Front Mounted Intercooler Kit

[Rabidinredd]

I just completed the installation of the FMIC kit supplied by Forced4. As with their other kits (65 mm throttle body; remote valve cover oil vapor breather; strut tower brace) that I have installed, it went together with little additional fuss over what their instructions cautioned. The layout of the polished inlet and outlet pipes is along the turbo side of the engine bay, so it doesn't require the upper intake manifold to be sectioned and turned. The intercooler sits nicely in front of the lower rad area, fully exposed behind the bumper cover's lower openings (they have great pictures posted on their site; I didn't take any). I removed the rad to mount the intercooler and pipes; two other options include removing bumper cover or sliding intercooler up from underneath, between bumper cover and rad supports. VERY functional addition; simple installation. Word of caution: When they advise that it will be tight between the passenger-side rad support and the stock rad, and that you may have to slide the rad as far to the driver's side as possible, they mean it.

[NY eric]

I am glad it went well. I was worried since I havent heard from you. You are the only one of the 7 kits sold so far that didnt call for aditional help. You should be congradulated.

[Gyrhead]

good deal

A few of us here have installed the F4 kit and have similar observations. I finally got mine bolted up and the nose back on last week! Glad you're happy with it. It's a good quality kit!

[Rabidinredd]

FMIC F4 kit

The only additional things I found necessary to do was to slip in a couple extra inches of 2.5-inch steel tubing (with silicone tube then mating to each of the supplied kit pieces) at the crossover pipe joint over the intercooler; I couldn't clear the rad without this extra length. Also, the thread pitch on the intercooler attachment bolts didn't match the brazed-on nut assembly that they had to go through. I was hesitant to make much mention these two problems; the original owner of my car put it into a tree one year after owning it. The next guy that bought it did a great job of straightening out (as much as you can do with a unibody built circa early 1980's), but I know the front end is a little off (leveling my strut tower brace showed me that!), and the attachment hardware could now be different from stock.

[bendutro]

Enough installation notes, let's hear about the drive!

[Rabidinredd]

Unfortunately, I don't have anything quantitative such as inlet versus outlet temperature, or before-and-after time slips. However, we've had some really warm weather here lately, and the car still rockets to my pre-set 17-18 psi boost, stays there if I stay on it, and there's no hint of detonation (knock sensor is unplugged). I always run premium pump fuel; advertized octane is 91. The club's annual dyno day is coming up, and I might get some numbers during that event, if I can resolve my TFI issue that showed up today. Timing with SPOUT unplugged: 12 degrees BTDC; timing with SPOUT plugged in: 12 degrees BTDC (essentially, not advancing), a poor cold idle, and a backfire between gear changes limping home. I have some checking to do.