eventually buy a bumper like the one RichA3Turbo has (Similar to Mk4 R32) and that should completely hide the FMIC.

For now, the hack job with the standard one will have to do.

Just the remap left to do, and very possibly a LSD.

 

[joshW]

getting there mate!
do you think that the smaller core would have fit behind the bumper then?

josh

 

[Dave_Bayern]

Nope, as the pipe runs are the same with small core. You'd have to cut less crash bar, or not cut it at all, but it still wouldnt fit.

 

[joshW]

ah rite ******, so if i do this then a new front bumper is also on the list.
It never ends does it! lol

josh

 

[Slick S3]

lol it certainly doesn't!

 

[jojo]

Just powder coat the silver bits black Dave, and it will look good!

 

[Dave_Bayern]

 

[Bellic]

sticks out a bit too much dont it?

 

[Dave_Bayern]

Yup.

The towing eye is in the way, so I might have to see if I can fit a removable one instead, that way the cold side pipe could be trimmed down and pushed slightly further in.

 

[Bellic]

if it is trimmed will the cover fit on ?

 

[Dave_Bayern]

Its not a cover, the bumper is one piece.

 

[Bellic]

i mean the towing eye plastic cover

 

[Dave_Bayern]

Nope, the pipe almost sits in front, and the bumper vents that were there had to be cut out.

I think I'll end up getting a motorsport orientated remoovable towing eye welded in and a new front bumper...

 

[Bellic]

which kit would fit under the a3 bumpers neuspeed , forge,? how about the kit they have on ebay which are for golfs

 

[Dave_Bayern]

I doubt anything would fit under the front bumper, as the Golf bumper has a lot more space behind it, so those kits fit better.

I've seen a picture of one VERY small core behind a standard bumper as below but where you'd get that kit I do not know.

 

[bouncer--daz]

I kinda like the aggressive look at the mo... I agree with the powder coating comment! Good work tho...:icon_thumright:

 

[Bellic]

does the turbo sound any different

 

[Prawn]

wooooooooohooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gimme two months until the UK kit is back on stock, and ill have a bash at this

the UK kit uses a much smaller core, and the lower pipes are cut into two sections, so im HOPING ill be able to trim/adjust them to get it behind the standard setup, im also thinking that if i cut the crash bar and mount my smaller core higher up, ill get away with less cutting too.

either way dave, it looks great, really looking forward to seeing this once its mapped.

do you mind if i pop up for a day once your back from the states?


a3quat: dave said on the phone last night he cant hear any turbo noise at all now, due to his silly chav boy 3'' downpipe (torque loss!) and decat!

ill be running a milltek 2.5'' downpipe and sports cat on mine, so hope not to suffer daves torque loss and imense noise!

 

[Bellic]

how much is the uk kit?

 

[nickaudi41]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FRONT-MOUNT-INTERCOOLER-GOLF-GTi-20V-TURBO-SEAT-CUPRA_W0QQitemZ220131829748QQihZ012QQcategoryZ72205QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this worth doing or is the FMIC too small, I would like to do this mod but don't want to spend a fortune.

Any ideas?

 

[Jampublic]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FRONT-MOUNT-INTERCOOLER-GOLF-GTi-20V-TURBO-SEAT-CUPRA_W0QQitemZ220131829748QQihZ012QQcategoryZ72205QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this worth doing or is the FMIC too small, I would like to do this mod but don't want to spend a fortune.

Any ideas?

Doomed I say, your doomed!! Yeah let me know, would be interested too!

 

[Jampublic]

wooooooooohooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gimme two months until the UK kit is back on stock, and ill have a bash at this

the UK kit uses a much smaller core, and the lower pipes are cut into two sections, so im HOPING ill be able to trim/adjust them to get it behind the standard setup, im also thinking that if i cut the crash bar and mount my smaller core higher up, ill get away with less cutting too.

either way dave, it looks great, really looking forward to seeing this once its mapped.

do you mind if i pop up for a day once your back from the states?


a3quat: dave said on the phone last night he cant hear any turbo noise at all now, due to his silly chav boy 3'' downpipe (torque loss!) and decat!

ill be running a milltek 2.5'' downpipe and sports cat on mine, so hope not to suffer daves torque loss and imense noise!

Hey Prawn, your up for FMIC too! Its all the rage at the moment, we all want one! How's the job going? Hope you is well, laters J

 

[Jampublic]

Wow Dave, I think it looks good! Had missed these new photo's, you are really creating a beast! I was undecided in the rain, but sold in this photo!!

 

[madvw]

out of interest, for people who have installed a FMIC, what was the increase in insurance premium? Were they happy that the crash-bar was reduced, or in some cases removed altogether?

interesting to read that you managed to properly mount the FMIC rather than relying on sandwiching the core between the radiator and crashbar, and just relying on the suspension by the intercooler piping.

 

[Prawn]

surely there arnt people in the world who are THAT retarded?

mines hopefully going to be bolted TO the crash bar, so there wont be a saftey issue.

Nick: i reckon that sized FMIC is ideal for the application dave and i are looking for. im not sure if its large enough for a mapped S3, but its certainly big enough for me!

thats the core size i want, as itll fit under the bumper much more easily, and will still be more than up to the job of keeping temps down!

check out the fitment here: http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/thread/934729.aspx

and the UK ebay kit here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Golf-Jetta-Mk...ryZ72205QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

im hoping, that having more pipes and joints, ill be able to trim and fiddle to hide that massive cold side pipe.

 

[madvw]

I thought the Forge FMIC kit is held in that way? (sandwiching between the crash bar)

 

[Dave_Bayern]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FRONT-MOUNT-INTERCOOLER-GOLF-GTi-20V-TURBO-SEAT-CUPRA_W0QQitemZ220131829748QQihZ012QQcategoryZ72205QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this worth doing or is the FMIC too small, I would like to do this mod but don't want to spend a fortune.

Any ideas?

Yeah, that core looks like the small core that X02, Greddy and Godspeed are selling in the states. It should be bar and plate design.

If it is indeed that core, it’ll be fine, but you’ll need to source some pipework, and that wont be easy as the S3 reverse throttle body/intake arrangement is catered for a lot less in the modding industry.

 

[Dave_Bayern]

The Forge item uses a customised pre cut crash bar.

If using the large core you HAVE to cut the crash bar, there’s no way around it. The small core ‘may’ bolt to the crash bar but I wouldn’t go placing any bets on fitment.

For mine, I cut the crash bar, then made a custom bracket from angled aluminium to suspend the FMIC, it does not touch the crash bar in any way. The Audi crash bar is a solid piece of aluminium, and the Mk4 crash bar is thin steel, so in a crash, I’d reckon even a cut Audi bar would be fine, they are designed to collapse after all.