SSAutoChrome fmic

I just bought the SSAutochrome front mount intercooler kit. It comes with nice and chromed piping and core, and works beautifully. Its all short-route piping, with a backdoor design core. I have an evo3, so I needed to buy a j-pipe to fit with it, which I got from sbr. The intercooler was a pain to get on, had to be cut and welded in some areas, but I finally got it all on.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3213/img00035tg0.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3812/img00045kq6.jpg

the difference is literally night and day. I installed it saturday, and today I had to cut the bumper for it to fit, put that back on and washed it:-)

just figured I would share this experience with everyone. heres the link if anyone is interested.. http://www.ssautochrome.com/level.itml/icOid/1438

yeah i bought that like 2 years ago i think when it was group buy for dsmtuners for 300 shipped for my spyder, and it was the best 300 i ever spent.

The intercooler was a pain to get on, had to be cut and welded in some areas, but I finally got it all on.
so the intercooler had to be cut and welded? or the mounts had to be cut and welded? i was considering geting a XSPower or a SSAC FMIC when i got my dsm. thats pushing me away from the SSAC

so the intercooler had to be cut and welded? or the mounts had to be cut and welded? i was considering geting a XSPower or a SSAC FMIC when i got my dsm. thats pushing me away from the SSAC
I think he means the mounts... I seriously doubt he hacked up the core or endtanks for any reason. :wink:


Looks good man.

Yea the intercooler looks really good. How about some pics with the bumper on it.

yea we just finished it last night.

Naturally, I had to cut some of the frame of the car to fit the intercooler in. not the actual frame, but the sheet metal that sticks out under the passenger side headlight. the driver side required no modification. there is also about 3/4 inch of flat sheetmetal coming off the passenger side of the radiator, which I had to trim also. The mounts didnt have to be changed, as I drilled a hole through them and bolted them to the stock foglight bolts. This intercooler is too wide to keep the stock foglights anyways.

i believe this intercooler is meant for a moderate to stock 2g dsm. it sent an elbow that is designed to bolt onto the 2g turbo throttle body, whereas I have a 1g non-turbo throttle body(bigger than the 2g) where the opening for the throttle plate sticks out. so I had to use a different elbow.

the piping for the upper intercooler didnt allow for a gm-maft to be installed, so it reasonably had to be cut a bit shorter. this actually allowed me some more flexibility in the pipe from the outlet to the throttle body.

the bov flange seems to be a universal flange, where you just drill the required sized holes to fit your bov. I have a greddy type s, so I had to drill two holes for that.

It didnt include a j-pipe, and the j-pipe I had (evo3 16g turbo) angled towards the passenger side of the front motor mount. So thats why I had to buy the slowboy j-pipe. because of this, it changed the telemetry(that sound good) of the whole lower I/C section, so I did have to cut some of the piping down, and take a section out of a pipe and weld it back together to keep the lip for the couplers. therefore the end-tank inlet that comes out and around had to be cut down about 4 inches, otherwise the piping would be pushing at the oil filter housing.

if someone had a downfiring turbo like an borg warner or garret and a stock 2g turbo throttle body, this kit would be perfect, and except for the gm-maft, nothing in the kit would have to be modified.

I have no pictures yet, but I will get some tonight. I just finished it yesterday evening.

$650 for an ssautochrome FMIC. Thats a far cry from the $299 they use to cost...

$650 for an ssautochrome FMIC. Thats a far cry from the $299 they use to cost...

well honestly... i found an ebay store and got it for $335 shipped. the sbr j-pipe was about $80 shipped, for a grand total of $415. Minus the j-pipe, it was a complete kit WITH bov flange. I don't think it was too bad. It was either this or a playstation 3.

it was a tough decision.

Geez... I remember when I paid 90 bucks for my FMIC and all my 3" piping with it... That had to be the best deal they ever offered on ebay...

ok heres some pics...sorry its a camera phone AND its nighttime lol

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2460/54259004cd3.jpg
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/8104/22625088ym8.jpg
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/9770/43159648bl4.jpg

Damn you cut the hell out of the bottom part of the bumper

i cut about 2 inches off. It fits in there nice and snug now. I don't like the gap between that bottom part and the bottom part of the intercooler. the intercooler is just mounted higher. it goes about 3-4 inches higher than the hole in the bumper.

i was thinking of cutting off that bottom part altogether.

what do you think?
(just a quick photoshop dont hate!!)
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1715/fangsub0.jpg

Nah, I dont think so

lol i dont like it either

You were right when you told us how doo doo the paint on that car is. That is a nice looking intercooler. Be nice if you could mount it lower though.

The first time I mounted mine and ran the piping I mounted it away from the radiator too far and slaughtered the bumper. It was a hackjob so I decided to order a brand new bumper cover, get rid of the diamond star, paint the foglight covers too.

I remounted the intercooler back further and a little lower and reran the piping and made it look ten times better.

I remember you said you were going to paint the car? If you do, order a new bumper cover they are cheap, and remount the intercooler.... you will be a lot happier if it looks clean and not hacked...

You were right when you told us how doo doo the paint on that car is. That is a nice looking intercooler. Be nice if you could mount it lower though.
shut up lol. I would like to get a new paint job soon, as my car and the cars from the shop I'm with are going to be in HIN when it comes around here, it was supposed to be march. thats why I posted that thread about paint and bodywork prices.

i probably could mount it lower, but now its too late unless i get new piping. everything is in very tight now, and I couldnt lower it. Its fine, I'm getting used to it and i think its sexy