FMIC/OC fitting The stealth look! - Ginola's Project thread
 

As many of you know I have been quietly hoarding parts in various sheds and cupboards for the last few months, much to Handbrakes dismay. Well with the Glorious weather I couldn't have had better luck (other than Handbrake's back going which reduced my coffee supply)!

Lets hope it all works OK! *(puts his giant bag of zip ties down!)

I went about removing the front bumper and taking some basic measurements, hard to do as the HDI kit instructions are for a previous version of the kit and don't represent the kit supplied fully.. so mounting points where different.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps15850953.jpg

Big thanks to CJ who popped by and helped finish chopping the bumper Iron and working out where the 7 different pipes went! :thanx: The core is lightly dusted black with some manifold paint! should cope with heat/chips OK I hope.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3b268b30.jpg

I used a bit of silicon pipe for some elaborate beading.. :-|:angst:

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5a276a14.jpg

After sizing the bumper up I came to the conclusion that the core was sitting too low and took a stab at moving and re-trimming the bumper Iron,

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps30cd4807.jpg

Looked a bit neater and pipes all seemed to fit a bit more snugly...measure 5 times Dave!!!)..:splat:

Next day...

First things first, I needed to mount the oil cooler. Using a Mocal mounting kit, I chopped it down and sprayed black, using existing holes kindly supplied by Subaru normally used for cable tie holes for fog light leads and air-bag sensor wires, added some silicon hose chopped down for vibration damping. Thank you Karting Steve for the inspiration for the fitment location.
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps72a3dd0e.jpg

Ok time to trim the bumper! This was a bit scary, although I set about doing it with an angle grinder to start with I switched to a Dremel in the end for a neater cut in the tight spaces.. I think I must have sized this up about 15 times, and spent ALOT of time changing Dremel blades! I also had to make a small adjustment to the intercooler core position when I started running out of bumper to cut!! once the position was set I trimmed and re-drilled the mounting brackets for the lower zunsport grill (this is a stealth install after all!)

Starting to look decent!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psd9216048.jpg

Sunday dawned and only had a few jobs left to do.. Sorting the cold air feed for the intake and making sure everything was clipped and trimmed back in place where it should be.
I managed to get hold of a large rubber snorkel that just so happens to be the exact same size as the intake on the STI front fog cover!! this cant be known to anyone otherwise the price would have been 5 times what I paid for it!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7288f86f.jpg

Paired with a 80mm flexible pipe and some zip ties the job was done,.. and it is a nice snug fit!.. You can't really see it in this photo but it is literally right up against the back of the duct on the cover.
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...pse6efed08.jpg

On the other side I carefully removed the 2 circlips and centre clip to remove the plastic piece and fitted some aluminium grill mesh in its place to protect the oil cooler.
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps95c2f12a.jpg

I also cut up a plastic lid from an old tool box and made a makeshift duct for the oil cooler, I will have another stab at this if it needs more cooling/better channelling after I have seen what the temps are like, needless to say its a bit temporary!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...pse0925aab.jpg

After putting it all back together again I had time left to clean off all the little bits of metal sitting all over my car! :shock::polish:
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps01986b65.jpg

I think its turned out fairly well! The main thing is that I have kept my promise to Wanda and not altered the external appearance so she is happy!:yeah: and the stealth look is complete!.
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...pse3741970.jpg

open the hood!!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps549e7afb.jpg


Its booked in for some fettling with FB Tuning on Thursday. The oil cooler lines and thermostatic plate (thanks Greg!), 650cc Injectors + Perrin intake pipe and a re-map!

Cant wait!.. more to follow.

Cracking job you've done there Dave wouldn't think you've just fitted a FMIC until you open the bonnet:10:

+1 on a cracking job Dave :doubleup:

I do hope you did a Ron and cleaned behind the bumper whilst it was off :polish: ;-)

Hope Wanda`s back is ok? Perhaps Liz and Wanda could start-up their own `crap back` club? :sadnod:

Looks very good dave nice and stealth.

That is extraordinarily stealthy.

Very nice job.

Good work Dave, how many pints of coffee were consumed in the making:ok:

:10:

Well done quality work. :doubleup:

That looks a cracking job mate, really can't tell until you lift the bonnet. Good work! :)

Great write up Dave - looking good!

Looking good but where's all the pictures of the scary bit, hacking the bumper about???

Great write up Dave looks awesome stealth mode

Cracking job that, well done

Nice one mate, looks good!

Great job :doubleup:

:10:

Cracking Job!!

Cheers guys for the kind comments, hopefully the results will be decent enough for the work put in, X fingers!


Hehe I brushed it out with a brush *(very quickly to get all the lose burnt plastic out!! :P but didn't clean clean:lol: shame on me, I did however start rust treating the underside while I was lying down there! Wanda has lots of problems with her back and the docs just seem to fob her off with prescription pain killers all the time :( which she keeps trying to give to everyone!

MANY PINTS!!! I think nearly half a kilo!! ;) :chug:

I forgot to take any really brutal ones :( probably because I was too busy changing dremel blades and burning myself with molten plastic :doh:... I bought a box lot of cheap and cheerful Dremel accessories from Halfrawds for about 8 quid, came with many cutting discs! used all of um! still a much better deal than buying proper Dremel stuff where you get 4 or 8 blades for 15 quid :-?

Good job, I did my front bumper with a Dyney, far less stressful!

Whats a Dyney? :o sounds like a tool to have.

Some have said he's a bit of a tool!

Haha! ;)

Very nice job similar to what I have done and you may not need any more ducking on the oil cooler as in the cold weather mine works a be to well.

Cheers dude, I had looked at where you had mounted yours and how you had ducted it with the nicely made ducting, yours is far more advanced than this. ;) A lot of air can still escape over the top of the cooler and also up through behind the headlight. Will see how well it performs on the Mapping session and go from there.

very well done

Great work there and looks very stealthy :)

Have this one of when i did my FMIC lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rcooler016.jpg

Is the snorkel you used the OEM one that is originally fitted? Mine didn't have one when I bought it.

Very cool! I'd have been cacking it taking a grinder to my bumper! Thought I was brave hacking my grill to pieces :lol:

and that aps one was huge!

Hats to you Dave, a cracking job and not one I would wish to tackle!!!

:nod:

No, found an aftermarket one, there is no OEM snorkel down there, as the resonator box that sits in the wing takes all its air from the top snorkel.. I might see if I can nab a few more of them, made from rubber they fit an 80mm pipe

Cheers dude ;)

Aye those APS ones and the hyperflow monster ones are exactly that...monsters! ;)

Ah I see. Yeah I knew there wasn't one down there, mine didn't come with the original set up, just the air box which is why I put the fog inserts in with duct running to the airbox. Trouble is when it's really wet it sucks water in which my MAF doesn't like. If you can get gold of some more, I'd definitely take one off of you as that looks like a good solution to my problem :-)

Cracking job Dave, will come to you if I ever get a front mount on mine :)

After getting home from the meet today I couldn't resist the niggling bit of the install I had left out completing.. The bottom pipes on the HDI FMIC kits run under the car and as such are a bit of a pain to get sitting neat and high enough off the deck! On my 05 car there are 2 studs for bolting the bottom factory cross brace to..not bolts/nuts they also sit right on the bend path for the FMIC pipe.. causing all sorts of positioning and potential puncture nightmares.

Various instructions on several forums by Harvey Smith(RIP) and other people that have fitted these kits mention turning the bolts round, however on my car there are no bolts but studs..

Taking an angle grinder to these to shorten them down to the height of the nut on them was the only solution, ...(partially deaf now!)

Before.. not good!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psd9633581.jpg

After pipes adjusted.. much better!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps65ff102b.jpg

The exhaust at the back is most certainly lower.. and never gets hit.. so feeling a lot better about the overall fit of the thing now.

Engine splash tray re-fitted ;)
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6f6e9421.jpg

Nice job, when is the remap booked?

Cheers, mapping booked for this Thursday, along with fitting 650cc injectors, Perrin intake pipe, parallel fuel rail mod, thermal spacers and finishing the oil lines off for the oil cooler.

Hopefully all ready for Goodwood in a couple of weeks!:whistle::doubleup:

What an awesome thread! Looks awesome!

How did it go on Thursday Dave, all good and happy with the results I hope.

Happy ye :) Didn't get time to dyno due to 1 or 2 unforeseen problems such as the oil cooler core leaking on a weld!!!:cry: Think automotive agreed to replace, but buying one from spectrum hoses that where only 15mins down the road was a much better option! After mapping was done I rushed home as it was Fathers birthday, and 72nd members meeting the next day! Got in at 9.30pm Father and Handbrake had already drunk 3 bottles of wine!) :hurrah:

The car goes very well :) Thermal gaskets fitted, injectors, oil cooler etc all working well, looking forward to stretching its legs on Saturday! :) I put 3 or 4 heat cycles through a set of 888s! so should be good fun... .if it stays dry!:paranoid::paranoid:

I wouldn't like to guess at power, 75% injector duty at 3bar fuel pressure injectors are flowing at 700cc.. If anyone can do a rough guestimate from that feel free! It took quite a few more degrees of timing at the top with the FMIC fitted :ugeek:

Some makeshift ducting, ziptied bits of mudflap! ;)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psd5ec7374.jpg

Some 888s on the track wheels.. The boss said.. "Are those road legal!!" :D
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9d554832.jpg

I bet those tyres have some grip on them Dave .

They do! The difference between these and a regular road tyre is night and day,.. though I have yet to drive on them in the wet..:-|:drive::???:
Now to see how many track days they last! and if my baffled sump is upto the task of staving off oil starvation ;) I took them of the car tonight as they have done about 115 road miles. I wanted to heat cycle them a couple of times to firm them up a bit in an effort to make them last!

It looks amazing, and that snorkel ideal is cracking ! wonderful tasteful mods, and great work...

Just wait til you try the triple 8's on the circuit........
They push the boundaries much farther than you'd expect
:)

Agreed, never driven with them myself but was shocked at how well they gripped on Neil's Evo X.

Glad the knocking noise was only something bumping on your shaft.......

hahah :)
:norty::cath:

:more:

Quick update. I thought I would leak test the FMIC prior to getting a new turbo fitted and sort out any remaining niggles with the system so as not to cause any undue problems when mapping.

So off to the local plumbing supplies shop and £1.95 for a 2" waste pipe end. (with rubber sealed cap!) I drilled a hole in it and mounted a nice super light weight aluminium tyre valve in it!.. (hey our pressure test kit needs to be light weight!! :P)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psd30e9173.jpg

I used a tyre pump to apply pressure to the system once I had capped the other end off with an old paint can, some tape and a couple of jubilee clips. I then sprayed over the pipe joins with a fairy liquid and water solution.
Much to my annoyance there where tiny leaks at nearly every pipe junction! Indicated by big bubbles forming all over the place, despite the hose claps being tight enough to bend the bolts holding the claps!! I have since replaced the hole lot with Jubilee clips (took 3 hours to do this without removing the Bumper! and hey presto more pressure and no more leaks!!) Annoyed at HDI a little I am!
clamps anyone?

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4b8a4792.jpg

good effort. you wouldn't have had time for ps3 today then:ok: