dragonacc
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Alright guys, I said I'd do a review once I had everything installed so here goes.
The parts that come with the kit from FFTEC -
Cobb Accessport
Intake
Charge pipes
Intercooler (EcoEconomy core or EcoPro core)
I talked back and forth with Mike at FFTEC over the course of a couple days and after having all my questions answered I decided to order their "stage 4" kit with the EcoPro IC. Mike was really helpful and when I called to order I also spoke with Anthony about the tunes and he was able to answer all my questions as well. Ordering process completely smooth.
It took about a week for everything to be shipped because some of the parts still needed to come back from coating, but no big deal for me. When everything showed up UPS had beat the box up a bit, but inside everything was fine. Main thing I learned when I looked through the box was that there were no instructions. I asked Mike about it and found out they don't have instructions made up for the installation, but if I had any questions about the install I could call the shop. It was a slight disappointment, but I've turned wrenches on cars enough in my life that I wasn't that worried about it.
It took me two weekends to install everything because I just didn't have the time to get everything installed all at once. The first weekend I installed the intake, AP, and the turbo outlet charge pipe. The install for these parts is pretty easy. I was able to install everything from the top of the car, although I should have waited on the turbo outlet charge pipe because it would have been so much easier if I could have reached the clamps from under the car. I drove the car for a week in this state and with the Cobb OTS stage 1 tune. Huge improvement over stock for performance and the intake sounds really cool to me.
Fast forward to today and I installed the IC and throttlebody charge pipe. I used the instructions for the Lethal Performance grill delete to remove the bumper and once that was off it was mostly straight forward. I removed the entire grill shutter assembly, top and bottom, if you only want to remove the bottom you can probably retain the top, but you will have to cut the assembly up because it's all one piece. You will also need to cut some plastic air dams in order for the IC to fit, there will be a picture below showing what needs to be cut. Pay attention when you install the IC, there's a trick to it that's somewhat hard to explain. You install it from the bottom and you need to start with the IC over towards the driver's side of the car and move up and then toward the passenger side in order to clear everything. You should not have to tilt the IC back and forth to get it in. I learned the trick the hard way and banged up my AC condenser a little bit trying to figure out how to get the IC in place. It's not serious damage, I carefully bent most of the fins back out and you can't see it once the IC is in place. The other charge pipe went in with no trouble. The main thing to remember is take your time and don't rush. I tried to get everything done while my baby was sleeping and got impatient that's why I messed up my AC condenser.
Once everything was buttoned back up and night time rolled around I went out to the highway to datalog a few 3rd gear pulls and see how the new IC holds up. I really should have got some logs with the stock IC to compare the numbers to, but it wouldn't really be a good comparison anyway because the temperature has been changing way too much lately.
How did it do? Ambient temp outside was 57 degrees (the car showed 62 for the intake air temp) for all my runs. The first one showed a starting charge temp of 64.9 degrees and ended at 66.1 degrees. The second pull started at 71 (I got off the highway at a rest stop waiting for traffic to clear so the temp started going up a little) and actually decreased to 66.8 before ending the run at 71.9.
Gotta say I'm pretty impressed with the initial tests. As of now I've sent my logs off to Anthony and he's tweaking my tune so I won't be using the generic stage one map. I'll make sure to update the thread with new results. Overall there were a few hiccups with the install but everything turned out great so far and I'm completely happy with the decision to go with FFTEC. Down the road I plan to upgrade the turbo and I'll definitely be checking out what FFTEC has to offer!
And now on to some pictures:
First up is a comparison of the stock IC vs the FFTEC EcoPro, big size difference and makes it easy to see why you have to remove the bumper and grill shutters.
Just a shot of the weld work on the IC, everything FFTEC sent me looks really high quality, can't complain about the fit or finish of anything in the kit.
Here is a picture of the IC actually bolted onto the car. Note: you can install everything without raising the car off the ground at all but it would be a lot easier if you did, I'm just hard headed.
The parts that come with the kit from FFTEC -
Cobb Accessport
Intake
Charge pipes
Intercooler (EcoEconomy core or EcoPro core)
I talked back and forth with Mike at FFTEC over the course of a couple days and after having all my questions answered I decided to order their "stage 4" kit with the EcoPro IC. Mike was really helpful and when I called to order I also spoke with Anthony about the tunes and he was able to answer all my questions as well. Ordering process completely smooth.
It took about a week for everything to be shipped because some of the parts still needed to come back from coating, but no big deal for me. When everything showed up UPS had beat the box up a bit, but inside everything was fine. Main thing I learned when I looked through the box was that there were no instructions. I asked Mike about it and found out they don't have instructions made up for the installation, but if I had any questions about the install I could call the shop. It was a slight disappointment, but I've turned wrenches on cars enough in my life that I wasn't that worried about it.
It took me two weekends to install everything because I just didn't have the time to get everything installed all at once. The first weekend I installed the intake, AP, and the turbo outlet charge pipe. The install for these parts is pretty easy. I was able to install everything from the top of the car, although I should have waited on the turbo outlet charge pipe because it would have been so much easier if I could have reached the clamps from under the car. I drove the car for a week in this state and with the Cobb OTS stage 1 tune. Huge improvement over stock for performance and the intake sounds really cool to me.
Fast forward to today and I installed the IC and throttlebody charge pipe. I used the instructions for the Lethal Performance grill delete to remove the bumper and once that was off it was mostly straight forward. I removed the entire grill shutter assembly, top and bottom, if you only want to remove the bottom you can probably retain the top, but you will have to cut the assembly up because it's all one piece. You will also need to cut some plastic air dams in order for the IC to fit, there will be a picture below showing what needs to be cut. Pay attention when you install the IC, there's a trick to it that's somewhat hard to explain. You install it from the bottom and you need to start with the IC over towards the driver's side of the car and move up and then toward the passenger side in order to clear everything. You should not have to tilt the IC back and forth to get it in. I learned the trick the hard way and banged up my AC condenser a little bit trying to figure out how to get the IC in place. It's not serious damage, I carefully bent most of the fins back out and you can't see it once the IC is in place. The other charge pipe went in with no trouble. The main thing to remember is take your time and don't rush. I tried to get everything done while my baby was sleeping and got impatient that's why I messed up my AC condenser.
Once everything was buttoned back up and night time rolled around I went out to the highway to datalog a few 3rd gear pulls and see how the new IC holds up. I really should have got some logs with the stock IC to compare the numbers to, but it wouldn't really be a good comparison anyway because the temperature has been changing way too much lately.
How did it do? Ambient temp outside was 57 degrees (the car showed 62 for the intake air temp) for all my runs. The first one showed a starting charge temp of 64.9 degrees and ended at 66.1 degrees. The second pull started at 71 (I got off the highway at a rest stop waiting for traffic to clear so the temp started going up a little) and actually decreased to 66.8 before ending the run at 71.9.
Gotta say I'm pretty impressed with the initial tests. As of now I've sent my logs off to Anthony and he's tweaking my tune so I won't be using the generic stage one map. I'll make sure to update the thread with new results. Overall there were a few hiccups with the install but everything turned out great so far and I'm completely happy with the decision to go with FFTEC. Down the road I plan to upgrade the turbo and I'll definitely be checking out what FFTEC has to offer!
And now on to some pictures:
First up is a comparison of the stock IC vs the FFTEC EcoPro, big size difference and makes it easy to see why you have to remove the bumper and grill shutters.
Just a shot of the weld work on the IC, everything FFTEC sent me looks really high quality, can't complain about the fit or finish of anything in the kit.
Here is a picture of the IC actually bolted onto the car. Note: you can install everything without raising the car off the ground at all but it would be a lot easier if you did, I'm just hard headed.
Sponsored
Last edited:
do you have a pic of intercooler with the front bumper installed? I look forward to hearing how the tune is with the new mods.
