Advice WANTED!!! Spend a grand and get a cool looking FMIC ( process west stage 1) and get 30 extra KW's or spend the G on other mods? Is spending a "g" on a inter cooler worth it if the rest of the car stock? Not sure what to do? Any advice is welcome..as long as it's not rude!

just get a flash tuner and custom tune, then save up and get the cooler, and the intake, and the exhaust, and the valve springs, and the ...... well, you get the idea...

Yes, the best bang for buck starter mod is the Flash tune box and a good custom tune.

Advice WANTED!!! Spend a grand and get a cool looking FMIC ( process west stage 1) and get 30 extra KW's or spend the G on other mods? Is spending a "g" on a inter cooler worth it if the rest of the car stock? Not sure what to do? Any advice is welcome..as long as it's not rude!

I dont believe you will gain 30kw's on a stockie by changing the cooler.

Tune first or you may create other issues such as overboost.

Is overboost really that bad?

How much damage can it cause?

Yes it is that bad.

Overboost will cause the AFR to lean out to dangerous levels.

Lean AFR cause denonation and the extremely high cylinder pressures that result will snap a rod or worse.

Thanks 72 I think might flash my car back to stock til I can get a custom tune

Bah bullsh*t, changing to a PW stage one will not cause your car to run lean and overboost. The restriction is in the pipe work for starters and the closed loop boost control will make sure that the car runs close to stock boost level anyway as the intercooler it is not that huge a restriction.

The biggest issue when increasing the boost over stock by changing components and freeing up the system is not the higher boost level associated with it causing it to run leaner, as there is a bit of flexibility with the stock fuel injectors, your factory tune commands fuel mixtures in AFR not duty cycle, so long as the stock injectors are not at the limit it will be fine and always get the commanded AFR. But the fact that the ignition timing is way to advanced for such boost pressures. The border line knock table is not scaled to run higher MAP in factory tune thus does not reduce ignition timing advance for higher MAP, therefore making the car prone to detonation. CAPA generic tunes don't rescale for this but people who perform custom tunes do (they should). This is just one small reason why it's important to have your car tuned and or checked by someone who knows what they are doing.

Just by changing a IC and not doing anything else will not give you 30rwkw as guess what, your factory tune is to smart for that and will pull back the boost levels to stock because as I said it regulates the MAP via closed loop boost control, and you are not freeing up the intake by changing the IC that much that it would be beyond the control. It may increase the boost slightly but consider that a bees dick if it did. Power is made via correct fuel mixtures, more manifold pressure, and correct ignition timing advance. No more boost, timing thus no more power.

Put your $1000 dollars aside, figure out where you want the car to be in terms of acceleration performance and then research the modifications needed to achieve such a level. Save up for those mods, and do it all at once and get your car custom tuned ONCE by a reputable tuner, you will save yourself a lot of time and money in the end.

Edited 23/12/07 03:45 AM23/12/07 03:45 AM by Fatsex

Thanks for the advice so far. I was mistaken when I quoted a 30 kilowatt gain. I was told that it would give me approximately 25 extra kilowatts and that was by Kevin at Process West. He also said that if anything the car should run better than stock and although he said I didn't have to go to a re-tuner he said it would be of benefit, which I understand.

So who knows if it is a good idea or not?

Car will be more consistent in terms of performance, but if you are looking for a quick power fix it is not a good idea, it just wont happen by changing the IC alone.

If you are gathering bits and pieces and fitting them to your car as you go (but keeping in mind what will be safe to run on stock tune and wont) to develop a nice safe power figure at a later date when you get it custom tuned it is a great place to start. Quality product and excellent service.

If you are after a quick power fix, edit and custom tune is the best option.

Edited 23/12/07 04:39 AM23/12/07 04:39 AM by Fatsex