So after spending the weekend at the Nurburgring I have decided I need to go a little faster, so im fitting a de-cat pipe and a pannel filter to start. Im now thinking about a fmic. After buying a kit is it a bolt up job or is there any other fabrication needed? and will it compliment the other mods? all opinions welcome guys

 

The front bumper normally needs trimming and then you will need to add in the price of getting your car mapped. What year is your car?

 

Aye, don't fit one without getting it mapped.

 

Cannot see why you need it mapping once fitted. It is a larger intercooler which will cool the air more and make it slightly denser. Surely this is not sufficient to require a re-map. I ran my 02 STi on OE ECU for two years with a FMIC and no re-map. Since then I have played with and tuned it to 416 bhp at 99K miles (FMIC fitted at about 10K miles)

 

You may have.........but I'm just telling the op what respected tuners and mappers would say.

It's up to him what he does with the info, but an engine gone bang is expensive. Trust me.

 

ah!........................... its a 98 i fear it's bad news as far as re-maps go! Dont want to risk popping it in any way.

 

Nice smiley.

 

If you want it to fit right loads of extra work, brakets clamps, ducts etc.

No point buying a panel filter as you will need a cone type thats because the std airbox wont fit anymore.

 

^^ yes not a trim on the bumper too. clearly never fit one on a classic anyway

i did mine took a day to get it perfect. i went for a map tweak and didnt need one at all!!! mines a 93 wrx on a scoobyecu.

 

If you fit a front mount and it is efficient your air charge temperatures are much lower then with the top mount and you are needing more fuel in areas of the map which may not previously have been mapped or catered for by the OE ECU. Your boost profile is different so again you need fuel in areas of the map different to what you had with the top mount. Fitting an efficient front mount without mapping and driving the car hard is foolhardy. You might get away with it but there again many people have not and for sure you are not getting the best out of your front mount without a remap.
Entirely the owner's choice to risk the engine for the cost of a remap.
As I sell front mount intercoolers it is not in my interests to advocate additional expenditure on the sale of a front mount which might jeapordise the sale of a kit but it is necessary to advise all purchasers they should have a reamp and the reasons for this are pretty obvious to anyone with a detailed understanding of how the engine works and what the front mount does. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of mapping will see clearly why this is necessary.

As stated above, the 98 car is not mappable without an aftermarket ECU.