Looking at getting a fmic fitted to my mk1 t25

been speaking with litchfield and they use APS fmic supplied and fitted £1200 plus vat, i know they are a good bit of kit but and i dont want to sound a tight **** and i know they are a budget make but a hybrid gt spec can be had from harvey for £350 ish so alomosst £1000 difference.

my question is will i see / notice and difference in performance from spending the etc money. are they really that much better as if so i have no issues spending that money but if not then i would rather have a baffled sump, oil cooler, fuel rail mod done with the change, sureley that would be money better spent then just on the fmic or should i get the aps and the rest at a later date?

opionons welcome

cheers

 

The Hybrid intercooler kits are of a very high quality, and certainly shouldn't be classed as budget (although they are priced very well ).

You would be suprised how many of the top builds use Hybrid intercoolers

We have them in stock at prices that can't be beaten. Drop me a PM or give us a call

 

If you keep cars for a while (7.5 years so far for me) then get the APS, if it's likely to be gone in a year or so, fit the cheaper one.

IMHO

dunx

 

I'll second what Dunx has already said. I fitted a Hybrid but after a month decided to change to a Hyperflow as I just wasn't happy with the Hybrid on a newage. If you can afford it and you plan to keep the car the go for a APS or Hyperflow. I think the fit of the Hybrids is better on the classics tho. Perfromamce wise there was no noticeable difference between the Hybrid and the Hyperflow

All my opinion .

 

well i want to keep it 2-3 years if not more, but if you say there are no performance differences then why spend the extra money,

dave what were you not happy with it on a newage, i have had 2 hybrids on classics and always thught they were ok.

how can two things that do the same job and same results be priced so far apart

cheers

 

as with alot of things your paying for a brand name, IMO

 

The "spare" capacity of mine means that it will have had three turbos on it.... std., medium, and later, LARGE !

LOL

dunx

 

Interesting that Bob5 above is advocating front mounts and Hybrid in particular when only some months ago, when he was not selling front mounts he was telling people they were better with a top mount. I can dig the posts out if there is any argument about this.
Best to deal with someone you can trust who will give honest unbiased advice regardless of what products they sell. I also have considerable technical backup as many of you already realise and I keep a full inventory of spare parts for my customers so accident damage or any other unfortunate incidents can be rectified without the need for a new kit and with your vehicle off the road for the minimum down time.

I cannot comment on the APS fitted to a New Age because I have not done or owned one of these but I have removed APS FMICs from customer Classic cars and replaced them with Hybrid and the comment has been that the air charge temperatures are much better with the Hybrid. In one specific instance they went from 40 deg.C. on the rollers with the APS to 27 deg.C on the Hybrid.
You may have seen about six weeks ago I was selling an APS FMIC second hand on behalf of customer Steve McCulloch. You can contact him to find out how much difference there was.
During mapping sessions Bob Rawle has commented to me on how well the Hybrid controls air charge temperatures compared with my APS. My STi 6 Wagon ran an APS FMIC because at the time I believed the reason for the great expense was the ability to reduce ACTs and the quality of their product. I then fitted a Hybrid to my 95 WRX Wagon and was so imprressed that I subsequently fitted another Hybrid to my 97 STi Wagon after removing the STi 8 top mount I should never have fitted in the first place. Learning was interesting however.
If you are prepared to stone chip the pipes too and from the core on the Hybrid intercooler in the area that is exposed to road salt during the Winter and take care of it reasonably it will last for years. That on my WRX has probably been on for six years and the only change has been a tube and fin core to replace the original bar and plate.
Generally APS sell their product with lots of glossy advertising but I am prepared to bet a substantial amount of money that in back to back testing the Hybrid will kick the APS into touch regards temperature control.
Anyway, you can buy two and a half Hybrid FMICs for the cost of an APS so I think there is no contest either in technical or financial terms.

 

crikey, what a turn around .

so is anyone left to argue for top mounts now?

mate runs an aps on his, combined with aps intake, he does have some pretty good figures, but i wouldn't say they were exceptional enough to say the aps is worth the money over a decent qaulity cheaper one. being doubel the price of a decent other brand then tbh i think there way way overpriced for what they are

 

#8. Blimey some people are always looking to turn things into an argument. The OP wasn't asking about FMIC vs TMIC. Btw we have always sold Hybrid FMICs for some time now (as you well know). For the record my car currently runs a STi8 TMIC (340bhp) but for it's next stage of mods it will run a Aztec Performance supplied GT2 Hybrid FMIC.

 

Back in the dark ages when I bought my Hyperflow there was a choice of it or an APS, so I flipped a coin..... now the market has moved on there are many more options available.

As stated without a back-to-back test on one car it's all conjecture, IMHO.

dunx

 

Yes - me I realise I could make a few more peak bhp with a front mount, but my MY03 STI fitted with MD321H (peak power 414bhp) is used only on the road and with a TMIC, the throttle response is instant making it quicker through the gears. Moreover, the midrange torque of 384lb/ft (mapped at Zen) is according to Paul, the most he's ever seen on this turbo without resorting to something like racefuel or E85.

I used to have a FMIC and if I were to track the car, I'd probably refit one for more power under hard sustained throttle and also for safety. But for the road, I prefer the snappy response of my TMIC