Hi guys, need a fmic for my s13 ca. They seem hard to get hold of a named brand and ideally i don't want to relocate the battery. I have found one on ebay for 208 squid which seems very cheap, they have told me it doesn't need the battery to be moved and it comes with all pipework. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/For-Nissan-Silvia-S13-180SX-CA18DET-FMIC-89-91-Intercooler-Aluminum-Pipe-Kit-BL/272300616229?epid=2283831830&hash=item3f6661aa25:gWwAAOSwD0lUgTGT
Thats proper cheap, even if you need to buy a couple extra connectors you're still quids in.
Item location is China. I know all the cheap stuff you'd get is from China anyway, but I'd find a UK supplier to avoid the headaches when this inevitably doesn't fit and you have to start chopping stuff out.
Didn’t people use Saab intercoolers back in the day?
Is the pipe work that different from an s13 with an sr?
1998 Nissan 200sx s14a , 2000 std 5 speed with nismo supercoppermix clutch bn6 Sapphire Blue
I think i remember reading about saab or Volvo coolers buy tbh i want it new and shiny as the car is mint and only take it out for a car meet every now and again. I'll keep looling for a decent uk outlet but seems hard to find and also don't want a battery relocation.
You can get excellent custom intercooler set ups made a JC Weldfab in Northampton. They are up there with as good as it gets.
Other core suppliers in the UK would include Airtec, Forge and Pro Alloy.
The eBay advice is, don't.
All FMIC that fit in front of the slam panel need the bumper chopping around.Originally Posted by dotzero
SAAB/Volvo IC that fit between slam panel and rad only need the rad moving back 50mm or so, a small battery, discard the fan shroud and carbon can if fitted.
Yea Saab or Volvo intercoolers were alrite when you could pick them up for under 50 quid, but they weren't massive so had their limits.
Also most needed the end tank gaskets replacing as they often leaked
You are going to have to cut the battery tray and either fit a smaller battery or relocate the battery to the boot if you go for that ebay thing.
For a shiny radiator mounted one, you need to go custom made or hope one of the few type 1s from Apex comes on the market.
Apex did do a bumper mount FMIC that didn't require the battery tray to be cut but I think it was only for the SR. It had both pipes coming from the same side and fairly long and tortuous pipework.
The only other alternative (and less bling) is to see if you can find a Norris Designs WMIC. Its an upgrade from the OEM WMIC and you can make up less restrictive pipework than the OEM setup but its not simple and the ND WMICs are also rare.
TBH, the only "good" option is the custom route and that's not going to be cheap.
Ok. Great advice thankyou peeps, i will ditch off the ebay cheapness and make some enquiries into the custom route, I'm not against buying second hand so will keep my eyes open for an apex gen1 or nd wmic
What engine spec are you going for?
Tbh, i would love to go stage 3 so fmic is what I'm after
I had the whole don’t want to cut my battery tray thing when I got my s13. But quickly came to realise that it’s the best and about the only way to get a decent sized front mount. I got a cheap toyosports core as it was the only make that had a medium sized core that would fit and made my own pipes up out of stainless. You could get a fab company to do the same. Have a look at my build thread and you’ll see how I did it
Stage 3 will be absolutely fine on an ebay core, I run my SR at over 400bhp with a toyosports core and IAT temps have never been an issue. Could it be better, sure, is it functional and cheaper by hundreds of pounds... also yes.
I didn't want to chop my battery tray either as I didn't want to relocate battery there are a couple of ways I thought to do this
- No cut: With my CA I chopped up the supplied cold side piping and added some straight pipe and silicone joiners to bring the pipe around towards the LCA bracket and then come straight up into the bay inside of the chassis rail.
- Hidden cut: For my SR I cut a hole underneath the battery tray, between that and the chassis rail. Then bought some stainless bends that I got welded up for beer tokens, managed to retain washer bottle too by heating it up and bending it away. So pipe from intercooler goes 90 back and upwards, 90 through the hole into bay, 90 upwards and 90 to TB. Not overly happy with all the bends but retains battery and washer and honestly I'm not sure you'd notice any difference from a straighter run
- No cut, mid mount - As Skyshack and others mentioned if you move rad back and mid mount the intercooler you can run pipes around the side of the rad. I didn't like the look of this myself, am a tart and wanted a FMIC in the bumper opening and a tidy top of radiator area.
If you want to be straight up balla then obviously custom is the answer, but honestly an ebay core will perform fine for what you want and getting just the cold side piping customised will save some dollar, even more so if you can DIY it
@FunkyMonk - You don't think this looks tidy ?
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