FMIC... It is a worthwhile modification for a MY 95 WRX Import.

Opinions, experiences and comments would be grateful.

thanks

JQ

 

From what I have seen on this forum Its only worth it if your gonna be looking to tune your car heavily, say 400Bhp or more as an STI TMIC will be capable of handling up to this sort of power.

I`m sure I will however be corrected if I`m wrong.

 

Ok thank for comments, shall await more.

 

recently put a FMIC on mine and when i first took it out i thought 'what have i done' because the increase in lag is more than noticable but once you get used to driving it i feels so much better.

the main reason i fitted it was to stop the dreaded HEATSOAK but it also feels like it pulls alot harder(especially round the top of the revband)not had it mapped yet but colder air=denser air=more power this is no bad thing for engine longevity either.

hope this helps

 

Fitted a Hybrid to mine and made a very big difference. Helps to pull the torque up so as stated the car pulls alot harder. You could fit an STI top mount but by the time you`ve purchased it, fitted it (which will be a bit of a job because im pretty sure you have the slanty type top mount which will require alot of modding) it would work out the same as getting the FMIC fitted which would be better for future mods.

As for lag lv read mixed opinions on that one. In my opinion I havnt noticed any difference and thats most likely down to the mapping because any lag etc is compensated for.

Tweaks, get yours mapped mate and you`ll see a difference

Hope that helps
T.

 

SLICK81 did you drive it much before you had it mapped ?
got to get power fc for mine or the like but my as well get some other bits first 550s etc just haven't got that much spare coin at he mo !!!

 

Your car has the smallest of the Impreza TMICs and you have the smallest scoop, I think it's going to struggle above 300-310bhp, if you don't plan on going above that, there is no point changing it.

 

At the end of the day, it is a matter of what you want.
TMIC can do upto 600whp, but all are adamant that heat soak at that level will be robbing you.
If you are planning on going over 300whp, it would be a good mod as the heat soak you will be experiencing will rob you a few ponied

 

ok so to carry on with the FMIC conundrum - I would like some advice and help

With me (and others) being located in Johannesburg, South Africa

we have the following issues

Ambient air temps often in excess of 30 degrees celsius - we wish we had 8 degrees ambient ! ! !!

also at our altitude we have 17% less air to flow over the IC so everything is less efficient - obviously as speed increases this becomes less of a factor but we have thin air - high ambient temps and relatively low octane fuel !

as an example water temp on cruise sits at around 93 degrees C and in traffic its almost always on the fan

so what do we do ? and I ask seriously as the trade offs are large - the thin air makes us spool - sometimes 500-1000rpm later than you would - lag is more noticeable on a FMIC - there is less air to start with

Do we fit a big FMIC and lessen the radiators efficiency ?
Do we fit a big TMIC and battle with high post intercooler temps ?
Do we fit big FMIC / BIG radiator / Water injection ?

We typically fit STi TMIC and upgrade the fans etc etc but is this the right way ? I would really appreciate Harvey and others advice
or a way to get the coolant temps back under control once a big FMIC is fitted - overheating typically occurrs with all FMIC - from APS to others - some owners never notice that they are running 5deg hotter than before - they just tend to up the radiator cap pressure

 

this is a missleading statement, you have practically told this guy his TMIC is good for 600WHP when it isn't.

Personally I don't think it's down to how much power you have at all, many NA cars make huge HP without the need for any kind of IC at all.
What it is down to, is aerodynamics and the location of the TMIC on a scoob.

It is not best placed on a scoob, yeah the run is short from turbo to inlet but, it gets hot by being next to the turbo and more importantly, the feed of air to it stops working at higher speeds,
Air will just miss the scoop at 120+ mph making the TMIC ineffective as no air will be passing throught it, Impreza's are not aerodynamic is their design but a FMIC situated behind the bumper WILL have air forced through it at all times due to the nature of it's location.
The same area of the car that forces air though the FMIC's will push air over the bonnet and thus over the scoop at speed, Scoob's are notorious for not liking WOT (wide open throttle) for prolonged periods of time on a TMIC and I believe it's for the reasons stated above

Get a FMIC for engine safety a much as anything else

 

Of course it's down to how much power you have, on a turbo car, generally the more power you have is going to result in a higher demand on the turbo, which is going to heat the air up more, you can't make up for an inefficient core with aerodynamics and the location of the intercooler, obviously if you relocated a TMIC intercooler to the location of a FMIC, it's going to allow you to go to slightly higher power levels, but ultimately the restriction will be with the inefficient core, and FM or TM, merely upgrading the IC to a more efficient one will allow you to run higher power even with the same airflow and even with the same sized core.

And of course NA cars make huge HP without the need for an IC, they don't have their intake air being compressed and heated by a red hot turbo, why would they need an IC?

This seems like a bewildering post from someone with a car of your spec

 

It all comes down to how you want your car to drive.

If you fit a FMIC in preference to a TMIC you WILL increase turbo lag because you are vastly increasing the volume of the air tract. That's a fact.

I live in Brisbane, Australia. It's normal for ambient air temps to exceed 30 degrees celcius, at this time of year it can reach 40!

I seriously considered a FMIC with my set-up but the whole point of my build was to end up with a quick spooling car that could hit 400 bhp. With the AVO450s Edge series turbo I managed that, the turbo kicks you in the back at 3000rpm. Had I have chosen a decent FMIC I could have attained 450 bhp (AVO's figures, not mine) but at the cost of increased lag.

I ended up with a huge APS TMC and big scoop with re-fabricated splitter........and a real fast spool up

First off, decide what you want to achieve with your car and then make the changes as necessary. This way you'll avoid fitting stuff that will end up coming off at a later date.

 

personally I will be happy to move the peak torque a little higher in the ev range - it will allow the little 5speed to survive a little longer (or at least I hope so)

 

i fitted a FMIC because i want more power, was told i would need it, the delay in responce between gear changes was more than with the top mount, however the efficieny of the FMIC was far greater as before my car was making 1.2bar of boost wher as with the FMIC was making 1.38bar....

I also found when i had the top mount that fitting the bigger sti8 scoop increased efficiency, although at the time was more a cosmetic mod, it soon come off i didnt like the look of it. So if you dont intend going too crazy on the power front, then a bigger top mount would do.

 

front mount when mapped correctly will give little to no lag. NS04 had one fitted to his and then mapped and he didn't find anything major

 

I think poor fitment is pften the source of the 'lag'. There are lots of places for the air to escape on a FM, every join if not properly sealed wil leak pressurised air. I fitted one to my old WRX, thought it had caused major lag. Got it checked out on a RR and every join was leaking boost. Be careful when fitting them is my advice.

 

Ill second that. NS04 gave me some good information when I asked him and he was right. My concerns at the time was that of turbo lag, but I can honestly say it is virtually non existent. Once it hits around 3000rpm it kicks in big. When I had the TMIC the power used to kick in around the same rev point but didn`t have the pull that the FMIC gives. Both set ups have been running on a VF35.

JQ, As stated in all the posts it is really what you want to get out of your car at the end of the day. There are also other factors you have to bear in mind i.e your re-map and are the injectors up to the job. If your not looking to push beyond approx 300BHP then there isnt really much need for a FMIC IMO.
If you know anyone who has got a FMIC fitted and similar mods then try and get a ride in it. There will be a difference and Im sure you`ll get the answer your looking for

Tweaks, I did drive it around for about a month after I had it fitted and at this point there was a massive amount of lag. I already had an Apexi at the time so I turned the boost right the way down and drove calmly until it was mapped. I wouldnt recommend hammering your car until its properly set up. 550s will give you room for future mods but they arent cheap, however you can get a set of 440s for £50 - £100 which will do the job which is what Im running at the moment.

T.

 

yeah wont help lol

 

Unfortunately the search function appears to be down, so I can direct you to the thread where I extensively documented my experience with an FMIC installation.

In short, after mapping ACTs plummeted, the boost was more aggressive in it delivery, the car pulled harder, there was no appreciable increase in either boost threshold or lag.

On an MY95 you don't have to tune very far before you get to a point where the std intercooler won't control ACTs adequately. what mods is the OP runnning and what is the target power level?

The OP could do a lot worse than speak on Harvey on here about this issue.

Ns04

 

I have it bookmarked...

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...e-go-fmic.html

It is a fine thread sir.

 

Thanks for very good feedback and comments, something for me to think about for sure