[s-cars] FMIC - choices?

[Dave Forgie]

Eric:  I guess, since nobody else answered, I will jump in.  The 034EFI
FMIC "kit" was developed by listers Tom Mullane and Marc Swanson in
response to a known demand and an aversion to paying upwards of $2000
(or more) for the other available "kit" from Dave Stone in Colorado
(IIRC).  The difference is the Dave Stone FMIC is bigger (3.5 in thick,
longer, taller) than Tom/Marc kit, BUT it requires that the bumper
support (a massive extruded aluminum channel) has to be trimmed
significantly to get the required clearance.  I always thought this was
a bad idea in terms of crash resistance so, personally, when the
Tom/Marc kit was announced, I was amoungst the first to get on the list
for the first batch (before sales were handled by Javed at 034EFI).  The
beauty of the Tom/Marc kit is it is basically plug and play (after a few
hours of trimming some metal off the aircon condensor mounting bracket
and plastic parts of the back side of the bumper cover).  There is NO
trimming of the aluminum bumper support IF you have R134 aircon (if you
have a 92 spec car with R12, then you will have to trim because the
condensor is thicker).

The Tom/Marc FMIC kit is based on a Taiwanese intercooler core (extruded
tube and fin) that costs about 25% of the kit.  So you could be tempted
to get on the internet and buy a core and do your own thing.  However,
even IF you had metal working skills (which you admit you don't), there
is still a tonne of work for you to get that IC core to work for you.
This is the other beauty of the kit - the pipes are one piece - most
home brews use at least 3 and maybe 4 pipe pieces plus silicon rubber
and clamp connections on EACH SIDE to do the same thing.  This means the
probability of a leak is high. (You need to bead roll each end of every
piece of pipe to help keep the rubber boots on).

In my opinion, you have two choices:  The Dave Stone kit with the bigger
FMIC but a trimmed bumper support or the O34EFI Tom/Marc kit with the
somewhat smaller FMIC but no bumper trimming.

But just to make your head hurt, at our September Vancouver-Seattle
UrS-car run to Leavenworth WA, Ned Ritchie showed up with his 500 hp 92
spec S-car, aka "The Beast".  Ned is still running the stock
intercooler.

Confused?

Sorry.

YMMV.

Dave F.