If you don't care about the install story and just want to help me finish up, just skip to the bottom, thanks!

Well, it didn't come with instructions (they also didn't stencil it as requested, but no big deal i'll put something fun on there)

Anyway, the fit and finish on it is good for those curious. I've had nicer intercoolers from an appearance viewpoint in the past (Precision and garrett cores) but the thing is solid and looks like it will do its job. The fitment is excellent as well, which is really all I could ask for.

Anyway, onto the fun stuff. This install has been a nightmare so far. First, I snap like two rivets. Then I find out my splash guards are totally torn.

Then I realize that I have to take off the small braided hose adapters that are putting my ETS piping to stock intercooler, and whatever genius installed these made it near impossible to get to the backs of the bolts so I sat there with a wrench for like twenty minutes. Whatever.

Then I finally mount the intercooler, looking good - lining up just had to bend some brackets. I go to pop in the left bolt and the head just twists off like it's butter. Yes.

So, I drill it out and I notice that the shavings are now in my lower pipe, awesome. So I take that off and get them out. Also, the inside of the pipe is loaded with rust. I'm not sure how old it is, but that can't be good. All piping is ETS from previous owner.

So I put the intercooler back on, start bolting it up, get the t-bolt clamps out and the couplers and I notice some big *** washers / spacers and new bolts. As I mentioned I don't have instructions, but the only thing there are two of is the mounting tabs on the side of the IC - so I figure this is where they belong. So I take the intercooler off again and remount it with these. Ok.

Crash bar does not fit over it, but I didn't anticipate it doing so. Oh, also you have to trim the air duct looking things by the radiator to allow the brackets on both sides to clear.

Intercooler lines up very nicely with the mounting holes and perfectly with the ETS piping. Very happy with that. So, time is running short and I have to put the bumper on to go to work. This is where I need help.

Bumper cover now DOES NOT fit on the car. It's hitting the intercooler, it appears to me that it's the brackets that serve to mount the front bumper from the front of the car underneath the small painted circles you pop off. I'm hoping that's all it is.. however, I can't bend them because the bolts wont go in then, and if I dremmel them off my bumper won't be mounted correctly. Not too happy with that, but I figured i'd post to see if I did something wrong before I start cutting. How the hell do I get the cover back on?

 

Just for giggles and to make it more entertaining here's some pictures

 

For what it's worth, the AMS FMIC on my Evo IX required removal of the lower corner bolts that are holding on the center mesh in the bumper; they were replaced with zip ties so they didn't hit the end tanks.

The ETS site has a couple of places where you have to trim the bumper cover, but the pictures are for an Evo VIII bumper.
http://www.extremeturbosystems.com/M...duct_info.html

Good luck.

 

I have an ETS 4" and I just put my bumper back on last week. Just as it says on the ETS site, you have to massage the inside of the bumper a little bit. just draw with a sharpie where the metal bracket inside the bumper is hitting, then cut it down with a 4" grinder.

FWIW, my ETS intercooler probably has the best fit and finish of any part I've bought to date for my car.

 

I just ended up dremmeling off the brackets entirely, grinding wouldn't have done it. Fit and finish is good. I regret getting the 4" I feel like alot of issues could have been solved if I had a bit extra space.

I then had an issue with the right intercooler pipe hitting the bumper, readjusted that, no big deal. Then I had to undo the t-bolt clamps and readjust so the tail ends of the bolts werent hitting the bumper - no big deal again and nothing to do with the IC.

As of now I have the bumper back on, minus the front two bolts and i'm having a slight fitment issue on the pass side, but i'll work on that tommorow. I can't see what its hitting.

I'm pretty much finished now though. Good to have it done =)

 

Dawnoffatex do you have a pic of the marks you cut? My bumper is hung on by a few clips but does not fit at all. ETS said it fit but it doesn't, and their website also shows pics of stuff I cut off and it still doesn't fit.

 

+1

 

I'm interested to see as well, we have the 4.0" on our evolution 8 bumper with the cuttin we put on the site and it fits perfect.

Thanks,

Michael

 

I just put the 4" widetank ets intercooler on my 9 this past weekend and it just required a bit of massaging. The LICP (stock) would not bolt up using the stock brackets, but if you look at most aftermarket LICP's they don't use any brackets. I Drilled the brackets off and that fit like a champ. The bumper was a bit trinket to get on properly. I ended up just removing the mesh grill because the lower bracket was the culprit. The undertray would also not fit since the the intercooler is bigger and drops down a bit more than stock. Some cutting of the undertray would solve this problem, but I've decided to just go with beatrush undertray to resolve that issue.

 

Well I have the bumper back on the car, but if anyone can get me a picture of the rear of a 9 bumper I can point out where it was hitting and what I did.

I didn't have the stock undertray on, that definitely wouldn't have fit.

The two brackets that stick out from the middlemost mesh portion on the bumper had to be cut off completely as the front bumper wouldnt even come close to being mounted with them there, this is where the little pop covers come off and you take off the bolts from the front of the bumper.

Also, I had the same issue as someone above with the brackets for the mesh - that was hitting my LICP - mounting the bumper that side first allowed me JUST enough room to get it on, but now I can't get the opposite fender side attached properly because the bumper is "stretching" over the licp and i'm short like 1/10 an inch.

The stock crash beam looks like it might have fit if I cut a bunch of stuff. However, god only knows what kind of issues I would have had with trying to "Massage" the bumper with that there as well.

Like I said if anyone can post a picture of the rear of a 9 bumper i'll point it all out.

 

You still aren't able to put your bumper on? I got mine on fine once I took the lower mess grill bracket off (where you grinded off brackets)

 

Back from the dead. I am trying to install my 4" ETS FMIC on my IX front bumper and can't figure this out. It looks like I might have to take off the two mounting brackets that are behind the pop out clips too, but I hate to do that. To me it would make the bumper really flimsy, only being held on by a few pop clips and the screw on each side by the wheel well..

Any one have any pictures of where you had to cut or what you did to make it fit?

Sorry for the resurrection, but I can't figure this out and can't find any plastic to cut as ETS said. They don't have any pictures either...

 

Well, I'm gonna help you bring it back from the dead, because I am having the same issue and mine is only the 3.5" one. I am REALLY disappointed in the fitment. I should have just kept my AMS intercooler and been done with it. I have an IX as well, and had to remove the bottom clips on the mesh of the two oval air ducts because they were hitting, and the brackets that bolt to the bumper beam also are hitting so it will not bolt up correctly. I thought the 3.5" needed NO modification. All this time I wait for the intercooler, and I'm f***ing pissed.

 

I got mine on but ended up having to cut both of the brackets for the main bolts for the bumper and also shave some plastic on the air duct for the oil cooler and also trim off some of the mesh for the grilles that was hanging out. I was also not exactly happy with the fitment. The setup is quality for sure, but the fitment was off for me. The worst was when I called ETS they said you just had to trim a little of the plastic on the two bottom air ducts on the passenger and drivers side. I wasn't sure what plastic they were referring to and that the only thing that was making contact for sure 100% (because I could feel it with my fingers hitting the FMIC) was the bolt brackets. He said that is weird and has never happened. I then asked for a picture of the parts that needed trimming, and he said they didn't have one.... and you sell these for a living?

Oh well. Mine is on, but had to do some serious trimming to make it work. It works great, but whoever said fitment was stock was seriously mistaken...

 

Here's what I did with my ETS 4". I have a voltex front bumper and I did have to trim it a bit but only at the top of the bumper where it touches to top part of the IC. What I did was leave off the spacers that go on the bottom brackets. It is now at a very slight angle which you can't tell at all even up close and I didn't have to trim anything down low.