Been searching around to no avail.. been thinking about upgrading stock FMIC but I'm wondering how cost effective it'd be. I've been reading that on the stock turbo it doesn't matter much except that a new IC would reduce heat soak. I guess the ideal thread to find would be one that does dyno comparisons on an evo with full bolt ons... anyways if you guys could help that'd be great, thanks

The data is out there, but its gonna be hard to find a true back to back comparison. Its always been said that beyond 350whp the stock IC may start to hold you back. The "holding back" being the stock IC limiting air flow and becomming "heat soaked" after repeated pulls or lengthy driving periods. Those two problems are fixed by thicker, larger dimensioned cores, with bar and plate design, which are considered more effective in removing heat from the system. So, yes you will most likely see power gain even on the stock turbo. It's probably not very cost effective as a single upgrade however. If you lump it in with some other power adders you will obviously perceive a greater power increase. You can think of our FMICs as supporting power, rather than making power. A good IC will support up to XXXhp. Even with that being said, I still say yes, a good IC upgrade will give you some power on the stock turbo over ur oem unit

Thanks for the input. To give you a better idea my car will be "fully bolt on"-ed after I get my 60k done:

Turboback
Exhaust manifold
MBC
HKS intake
HKS 272 mivec cams
LICP
Walbro FP

I'm guessing an intercooler upgrade is probably next on the list... the next question (naturally) is how do I select the core size? I know there are various sizes ranging from 3"-4". Definitely looking to just have more bolt on power without modifying too much under the hood.

Look into a FMIC with a Garrett core. CBRD's FMIC is a Garrett 3.8" core which requires no trimming and fits with stock bumper beam.

I dont have any current experience over any other intercooolers on an Evo but on my car with the stock turbo, bolts ons, and cams running a 32psi spike on e85 my car made about 10-12 additional whp with an Ebay bolt on intercooler over the stock one on a 60 degree day with the same tune and the same datalogger

Oh wow 32psi spike is pretty high on stock turbo. You got some guts throwing on an eBay IC!

switching from stock to the buschur race core STM picked up 40whp/80tq.. search them.

XS Engineering posted some before and after stuff about their intercooler with bolt ons, but they no longer produce the part;
http://www.xs-engineering.com/xsstor...idproduct=1893

yea turbo larry i bought ^^^ intercooler, pretty good until the passenger side endtank on the bottom cracked where it was welded, since XS is out of business, no warranty...so reweld myself or buy a new one, I did however like the IC at the time best temp drop with out effecting pressure, only thing I didnt like was other IC had a support bracket up top to keep the IC from moving, this one dont.