ER - Evolution Racewerks - Sport FMIC Install and other things with weird names.
This past month has seen a myriad of work done to the Audi, both critical repairs + maintenance but also some fun stuff. This is one of them fun thingys. I’ll do a comprehensive writeup later.
FMIC does not stand for:
Free Manicures In Cabo, Fortunate Mastodons Intend Corruption or Festive Marsupials Intimately Cavorting. It stands for Front Mount Intercooler. With that out of the way, oh and yes, ‘Racewerks’ is spelled correctly, Learn2German-ize.
Since most ppl reading this won’t know what the hell a Front Mount Intercooler is, care about it or why it’s important, a quick explanation.
I have a 1.8T engine. That’s 1.8 liters big and the T= turbo. It looks like this.
Turbocharged engines are most happy with COLD air. Said air is force fed in using the turbo. Then hopefully it’s cooled before entering the engine itself.
So, in the pic above, air goes into the turbo, through the black front pipe and into the silver box on the right side, the pinner ninny nancy-pants stock Side Mount Intercooler. Boooooo.
The side mount intercooler is small, poorly located and massively overtaxed under normal driving. Think desk fan in a large conference room. It does a very poor job of cooling the air. Out with you!
Really? Is it now? Yup. In later generation A4 engines, Audi changed the design to a front mount. Much better. We should do that too.
I was fortunate enough to acquire a slightly used ER Sport FMIC after an Audi forum member’s unfortunate run in with Bambi (and no, not the kind you throw dollars at). This pretty much never happens.
I’m not going to give you all some long, drawn out testimonial about why ER is so great or how slapping a proper FMIC on your turbocharged car is gonna get you laid, bring your hair back or end strip mining.
But I will tell you this.
* this FMIC was ridiculous easy to install (while others can fit horrendously)
* it’s like having a reset button on your engine that cools it off every time you step on the gas (remember hot turbo = bad!)
* if I had any concept of how much a FMIC improved even a Stage 1 car (software remapping to go faster) I would have picked one up when I bought the car
* ER does not cut corners and more than once during the install I laughed at myself for thinking it would just be so simple to put a kit together myself. It’s not.
* the difference is night and day with a proper FMIC, period
Enough with the talky talky. Pics!
Getting the bumper removed and the stock SMIC pulled was cake. Popped the new FMIC right on. But that’s the easy part.
Piping on the passenger side runs around and right up to the turbo.
Piping on the driver’s side runs around and up to meet the intake manifold opening. 
I have a standard bumper that’s been modified with an Ultrasport bumper so some of the cutting and trimming you’re seeing was already there.
Basically, I just shaved it down a bit using a cutting tool but this was exceedingly minimal, mostly on the lower section of the center opening.
During this process, it is very important to maintain proper hydration as well.
I only needed to shave a bit off the fog housing edge, just to the right of the pipe. These guys really built this thing to fit well.
Awesome driving characteristics aside… best part? It’s uber stealth. Can’t see it at all. Batman called me and was like, what it do?
Of course I neglected to snap a proper pic with my camera before putting the bumper back on. But that’s probably because I was holding the bumper. Bad camera phone pic instead.
So if you’re still scratching your head and goin… what? Maybe this’ll make more sense.
Ever driven in excessive desert heat or really high altitudes? The car gets all bogged down and slooooow even if you mash the pedal on the floor. That’s the feeling or behavior we’re trying to avoid.
Now imagine if that always happened after twenty minutes of driving on a warm day? It’s called “heatsoak.”
To combat that effect the addition of a quality FMIC gives the engine a fresh blast of nice cold air every time it takes a breath. So it doesn’t add any horsepower or torque, but allows the engine to breath as efficiently as possible both now and when future modifications are added.
Yessir.