At what power is a FMIC needed ?
I am planning a 2.0 or 2.1 forged engine hopefully 400bhp.
Should i have a fmic at that power?

 

400 is the limit for a tmic depending on use. Tmic struggles to keep the temps down at any power on track days etc so depends on use.

 

i wont be doing any trackdays.I dont want to get to the mapping stage and be told that the tmic is holding things back.

 

I would be looking to run an fmic at 400bhp

 

i think i will buy one from Aztec while they have an offer on.

 

If it's for road use and on a Newage TMIC, 400bhp target will be fine and works well.

Obviously there are caveats in retaining the TMIC, but at that level and use, it may not be worth the extra cash for a FMIC. I ran this power on my car with the OEM TMIC and it was fine.

 

To add to my comment above..... that comment is in the context of a STI TMIC (not WRX).

 

If you're stuck in traffic then heat soak becomes a problem with the TMIC. The car has to be driven carefully once you're underway again to allow the heat to dissipate. No such problems with the FMIC

 

depends what you would prefer as its not really a power limit more of an efficiency limit, I ran mines to 404hp but the charge temps were high swapped to FMIC with not much additional lag running higher power same boost charge temps are low, also I can touch the pipes after a run wouldn't dare touch top mount

 

still get a bit of heat soak with FMIC but you cant spray it

 

Mmm, pretty minimal though and it's the pipework that suffers not the FMIC itself. It's a good reason to retain the bonnet scoop as the pipework is in the airflow. You can redirect the spray to the FMIC but I reckon that's overkill

 

from 300+ you will see improvements in inlet temps and want to go front mount, trying to run 400 is a waste of time because it wont cope, been there done that, had the high inlet temps to prove it at 390 even on an sti top mount.

Harvey RIP, did loads of research into it and scoobyclinic ran back to backs years ago proving it.

 

so i better buy one off Aztec before the price goes up.

 

Has anyone done this^^^^ it does seem a bit pointless but if its all there and you've not got a lot going on one Saturday it can't hurt surely.

 

Yes I did, it needs a non return valve fitting in the pipework as the nozzle is lower than the reservoir and it will otherwise self empty. Never used it so took it off again.

 

Chevron Motorsport do a top mount that will handle over 500 bhp, but it's not cheap

 

Just to add to steve's comment about not been able to spray a FMIC
I have 2 spray nozzles attached to my inner bumper lip sitting discrete behind the sunsport grille the pump driving them is from a Mercedes Benz ACTROS HGV washer system
Yep
Plenty water hitting my front mount

 

Many people have run cars well over 400bhp on newage sti and uprated top mounts and have very good results,although it is worth noting that even the cheapest front mount will out perform the best top mount.

 

But if your a bit of a clean freak, then the old dirty water thats been sitting in the water spray bottle for months gets sprayed onto your nice clean intercooler can get a bit annoying!!!

I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing my intercooler was having dirty water sprayed onto it!!!

But on a serious note, I never noticed any lag on my hawk running 380bhp with the FMIC fitted, but sometimes on a hot day and standing in traffic for a long period of time, you would notice a bit of heat soak, but thats to do with the pipes running over hot areas such as the turbo, maybe a turbo blanket to keep under bonnet temps down, could help a little more!!

 

Care to explain why it's a waste of time and why it won't cope?

 

Yup it will cope just fine and then some,mikee singh ran approx 480bhp on his silver sti hatch with no issues and im sure andy forrest has run well over 400bhp in the past with a top mount fitted on one of his cars.

 

Hope I've not got it back to front all though I probably have, but do you not need to keep your turbo as cool as possible, ie does a blanket not make it overheat.

I suspect that iam wrong otherwise they wouldn't sell turbo blankets.

 

No mate turbo blankets work and work well,had one fitted too mine since the turbo was fitted and even after giving the car death you can rest your hand on the blanket without getting burnt.

 

Sorry to go on but basically the temperature of the turbo itself is o.k running hot?

 

yes the hotter the better.

 

 

IIRC Andy ran close to 480bhp in his previous SPEC C (oh... and that was on the "hotter" 2.5ltr set-up), for daily use and during sprints. I seem to remember he and the car did pretty well.

There are some caveats at that level though, but all the same the TMIC was retained for very good reason.

 

The issue is about charge temperature and nothing else. If you're just pootling about with the odd squirt of power then a new age TMIC is probably ok at the sort of temps experienced at around 400 bhp. The smaller ones just roll over. We had a previously tuned 22B in years ago where the owner wanted to retain the top mount for aesthetics. We were shocked at the speed the charge temps ramped up when we checked it out. (70 degrees plus on a pull in 4th gear on the road) A front mount dropped it to 30 degrees on the same test!