I even hunted for a few months for a used one with no luck. I have always been a big fan of the Helix FMIC and when I went to purchase my first FMIC I was disappointed because at that time they had stopped making them. I have seen it on par with and even out perform friends cars with competitor 6" and 7" units running less aggressive tunes than I.
I've been running an ETS 5" FMIC for awhile and have always been impressed with its performance.
Zero turbo lag was added, it controls IATs from OEM all the way through Stage 2 maps amazingly well.and I got all that for an unbeatably low price.Hey guys. It looks great, fit great, installed easily, and most important of all, it performed even better than I expected. Overall: I couldn't be happier with this FMIC. Hell, you could easily pay that much for an FMIC by itself, let alone bundled with a DP! This really is an amazing value for something that looks, fits, and performs as well as this product does. Value: I got a the VRSF catless DP and the FMIC as a combo deal from x-ph for $663.10 shipped. OEM IC is 8lbs, VRSF 6.5" is 27.4lbs, and hanging that extra weight at the very front of the car is obviously a suboptimal situation if you were extremely concerned about balance, but the performance results far outweigh (PUN INTENDED) this minor downside esp for a street application. In a third gear pull, the IATs actually drop in the OEM and Stage 1 tunes and remain rock steady in Stage 2. Generally-speaking, they tell me two things:ġ) The OEM intercooler is actually underpowered for even an OEM tune, let alone Stage 1.Ģ) The VRSF 6.5" is just about perfect for a Stage 1 or Stage 2 application. I'm no expert at reading datalogs, but to me, those results are extremely impressive. *there was too much traffic to get into fourth gear so a third gear pull was the best I could do* For sake of simplicity, I'll distill the logs down to just the IATs in pulls from 2k in 3rd through redline in 4th.Īmbient Temp - Hardware - Tune - IAT 2k in 3rd - IAT top of 3rd - IAT top of 4th - (IAT delta from bottom of 3rd to top of 4th)ħ2F - Stock - OEM - 90F - 112F - 117F (+27F)ħ2F - Stock - Stage 1 - 86F - 129F - 140F (+54F)Ĩ2F - VRSF 6.5" - OEM - 104F - 95F - 100F (-4F)Ĩ2F - VRSF 6.5" - Stage 1 - 101F - 97F - 109F (+8F)ħ9F - VRSF 6.5" - Stage 2 - 92F - 92F (0F). But the logs told a much more quantitative and reassuring story. Interestingly, even before flashing to Stage 2, my butt dyno suggested more throttle response and top end. It just took a few extra minutes on each side than I expected.įit and Finish: Literally perfect. Removing and reinstalling the tension clips on each side of the piping was mildly annoying, but it wasn't that big of a hassle. Honestly, that was the longest part of the job, but it was MUCH easier than it would've been with the front bumper on. I removed the front bumper like most other ppl rather than try and do it with the bumper still on, and I'm glad I did. He also assured me that it's not so big that it would increase turbo lag, so that's the one I went with. They both strongly recommended the VRSF 6.5" Stepped Competition rather than the 5" Stepped Performance version b/c the 5" wouldn't be able to handle the increased flow of Stage 2 as well as the 6.5" could. Kinda hard to argue with an answer as direct as that! So then I reached out to and for recommendations. Without an intercooler, the engine will fail to supply the required amount of air under the optimal pressure, thereby affecting the air-fuel ratio of the engine, potentially damaging your turbo." Intercooler cools the air compressed by the turbo/supercharger reducing the temperature and increasing the density of the air supplied to the engine. These are absolutely essential, in order to keep the performance at optimal and not damage anything. Here was their response: "The requirements for Stage 2 93 octane map are high-flow downpipes and front-mount intercooler (FMIC).
So I reached out to PTF and asked them directly. I knew I wanted to go to BM3 Stage 2, but I felt like the posts around here were unclear as to whether a new FMIC was really necessary or not.sure, everyone said it was optimal, but some guys mentioned variables like local climate (Texas desert vs Colorado mountains), street vs track use, etc leading you toward real-world necessity.