Getting near the end of the rope for bolt on power mods, and this was my final answer: the WAGNER tuning EVO intercooler. The company shipped it out from Germany very well packaged via UPS expedited.
My readings pointed to the ETS and the Wagner as candidates. Harold @ HP Autowerks gave the best price for the ETS so if anyone is going with that FMIC contact him! But this is what won it for me: the Wagner 1M intercooler has a step design that results in about 85% greater surface than stock IC, it does not require any trimming, cutting and is total plug and play using all factory mounting points without any bumper removal. The Wagner unit was made in Germany and is bar and plate in design. I found out there are two designs out there, bar and plate vs tube and fin (the latter being more popular in Europe, the former more popular in NA). This is where I got my intercooler from:
http://wagner-tuning.de/EN/products/...ntercooler.php
Started work with my buddy Sam @ 2300. Ramped the car up and there we were:
I'm not good at writing DYI's but essentially you remove the plastic undertray with ten billion bolts (that alone takes time!), then you loosen two factory bolts from under the OEM intercooler, loosen two hose clips and then wiggle the OEM intercooler down. There is an additional plastic piece that needs to be removed on the passenger side top before you can install the Wagner FMIC in but after that is done, it is all smooth sailing! The Wagner sends you a set of extended bolt, plastic spacer and nut you have to use to mount. Replace under tray and voila, all done.
Pics comparison of the Wagner vs OEM
Took 3 hours to do the 1M (more than half of that was sheer dumbness like losing a black under tray screw and looking for it on my black garage floors!
). After finishing the 1M we got to work on Hackulo's E92 335 and we finished it up under 1hr.
too tired to drive the car last night after install and my commute to work is too short to really comment on its gains over the stock FMIC but will update this again at a later time.