CX Racing FMIC install

[Yoshi]

Wow, I'm surprised that CX Racing kit fits so well. The CX Racing hard pipes for my VR4 fit like total ass. It had to be cut at various places.

[rondog7575]

Crash bar is at the chop shop now and should be done by tomorrow. For install this weekend. @JTMS3 thanks for everything ill post some pics when done...

[mattdoublet]

i just installed this on my car today and had issues with the pipes not connecting to the intercooler on both sides. now that i look at your photos i see that it is the rad pieces you have to take out? then i also had an issue trying to match up the hose to the bpv and i felt as if i was bending it? any ideas??? thx

[JTMS3]

Originally Posted by mattdoublet i just installed this on my car today and had issues with the pipes not connecting to the intercooler on both sides. now that i look at your photos i see that it is the rad pieces you have to take out? then i also had an issue trying to match up the hose to the bpv and i felt as if i was bending it? any ideas??? thx

You have to remove 2 plastic bolted to the rad shroud in the front. That is the only pieces that have to be removed. As for the BPV hose if you are bending it.. just cut it shorter so it won't kink up.

[mattdoublet]

thank you so much! i pretty much figured that is what i had to do after i looked at your photos. how did you like the kit? i was thinking of switching to the tr8 intercooler tho. and maybe different pipping after i use it for awhile.

[JTMS3]

piping wasnt the problem... the core was. If you want to run a TR8 you will need to switch out/hack up the stock crash bar.

[Deldran]

Originally Posted by JTMS3 piping wasnt the problem... the core was. If you want to run a TR8 you will need to switch out/hack up the stock crash bar.

Huh I thought the tr8 fit fine with crash bar

Sent from galaxy Nexus vis CM10

[JTMS3]

Originally Posted by Deldran Huh I thought the tr8 fit fine with crash bar Sent from galaxy Nexus vis CM10

Not on the PU, too tall.

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

So I just installed my fmic by cxracing and i followed your guide which was very helpful (props!!)

I'm not sure if something is loose or installed it incorrectly but on a test run, I noticed that on very little boost build up, I sometimes here like a double blow off, it only happens if I like tap the accelerator

thoughts? ideas? I fucked up somewhere huh..

EDIT: My bov is set for VTA because I don't have a proper hose to make it recirc atm.

[adlpb]

Originally Posted by Flight_SkoolSpeed So I just installed my fmic by cxracing and i followed your guide which was very helpful (props!!) I'm not sure if something is loose or installed it incorrectly but on a test run, I noticed that on very little boost build up, I sometimes here like a double blow off, it only happens if I like tap the accelerator thoughts? ideas? I fucked up somewhere huh.. EDIT: My bov is set for VTA because I don't have a proper hose to make it recirc atm.

Wait wtf?

How did you "set" your BOV to run VTA if it was set up to recirc intitially? What did you do to the hole in the intake? Sounds like you're stirring a bowl of fail

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

Ok ok, let me clear some things up, I have a CS SRI with a TIP, and it came with a plug for the hole in the intake part. So that is what I meant by my BOV is set for VTA. Sorry for not saying that.

[adlpb]

Originally Posted by Flight_SkoolSpeed Ok ok, let me clear some things up, I have a CS SRI with a TIP, and it came with a plug for the hole in the intake part. So that is what I meant by my BOV is set for VTA. Sorry for not saying that.

You still have to tune for it, although that wouldn't cause what you're describing. You probably have a big boost leak. Check every single clamp from the turbo to the throttle body and make sure it's tight as hell.

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

So I went back and retightened everything and I ended up breaking two clamps cause of overtightening (luckily I had two extra)

It still makes that sound on the low rpms but I read somewhere here that it's happened to some people that run a HKS SSQV, so I'm starting to think it's normal cause I know all those hoses and clamps are tight as hell

[adlpb]

Originally Posted by Flight_SkoolSpeed So I went back and retightened everything and I ended up breaking two clamps cause of overtightening (luckily I had two extra) It still makes that sound on the low rpms but I read somewhere here that it's happened to some people that run a HKS SSQV, so I'm starting to think it's normal cause I know all those hoses and clamps are tight as hell

Are you using T-bolt clamps of the shitty screw type

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

It was the t-bolts that came with the package so I'm not sure if they are the shitty screw types, sorry

edit: it probably is since it snapped after i kept tightening it a lot

[Nliiitend1]

"Shitty screw type" (worm clamp):



T-bolt clamp:

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

yes, those clamps.

[adlpb]

It's damn near impossible to break a good quality T bolt clamp. You'd break or bend the piping first

[RLam]

If you tighten again apply WD40 to the bolts. It will let you get a little tighter without snapping. Also, I doubled up on some of my connections that gave me trouble. It took 3 or 4 go arounds of adjusting to get everything perfect.

adlpb, The Tbolts supplied with the kit are pretty shady.

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

alright, I'll go through everything again and see if I can fix it, thanks for all the advice, hopefully the clamps wont break anymore >_>

[adlpb]

That makes sense. I've only gotten T bolt clamps with cp-e and ETS, and they were high quality ones. I'm guess CX goes with the lowest bidder...never broken one of those, I've actually bent piping

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

So I took everything apart and I inspected all the clamps and hoses and put everything back together.

I tightened everything nice and tight (ended up breaking another clamp) and went for a spin.

I still have that damn sound and I still don't know why. I don't have an air compressor on me but I did try the spray soap and water on the couplers and whatnot and there was no visual bubbles forming anywhere.

I'm out of ideas, I do have dashhawk but I need to find it, is there any other suggestions you guys might have?

Btw: This is the link that I found on here where people were stating that my sound is what they had and that it was normal, Compressor Surge... Help

I don't know if it is for sure okay or not.

[ABolewski]

Where are you located?

[adlpb]

Post a video of the sound

[Flight_SkoolSpeed]

Originally Posted by ABolewski Where are you located?

I'm in San Diego.

Yeah, a video won't be happening, the sound is too faint for my video recorder to pickup from the inside and I don't have a way to block out the wind sound if holding the video on the outside.

[adlpb]

Originally Posted by Flight_SkoolSpeed I'm in San Diego. Yeah, a video won't be happening, the sound is too faint for my video recorder to pickup from the inside and I don't have a way to block out the wind sound if holding the video on the outside.

There's tons of NATOR help in San Diego. But I suggest you donate first...

[He Hate Me]

Lol I just installed a CX Racing FMIC on my Gen 1 and am experiencing the same sound your experiencing, sounds like a double blow off from my Turbo XS Hybrid (Only happens at low RPMS). Went over all the clamps and still there so I'm going to assume it's normal with the extended piping and the excess air escaping (Not sure if that's right but sounded viable lol)

[ABolewski]

Originally Posted by Flight_SkoolSpeed I'm in San Diego. Yeah, a video won't be happening, the sound is too faint for my video recorder to pickup from the inside and I don't have a way to block out the wind sound if holding the video on the outside.

Go ahead and donate. Someone near you will hop in the car with ya I'm sure and asses the sound. I'm in Oceanside. If you donate NATOR will be glad to help brotha

[BAT-man]

I've just installed the CXRacing kit, and will make a mini write-up to add to this, with pix, if JTMS3 doesn't mind, posting right in this thread.
Here is part of what I was going to mention re: BOV/BPV -
The problem with running the stock BPV while using the CXracing pipe with the BPV flange is that the flange is pre-drilled for both stock and the Greddy Type-S (style) BOV/BPV.

When using the the stock BPV, the Greddy holes end up under the sealing o-ring of the stock BPV, in effect creating a vacuum leak (both sides) and not letting the BPV function properly. This is probably the cause of the funny sound and potential idling problems as well as overall BPV/BOV functionality problems.

More details to come.

[Jonathanhair07]

Has anyone noticed a little knock after installing the pipes or is it just me, anyone ran the bpv it came with?

[BAT-man]

I'm running the "Greddy Type-S style" BPV that came with the kit, recirculated (was a bitch to get the stock hose over it) right now... no lean condition, but if you DO run the stock BPV you may have one, since it does't quite seal to the flange (see above post).

The Greddy Type S makes an awesome little sound when you let off the throttle, from that tiny extra fitting on the bottom of the valve. Sounds like a pixie sneeze.

[Jonathanhair07]

Originally Posted by BAT-man I'm running the "Greddy Type-S style" BPV that came with the kit, recirculated (was a bitch to get the stock hose over it) right now... no lean condition, but if you DO run the stock BPV you may have one, since it does't quite seal to the flange (see above post). The Greddy Type S makes an awesome little sound when you let off the throttle, from that tiny extra fitting on the bottom of the valve. Sounds like a pixie sneeze.

really!!! I never even thought about running it. Surprised I held on to it for this long. ill try that or find the real one.

[BAT-man]

Yeah, I'm not sure what kind of knock you're referring to - mechanical (pipes against chassis) or combustion, but understand that you a) have to make the kit fit well and insulate certain sections of the pipes with rubber so they don't rub/clang against the chassis/other engine components, and b) can't just run an FMIC without a proper tune.

[BAT-man]

So here goes, the CX Racing FMIC install appendix A =].
Piping:
The piping is a pain to line up, as described in the OP’s original post. I painted mine wrinkle black - VHT makes the paint, you can bake it in an oven after initial drying, or wait 3 days til it fully hardens (I chose the former, and its quite durable unless you really rub it against hard surfaces, as in some pix below).
I ended up adding pieces of rubber hose and cutting up the two smaller silicone hoses to insulate against rubbing against the chassis and coolant/AC hoses, and here are all of the spots I had to do it in:
Passengers side middle pipe:

Pass. side intercooler elbow:


Better pic - it would actually not rub the pipe if I didn’t put the rubber piece there, but things shift, so I sanded that rad. support corner smooth and put the rubber there anyway:


Drivers side - Where you see the counterweight almost touching (don’t worry it’s not, if you line things up properly you will have 1/4-3/8” between the counterweight and the pipe) and the hot radiator hose - I didn’t wrap my pipe as suggested, but I put a piece of rubber strapped to the pipe with zipties, to prevent heat transfer) not pictured, but the spot is where you see the hose touch the pipe:


An aside: The 2” t-bolt clamp (1 provided with kit) I received was literally too small to fit over the coupling once its on the turbo compressor outlet, so I replaced it with another clamp I have, and will ordered a proper t-bolt clamp online. Overall the clamp bolt quality is shitty, you can snap them very easily. The mounting bracket bolts and washers on the other hand are SS and very high quality. Weird.

Overall install:
I installed the FMIC facing the other way compared to what the OP did, as I’m not sure why the two bolt bungs should be facing the front, when you cannot utilize them.
The problem is that the FMIC will hit the AC tube located in front of the condenser, and in order to avoid that, you have to bolt it down on the bottom, using the following parts that came with my kit (not sure if the OP had those available):
4 large SS bolts w/washers, 2 aluminum bungs (threaded, presumably to weld onto the FMIC for other mounting options), and 2 metal brackets (you can see I drilled out holes to fit the SS bolts).
The two black bolts are what originally held down the OEM side pieces (top black plastic), and are too short to use, I had two longer 10mm bolts lying around (goldish ones below the black ones)


I used them to mount the bottom of the FMIC to the OEM plastic guide locations as such, to void having the FMIC hit the AC tube (top right):

This creates a compromise, as the FMIC is now slightly offset towards the front, the front bumper doesn’t go back into the original position by maybe a half inch (cannot tell from the outside, only from the bottom when you’re trying to put on the front undertray that bolts up to the main undertray), like so:

I.e.: When you bolt the smaller tray to the larger, the front of the smaller tray won’t reach the front bolt holes in the bumper.
Zipties work very well to secure the(there are about 5 of them you can put in if you drill small holes behind the stock bolts locations, only 3 pictured):


BOV/BPV:
As I mentioned above, there are certain issues with using the stock BPV with the CX pipe w/flange: The stock BPV sealing area is larger than the Greddy Type S-style BOV, and will leak air/boost if installed and the Greddy BOV holes are not filled (could be done with Quicksteel or similar, or welded if you’re hardcore).
The stock BPV hose is also slightly smaller than the Greddy Type S BPV recirc. outlet, and has to be turned

vs:

and elbowgreased onto the BOV’s outlet. After that you can bolt it to the flange.
A few words about the Greddy Type S-style BOV supplied with the kit. The OP mentioned it was a POS, but I’ve taken it apart and it has a really solid diaphragm, springs and components, which are on par with the real Type S BOV’s I’ve disassembled in the past. I’ve ran a similar knockoff on my 400whp RX7 for the last 4 years and after taking that one apart it has still to fatigue on me. Pix below, purple one is the CX Racing BOV, red one is my old knockoff:



Don’t mind that the opening of the CX Racing one is small-ish, it’s the size of the stock BPV opening. My old knockoff is meant to be able to blow off a lof of rotary boost =]

As you can see I’m running a single spring on my old one to prevent surge:

I put some silicone sealant on the CX Racing BOV to seal the internal parts:

As an aside, I hear folks saying that the stock BOV doesn’t hold boost past 20 lbs. It was VERY hard to push in that valve by hand, much harder than the abovementioned knockoff I have, and I’m running 20lbs on that thing all day. I don’t know, but if I could have reused the stock BPV, I would have, I just didn’t feel like filling the Type S’s flange holes at the time. I still may do that. The sound remains the same, aside from a slight pixie sneeze which is air escaping through the secondary fitting of the Greddy Type S, on throttle closing. I’ll preface that with saying that I actually am still running a completely stock intake, airbox and TIP. Yes, a little different than folks who get all the small intake stuff first, but I really don’t think that stuff is that much a restriction on the 300whp the K04 can make on its best day on 93 (no meth). Past those levels, I would get a 3” intake, etc. Having said that, the TIP is next on my list of mods =].

Overall fit:
I was originally hitting the top hot pipe with the OEM TMIC shroud on the hood, creating a this little imprint:

Lowering the mid pipe as much as possible still resulted in some rubbing, so I removed the lower (rubber) part of the shroud, and now there is at least 1/4" of clearance (you can literally stick your hand into the scoop and feel the space). You do not have to rip out the shroud, but it requires drilling out 3 plastic rivet type things, and then the whole thing comes off with some finagling. You should be able to place it back to stock with some silicone glue:


And finally, I’m not sure if the design changed since the OP got his kit, but I am able to check my oil levels with the dipstick just fine, even with the pipe lowered to avoid hitting the top shroud:




Afterthoughts:
Currently the FMIC, a downpipe I welded (3”, 2 hi-flow cats and a flex section, quieter than a racepipe, but slightly louder than stock):

and the COBB AP are my only mods. I’m almost done getting rid of all KR above .5, so now it’s time to start upping boost, and get that AFR to about 11.8 (running 11.4 right now).

Hope this helps anyone installing the CX racing FMIC kit. I think the core is big enough for anything unless you're getting close to a sustained (read multiple runs)~350whp mark, and to me, removing the bumper support is just not worth it. That thing is build really tough - When I tried to drill extra mounting holes for the top bracket, I killed 4 drill bits (including 2 brand new Cobalt ones), and barely made a dent. I said forget it, and went with the lower mounts described above, but I’m leaving that support on for sure =]

Final pix of install:

[bmylez]

Ever heard of using image tags? damn....

[Cevaes_64]

@BAT-man; link to the one that you bought? to see if its a re-design to clear the Dipstick also how are BATS before and after do you notice changes?

[BAT-man]

Originally Posted by bmylez Ever heard of using image tags? damn....

Done lol.

Originally Posted by Cevaes_64 @BAT-man; link to the one that you bought? to see if its a re-design to clear the Dipstick also how are BATS before and after do you notice changes?

Unfortunately the item is no longer viewable in ebay. It was sold by seller "cxracing" and the name was "intercooler kit 2010+ 2nd Gen MazdaSpeed3 DISI 2.3L" I bought it because it was a steal at $250 shipped. Welds turned out to be good quality and so far I really can't think of a bigger bang for the buck. Just buying the core/piping and welding it would cost me more than that.
Now it's sold for $355 from the same seller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/intercooler-...ht_6035wt_1000

Just noticed something:There are two almost identical 45deg couplings, the one you see right above the intake manifold (connecting to the hot pipe) and the one connecting the BOV pipe to the pipe between the BOV pipe and the FMIC drivers side elbow.
The difference between the couplings is that one is much longer than the other. I used the shorter one to connect the hot pipe, and the longer to the BOV pipe. It looks like the OP may have done the opposite (see his pix, the 45deg coupling on top of the manifold is much longer than mine), which may have affected the pipe position and made the dip-stick retrieval more difficult.

I'll look at some logs and let you know the temp variances. Currently on the highway, with 80 deg outside temps, my BATs are 35-40 deg hotter than outside temps (so 80 outside = 115 -120 BAT).

[Cevaes_64]

I was loggin yesterday and i get that with my stock intercooler, it was 88 outside and my bats were 118, 30 degrees over ambient....

[BAT-man]

Yeah, the expected benefit is within consistently colder multiple pulls... i'll look at the autoX logs and post what i find. Most folks have noticed that there is no significant gain while cruising, as the hood scoop does a decent job of getting cold air to the TMIC. It's the lower speed, run-after-run/traffic situations where the FMIC shines.

SO, UPDATE!

My logs from 6 runs from an autoX on a 55deg day 3 weeks ago have BAT's up to 175 during runs. This was a 30+ second course and I popped the hood after every run to let things cool off, with maybe 15-20 mins between runs (TMIC went from hot to barely warm).

My logs from a recent autoX on 75deg day show BATs no higher than 141deg. This was a 60+ second course, and I idled a lot more before a run due to longer lines (i also popped the hood, but more for engine bay cooling).

Even if the first autoX was not more advantageous towards colder BATs (just through 20deg lower ambient temps and shorter runs), the overall difference is huge - 30+deg is a lot. This FMIC kit is doing what it's supposed to, for sure.

[BAT-man]

A quick aside -
the COBB FMIC is stated to be 3.5" thick (vs 2.5" for the CXRacing one) and a supposed core length of 2"+ longer than the CXRacing core. I'm not sure how that's possible as in the pictures the COBB core clearly looks shorter, and it would not have been possible to fit a thicker core without significantly cutting the front bumper (not just the under tray.