Thought I'd post up a review of Whoosh's FMIC.
Pros:
-Is a massive upgrade from factory.
-Polished looks pretty
-Looks great once installed
-Great bang for you buck
Cons:
-The silver 'paint' completely chipped off the inner bars that are between the fins on the front when I went to blow any residual debris off the intercooler that might have been from packaging/shipment
-Fitment is VERY tight.
*Note on the cons:
I got a blow tip to blow out/off any type of material that may have accumulated on the cooler in transit/manufacturing. What I thought was metal shavings leaving the intercooler turned out to be the silver paint chipping off the center part of the cooler, where the horizontal bars that go between each row of fins the silver paint was chipping away from just the blow tip which revealed a polished look behind the paint. Me being anal I just blew off all the paint in the center because it would be a major eye sore when I would be looking at the cooler from the front of the car. Nothing major as I could just get silver intercooler paint and repaint it. Nothing deal breaking but it was odd. Plus, its an intercooler thats bound to get hit by rocks n debris.
The fitment isn't really a con. Plus it was said by Ron the manufactures stated that modification/trimming of the undertray might be required, and it was. I have to shave off quite a bit off the center mount thats on the bottom beneath the intercooler so that it would sit vertically flat when looking at it from the side with the bumper off. I went overboard because I'm OCD so I wanted it as best as it could be. Once I did that the two mounting points for the intercooler went right in. Having a second hand helps with that.
You don't really realize how much bigger the intercooler is until you mount it into place and try to put the undertray into place.
The two "straps" that go around the end tanks of the intercooler that are connected to the undertray I didn't bother to attach because the metal J clip and plastic was rubbing severely on the end tanks. I'll probably just end up cutting them off when I take the bumper off again to tidy things up. They're not needed anyway and that undertray is cheap if I need a new one. The three 8mm bolts that are underneath the intercooler where the most PITA to get in. You have to push up with quite the force to get the holes aligned to get the bolts to screw in, air ratchet helped enormously with that.
Once everything was in place and I installed my other Big Mouth it took a LITTLE more massaging to get the bumper on but very minor. When the bumper fully bolted up and on the intercooler fits night a snug in the opening when you step back and look at it. I think the end of the lower grill opening on the bumper do touch the intercooler but I feel they're just ever so slightly resting on it because the holes underneath for the five 7mm bolts on the bottom of the bumper lined up fine.
tl;dr
Its a great intercooler and I would recommend it. Just don't expect installation to be as easy as disassembly.
Pros:
-Is a massive upgrade from factory.
-Polished looks pretty
-Looks great once installed
-Great bang for you buck
Cons:
-The silver 'paint' completely chipped off the inner bars that are between the fins on the front when I went to blow any residual debris off the intercooler that might have been from packaging/shipment
-Fitment is VERY tight.
*Note on the cons:
I got a blow tip to blow out/off any type of material that may have accumulated on the cooler in transit/manufacturing. What I thought was metal shavings leaving the intercooler turned out to be the silver paint chipping off the center part of the cooler, where the horizontal bars that go between each row of fins the silver paint was chipping away from just the blow tip which revealed a polished look behind the paint. Me being anal I just blew off all the paint in the center because it would be a major eye sore when I would be looking at the cooler from the front of the car. Nothing major as I could just get silver intercooler paint and repaint it. Nothing deal breaking but it was odd. Plus, its an intercooler thats bound to get hit by rocks n debris.
The fitment isn't really a con. Plus it was said by Ron the manufactures stated that modification/trimming of the undertray might be required, and it was. I have to shave off quite a bit off the center mount thats on the bottom beneath the intercooler so that it would sit vertically flat when looking at it from the side with the bumper off. I went overboard because I'm OCD so I wanted it as best as it could be. Once I did that the two mounting points for the intercooler went right in. Having a second hand helps with that.
You don't really realize how much bigger the intercooler is until you mount it into place and try to put the undertray into place.
The two "straps" that go around the end tanks of the intercooler that are connected to the undertray I didn't bother to attach because the metal J clip and plastic was rubbing severely on the end tanks. I'll probably just end up cutting them off when I take the bumper off again to tidy things up. They're not needed anyway and that undertray is cheap if I need a new one. The three 8mm bolts that are underneath the intercooler where the most PITA to get in. You have to push up with quite the force to get the holes aligned to get the bolts to screw in, air ratchet helped enormously with that.
Once everything was in place and I installed my other Big Mouth it took a LITTLE more massaging to get the bumper on but very minor. When the bumper fully bolted up and on the intercooler fits night a snug in the opening when you step back and look at it. I think the end of the lower grill opening on the bumper do touch the intercooler but I feel they're just ever so slightly resting on it because the holes underneath for the five 7mm bolts on the bottom of the bumper lined up fine.
tl;dr
Its a great intercooler and I would recommend it. Just don't expect installation to be as easy as disassembly.
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