[jwebb335xi]

Hey guys - and gals -

I know this topic has been hit many, many times before and I've read ALOT on the matter, so I'll be really specific with my question to minimize debate...

Background: 2008 335 XI with AT. So far, it has Cobb AP V3, Cobb Drop in Filter, ER Charge Pipe (long 09+ style) with Forge Diverters. I may track the car one weekend this year and take it to the drag strip 1 time. I won't likely do any autocross this year. Otherwise, it's a DD.

Question: I want to add an FMIC next. What are my best choices for (1) little to no trimming, (2) little to no pressure drop, (3) max cooling (given #1 and #2 above) and (4) compatibility with the rest of my set-up.

Cobb as been recommended since I have their tune, but it's expensive and I can't find anything about pressure drop and temp drop - just alleged HP and TQ increases.

Thanks for the comments...

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Since you have the ER CP I would get the ER FMIC as it will come with a matching lower charge pipe to your current charge pipe. This way you will have all new plumbing from the FMIC to the throttle body. Best setup you can get, IMO.

Mike

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by Mike@N54Tuning.com

Since you have the ER CP I would get the ER FMIC as it will come with a matching lower charge pipe to your current charge pipe. This way you will have all new plumbing from the FMIC to the throttle body. Best setup you can get, IMO.

Mike

Do you have any sense of trimming, temp decrease and pressure loss?

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

Do you have any sense of trimming, temp decrease and pressure loss?

Trimming is minor but there is some. Any FMIC worth having will require some trimming. If you get one that does not require trimming they are restricted to pretty much OEM size so the benefits are reduced over a larger core. For example the ETS 5" FMIC is a great unit, does not require trimming but is limited in size. Its still an improvement over stock, but getting a larger unit is usually a better proposition.

The pressure loss is very minimal with the ER FMIC.

[altostratus]

The VRSF is the cheapest I believe. I got the CP-E piece because they took the time to publish the white papers for it and I like what I read regarding pressure drop and cooling

[CHECKERED]

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

Question: I want to add an FMIC next. What are my best choices for (1) little to no trimming, (2) little to no pressure drop, (3) max cooling (given #1 and #2 above) and (4) compatibility with the rest of my set-up.

1. Don’t get a huge intercooler
2. Smaller is better for smaller pressure drops
3. A good in-between IC that is not too big or but not too small would be AA sport and ER Competition
4. Irrelevant
5. Get meth injection and a real tune (JB4), with meth injection it doesn’t matter what IC you have as long as its aftermarket.

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by CHECKERED

1. Don’t get a huge intercooler
2. Smaller is better for smaller pressure drops
3. A good in-between IC that is not too big or but not too small would be AA sport and ER Competition
4. Irrelevant
5. Get meth injection and a real tune (JB4), with meth injection it doesn’t matter what IC you have as long as its aftermarket.

Thanks for all the comments guys. A couple of folks have mentioned ER. I'm also thinking toward Cobb, simply because I have their tune. And, I like to looks, reputation and lack of cutting involved with AA and Mishimoto. I've read about Wagner and see conflicting stories and I'm shying away from that as of now....

So, it appears my current options are:

1. AA
2. Cobb
3. ER
4. Mishimoto

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by Mike@N54Tuning.com

Trimming is minor but there is some. Any FMIC worth having will require some trimming. If you get one that does not require trimming they are restricted to pretty much OEM size so the benefits are reduced over a larger core. For example the ETS 5" FMIC is a great unit, does not require trimming but is limited in size. Its still an improvement over stock, but getting a larger unit is usually a better proposition.

The pressure loss is very minimal with the ER FMIC.

Thanks for the comments Mike and thanks for hokking me up with ER and Forge. I did the install last week. All was good except for a bit of tweaking to get the diverters to clear the air-box, each other and wheel well. I'd use two straight connectors off the diverter if doing it again. ER provides one straight and one curved. Anyway, I'm holding 13PSI now on winter tires and it's all good.

Any thoughts on Active Autowerkes, Cobb and Mishimoto mating up to the ER charge pipe and providing "cost-effective" performance? ER looks to be over a grand.....

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

I'm happy with my ETS 5 inch w/charge pipe upgrade,

[Tiago@VRSF]

I'm not sure if you've had a chance to look at our intercooler but we recently launched a 5" stepped unit that has been pretty popular on a lot of stock frame turbo setups. We use cast end tanks, a dense staggered and offset fin pack and there's no cutting required on most cars.

We replace the restrictive 2" connectors with larger 2.75" inlets and our intercooler is fully compatible with your current setup. We also offer a lifetime guarantee and we offer additional discounts for return customers in case you're interested in a set of catless downpipes in the future

We've got a few independent reviews on our website, most are referenced forum posts:

http://www.vr-speed.com/vrsf-7-front...2-e90-e92.html

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

Thanks for all the comments guys. A couple of folks have mentioned ER. I'm also thinking toward Cobb, simply because I have their tune. And, I like to looks, reputation and lack of cutting involved with AA and Mishimoto. I've read about Wagner and see conflicting stories and I'm shying away from that as of now....

So, it appears my current options are:

1. AA
2. Cobb
3. ER
4. Mishimoto

I'd stay away from the Cobb because it's over-priced and Mishimoto because it utilizes stock piping which is restrictive.

Top 4 in no particular order are ER, ETS, AA, VRSF.

ER will require a little bit of trimming because it's 6". Ets makes a 5" no cutting. AA sometimes requires cutting but according to the MFG it doesn't. VRSF makes a 5" stepped with no cutting.

All compatible with your vehicle.

[spxxx]

VRSF hands down, if you care about your pocketbook. Quality is great

[mike@x-ph.com]

Lots of things to consider before picking the BEST one
- Are you looking for a plug and play intercooler or are you fine with trimming
- Do you track your car often or is this for daily driving.

VRSF offer 5" and 7" intercoolers at a very competitive price, very popular products for this platform and proven to work as described.

ER offers a 7" intercooler that is perfect if you track your car often

Active Autowerke offer a 6" intercooler which is supposed to be the best of both worlds, it also comes in anodized black

ETS have quality intercoolers too

As long as you consider the first 2 things i mentioned above, you will not go wrong with any product mentioned above

[BigHoncho]

What about AMS?

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

Lots of things to consider before picking the BEST one
- Are you looking for a plug and play intercooler or are you fine with trimming
- Do you track your car often or is this for daily driving.

VRSF offer 5" and 7" intercoolers at a very competitive price, very popular products for this platform and proven to work as described.

ER offers a 7" intercooler that is perfect if you track your car often

Active Autowerke offer a 6" intercooler which is supposed to be the best of both worlds, it also comes in anodized black

ETS have quality intercoolers too

As long as you consider the first 2 things i mentioned above, you will not go wrong with any product mentioned above

Great thoughts and comments guys. While I did a lot of auto-cross and a little track time with my old E36 and E46, this car has been a DD for a few years. I'm just now getting around to modifying it and I will likely take it to a driving school and/or track event the equivalent of 2-3 days per year at the most. I'm also going to drag the car ONCE, simply because I want to see if it will run near a 12.5 second 1/4 mile. I won't likely do any autocross and even if I do, I'm not too concerned about heat soak within 60 seconds. My competitive issues there would be about picking a good line and not lighting up the tires too much.

All that said, I'd like cool temps and LOW pressure loss if possible and I'd prefer to avoid using the dremmel to trim back bumper supports unless it's critical to do so. Heck, it's only 25 degrees today and my intake temps were 30 degrees over ambient. So, i've got a lot of room for improvement just for spirited (SAFE) street use.

[CHECKERED]

If you are in IL, and it rarely gets over 85F, I would go with a 5”,
I’m in cali so 95F+ weather is common place, I mean its 88F right now…so I went with a 6” but now that I’m running meth full time the larger (and more expensive) IC is a bit pointless.

My recommendation regarding what you want to get out of your car and where you live, go with a smaller 5” IC

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by CHECKERED

If you are in IL, and it rarely gets over 85F, I would go with a 5”,
I’m in cali so 95F+ weather is common place, I mean its 88F right now…so I went with a 6” but now that I’m running meth full time the larger (and more expensive) IC is a bit pointless.

My recommendation regarding what you want to get out of your car and where you live, go with a smaller 5” IC

Based on everything above, I'm coming down to 5", no/minimal cutting, NON stock connections for max flow....

in alphabetical order:

(1) AA,
(2) AMS,
(3) ER (do they have a 5"??),
(4) ETS, and
(5) VRSF.


Trying to keep the car somewhat stealth, though i'm "afraid" when i get around to exhaust the cat will be out of the bag....

Work in 2015 includes: plugs, coils, cobb drop in filter, cobb access port V3 (stage 1), all vacuum lines, ER charge pipe, and Forge diverters. I had the guys at a local tuning shop do oil change, walnut blast, intake manifold gasket, oil filter housing gasket and the dealer recently did the turbos.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

Based on everything above, I'm coming down to 5", no/minimal cutting, NON stock connections for max flow....

in alphabetical order:

(1) AA,
(2) AMS,
(3) ER (do they have a 5"??),
(4) ETS, and
(5) VRSF.


Trying to keep the car somewhat stealth, though i'm "afraid" when i get around to exhaust the cat will be out of the bag....

Work in 2015 includes: plugs, coils, cobb drop in filter, cobb access port V3 (stage 1), all vacuum lines, ER charge pipe, and Forge diverters. I had the guys at a local tuning shop do oil change, walnut blast, intake manifold gasket, oil filter housing gasket and the dealer recently did the turbos.

ER only makes 1 FMIC option and it's a 6" so a little trimming is required.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by BigHoncho

What about AMS?

AMS is a fantastic unit. Its probably my number one seller with the ER unit being a close second.

With the FMIC its all about the quality of the core not the size. Some brands have great cores some have cheap cores. With an FMIC its all about the efficiency and quality of the core. End tank design is also important but secondary to a quality core.

Mike

[gtaccord]

Wagner

[KeepRidingDirty]

Originally Posted by gtaccord

Wagner

+1, it's often skipped when people consider. I have been running mine for awhile and my temps stay fine. Everyone says the stock connections are restrictive but I've felt no power difference between my car with Wagner and my friends with VRSF. I liked the black finish, which is what lured me to it originally, the fact it literally took 15 mins to install was also a win.

[NA55]

ETS 5" was very easy to install and fits perfectly with the ER long CP.. Quality is top notch as well..