CA18 FMIC question.

captain_chaos

captain_chaos

Member
Its a bit of a daft one but here it goes.

Them £180 - £200 eBay job FMIC kits, are they any good? My mate had one on his S13 with a huge dent in it but it didnt leak and seemed to have done the job.

Just 300 quid for an Apexi kit is a bit out of my pocket at the moment :( still need coilovers and tranny mounts cos mine are goosed.
 
these ebay-fmic's are all from china...i buy them here for under 100gbp...
they're not leaking but they're much more heavy than brandnamed IC's and the cooling efficiency is not that good like apexi, greddy...but you still can use them. i had one on my sr20det and worked fine, a few friends with jz-monsters got them too and it works as far your not that mad driftking:D

these expensive IC's got a better cooling cause they're thinner, but i think they will leak more easy if a lil stone hit them than a china cooler...so up to you performance or longlife, choose yourself
 
They're fine. Pay a hundred quid for one, have fun. You won't care when you smash it. As said they're a bit heavier and bit less efficient, prob more pressure drop, but meh. Cheap.
 
Fitment of the cheaper kits can sometimes be abit hit and miss, fitted one to an R32 that was so bad we had to cut and re-weld it, usually they aren't that bad.

The mounting brackets (when they actually bother to include any) seem to be just a random selection of bits of metal.

The Apexi kit I fitted to an R33 was really good, pipes lined up really well and the mounting brackets also lined up perfectly with existing factory bolt holes.

I guess it depends how capable you are to make brackets and tweak things to make them fit. How long would it take to save the extra 100 odd quid?
 
Thank you very much guys. Really appreciate the feedback:thumbs:

And I think since Im only learning and not after very silly power figures and efficiency I many just get an eBay jobby.

Its no probs for me to knock up my on mounting brackets, as long as the hard pipes fit up well Im golden. I am very good friends with a grinder and a welder and can fabricate no bother, only thing I havent learnt yet is TIG :( gona save up for a decent Tig welder and play about and want to learn to weld stainless at some point.

But from the feedback, I think the cheap Ebay cooler sounds just up my street:thumbs:
 
that ebay stuff is dont know 100-150gbp, but for apexi or greddy fmic's you pay at least about 400-500gbp!:D i would invest that difference better in a standalone, bigger turbo, or just 20 tyres:D(1week nonstop fun:D)
 
tathan said:
You think there's a 100 quid difference between an Apexi cooler and an ebay one :wack:
Click to expand...

I've got no idea what an apex'i kit is worth over there.

OP said: "Them £180 - £200 eBay job FMIC kits, are they any good? My mate had one on his S13 with a huge dent in it but it didnt leak and seemed to have done the job.

Just 300 quid for an Apexi kit is a bit out of my pocket at the moment"

Perhaps he meant an extra 300 quid? Whatever the difference in price, the point is he has to decide if it's worth it for the guarantee that everything will line up and fit perfectly, or if he'd rather save the coin, make some brackets and take the risk of having the piping not actually line up or fit.
 
i think there is no guarantee that all will fit for fmic's under 400gbp:D
what i think is best, you buy just the fmic without piping on ebay or some else cheap and pipe it yourself...it's not that bad difficult:D
use a bit of your brain-sauce and make your pipework fit, thats what i did and i can tell you i'm happy to did it myself...
 
Sorry lads, I mean Apex

Whats the difference between Apex and Apexi? Still a bit new to jap stuff

And my mate was on about starting to make our own hard pips so it may be a good idea to just get the cooler and make the pipes myself. Just need to have a go and see what I can make, only way you learn really.

Brackets wont be any bother to make, its the pipes that Im not sure about, never welded stainless myself but might give it a go.:thumbs:
 
Apex goes for apex performance. They used to provide nice parts but now they just sell the same cheap stuff you can find on ebay, except it costs more from them.

Apexi is an old brand which makes quality items.
 
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