I know there have been 100 posts regarding the fitment of ebay fmic's but can some1 in the know have a quick look at this and tell me if they think the DV pipework and the map sensor location look about right or if other things will need welding on or adding.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FMIC-SKODA-OCTAVIA-VRS-1-8T-TURBO-INTERCOOLER-KIT-/400154478306?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5d2b10c6e2#ht_729wt_1037

Thank you

Tris

I've looked quitec closely at those kits, a friend of mine happened to have one laying about waiting to be fitted when I was looking for intercoolers for my felicia 1.8t project.. It all appears to fit together albeit really badly, it takes a bit of fiddling around with the bumper and a bit of fettling on the front panels to make it fit... If you are a bit handy with the spanners I would go for it but I would recommend throwing away the short hose joiners and getting all the pipe work joints properly tig welded together wherever possible.

Edit: when I say fiddling and fettling I mean on the golf/octavia... Obviously virtually none of it would fit my own vehicle so I decided to do a full custom setup using a £55 universal intercooler core and home made pipework.

But if you are handy, it's much better value than a Forge kit, for example.

but they are less efficient than the standard SMIC :wonder: why bother

Pretty much everyone I know who has bought an Ebay FMIC has had nightmares with fitment, & boost leaks. Unless you're going to highly tune your engine I wouldn't bother.

I'm wanting to go stage 2.... So far I have forge DV, pipercross panel filter, turbo back 2.5inch exhaust (no cat), had a stage 1 map at AMD Woking B4 the turbo back exhaust. Have brought a 4bar FPR to have fitted Only other thing I can think I need is the FMIC but for £600 for the forge not sure it's worth it for the extra BHP... But can I go stage 2 without it???

Thanks

Tris

The big name intercooler kits are just plain not worth the cash.

Try finding a decent intercooler from another car, then plumbing it in yourself

It depends how much hassle you want. The ones from Forge or Proalloy will bolt on with no issues. Ebay ones might need a lot more faffing about.

I had my bumper off about six times getting mine to fit and had to buy extra pipework and get stuff altered.

Bolt on extortion kit

Btw, the intercooler from a mercedez slk looks like it could be quite good for that sort of conversion if you want to do it the teflontom pikey way..

But if you are handy, it's much better value than a Forge kit, for example.

Yes but no way near as good and giving reliable reduced temp charged air, as been found many time before.

but they are less efficient than the standard SMIC :wonder: why bother

Totally agree....

The big name intercooler kits are just plain not worth the cash.

Try finding a decent intercooler from another car, then plumbing it in yourself

all's well if you want the hassle and pain and messing about

True that the forge and other proper made FMIC's may be expense, but no way near that expensive as they used to be and you can get very good deals these days.

You pay for quality and testing.

I've had the "discussion" with Forge themselves who were no very forthcoming with actual figures. It's an intercooler; it's not exactly rocket science! They made it out be all hi-tech, but it's just not. Yes it's well made, but so are other kits, and you'd be mad to buy a Forge kit when you can get the exact same thing for less than half the price!

Although there is a demonstrable placebo effect from buying Forge kit

Babs, sorry mate you are wrong, there is actually quite a bit of rocket science behind efficient intercooling. Core dimensions, pipework diameters, pressure drops. Even the cowling that feeds the fresh air into the core can affect the efficiency by a great deal. There's a list of formulae as long as your arm for working out the ideal stuff to use... That said, these car don't make massive power compared to others so I'd hazard a guess that none of it makes the blindest bit of difference.. Although the most common thing I see with drifters and street nutters is intercoolers that are far too big for the engine which do nothing more than increase the lag and make no noticeable difference to the charge temperature.... I get all sorts in my workshop, evos, scoobys, skylines, etc etc.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say.

I couldn't get my intake temps above 24°C using the Pro Alloy FMIC and Revo stage 2 software. I know the Pro Alloy cooler is a good few hundred pounds more expensive than the eBay one, but it's still a lot cheaper than a replacement engine. Remember lots of boost and high intake temps WILL kill your engine.

For a standard turbo, it's not really gonna make any difference though, and I've seen plenty of good figures and happy owners on self-built kits

can I go stage 2 without it???

You can but you will lose massive amounts of power the hotter it gets.

I tested the standard SMIC with a stage 1 map and after several hot runs the intake temp had doubled and the bhp was down by 10%, i'd imagine that would be even worse with a stage 2 map and more boost.

You can sometimes get 2nd hand Forge or Proalloy ones cheap, one of my local members has a Forge one he bought off of another member on here for £100.

Wish peppy would sell me his pro alloy one for 100 quid lol

contact forge direct. they sorted me out bigtime! straight forward fitting and the quality speaks for itself. Get a modified crash bar with the kit, and money back when you send your old one back.

What about just relocating the standard SMIC to the front?

Anybody tried?

I was thinking even two smics in series

I agree the standard SMIC is poor but has anyone done back to back testing on the Toyo (ebay) cooler and the forge/pro alloy?

contact forge direct. they sorted me out bigtime! straight forward fitting and the quality speaks for itself. Get a modified crash bar with the kit, and money back when you send your old one back.

How well did they sort you out? £720 for the kit on their site!

i paid under 500 deliverd for mine

That makes it slightly less ridiculous. Only slightly though.

Paid under £450 for mine...must have liked me more

Edited 9 November, 201114 yr by Flybikeslee

I was thinking even two smics in series

Thats been tried before, if I remember rightly it was too much of a ballache because the Octy hasn't got mounting points for a nearside intercooler like the S3 and Cupra have. The AUQ engine throttle body is at the opposite side of the inlet manifold to the BAM engine too so that makes routing the pipes for two SMICs really difficult.

I think I was quoted around £500, just found it too hard to part with that sort of cash for a £3k car :wonder: