Intercooler: FMIC & TMIC

[bass_straitener]

And how does an FMIC work with a vehicle crumple zone to protect occupant safety?

Also how does and FMIC impact airbag activation?

Both of these items impact vehicle safety systems and therefore will be considered illegal and void any policy if discovered, and you do not have engineering approval.

Spin it any way you like, I've spoken to a number of people on this, qualified people, and you will not be covered through your insurance policy unless the it's manufacturer approved to work with the vehicles safety systems.

Keep talking though and convince yourselves.

[Kekotic]

So does that mean everyone driving around with an FMIC is not covered? That seems unlikely. Maybe if you are insured with bingle or something, but I imagine Shannons would still cover you.

[bass_straitener]

I spoke to Shanons and they said not covered if it impacts vehicle safety and occupant safety systems as tampering with them makes it an illegal modification and they don't cover illegal mods.

[Kekotic]

Interesting stuff.
Personally I'm not in to big power mods so I cannot see me ever getting an FMIC on any car I will own, but I understand just how shit a TMIC is in comparison for those who want a lot of power.

[Rome_BRZ]

I spoke to Shanons and they said not covered if it impacts vehicle safety and occupant safety systems as tampering with them makes it an illegal modification and they don't cover illegal mods.

I spoke to Shannon's as well and they said theoretically it's illegal in some cases but only if they can prove it. How can the assessor prove that it impacted the vehicles safety system unless they run an identical test with the same vehicle and the same Mod to prove it affected it?

Bruce, you aren't a stupid person, what Shannon's told you can be applied to every mod you do to your car that isn't standard. Your boost pod on the dash like that can technically void your insurance based on what you just said

[bass_straitener]

True they don't cover any illegal mods as per the PDS I have in front of me.

The new standard for bolting anything onto the front of the car is that manufacturers must affix a label that states the item works in conjuction with the vehicles frontal impact systes. Eg. all vehicle nudge and bullbars have to have this labelling to make them legal.

I've queried my gauge pod and going by the rules it doesn't make it illegal as it's not in the field of view of the driver. I can go digging for the formula used to show the area covered by this statement if you wish.

Any back to the FMIC. Yes it's a big chunk of metal and is probably very strong. But the vehicle impact systems are there to protect driver, passenger and 3rd parties such as pedestrians etc.

I realise the saying you play you pay comes is relevant here, but as I said I checked this whole situation out the last time this thread came to the fore and it's completely illegal without the right certification.

As I said it's illegal, and as long as you can accept that if you get caught by either your insurance company, during accident assessment, or the authorities you will be fined or be denied your claim then go ahead.

Your choice, just don't whinge if it happens.

I'll also add that this whole heatsoak issue is completely blown out of proportion. If you're in traffic, yes you will experience heat soak with a TMIC, but so will your FMIC piping. If you speak to any tuner they will tell you your chance of damaging your engine is increased greatly if you boot it after a prolonged period of time of sitting in traffic as everything gets hot not only your air charge or TMIC. Common sense would dictate to drive normally till the system is closer to a more desired temp.

The Subaru system of the under guard tray etc is designed to allow air to pass swiftly under the car to the back section where the dump is. This creates a low pressure area and draws air past the turbo and dump pipe etc drawing the air cool air through. The splitter/scoop feeds this process whilst driving air past the TMIC. It works. It's been tested and unless your doing something extreme is satisfactory. There are a number of 300kw WRXs in the other club I'm part of that run a PW TMIC.

[Rome_BRZ]

True they don't cover any illegal mods as per the PDS I have in front of me.

The new standard for bolting anything onto the front of the car is that manufacturers must affix a label that states the item works in conjuction with the vehicles frontal impact systes. Eg. all vehicle nudge and bullbars have to have this labelling to make them legal.

I've queried my gauge pod and going by the rules it doesn't make it illegal as it's not in the field of view of the driver. I can go digging for the formula used to show the area covered by this statement if you wish.

Any back to the FMIC. Yes it's a big chunk of metal and is probably very strong. But the vehicle impact systems are there to protect driver, passenger and 3rd parties such as pedestrians etc.

I realise the saying you play you pay comes is relevant here, but as I said I checked this whole situation out the last time this thread came to the fore and it's completely illegal without the right certification.

As I said it's illegal, and as long as you can accept that if you get caught by either your insurance company, during accident assessment, or the authorities you will be fined or be denied your claim then go ahead.

Your choice, just don't whinge if it happens.

Personally I plan to get an engineers certificate anyway but anyone who does mods on their car and expect to be covered in all situations in all instances are kidding themselves, not just with a Fmic Bruce. That's my opinion. And I was talking about the fact that the boost pod could go flying into your head

[bass_straitener]

Sorry Rome I added a bit more to my post.

The bit about the stone tray design and the other plastic bits with strakes etc was recently confirmed by a guy who works in vehicle design with experience in wind tunnel aero dynamics evaluation with a gas analysis qualification who I got chatting with.

The bit about the boost pod flying into my head is highly unlikely as it's been bolted to the air duct that feeds that area. There was already a hole in the holder so I had the guys fix it in with a nut and bolt as well as the double sided tape.

[mynameisdaniel]

I'd be curious as to whether an engineer will sign off on it. They do lots of testing on bars and I'd imagine you don't want them testing a front end collision on your car End of the day if he says it's okay and someone gets hurt and proves it was due to the FMIC, he goes to jail...

[bass_straitener]

I'd be curious as to whether an engineer will sign off on it. They do lots of testing on bars and I'd imagine you don't want them testing a front end collision on your car End of the day if he says it's okay and someone gets hurt and proves it was due to the FMIC, he goes to jail...

For all additions to the front end of cars the manufacturer of the part has to show it works with all vehicle safety systems. The most common mod to front ends of cars are bullbars and nudge bars and they all by law now have to carry a manufacturer sticker advising the item has been tested to meet these regs.

Also the vehicle RTA regs have now been standardised across states and have been made much more strict now. You can go looking on the internet for the new regs if you're really interested.

[mynameisdaniel]

Is it not still acceptable to have an engineer independently approve modifications then? For example here we can only go 2" bigger in diameter and 1" wider for our rims and the track can only change so much. Although if it's approved by an engineer you may go bigger and your car won't be considered defectable. Obviously for the FMIC they would have to make sure all the safety stuff continues to work before approving it.

[dja]

Best thing for every single person on here who has a question about the legality is to check it themselves, dont listen to opinions, uneducated or not.
Find out for your self.
I have my answers, and getting a gen4 fmic engineered is easy, you dont have to mess with much at all, and in my opinion, and engineers it is safe, and does the job.

I simply tried giving some first hand experience, but you will have people who have horror stories, or want to say a tmic is somehow on par with a fmic.

DO your own research kids, its the best way to learn about this stuff.

[bass_straitener]

Is it not still acceptable to have an engineer independently approve modifications then? For example here we can only go 2" bigger in diameter and 1" wider for our rims and the track can only change so much. Although if it's approved by an engineer you may go bigger and your car won't be considered defectable. Obviously for the FMIC they would have to make sure all the safety stuff continues to work before approving it.

You could do it that way but your $5-600 FMIC is now going to cost you $1600. It would seem most guys start charging from $1000 onwards from speaking to people.

In the old days when I used to get stuff engineered it would cost me about $700 for little things to be tested and approved and certified and you carry your certs in your glove box to avoid any hassles.

[bass_straitener]

Best thing for every single person on here who has a question about the legality is to check it themselves, dont listen to opinions, uneducated or not.
Find out for your self.
I have my answers, and getting a gen4 fmic engineered is easy, you dont have to mess with much at all, and in my opinion, and engineers it is safe, and does the job.

I simply tried giving some first hand experience, but you will have people who have horror stories, or want to say a tmic is somehow on par with a fmic.

DO your own research kids, its the best way to learn about this stuff.

Agree with most of this hence I spoke with the guys at Shannons.

Could you please advise who provides engineering approval as it would seem most of the FMIC's are being installed in NSW anyway. Might help them out.

You're correct the FMIC is not on par with the TMIC, my discussion point is whether it's worth it on our cars with stock internals.

For a 200-220 kw car a TMIC is more than sufficient without the associated legal risks.

If you're building a 300kw + monster by all means go FMIC. You'll need it for those levels.

[<GB>]

I'm with Bruce


The Shannon's PDA states that any mods that are ilegal won't be cover, it's a fine line and comes down to risk. My car has front mount on its policy

I think most engineers will have trouble signing off on front mounts that have air bags and crash bars modified

All the bull bars have to comply with australian standards and would be tested to comply as bruce said

It's all do at your own risk with mods, ya win some ya loose sum