Stuffing a front mount onto my 05 STi - done!

Builds
1

I am extremely impressed with this kit so far. It is the Turbo XS front mount kit. It comes with the intake, coolant bottle, front mount, bumper beam, charge pipe, t-bolt clamps, couplers, etc…

I am doing the basic things at first, so that I can actually fit the intercooler and trim the bumper when it gets warmer out. Today, I fit the shortram intake. It involves removing the factory air box, and removing the maf. The factory maf goes into an aluminum maf housing, and then attaches to the factory intake pipe. From here, you simply attach a 3" cone filter to the new maf housing, and its done! Without a brace, this would sag, and put stress on the intake pipe, but they thought of it, and included a nice brace. It attaches to the factory mounting point for the air box, and secures the bottom of the new short ram.

While I was over by the new short ram, I installed some weather striping that came with the kit. This rubber stripping goes into the hole cut in the engine bay, where the factory air box connects to the snorkus. This rubber stripping will later prevent the charge pipe from rubbing against the metal on the car. While I was in there today, I saw no reason why not to install this piece.

Next, I installed the new, smaller coolant overflow bottle. This was the easiest thing I did today. The old bottle just unclips, and then pulls out of the car. The new bottle attaches to one bolt hole, which is located next to the battery tray. You then simply run the hose into the new bottle, and its done! Very secure.

Next, I had to lower the factory fuel lines, and replace one of the shorter ones with a longer line. This was easy, but the instructions were slightly misleading. They said to reuse the factory clamps, but they did not fit over the new line without pinching it. I went to autozone and picked up some 14 - 16 mm fuel injection line clamps, and this worked perfect. After priming the fuel pump, I checked for leaks, and there were none! I am going to check it in another day to make sure that it does not start to leak.

So, this is a great start. When we get some warm weather, I will finish the project. This involves removing the top mount, and replacing one of the breather lines that was previously part of the TMIC. From there, its as simple as running charge pipe, mounting the intercooler, and TONS of trimming to make the front bumper look perfect. Thats going to be the toughest part.

I look forward to getting this all done, and seeing how it affects the car. I am doing all of the supporting mods now, to handle a larger turbo. I may run a meth kit on the stock turbo for a while, and see how much power I can make with the VF39. I shouldn’t have to worry about any cooling issues now, so I can see what it makes.

–mark

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Here is a shot of the short ram intake:

This is the brace that supports the intake. I was very imperssed with this. It attaches to the factory intake box location:

This is the new aluminum maf housing:

This is the rubber stripping that goes in the fender opening. This will prevent the charge pipe from rubbing. You can see the snorkus is still there in this shot:

I had to extend this one fuel line, now, its down, out of the way:

Look how much smaller the new coolant overflow tank is!:

Here is where the coolant bottle mounted, right next to the battery tray:

This is the engine bay, as it sits now. Another week of having the top mount in:

To fit the intercooler in the bumper, you have to trim alot. This center section will have to be completely cut out:

Alot of trimming will be done here, but I expect I’ll get it to fit nicely:

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:tup:

4

good write up, very descriptive

5

Awesome, good luck with the trimming. Make sure to take your time with it.

6

very nice should look great

7

Nice, do you currently have the intercooler? Also how much will this help with your new tune?

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yeah, I have everything. The only problem is that it is a good, full days work to actually fit and install the intercooler. I am waiting for the weather to get a little bit better. If all goes to plan, hopefully saturday will be nice! I figure i’ll start friday night, getting it ready.

Its bound to help the current setup make more power, but nothing spectacular. I am mostly doing this as a supporting mod, and to make everything in the engine bay easier to access. The factory top mount is a plug, and blocks so much stuff. This is just a much better setup.

–mark

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Not exactly dude, you’re really just adding lag. There really is no point, other than aesthetics, to doing a FMIC on a stock turbo (or even slightly larger than stock turbo) WRX or STi. TurboXS makes a nice set up, but all you’re really doing is adding lag and spool time. If you wanted performance, a larger TMIC would of been the better choice.

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All TMIC’s heat soak, why would I want that? And chris vincent did a good job of describing the “lag” noticed with a front mount on a subaru. You make more power up top, due to better cooling, so the power you make down low, that is unchanged, feels less. Thats the case with most setups on the stock turbo. If you do lag some, its not really a big deal… If you own a subaru, especially an STi, you know how fast the rev is. The car revs so fast, any sort of lag would be fine to me. Simply put, a FMIC is a better intercooler then any TMIC.

I’m going from a 54# turbo that spooled @ 3800 rpm, to a turbo the size of my left nut that spools instantly. I think I can deal with any extra lag that this adds.

And… since in the post before I stated that i’m not doing this for power, but for a supporting mod, and to make the engine bay more easily accessible, I think i’m still in good shape :headbang:

–mark

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I was trying to say you made the wrong choice with going front mount, but I just put it up because it seems like you are getting the wrong impression. The heat soak issue is not relevant unless you’re sitting in traffic. The spool time you keep more than makes up for the power you won’t really be gaining up top, especially at a (real) track or auto-x. Also note that you also added a short ram intake with no heat shield which isn’t exactly sucking in cold air. STi’s can run deep into the 12’s on even the stock TMIC with the right mods, I know of at least 3 on Long Island that have hit 12.4 or less with it.

If you’re happy with it, that’s what counts and enjoy it. As for making the engine bay more accessible, I need you to explain this to me as well. How is a TMIC that only blocks a pitch mount less accessible than 6’ of piping that covers both sides of the engine bay and you’d need to remove to do spark plugs.

Also, supporting mod for what? Unless you plan to go big turbo like a 30R, I can’t see what you’re building towards.

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I don’t know how I can spell it out better. I am going to a larger turbo, and require a larger, front mount, intercooler.

And yes, you can heat soak when driving, any sort of cooling device that sits on top of you’re exhaust and turbo is going to heat up there. But, this is not a thread to discuss the dynamics of intercoolers, this is a thread showing off my progress installing my front mount. PM or IM me to discuss this further.

–mark

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Sorry, in your original post I read you were going to see how much power you could make with the VF39, I thought you had no plans to replace it then. This will hopefully come back to help you later on.

I also edited my last post in regards to your new air filter gathering heat as well.

In any case, nice write up and good luck with it. :tup:

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Thanks. The only hold up on the larger turbo is $$. From now on, I want to pay cash for my mods, not put them on any sort of charge, so I am saving up for stuff, instead of rushing into it. So, in the mean while, i’ll see what I can do with the VF39.

And yes, the new air filter will gain heat, but from all testing that I did with my neon and datalogging, the heat difference picked up by the intake should be properly addressed by the intercooler. A cold air intake can probalby help, but look what people have done without them. People are making well over 450 awhp without the use of a cold air intake, so it will do just fine for my needs :slight_smile:

–mark

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Plus a fmic on an STI is just sexy…

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:lol:

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haha. FMIC> top mounts
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/viggenman/img_2678.jpg

^^TurboXS ver. 1 for bugeyes were LARGE. have fun. GLW ur build.

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http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c355/viggenman/WRX11.jpg

FMIC> than topmount. haha sorry. every picture just proves the point more.

I autoXd on the stock turbo and it was fine. clutch+flywheel+engine mangement= lag elimination. although i never had a good set of headers for them. borla sucks.

and btw when cutting for your FM. imagine it sitting there and cut gradually. dont do it all at once. make it fit clean. lots of dremel time=satisfied look.

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If you were able to autox fine with the stock turbo and fmic, i’d imagine that i’ll be fine with the lag :smiley:

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Nice! :tup: Now that you’ve mentioned that the FMIC is for a “larger” turbo, I can’t wait to see where this goes.

x…