Mazda USA bought back my 2004 Vel Red 6MT RX8 and i have sinced picked out a 2006 MS6 in Pearl White. I miss the RX8 already, what a great car. I wish she could have been ALOT more relaible. Sure the MS6 is quicker is a straight line, but it does not have the handling, character or sure FUN appeal of my old RX8. I will miss her, but will still check in on this forum.

PS. The MS6 is a good car and it almost makes up for the loss, but the 8 was the BEST car I ever owned. BUT: it was also the most unrelaible.

Once Mazda gets the Engine bugs fixed I will buy another one if they keep building them..

What engine bugs? Most RX-8's are fine. There are going to be issues with EVERY single car line out there.

sorry to hear you traded your 8 but at least you stayed within the mazda family. Good luck with the 6!

He must have had an AT with heating issues and lack of oil circulation.

the RX8 is probably as reliable as you can get when it comes to rotaries... oh well.

He must have had an AT with heating issues and lack of oil circulation.

no he stated he had an 04 MT in the post. he had one fo the MTs in vegas that had the same issue

manuals in very hot weather. so yea... sorry about your problems.

The MS6 is a nice car, I drove the normal 6 six and was impressed, would take it over an accord/camry/etc. anyday. But why the MS6 over a Legacy GT though?

I might take out a MS6 for a test drive just to hear what all the whoopla's about. I'm kinda curious to see how it handles in comparison.

I think that's pretty sweet that you stayed in the Mazda fam even after gettin rid of the 8. The MS6 sounds like a good find!

I find it kind of funny that he traded an AT RX-8, which may have some problems in hot climates but overall doesn't have a lot of "bugs", for a car that has documented bugs with the tuning and is notorious for heatsoak... Nice call! :cwm27:

The MazdaSpeed 6 power loss threads are fun to read on all the 6 boards....hehe....I'm glad I picked the 8 over the MS6. But the MS6 is still a great car!!! Congrats and good luck!

i knoe why he was having probs, he lives in vegas. out here we do have alot of 8's with problems.you go out to the service drive at mazda you'll see a sh1t load of 8's waiting to get new motors...(my cousin works there and is a master mazda mechanic 14yrs) he puts most of the motors in the rx8 at courtsy imports.the reason why i dont have any problems(knock on wood) is cause he helped me prep my 8 for the heat and it was simple, i just upgraded my radiator.and i must say that is probably the best mod for wheather temps 100+. the heat wears out the engine, thats why we have probs out here in vegas. good luck with the ms6 there beautiful cars...

i knoe why he was having probs, he lives in vegas. out here we do have alot of 8's with problems.you go out to the service drive at mazda you'll see a sh1t load of 8's waiting to get new motors...(my cousin works there and is a master mazda mechanic 14yrs) he puts most of the motors in the rx8 at courtsy imports.the reason why i dont have any problems(knock on wood) is cause he helped me prep my 8 for the heat and it was simple, i just upgraded my radiator.and i must say that is probably the best mod for wheather temps 100+. the heat wears out the engine, thats why we have probs out here in vegas. good luck with the ms6 there beautiful cars...

true, everytime im in vegas, i always wondered why theres no 8's there and hten realized the heat. Vegas is just too hot for me and i can see how it can be too hot for an 8. Well, the ms6 is awesome, hope you enjoy it!

Sorry to hear about your problems with the 8--mine has 52,000 trouble free miles...its actually been the most reliable car I've ever owned...no heat issues here and I'm in Houston. Congrats on the MS6, I like them alot, not sure if I like em more than the Legacy but its a wonderful car.

Uh o...
I'm in vegas...
and I haven't got any problems yet........

nnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo

does that mean I'm bound to have one?

I'm in Vegas, too--only have about 800 miles on my '06 (though I learned real quick about the visor issue at about 350 miles). What exactly did you mean by upgrading your radiator?

I purchased mine at People's Mazda, and they daid Mazda bought their '05s back because of numerous problems, but I don't recall hearing anything heat related.

I find it kind of funny that he traded an AT RX-8, which may have some problems in hot climates but overall doesn't have a lot of "bugs", for a car that has documented bugs with the tuning and is notorious for heatsoak... Nice call! :cwm27:


I have been on this forum about a year and you are without doubt an arrogant, know it all jerk!!!

Go back to your Subura forums and give us ALL a break.+ :mad:

I find it kind of funny that he traded an AT RX-8, which may have some problems in hot climates but overall doesn't have a lot of "bugs", for a car that has documented bugs with the tuning and is notorious for heatsoak... Nice call! :cwm27:


Futhermore, read the thread!!! I had a 6MT RX8. I would never buy an AT piece of crap. I spoke with the tech at the dealership who I am friends with and they have had NO MS6 in for ANY problems. He say the standard V6 can have problems but not the MS6.

What is Heatsoak??? I dont know as much as you.

Uh o...
I'm in vegas...
and I haven't got any problems yet........

nnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo

does that mean I'm bound to have one?

My friend, i think i hear taps faintly in the distance :crying:

Hrmm, it's mid high 90's to 100's here in TX in the summer and I haven't had any engine problems yet (knock on wood). But I'm surprsied to hear that Mazda actually bought your car back, if they'd take mine back I'd be in an Elise like I should've just done.

Futhermore, read the thread!!! I had a 6MT RX8. I would never buy an AT piece of crap. I spoke with the tech at the dealership who I am friends with and they have had NO MS6 in for ANY problems. He say the standard V6 can have problems but not the MS6.

What is Heatsoak??? I dont know as much as you.

I just typed out a fairly long response only to get a database error. So I'll shorten it up a bit... There have been plenty of problems with boost cut in the MS6, not sure why your friend wouldn't mention it. There is even a supposed fix from Mazda for it though I'm not sure if it has solved the problem completely. Hopefully it won't take Mazda years to sort the tuning problems out like they did with the MSP.

Heatsoak is a problem almost all turbo cars face, cars with little airflow to their intercooler will suffer even more. The MS6 intercooler design is a poor one and acts more as an interwarmer than anything. The result of heatsoak is lost power.

my cousin works for mazda and he never said anything bout the boostcut, i heard about the power loss but over all ms6 is a badass car check out the mazda 6 forums those guys are putting out 247whp and 280wtq bone stock.and you can easily bang out a 13 in the 1/4. there badass....

there badass....

That's relative.

Futhermore, read the thread!!! I had a 6MT RX8. I would never buy an AT piece of crap. I spoke with the tech at the dealership who I am friends with and they have had NO MS6 in for ANY problems. He say the standard V6 can have problems but not the MS6.

What is Heatsoak??? I dont know as much as you.

Just ignore that fool. When no-life losers like him live and breathe internet forums, they think they know everyfuckinthing.

Our MS6 has been absolutely perfect and survived more than a few 100+ degree days with no power loss or any drivability issues. But because five or ten people on a message board have mentioned having problems, the idiots trolling that board jump to the conclusion ALL MS6's have problems. :rolleyes:

Anyway, good choice with the 6 (much better one than the lawnmower-propelled legacy).

I just typed out a fairly long response only to get a database error. So I'll shorten it up a bit... There have been plenty of problems with boost cut in the MS6, not sure why your friend wouldn't mention it. There is even a supposed fix from Mazda for it though I'm not sure if it has solved the problem completely. Hopefully it won't take Mazda years to sort the tuning problems out like they did with the MSP.

Heatsoak is a problem almost all turbo cars face, cars with little airflow to their intercooler will suffer even more. The MS6 intercooler design is a poor one and acts more as an interwarmer than anything. The result of heatsoak is lost power.

err...MS6 has a top mount intercooler

http://tinypic.com/egczgi.jpg

just as the soobies do

http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~nthompso/Pix/sti01.JPG

how is that a poor design?

Just ignore that fool. When no-life losers like him live and breathe internet forums, they think they know everyfuckinthing.

Our MS6 has been absolutely perfect and survived more than a few 100+ degree days with no power loss or any drivability issues. But because five or ten people on a message board have mentioned having problems, the idiots trolling that board jump to the conclusion ALL MS6's have problems. :rolleyes:

Anyway, good choice with the 6 (much better one than the lawnmower-propelled legacy).

Yeah, that's why the MS6 forum is riddled with posts about powerloss and it's a sticky. You're the fool if you think any turbocharged car isn't going to lose power when temps get over 100 degrees. I wasn't trolling the MS6 boards, I was considering buying one when I was ready to trade in my WRX. Then I realized the powerloss MANY MS6 owners were experiencing, the poor intercooler design, and that is was too heavy for its own good. To top it all off it couldn't even finish better than 4th in the two major mag comparos. One of which where it was trounced by "the lawnmower propelled Legacy".

how is that a poor design?

Because it's sitting on top of a hot engine. The design in the Subaru is at least fed fresh air by the hoodscoop.

Yeah, that's why the MS6 forum is riddled with posts about powerloss and it's a sticky. You're the fool if you think any turbocharged car isn't going to lose power when temps get over 100 degrees.
Yeah, and I guess every MS6 owner in the US and Canada and everywhere else theyre sold posts on that board. And I guess every one of those MS6's except ours has experienced powerloss. Wake up, idiot; I know it's hard for small minds to grasp, but, there's a BIG world outside of internet forums.

To top it all off it couldn't even finish better than 4th in the two major mag comparos. One of which where it was trounced by "the lawnmower propelled Legacy".
Again, to a closed and small mind, mag comparos are biblical. Hold onto to those, if it makes you feel better, kiddo. And keep overlooking that the MS6 has several victories in head-to-head mag comparos over the boring looking lawnmower, AND it outhandled and outstopped it, despite the weight diff. Ouch, for the lawnmower.

The design in the lawnmower is at least fed fresh air by the hoodscoop.
And an already funky designed car is made worse by a two-dollar hood scoop.

You sure are an angry little fella.

I love lamp.

Because it's sitting on top of a hot engine. The design in the Subaru is at least fed fresh air by the hoodscoop.

and the 6 is fed air through the ducting under the hood going directly to the grill, roughly the same size opening as the soobie and I assume the same air, really the only difference might be the stock size of the intercooler if anything, and people have been doing h mounts for years, so they can't be all that bad. :dunno:

The MS6 hood is both heavy and feeds in less air that a traditional hood scoop. Maybe at highway speeds there is less of a difference, but at city speeds, I am willing to bet that there is a clear difference. Plus a closed hood helps to trap heat under the hood.

The issue isn't just that it has a top-mount intercooler... it's the cooling duct design addition to this AND the car running pretty high boost.

The MS6 will be lucky if there is an aftermarket beyond intake, exhaust, suspension and boost controller. Mazdas have never had aftermarket ECU flash capability and even if it does finally come out for the MS6... it's going to be some wait. The Legacy GT has a large aftermarket... partly thanks to it sharing its long block with the STi. Hitting 300hp in a Legacy GT is relatively easy and cheap.

The MS6 hood is both heavy and feeds in less air that a traditional hood scoop. Maybe at highway speeds there is less of a difference, but at city speeds, I am willing to bet that there is a clear difference. Plus a closed hood helps to trap heat under the hood.

The issue isn't just that it has a top-mount intercooler... it's the cooling duct design addition to this AND the car running pretty high boost.

The MS6 will be lucky if there is an aftermarket beyond intake, exhaust, suspension and boost controller. Mazdas have never had aftermarket ECU flash capability and even if it does finally come out for the MS6... it's going to be some wait. The Legacy GT has a large aftermarket... partly thanks to it sharing its long block with the STi. Hitting 300hp in a Legacy GT is relatively easy and cheap.

I bet someone makes an FMIC for it ;)

I love lamp.

I'm hungry. I love eat.

Aftermarket FMIC seem to have a tendency of mixed results... examples being the Imprezza, Legacy GT and VW GTI/Audi A3. In some of these cases it has caused reliability problems.

Poor guy, had to get rid of his 8...

I hope the best for you and your MS6. I was away from my 8 for about 10 days this past vacation and it kills me everytime.

I LOVE MY 8!!!!!!

Aftermarket FMIC seem to have a tendency of mixed results... examples being the Imprezza, Legacy GT and VW GTI/Audi A3. In some of these cases it has caused reliability problems.

I've never heard of any problems with FMICs on any Subaru unless you're putting it on an otherwise stock car.

lamp - Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP/Perl
eat...

I've never heard of any problems with FMICs on any Subaru unless you're putting it on an otherwise stock car.

Honestly... I don't remember if it was Subarus, VWs or which make. But I seriously do think it was on the LegacyGT forum where there were some comments about it. But like I said... I could be remembering wrong.

Few notes..

http://forum.mazda6tech.com/viewtopic.php?t=5055

Here's a link to the powerloss issue. It's be resolved by Mazda, though a few owners have reported both that "Car feels faster" and "car feels slower" after the flash.

Make sure to use the highest octane gas you can get in the MS6. 94 if you can snag it, 100 if you want some fun...if you're stuck with 91, I'm sorry. The pcm is overly knock sensitive and will go bonkers if you get any sort of knock, even if its false (thus the original power loss issue).

If you recently bought the car, it should already have this PCM revision...if not, make an appointment with your dealership, and stop getting info from the sales or service tech's, go straight to the service manager.

As for heatsoak issues...its pretty apparent just in short drives around town. On the dyno, the car can lose nearly 30 ft/lbs of torque, and anywhere from 10-20 whp in just 3 runs. Here's one owners example of heatsoak in action. (Keep in mind this is with the hood up, and a 40 hp fan blowing in)

http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/incoming/heatsoak.jpg

The issue isn't the ducting as much as the location of the intercooler. On the sti/legacy, there is a space under the intercooler to allow the air to flow through and out...on the MS6, the intercooler sits directly on the engine, with about an inch or so of clearance.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/10/web/2230000-2230999/2230297_2_full.jpg

The problem is big enough that there are a variety of companies working on FMIC's for the vehicle...though confounded a bit by Mazda welding the front bumper to the car, instead of bolting it on.

There are intakes, a single DP, and a variety of exhausts available for the car thus far. Suspension mods are practically non existent, other then relabeled parts from the v6 Mazda 6. (ie not proper rates for the MS6). Stock air/fuel ratio looks like a train wreck, so there is plenty of room for tuning (if it ever becomes available).

http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/incoming/speedaf.jpg

Upper rpm performance (past 5500 rpm) is limited by the Hitachi-Warner K04 single-scroll turbocharger's inability to provide sufficent CFM to meet the engines demands. Either a hybrid, or replacement turbo will be necessary to make the upper rpm band useful. (If you own one, you know its practically useless to shift after 5700...the last 1000 or so rpm is just the turbine blowing hot air)

K04 Compressor Map

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/turbo/TurboMaps/k04-0025.jpg

There is an 07 Model coming out, and some dealers are discounting the sports to the 22k range. (It's a really good deal at 22k!) Make sure if you want one, to please wait, or shop around, buying without knowing about the 07 means you probably overpaid a good 3-4k =/.

Hmm what else is left...weakpoints in the car? Clutch, then differential mounts, then differential. Don't launch this thing repeatedly, or you'll be in for one nasty surprise. I'd recommend against buying this car as a track/daily driver, just from the rarity of some of the components. Some owners have waited weeks for parts that are relatively common on other cars.

The MS6 is pretty much the best bargain multi-purpose daily driver on the market right now.

That should cover about everything.

Very nice informative post. I learned a lot about the MS6. I figured the aftermarket would be strong for this car.... especially since the motor won't be exclusive to the 6. Guess it's still relatively early.

The MS6 fanbois just got Crossbowned! ;)

Wow...i'd say crossbow just put all the here-say BS to rest in a mighty hurry.

Bravo with the facts! :xyxwave:

I just typed out a fairly long response only to get a database error. So I'll shorten it up a bit...
Oh, Ike! You mean that when you go off on one of your lengthy trolling tyrades that no one who would even care about such things ever reads, you actually type it in the little response box at the bottom of the page?

How cute!

I've got three words for you - notepad.

Congrats on the car UK BLACK, too bad you had problems with your 8. My father works at Mazda and actually had an MS6 for a demo for quite a while. Was a great car, quite fun to drive after getting used to it. (Strange after driving the 8, 1st gear feels like it lasts all of .5 seconds.)

I don't see why some big debate/argument has to hi-jack every thread on here... Pretty much takes the fun out of even reading the posts (Yeah i'm a newb so I shouldn't be complaining, but honestly...)

Anyways, good luck with your 6 and hopefully you'll enjoy it for years to come!

Oh, Ike! You mean that when you go off on one of your lengthy trolling tyrades that no one who would even care about such things ever reads, you actually type it in the little response box at the bottom of the page?

How cute!

I've got three words for you - notepad.

I've got five words for you - I'm sorry your vagina hurts.

I've got five words for you - I'm sorry your vagina hurts.
Musta been tha roofies.
Anyway, that's eight words by my count...

Ah, what would a thread be without a little battle. I'm actually pursuing a possible replacement for my STi as a daily commuter beater, since the bumper to bumper is just about finished. I am actually looking into a MS6, not to buy but to lease. I found just one car I can fully commit to, but it's the S2000, not the STI. They have a damn good 2 year lease deal going on right now with the MS6 Sport ($269 a month for 24 months, $2544 due at lease signing), which is actually not a bad deal at all. Not sure if Mazda will give me 10 grand back, and take my STI for this two year lease straight up, but I may pursue it. I don't really care about the little bugs with the MS6 because I'd simply milk that baby up to 24k miles, get some good use out of my s2k without it being a garage queen (which I hate because I buy cars to drive, not to admire), and then I can use that 10 grand to help pay off my S2000. By the time the 2 year lease is up on the MS6, I will flat out own the S2000, and can just hand them that car back without worries, and move onto my next daily.

The only thing is that they have to swap out the summer radials with all seasons, because this will be my 2 year beater daily. Just an idea, but I'm starting to shrug at the future maintanence costs this STI will be incurring soon, as Brakes are running low, and it appears the rear struts are already saying " replace me". I have until August 31st to make up my mind, but I'm just not sure I'm ready to start putting money into this sti, because the trade in value is still high, and it might be the perfect time to make a change, and give myself another car to drive and enjoy. I simply love swapping cars. I don't care about the bugs with the MS6, because I had to deal with plenty of them on my RX8, and it's much more stressful dealing with issues when you own a car then when leasing. Let me know how that MS6 works out for you. :)

Assuming you use firefox....

If you type out a reply only to get a DB error.... hit back. Whatever you typed out will still be there. It's flippin' sweet!

Why not go the Front mount route? That should free up more power along with an exhaust upgrade. Should run wayyy cooler after that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/powerlaps.shtml

Just for those interested, the recent topgear had a review of the MPS 6 (they praised it, and liked the car, except for its ugly appearance), in which the stig did a power lap.

http://www.finalgear.com/shows/topgear/8/6/

The rx8 beat the MPS 6 on the powerlap board...keep in mind this mps 6 was a bit lower in power then the US version, but its still a solid win to the rx8, for those owners who are constantly wondering how the two cars would do against each other in "track" conditions.

And yes, a front mount would solve alot of problems...only fitment is an issue as that giant gaping front hole actually isn't. Almost 30% of the open front is the foam crash bumper. That combined with a welded in place front bumper, has given the aftermarket some interesting fitment issues.

As for putting on all-seasons on the MPS 6...the standard car's skidpad scores are only what they are because of the low treadware tires...replace them, and you'll drop below a standard 6i with all-seasons. This is ignoring the fact that the car also severely undertired (the rx8 has more tread, and weighs almost 700 lbs less), so don't expect the same handling with all-season radials. Be very wary when specing the replacement all-seasons that you meet the load requirements for the car. Stock tire pressures are already high to just barely meet the load requirements from those 215/45/18's...mazda should be punched in the face for putting such skinny rubber on such a heavy sedan. The improvement from 235/45/17 RT-615's on 17x8's would be drastic.

instead of a FMIC, has anyone done a Scooby-style scoop?

Also:

Some of you guys need to take a break from life. Seriously. Ike is right-on with his assessments; it's as if some of you have egos too fragile to hear/read ANYTHING which isn't praising your car of choice. lmao...Crossbowned...haha :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/powerlaps.shtml

Just for those interested, the recent topgear had a review of the MPS 6 (they praised it, and liked the car, except for its ugly appearance), in which the stig did a power lap.


If you could help me find a non-torrent video of that run, I'd be in your debt. :)

dmp,

I suggest using utorrent. It's a completely standalone torrent package. Single exe. When you're done downloading the torrent, just delete it.

Regardless of whether you use that info, here are some yourtube clips of the mps 6.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6UrigjFYD8&search=mps%206

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_CkHoWc6s&search=mps%206

Aftermarket FMIC seem to have a tendency of mixed results... examples being the Imprezza, Legacy GT and VW GTI/Audi A3. In some of these cases it has caused reliability problems.


There are absolutely no problems with a FMIC on the LGT even when run with the VF40. Only problem is getting rev'd by every ricer in a civic from here to kingdom come.

^ no problems meaning the car still runs like OEM stock, or no problems meaning "yeah you can make it work without too much trouble". Only category 1 matters to me. Category 2 is for weekend/project/track cars.

There are a variety of fundamental issues with FMIC's on the subaru platform (mainly wrx, sti, and legacy) that are often ignored by owners of the vehicles. There seems to be some sort of FMIC obsession, even when that obsession is often not the best solution to the problem.

Adding a FMIC to an STI...

1) Removes frontal crash protection* (except for the injen FMIC, which nobody likes)
2) Adds roughly 5-6 feet of piping between the turbocharger and the intake manifold inlet**.
3) Blocks airflow to the radiator, which was never designed to work in conjunction with a FMIC.
4) Requires tuning to function properly. (Can be bad news if you just swap and hope for the best without a protune.

*=Crash bumper is usually removed completely, and replaced with a "crash bar". Nearly all of the "good" (being defined by individuals who generally don't have any experience with charge cooling design) FMIC's replace the front bumper.
**=See photo...its really obscene. Smart owners will flip the intake manifold (cutting out about 2 feet of piping), or run a V mount radiator/intercooler.

Most of the FMIC's for the sti have poor endtank design as well, resulting in only a portion of the internal passages being utilized. In some cases, only 40% of the intercooler is actually being utilized!

This is actually a really big pet peeve of mine. The more I research into turbochargers, the more appauled I get. It's no wonder owners start DIY'ing when even the aftermarket company's can't follow basic charge cooling concepts.

This photo illustrates the obscene amount of piping needed to run an FMIC, and the removal of the front bumper. In this particular example, the endtank design of the intercooler is actually decent.

http://users.ev1.net/~zuela/sti/fmic6.jpg

That was it... thanks crossbow. It had to do with all addtional piping and effects on boost/response. I'm no turbo pro... just repeating something I had read sometime ago.

And you're both repeating just for the sake of doing so. If doing an FMIC on an STI with a big turbo wasn't beneficial people wouldn't do it... There are plenty of larger TMIC options for the Subarus on the market, if they worked better than some of the FMICs on the market then the only people with FMICs would be ricers. That's clearly not the case.

Ike...

I even clearly stated that I'm only repeating.

Unless you've tried it yourself... you're just giving second hand knowledge too, you know...

I've heard the Renesis has to be rebuilt every 60k miles. I'm only repeating...

Get my point?

touche! Point made... it does work both ways though (not to outright say you're wrong... ).

There are plenty of larger TMIC options for the Subarus on the market, if they worked better than some of the FMICs on the market then the only people with FMICs would be ricers. That's clearly not the case.

Agreed..but that still doesn't mean there isn't room for massive improvement with the design and implementation of charge cooling on the sti.

Most of the time it seems that owners care more about how large an intercooler is, and far less about if its actually flowing properly, or sized well for the vehicle. It's gigantic...so it's gotta be awesome right? Everyone is doing it!!!

In terms of actual efficency, the only decent intercoolers I've seen for the car are V mount style...but those carry quite the price tag. There has been some experimentation with water based TMIC's, which if executed correctly, could give you the best charge cooling possible for the car, while still allowing the removal of the top scoop.

It's interesting to note that subaru actually used to run water/air TMIC's awhile back.

http://geocities.com/powerenterpriseusa/coolpowerv1.jpg

The Vmount style not only allows for a FMIC (properly sized, with decent (still not optimal) endtank design), but replaces the radiator as well, to address other cooling issues. Still think it requires removal of the front bumper though :(.

Just because everyone does something, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do...it just means everyone is very good at copying everyone else.

^ no problems meaning the car still runs like OEM stock, or no problems meaning "yeah you can make it work without too much trouble". Only category 1 matters to me. Category 2 is for weekend/project/track cars.


Yes, within reason. Obviously if someone is going to add a FMIC they are likely doing so because of a bigger turbo. So running like OEM stock is relative. Your obviously adding power and in some cases lag. But there have been no issues with the cars when properly tuned. A TD06-18G can easily be run with a larger TMIC, some people go one step above that and add water injection. A 20G will likely warrant a FMIC. All of the aftermarket FMIC's for the LGT do not require you to remove the bumper beam, some require you to notch it, but not completely remove it.

In terms of the LGT you have the following options:

1. 18G or 20G in a VF40 housing
2. Any turbo you want with the use of a FMIC
3. Swap over the STI intake manifold/TGV's and you can run any STI turbo with a TMIC.

Option 3 sounds like a sweet cost effective option...

Option 3 sounds like a sweet cost effective option...

That's what a lot of guys are doing, but the VF39 is still pretty small. If you're looking for big power it's FMIC or bust (for now at least)...

The Vmount style not only allows for a FMIC (properly sized, with decent (still not optimal) endtank design), but replaces the radiator as well, to address other cooling issues. Still think it requires removal of the front bumper though :(.


Wait, your post just SERIOUSLY confused me.


A v-mount does not allow for a front-mount intercooler...as a V-mount is not FRONT MOUNTED! It's mounted well back, in the engine bay, with a V design, allowing equal air to enter both the radiator and intercooler. With proper ducting, this is hands down the BEST way to setup an intercooler and radiator. Charge pipes a tad longer then top-mount, but much shorter then front-mount. Air getting to both the radiator, and the intercooler.


It is costly to do correctly (IE: ducting), but..as you said, you do have to remove the front bumper. But not for any reason other than to do ducting!

Sorry...I guess I miscommunicated my statement. You are correct, and thats what I was trying to get across. The v-mount basically allows for frontal airflow to the intercooler (front mount, but not mounted in the front of the car), while providing for the other cooling systems of the vehicle. Quite possibly the best solution (especially with a rotated turbo setup as shown in the image), but also one of the most expensive. I'm actually confused as to how expensive it is. It's as if you are being charged multi-thousands for the bracket design.