TheLion
Well-Known Member
If you need more cooling I'd look at either the CP-e Race core OR the ATM inter cooler.
I had the Levels Gen 3 Street which did well at cooling, but caused some lag issues and was not flowing the best with the stock turbo especially at the top end. I was loosing too much pressure across the FMIC.
There's plenty of FMIC's out there that cool well, but NOT all of them are appropriate for stock turbo applications. Some are better suited to big turbos.
Garrett, CP-e, MAP Stage 1 and ATM are probably the best four that I've seen in terms of optimization for the stock turbo, balacing good cooling but with low pressure drop and limited lag.
Now big turbo's are a different story and I have no idea what is ideal for those and it would depend on the particular turbo in question.
Also with the Ford Performance Calibration I get a Uxxxx body train code as I have no AGS and the assembly is unplugged. With LMS 91/93 I don't get any AGS codes because they disabled it for me. I left my servo plugged in originally for backwards compatibility with stock calibration but mine was still giving me codes because it was able to detect the position of the servo (most likely using the loading of the motor or stator position) was not were it expected it to be so I simply unplugged it.
The Uxxxx body train codes won't throw a CEL or Wrench light, at least not on my 2016. I can live with a hidden code I see no indicator for and doesn't affect my ability to pass e-check. Your mileage may vary depend on year and software build.
There are software revisions even year to year some times (two different PCM calibrations for 2016's for example). But usually they are minor fixes / alterations to get rid of bugs etc.
Just be careful with the FMIC you choose with the stock turbo and honestly if you really want to know it's flowing well, have the car dynod, it's not expensive, $75~$100 is typical for just baseline runs. At least then you'll know what your setup is actually producing and if it's not what you expect you know something isn't playing well which is what I found out and suspected for some time, but I didn't know definitively until I actually tested it to see what was really going on.
For those with the Levels, I'm not suggesting it's a bad unit, just there are more optimal configurations for stock turbo applications. I'd take a gander that any FMIC with a similar design to the Levels will have similar behavior. Most of them use off the shelf cores just with whoever's end tanks and brackets that's making the full unit.
Yes, the hesitation occurred on stock, LMS 91 and FP calibrations so it is what it is. Hope this helps! It's all about efficiency. The best cooling is NOT always the best, because it may cause too much pressure drop.
The best FMIC provides the optimal balance between pressure drop and cooling capacity that allows you to make the most power. Coldest temps do not alone make an FMIC well suited to the application or result in actual peak power output. The Levels actually cooled just a bit better than the ATM, however the car consistently and repeatedly made more power with the ATM and the lag was gone which made daily driving far more enjoyable.
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Just long wait for it to make its way to Australia. But thats ok, I wont have access to my mechanic friend for 3 weeks so no stress. I'll do the IC, Filter, NGK's, Accessport and Catch Can at the same time just in time for the Aussie summer. Really can't wait to see the difference.
