All this FMIC Talk. Im Getting one.

[my01s4]

Anyone know if the Kit is currently in stock at JHM?
Website Says back-ordered but don't know how often its updated.
Thanks.
Peter

[RolledMySTi]

Have you called JHM? I bet they would know.

[Trigger Happy]

Nah they wouldn't know.

[my01s4]

lmao. yeah i called in the morning but it was kinda early. im CT time.

But yeah found out there on back order till next week.

Thanks Guys. lol

[highPSI-S4]

I've had to deal with leak after leak. In the long run i've had this setup for awhile and have not been able really get into the car without pipes blowing off. maybe user error, but either way i'm going back to stock and like i've said before i'm going to do this car the right.

I do like frontmounts but this has not been a great experience for me.


But good luck and hope your setup turns out good.

[my01s4]

Did you have the Universal kit?^

I would like the JHM kit because its only 4 pipes, less couplings.

I let you know how it goes.
Thanks in advance.

Peter

[Jung]

i have the new style piping off of Ebay, and it's totally awesome stuff. Dude, if I were in your shoes, I'd go with the $550 dollar kit onEbay and save 700 bucks. It's seriously the same stuff that the JHM uses, only it's lacking a EFK and brand name. With all the writeups on here and audiworld on installs, and lots of people willing to share their stories, it wouldn't be very difficult to install once you get the layout of the car.

buttt if you're into spending wayyyyyy too much $$ on it then do it!

[ThirdStrike]

I've had to deal with leak after leak. In the long run i've had this setup for awhile and have not been able really get into the car without pipes blowing off. maybe user error, but either way i'm going back to stock and like i've said before i'm going to do this car the right.

I do like frontmounts but this has not been a great experience for me.


But good luck and hope your setup turns out good.

thats the first ive heard of such issues.
are you using T-style clamps?

[highPSI-S4]

thats the first ive heard of such issues.
are you using T-style clamps?

Majority are, i just want to blame it on the piping. sometimes vaccum reads 20hg after i mess around with the pipes and then the next day it's back to 15-16hg, and i've pressure tested 3times now. but my main reason is i want a stock looking car. i think the old age is getting me, and i hate having to fuck with the car every other day. And i see no need to pay more money for upgraded pipes when i'm trying to go stage 3 and i want some awe or ER side mounts. Which is what i should have done from the beginning, i want to re-do the car the right way.


Again i love front mounts, but i need change. End of rant

[AudiSportB5S4]

i had the FMIC too, i didnt have the "new piping" but the only thing i hated about the FMIC was the fact that like HighPSI stated, you're constantly dealing with hoses coming loose. also, if you are paranoid like I, and having watch people in parking lots just simply pull too far forward or back up into you parralel parked, its just such a hassle to have your intercooler right up front.

[Matt@JHM]

i have the new style piping off of Ebay, and it's totally awesome stuff. Dude, if I were in your shoes, I'd go with the $550 dollar kit onEbay and save 700 bucks. It's seriously the same stuff that the JHM uses, only it's lacking a EFK and brand name. With all the writeups on here and audiworld on installs, and lots of people willing to share their stories, it wouldn't be very difficult to install once you get the layout of the car.

buttt if you're into spending wayyyyyy too much $$ on it then do it!

Our kit comes with or without an EFK. But if you do purchase an EFK, we will provide video instructions on install. Not sure how he would save 700 bucks going with an eBay kit though.

[AudiSportB5S4]

i'd rather spend the money with the companies that make parts for our cars so that they stay in business and continue to make cool products for us... but thats just me

[MikeS]

Do it! You won't regret it.

[NogaroWonda00]

A-A fmic= dumbest idea ever..........
even though i have the awe smic's they arent the smartest either.
my buddys srt4 with a 35r turbo has a tiny ass WATER to AIR.

i say that would be the smartest thing i really wish i would have done that. if you have the resources that i do in my area it would save you more money IMO and youd get better performance than any other

[2ndEngineS4]

i'd rather spend the money with the companies that make parts for our cars so that they stay in business and continue to make cool products for us... but thats just me

That makes so much sense that it nearly brought a tear to my eye. These shoestring and ductape kiddie tuners don't seem to understand that concept very well. I guess when all of the good businesses go under from us not buying their "overpriced" parts, the ebay shops will step up and support our platform. . . or we can go back to audi and buy bargain priced OEM parts. .

JHM ftw.

[gotaudi]

A-A fmic= dumbest idea ever..........
even though i have the awe smic's they arent the smartest either.
my buddys srt4 with a 35r turbo has a tiny ass WATER to AIR.

i say that would be the smartest thing i really wish i would have done that. if you have the resources that i do in my area it would save you more money IMO and youd get better performance than any other

A little quote from bell intercoolers "Street use: The air-to-air intercooler will prove superior in efficiency when sized properly."

citation:http://www.bellintercoolers.com/page...FAQ.html#FAQ_5

Water to air intercooler is really not needed on a street car. now a drag car yes it is a nice thing to have. A water to air also has more barriers to go through to cool charge than an Air to air. the only reason air to water would be better is if you add ice to the exspansion tank. otherwise the Air to Air intercooler is more reliable (no moving parts) very efficient when getting temps close to ambient temps. water takes in a lot of heat but it also takes a very long time to get rid of the heat. so all it does is prolong the heat soaking. Again imo if this is a street car, get an air to air intercooler.

[my01s4]

Thanks, Cant wait to get this thing done.

[ThirdStrike]

A-A fmic= dumbest idea ever..........
even though i have the awe smic's they arent the smartest either.
my buddys srt4 with a 35r turbo has a tiny ass WATER to AIR.

i say that would be the smartest thing i really wish i would have done that. if you have the resources that i do in my area it would save you more money IMO and youd get better performance than any other

id like to see a bi-turbo v6 with water to air cooling. seems like a lot of work..

[my01s4]

yeah, specially place it in our engine bay, theres really no more room.^

[NastyNogaro]

Some of you guys are funny. I guess different people have different experiences. The only time I personally had an issue with pipes coming off or leaking was when I had worm gear clamps. Switched to all t-bolts, even with the 8 or so different pipes it was fine. Now that I have the JHM/CXRacing 1 piece pipes and t-bolts I've had not a single issue with pressure drop, leaking, or any sort of decreased performance.

I had AWE side mounts when I first got the car (sold them locally a while back so don't PM me) and the front mount, coupled with the SPP EFK i installed seems to be a much better setup, performance wise, and looks wise (i love the look of an fmic on an audi).

[AudiSportB5S4]

Some of you guys are funny. I guess different people have different experiences. The only time I personally had an issue with pipes coming off or leaking was when I had worm gear clamps. Switched to all t-bolts, even with the 8 or so different pipes it was fine. Now that I have the JHM/CXRacing 1 piece pipes and t-bolts I've had not a single issue with pressure drop, leaking, or any sort of decreased performance.

I had AWE side mounts when I first got the car (sold them locally a while back so don't PM me) and the front mount, coupled with the SPP EFK i installed seems to be a much better setup, performance wise, and looks wise (i love the look of an fmic on an audi).

if i still had the FMIC, my plans were to for sure grab the JHM pipes...and there has to be SOME pressure drop, they even list the pressure drop at 5PSI or whatever they do.... the core is HUGE, it takes much air to fill it so there has to be at least something... i agree though, the performance is great, only thing is you have to worry about your core being right up front and especially in our bumpers there is no protection if someone backs into you, etc

[AudiSportB5S4]

That makes so much sense that it nearly brought a tear to my eye. These shoestring and ductape kiddie tuners don't seem to understand that concept very well. I guess when all of the good businesses go under from us not buying their "overpriced" parts, the ebay shops will step up and support our platform. . . or we can go back to audi and buy bargain priced OEM parts. .

JHM ftw.

lol, im not sure if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing .

[NastyNogaro]

if i still had the FMIC, my plans were to for sure grab the JHM pipes...and there has to be SOME pressure drop, they even list the pressure drop at 5PSI or whatever they do.... the core is HUGE, it takes much air to fill it so there has to be at least something... i agree though, the performance is great, only thing is you have to worry about your core being right up front and especially in our bumpers there is no protection if someone backs into you, etc

I retained my bumper support (just cut the hell out of it). I know at this point the rigidity of it has of course been sacrificed, but at least it's somethin there. If there is a pressure drop it is definitely less than 1 psi.. I didn't notice a difference between the spike/hold with the front mount setup versus the side mounts. (yes I have a boost gauge)

[02audia41.8]

That makes so much sense that it nearly brought a tear to my eye. These shoestring and ductape kiddie tuners don't seem to understand that concept very well. I guess when all of the good businesses go under from us not buying their "overpriced" parts, the ebay shops will step up and support our platform. . . or we can go back to audi and buy bargain priced OEM parts. .

JHM ftw.

Just FYI if you read on jhm's website it says this
In order to bring a low cost Front Mount Intercooler Kit to market we based this kit on the popular low cost Ebay core that JHM and many others have had REAL WORLD success with.

[raketeS4]

I bought the cxracing core and new & improved piping kit on eBay, and I'm quite satisfied. It was a fairly easy job installing the fmic, the most challenging part was cutting the crash bar and fitting the bumper properly. I've had zero problems to date (knock on wood) and I would recommend the upgrade.

here are some pics of how I mounted the core

[RxDlr]

i'm thinking about doing this in the near future to prepare for the onslaught i'm about to do to my engine (hopefully rs6 turbos) in the spring. i currently have rs4 smic's in my car now and was debating whether or not to go fmic or get the er smic's. after reading and researching this argument over which one's better, i think i'm gonna go with an fmic from jhm just so i can do it right and not have to worry about pipe leaking/bursting or any other sheningans an ebay kit would produce

[my01s4]

ok just to clarify the jhm and Ebay thing. I spoke to cxracing and jhm. They are both recieveing there backorederd kits on friday. So my point is that they both are receiving the kit from the same place as it seems. so where ever you order from, its the same product.


RxDlr : Ill help you out once you decide what to go with.

[sweetmeat]

Some of you guys are funny. I guess different people have different experiences. The only time I personally had an issue with pipes coming off or leaking was when I had worm gear clamps. Switched to all t-bolts, even with the 8 or so different pipes it was fine. Now that I have the JHM/CXRacing 1 piece pipes and t-bolts I've had not a single issue with pressure drop, leaking, or any sort of decreased performance.

I had AWE side mounts when I first got the car (sold them locally a while back so don't PM me) and the front mount, coupled with the SPP EFK i installed seems to be a much better setup, performance wise, and looks wise (i love the look of an fmic on an audi).

Im still debating JHM over my current AWE SMs. It seems like you are pretty happy with the setup....have you logged any data comparing the two?

[AudiSportB5S4]

i have logs showing FMIC and logs showing AWE SMICs... i switched from FMIC to AWE SMICs and the reason being one, the look and two, K04s have a hard time filling the core with air and you lose boost pressure across the range of the core. i have logs showing that i will try to pinpoint what is what and post it. lets put it this way, throttle response is BETTER with AWE's than it was with FMIC.

[2ndEngineS4]

lol, im not sure if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing .

Agreeing.

[2ndEngineS4]

Just FYI if you read on jhm's website it says this
In order to bring a low cost Front Mount Intercooler Kit to market we based this kit on the popular low cost Ebay core that JHM and many others have had REAL WORLD success with.

I fail to see your point.

[AudiSportB5S4]

Agreeing.

lol gotcha!

i found some logs OP of the FMIC. i have to figure out how to post them though, not the whole thing just specific plots... ECUx logs, anyone have any tips

[AudiSportB5S4]

nevermind, i found out... so to explain the graphs and what you're looking at.... obviously first one is IAT, the REASON for intercoolers!.... BLUE is the ebay FMIC (CxRacing) JHM Core whatever.... PINK is the AWE SMICs....... Both runs were NOT done on the same day, however it was 80* both days and same time of evening... the FMIC soaks up heat from your radiator which is why the IATs start high. however they stay flat and slightly rise at end... AWEs start cooler and rise as well but still maintaining cooler temps...



NOW onto boost and how it comes on...... Its hard to tell in this graph, but what I noticed with the FMIC, I would never make the PSI i was supposed to, again blue represents FMIC and pink is AWE.



look at the solid blue line thats requested, and dots are actual, same for pink, solid line is req, dots actual..

they arent the best graphs, but just showing some data between the two this is all i have. the reason the AWE graph looks like a roller coaster is because the merrit isnt the straightest road, it dips at points and the car adjusts for that. however when comparing temps it has no bearing

[sweetmeat]

interesting. thanks. I expected to hear both higher IATs and a boost drop with the FMIC, but its nice to nice the numbers.

It looks as if you increased boost with the FMIC to 24ish. This makes the boost drop look even greater, since the psi is not even meeting the desired for the AWE smc. Is this true?

[AudiSportB5S4]

hah, correct. i didnt even think but those are two different files from VAST. I send them logs they send me chips :). They tuned me for the AWE's, when i had the FMIC they could run a bit more aggresive boost file because ALL of it wasnt making it to the engine. Numbers are always interesting!

[my01s4]

So you really cant compare those if they are two different files.

How about logs with the same boost at least.

[AudiSportB5S4]

i dont have those chips anymore, and i dont have the FMIC as well to go back and run my new file with the FMIC.... really the only important graph is the IATs.

[RxDlr]

decisions decisions, i know im going to have to upgrade the ic's sooner or later and i don't want to underestimate the amount i'm going to need especially since i plan on going cross country to az next summer with the setup i'm thinking about doing. pete i'll be back in town in a couple weeks i'll be getting a bbk and wheels hopefully in the beginning of sept too so i'll definately hit you up