VRSF FMIC install

[Ryan Singh]

So my fmic kit arrived a few days ago and I'm probably going to start putting it on tonight. By the looks of it, I'll have to cut out a bit of the rad support to route the uicp, anything else I should be aware of? And yes I got the GReddy flanged one plus j-pipe.

Thanks

[Brett Haviland]

yup,  ill get a pic of my finished rad support.  Your overflow bottle will also not fit anymore.  (pipe is in the way now)


also you should replace the outer throttle body gasket as the kit replaces the elbow with a new piece.   
stupid image shack

[Ryan Singh]

Awesome man, thanks...what did you end up doing with your overflow bottle?

[kevin derhouson]

probably used a pop bottle :p

[Jason Swan]

Awesome man, thanks...what did you end up doing with your overflow bottle?

I put mine where the smic was....

[Brett Haviland]

I got one from a newer Mitsubishi gallant 2.4L.  (2002 era aprox).  The shape was perfect and I was able to mount it just behind the airfilter, and it goes down into the old SMIC hole.  Sits really good, and looks OEM as well.

[Jason Harwood]

I was able to keep my stock over flow... I had a injen intake. I moved the bottle further towards to fender and down low.
Zapped it against something.

Just needed to get a longer hose that was all.

[Ryan Singh]

Excellent! Thanks guys.

[Ryan Singh]

I cut the whole thing off.



Bitch ass rad support. 



The shiny pipe you see under the hood is up for sale, is a Dejon uicp with a GReddy flange.
$80 obo

I will post further progress.

@Brett...I'm guessing you cut the sides out of the impact beams to put the nut on the back of the intercooler bolts? I don't see any other way to do it.

[Brett Haviland]

hey, not really sure what u mean about cutting the brackets to install the nuts?

i have some pics here that may help.


This is how i cut my front bumper rebar to fit around the intercooler (maintains bumper support under headlights to prevents "sagging bumper syndrome)


I do know when i mounted the rebar/brackets back into the frame rails i had them bolted to the rebar/bumper support still (brackets slide into the frame rails and there is two bolts that come up from the bottom of the frame rails to securre them.  In the pics you show it looks like you removed the bumper rebar/support from the brackets.  That should solve your problem.  The intercooler itself mounts to two pre-drilled and tapped holes in the rad support and there should be two clearish poly bushings to go inbetween the intercooler and the rad support.  Bolt the intercooler up, connect all the piping/couplers... then slide the cut and modified bumper rebar/support and brackets into the frame rails and secure with the 4 bolts that come up from the bottom of the rails  (there are holes underneath cut in the rails from factory to access these bolts.)

hope that helps

oh also, i removed the power steering cooler loop out of there to make room for the FMIC.  i just cut one of the PS return hoses a little shorter and routed it back to the resivour totally removing the cooler.  never had a issue in daily driving it without that PS cooler loop pipe.

also your car being automatic appears to have a cooler mounted on the drivers side for the tranny oil.  Hopfully that doesn't interfere with the intercooler/piping routing as well or you may have to re-postition the trans oil cooler as well.

[Ryan Singh]

The intercooler itself mounts to two pre-drilled and tapped holes in the rad support and there should be two clearish poly bushings to go inbetween the intercooler and the rad support.  

What I quoted above is what I'm talking about...mine don't seem to be tapped. The bolts just go right into the pre-drilled holes so I was looking for a way to get behind them to but the nut on. It's hollow but there's no way inside to secure the nuts on it the holes are too big.

Weird how my holes are too big and yours are so tight. LOL, couldn't resist.

My rebar is cut very similar, I'll post it next time I'm messing with the car.

Super helpful response by the way, thanks mang!

[Brett Haviland]

ahh, actually that does make me remmeber now.   I ended up tapping out the sheet metal with a standard thread tap.(slightly bigger then holes)  I put the bolt into the rad support with locktight and gently snugged them down. not the most optimal way to do it but it worked. (proper way to repair this would be to drill the hole out as big as a metric 8mm or 10mm nut can fit inside it.  then using a magnet and a welder tack, and weld the nut to the rad support.  grind down flat after, and clean the threads.  then you can use the proper hardware and tighten them as tight as you want so they will never fall out.  Another option would be to install a Drywall style self expanding threaded section.  Or there are also Rivet style threads that can be installed, but this would require a exspensive tool id imagine.