Alex's R32 GTST FMIC Install

I've taken my R32 GTSt on a couple of track days and really noticed the loss of power that occurs when the standard wing mount intercooler gets too hot to do its job properly, at first I tried upgrading the WMIC to an R34 GTT item, this was a serious improvement , if only in the massive reduction in the length of pipework (the R33 GTSt and R34 GTT have a much simpler WMIC arrangment than the R32). However I was still feeling a loss of power after a couple of laps, so after flirting with the idea of fitting a charge cooler I decided to go with a proper Front Mount Intercooler or FMIC.

The kit I bought seemed to be pretty standard in terms of intercooler size and pipework layout. The FMIC sits behind the front bumper and infront of the radiator, its quite large so you need to attach it very securely to the front of the car. It takes quite a lot of offering up and measuring to get it positioned right and during this process I wrapped the intercooler core in card board to protect it from dings. The top of the FMIC came with 2 welded lugs to take bolts. I measured up and slotted two existing holes in the top of the bumper support bar and put bolts in these.

Similarly the bottom the fmic has 2 welded lugs to take bolts. Using a Mocal oil cooler mounting kit I had lying around I made some brackets to attached the bottom of the intercooler to the lower front "cross member" whic had some convenient threaded holes. I adjusted the length of the bottom brackets to adjust the angle of the intercooler so the pipes that return to the engine bay lined up nicely.

The 2 horns and outside air temp sensor needed relocating, from their normal location half way up the bonnet catch support, to under the driver's side headlight. The horns are normally earthed to the body of the car through their bolts. I found I had to run a new earth to the horns as for some reason the bolts didn't provide a good enough earth in the new location.

The pipe kit contains three pieces 1 for each side to go from the IC to the engine bay and one to carry the air all the way over the radiator fan and back to the intake pipe leading to the inlet manifold. These pipes were 2.5inch and the standard WMIC pipework is 60mm (slightly smaller). I found that 60mm silicon hose gives a good tight join between a 2.5inch and 60mm pipe (whereas 2.5inch hose is too loose a fit on 60mm pipework).

The pipes were relly best suited to a R33 engine bay layout so on the driver's side I had to cut an inch of the length of the pipe returning from the FMIC. To get this pipe back into the engine bay on the driver's side I cut out an existing the "blanked" hole above the chassis rail and beneath the battery. For the oubound / passenger side pipes I already had a hole from mounting a R34 GTT WMIC that could accommodate the pipe going out to the FMIC. Because the pipework was really designed for a R34 or R33, I then needed to cut a 45deg ish bent section of 60mm steel pipe I had used from the R34 GTT WMIC job to join up nicely to the standard turbo comperssor outlet. This was the only bit that you really needed, that wasn't in the kit, on a R34 and R33 this wouldn't have been a problem though.

Finally to refit the bumper I needed to trim the edges of two mounting holes on the top where the two bolts fixing the top of the FMIC stand a bit proud of the bumper support. I cut about 2 inches off the inside of the black plastic centre grill part of the bumper so it didn't foul the front of the IC core and removed two side grills which wouldn't to clear the entry and exit pipes from the FMIC.