My >$200 ebay FMIC kit installed

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
Don't know how but I managed to get it in. ebay fmic kit, stock bumper and grill fogs. Of course there is bumper trimming involved. I did go with a slightly shorter FMIC. It is ~6" vs the 7". Thanks to TDIJetta99 and Got Bearings for some key tips. Well I went for a run and it didn't come off so far.













 
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eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
As you can see I didn't have to cut the crash bumper if you find this cooler 27x6x2.5 with 2.5 inlet/outlet ebay:cxracing. (tdijetta99 mentioned height caused cutting and other cooler is ~7" tall). The key is to make tight turns into and out of cooler after positioning cooler inlet/outlet in lower orientation (inlet outlet is slightly off center). Input side is straight in with trimmed on one side 90 deg pipe. After using a U on outlet, you can use the 45 deg pipe with a short piece to get across a bit more and then go up at 45. I used a 45 coupler at the top (got bearings? idea)and then it is pretty much a straight shot into th 90 deg pipe. So far it seems to be running good, didn't come off and no rattles.
 

manual_tranny

Smyth Performance- Intern
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Jan 5, 2010
Location
New Bedford, MA
TDI
2001 Golf @182K; 2000 Jetta @290K
So... you have done the "roto-rooter" plumbing hardware mod, too? How is that working? Does it keep the tree roots out of your crankcase? =)
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
Hey Manual Tranny thanks for asking. Yeah I got rid of the EGR path and CCV oil path that combine to clog the intake. The CCV filter is not elegant but does the job. I followed your timing belt issue and other great posts you've made. Hopefully we could meet up at some point. thanks! ~ed

manual_tranny said:
So... you have done the "roto-rooter" plumbing hardware mod, too? How is that working? Does it keep the tree roots out of your crankcase? =)
 

manual_tranny

Smyth Performance- Intern
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Location
New Bedford, MA
TDI
2001 Golf @182K; 2000 Jetta @290K
Ahh.. I must confess I didn't even know what it was! I'm impressed that you made it work! Cool!!
eddie_1 said:
The CCV filter is not elegant but does the job.
eddie_1 said:
I followed your timing belt issue and other great posts you've made. Hopefully we could meet up at some point. thanks! ~ed
LOL! If I have any really good posts around here it's usually just repeating information I read on this site... :eek:
Next time I'm in NY or maybe I'll see ya at a GTG. I'm hoping I can get to the Ohio one!
 

LiLredTDI

Veteran Member
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Mar 13, 2008
Location
maryland
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2004 jetta tdi pd-1989 Jetta IDI-1994 F-250 IDI Turbo
Looks like you did a great job. How long did it take? I am being a bit of a sissy pulling the trigger on doing this mod. I was thinking along the same lines as you on going with the smaller coresize and taking it one step furthur by going with 2" piping. I have been reading FMIC threads on here by the dozen it is seems with the bigger cores/piping there are always some kind of issue wether it be grossly cutting the crashbar, bumper cover or having the suspension mash a pipe or assist in popping off a hose cause it is too big. The latter seemed to be a big issue long ago with the EUROJET kits. If I finaly decide to do this my thought was to install and label all parts and then remove and have a bead welded to the hose connection areas or find someplace to put a bead roll on and have the MAP sensor welded on. Hope you can answer some of my questions I have below it would be greatly appreciated.

Did you have to take off the crash bar to drill the holes to mount the core, or could you reach behind and install the bolts/washers?

Where did you get the MAP sensor and how did you mount it?

How were the quality of the silicone bits and t-bolts on that kit?

Did you have to cut the bumper cover or L/R bumper vent holes to get the 90's to fit?

Does any of the piping need some kind of a bracket added to eliminate wear/vibration issues?
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
> Looks like you did a great job. How long did it take? I am being a
> bit of a sissy pulling the trigger on doing this mod.

It' not that difficult really. I'm sure you can do it.

> I was thinking
> along the same lines as you on going with the smaller coresize and
> taking it one step furthur by going with 2" piping. I have been
> reading FMIC threads on here by the dozen it is seems with the
> bigger cores/piping there are always some kind of issue wether it be
> grossly cutting the crashbar, bumper cover or having the suspension
> mash a pipe or assist in popping off a hose cause it is too big.

I think what my attempt shows is that there is a path to go without having to cut the crash bar, still use 2.5" piping with this slightly shorter version of IC. I did use the custom lower IC pipes from idparts so that eliminated the suspension issue. That was a tip from Got Bearings? I guess in your case you can go the extra step and do beads. First time you could spend just cutting all the pipes to size. Then get the bead done and reinstall the next time.

>The
> latter seemed to be a big issue long ago with the EUROJET kits. If I
> finaly decide to do this my thought was to install and label all
> parts and then remove and have a bead welded to the hose connection
> areas or find someplace to put a bead roll on and have the MAP
> sensor welded on. Hope you can answer some of my questions I have
> below it would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Did you have to take off the crash bar to drill the holes to mount
> the core, or could you reach behind and install the bolts/washers?

I just drilled into the crash bar. I drilled 2 holes side by side to make an oval shape opening for each of the 3 bolt on points on the top, so I could tilt the IC back a bit and snug it up at a slight angle. You can remove this center piece on the crash bar and get your hand in from above to place bolts through. You will need a good drill and high quality bits. They dont call it crash bar for nothing. I did not support from below but it is in there pretty much unmovable and the pipes and bumper are all holding it pretty good. I will check back in a few weeks though to see if bolts etc. are ok. I used some blue thread locker on bolts.


> Where did you get the MAP sensor and how did you mount it?

There is a guy on ebay selling a map sensor flange kit searchable as:
INTERCOOLER MAP SENSOR FLANGE KIT VW......
I tapped the screw holes with M6 tap and mounted. pitch is 36mm exactly. double check though. drill very precisely the locations.

> How were the quality of the silicone bits and t-bolts on that kit?

The kit is not bad really. The pipes and bolts etc seem decent enough. However the IC that I bought separately from the CXracing ebay vendor seemed better built than the one in the kit. I don't know how the thing will hold up over time but I think several folks have 'em now without too many problems except for the odd location blowing off. Either the clamp was not tightened enough or they got a better clamp for that location.


> Did you have to cut the bumper cover or L/R bumper vent holes to get
> the 90's to fit?

I did a bit of trimming. I think you cannot get away with zero trimming whatever you do. But it was pretty minimal. It was mainly as you say at the inlet/outlet of the IC. Plus I have the grill fogs. But to answer your question - very slight bumper cover trimming where inlet/outlet of IC and some trimming of plastic vent holes at the fogs and along the bottom edge of IC.


> Does any of the piping need some kind of a bracket added to
> eliminate wear/vibration issues?

So far I cannot see any issues with vibration of pipes. I will have to check back. Overall everywhere it is touching something it is on plastic or rubber and everything is tightly coupled. Nothing is moving around. If you follow similar routing you should be ok. One thing you might want to do is support the IC from bottom with one of the brackets provided. I ended up cutting off the IC mounting holes at the bottom to get more clearance at the bottom. But I may attach something there if i find the IC getting loose. But I doubt it.

The IATs do drop dramatically. Just driving around town I am seeing 90s F drop to 50s F.

Let me know if you have any more questions.
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
One more area of trimming I forgot to mention was the radiator support. It is a plastic housing and there is a ridge along its edge. I trimmed along the bottom and where the IC inlet/outlet line up. This allows the IC to go further back.
 

LiLredTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Location
maryland
TDI
2004 jetta tdi pd-1989 Jetta IDI-1994 F-250 IDI Turbo
Eddie- Your awsome! Thanks for answering most of my questions. So you bought an entire fleabay IC kit, and additional smaller IC and pipes form ID parts? I have a PD so my install will,be a bit different I am hoping easier as I do not have the injector pump to contend with.

So start to finish how did this take you? I am wondering if any of the ID parts pipes will work on my car (ones on passenger side to turbo) The only stock E-Clip I plan to use will be on the antishudder valve. I "was" going to install a passenger performance intake but think I am now going to go with a SDI type with the AS or the PD 150 with the AS this way I do not have to eliminiate any wiring that will cause check engine lights or add resistors to fool them. I am considering taking my stock upper PD pipe that goes onto the AS and cutting off the end so I can insert one of the fleabay pipes inside and use a t-bolt clamp.
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
> Eddie- Your awsome! Thanks for answering most of my questions. So
> you bought an entire fleabay IC kit, and additional smaller IC and
> pipes form ID parts? I have a PD so my install will,be a bit
> different I am hoping easier as I do not have the injector pump to
> contend with.

Yes I bought the ebay $200 kit everyone is getting plus an additional cooler which is not as tall as mentioned - 6". Earlier I got the idparts "Upgraded Lower Intercooler Pipe" - which replaces the pancake pipe at turbo outlet. You are right it is for ALH. Maybe your pipe is better than pancake already, I'm not familiar with PD lower IC pipe. You are right you dont have additional pulley of IP so it will give you a bit of area.

> So start to finish how did this take you? I am wondering if any of
> the ID parts pipes will work on my car (ones on passenger side to
> turbo) The only stock E-Clip I plan to use will be on the
> antishudder valve. I "was" going to install a passenger performance
> intake but think I am now going to go with a SDI type with the AS or
> the PD 150 with the AS this way I do not have to eliminiate any
> wiring that will cause check engine lights or add resistors to fool
> them. I am considering taking my stock upper PD pipe that goes onto
> the AS and cutting off the end so I can insert one of the fleabay
> pipes inside and use a t-bolt clamp.

It took me the whole day. But then I work really slow to avoid mistakes. Time is a bit subjective. In fact it would have been a bit quicker but I lost a couple of hours trying to get the PD150 EGR hose on to 2.5" pipe it was not intended for!
 

mrflashy

Veteran Member
Joined
May 29, 2009
Location
UK
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Stage 2 Hybrid TDi and a couple of 24v VR6's for the noise
lmao eddie, i know exactly what you mean about stretching the OEM rubber hose onto a pipe, in the end we hot a heat gun to it and got it over a lip and whacked a strong hose clamp on it.

Mine survives 32psi of boost :)

Nice install, i will post some pictures up of my Ebay FMIC when i get chance, and some temp logs if people want any.
 

LiLredTDI

Veteran Member
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Location
maryland
TDI
2004 jetta tdi pd-1989 Jetta IDI-1994 F-250 IDI Turbo
mrflashy said:
lmao eddie, i know exactly what you mean about stretching the OEM rubber hose onto a pipe, in the end we hot a heat gun to it and got it over a lip and whacked a strong hose clamp on it.

Mine survives 32psi of boost :)

Nice install, i will post some pictures up of my Ebay FMIC when i get chance, and some temp logs if people want any.
How would the fit be if you used 2" pipe? I have found some kits that have 2" tubing which I "think" would be more than enough for our cars. I do not even know why some people run 3" seems over kill and may cause lag on a 17 series compressor.
 

mrflashy

Veteran Member
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Location
UK
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Stage 2 Hybrid TDi and a couple of 24v VR6's for the noise
I made my own kit, brought the core from ebay on its own, and used 57mm alloy hose joiners with 57mm 4ply silicon hoses.

I routed my pipework a different way due to my MAP bracket from forgemotorsport.

The pipe will fit a heck of a lot easier over a 51mm tube, so you will be Ok with that.
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
Hi, Glad to hear yours stays on at 32psi. There is still hope for me. If you were at my place when I was pulling at it you would have been laughing even more because at one point myself, my wife and son were all pulling on it. :D

mrflashy said:
lmao eddie, i know exactly what you mean about stretching the OEM rubber hose onto a pipe, in the end we hot a heat gun to it and got it over a lip and whacked a strong hose clamp on it.

Mine survives 32psi of boost :)

Nice install, i will post some pictures up of my Ebay FMIC when i get chance, and some temp logs if people want any.
 

VWBeamer

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Location
GA
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon
Thanks to all that have posted about your FMIC install.

I'm going to start mine soon, it will be a lot like yours, but I'm using a 1.8t pancake pipe from a GTI

This thread shows and compares the different stock pancake pipes, the 1.8 is a big improvement over the stock, and can be had for around $20 bucks used on ebay.

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/p/193681/1302951.aspx

If you read the above thread, the author staes he noticed a big improvement over the stock TDi pipe.

I also order the ebay FMIC kit, but after looking at your install , I went back and order the 6 in tall cooler.

I also ordered this piece from idparts

http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=99&products_id=1604

Thanks again to all that have posted. It sure makes it easier for the rest of us, I think my install should go pretty easy. Just waiting on the smaller intercooler now.
 
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CGDoig

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Joined
Jun 30, 2010
Location
Sundre, AB
TDI
05 Jetta GLS MKIV
I'm thinking I'm going to have to do this too. It just looks so damn easy. I'd really like a eurojet kit. But damn, these all look so good too.
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
I recently had another blow off here in Germany. Have been experimenting with some new tuning.

The ebay kit tbolts are probably not the best. After 1year or so you can see in pics the ones exposed to elements are corroding quite a bit. I need to replace mine with better ones. What I see is that as they corrode they are not as effective and you can start getting blow by /leaks which is not good for the turbo if you are running high psi numbers.










 
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Milage King

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Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Location
Spring Grove, IL
TDI
03 Jetta TD tuned
The Ebay clamps are definitely cheap, they are not SS bolts and nut. I threw them away when i got em, but unless the welds failed on the clamp itself, they should not loosen up, they usually have nylocks like a good clamp has. I bought clamps from silicone intakes.com. They are all stainless and hold very well. I live in the snow belt and ran em for a few years and they still look good and come apart with out rusting, $2.60 a piece.
 

MoldovaDIZEL

Vendor
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Location
Toronto/Guelph
TDI
mk4 TDI, 98 Cabrio AAZ
I also just got the same intercooler as u, 6 inches tall.....
I am still confused on how u routed the piping on the outlet side.
so you used a U joint pipe that u cut on one side, and than used a 45 angle pipe that u also cut shorter(or 45 coupler) and led it u to the 90 pipe with the map sensor correct?
In the 4th and 5th picture from pg 1, is that the same coupler just 1 picture from bottom and 1 from top,or is there something else in between i cant see?

and is it not possible to route a 2.5 form the turbo to the intake side? the wheel will rub on it at full turn?
 

LNXGUY

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 10, 2004
Location
Barrie, Ont, Canada
TDI
'05 Jetta TDI Wagon
You can run 2.5 from the turbo without issue. I do.

Just make sure it sits right underneath the frame rail so you don't have any rubbing issues.
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
I also just got the same intercooler as u, 6 inches tall.....
I am still confused on how u routed the piping on the outlet side.
so you used a U joint pipe that u cut on one side, and than used a 45 angle pipe that u also cut shorter(or 45 coupler) and led it u to the 90 pipe with the map sensor correct?
In the 4th and 5th picture from pg 1, is that the same coupler just 1 picture from bottom and 1 from top,or is there something else in between i cant see?

pic 4 and 5 are not the same coupler. Following diagram shows how it is routed. See there are 2 couplers involved. 1st is a regular coupler then a 45 degree coupler. The 45 degree elbow is in between the two. The 45 deg. coupler then goes to a straight piece section which joins to the 90 deg. pipe.


and is it not possible to route a 2.5 form the turbo to the intake side? the wheel will rub on it at full turn?

Not the wheel but axle/cv boots etc. This area is very tricky to route. Not that it cant be done but most people are using the idparts custom lower ic pipes. If you get them make sure you get the right ones for your turbo. Also if you are getting a 17/22 when you connect the first rubber outlet make sure the turbo is rotated (clocked) correctly. May not be needed on newer 17/22s.
 
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