PHAT GT wrote:LAG IS OVER RATED
I should clarify and quantify my statement, in fear of looking like someone with 'no experience' or someone who 'talks shit' and has 'no experience'.
Depends on your goal in what you want to do with your car. If you want mid-high power, then FMIC is the way to go - in terms of physical attributes FMIC is definitely going to give you the colder air charge. The only downside is that you have longer piping, and larger diameter piping.
FMIC is not for those who want low-midrange. For me, this is where I fall - I want responsiveness on tap, and I don't want to chase big dyno numbers. I want a car that's fun to drive on the street, and which gives me punch from lowdown.
I've driven cars with FMIC setups, some good, some bad; some with stock turbos, some with aftermarket turbos - as a near-direct comparison, an ST205 GT-Four with 2.5" and with 3" FMIC on the stock CT20b turbo provides totally different levels of responsiveness. The lag was tolerable, but noticeable - it depends on whether you can live with it for the kick later. An ECU tune also helped a lot to make it less laggy.
Whether you can adapt that experience to the EJ20 with the VF38/TD04HLA is up to you - the Liberty's turbos are smaller, and have 12 years of technological development over the aged steel-wheel turbos.
Michael, I'm not here to make enemies, I'm just merely posting my experiences, and the experience of others. You may not agree, but this is what forums are for, to post thoughts, no? Granted my experiences may not be entirely applicable to this car in particular, but this is what I've learnt over time. Having been in the car modding game for six years, I've learnt a lot along the way, but I'm not one to say that I know everything.