Vehicle Used: 2001 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Turbo, American non-WRX model, Ludespeed T3/T4 Turbo Kit

Tools Needed:
- Wrenches
- Jackstands
- Fine handsaws
- Powerful Dremmel
- Impact wrench / Breaker Bar / If available!
- Everything else you have laying around in the garage

Parts Used:
- Hyperflow Australia FMIC Avg. Price $1,350
- Turbo XS RFL Bov Avg. Price $120-$180
- Lightweight JDM Front Bumper Beam $60-80

General Notes:

We are not responsible for any damage and injuries that may occur!

     This is not an exact step-by-step manual; these are only notes and tips that I derived from my personal experience installing the FMIC system on my American turbo 2.5RS. The installation is rather time consuming and challenging - a lot of careful fabrication is involved. However, the performance results (gains) were worth all of the work. The vehicle used is an aftermarket turbo'ed American style GC8 2.5RS Impreza, it was previously using a top mount intercooler by Spearco, however, the top mount system proved to be worthless since all it really does is absorb the rising heat from the engine bay, severely impacting the true performance of the car.

     A word about FMIC systems available for the American 2.5RS - and I stress "American" because most systems (kits) available on the market are for a Japanese 22B or WRX platforms - they do not fit the American 2.5RS. There are a couple of FMIC kits available, none of which are bolt on, and none of which are designed for 2.5RS. I chose to install a Hyperflow FMIC kit for several reasons. Hyperflow offers the largest intercooler, however, like most other FMIC kits, Hyperflow kit lets you keep the fog lights - most other kits require fog light removal to make room for the IC and/or the plumbing. Hyperflow FMIC kit is of outstanding quality, the core itself is great and the finish is beautiful, good craftsmanship. Hyperflow has amazing custom service, Kevin Westblade of Hyperflow has been of great help in giving advice, aiding the installation and providing additional parts to help with the installation. Most importantly, the Hyperflow FMIC kit comes the closest to actually fitting the American 2.5RS, for example, the Hyperflow IC comes with proper lower bracket specifically for the 2.5RS chassis - big plus! Hyperflow uses large, thick, high quality Samco silicone plumbing. Some say that the silicone plumbing expands and therefore is not that good - however, from my personal experience it does a damn good job at holding boost and does not cause any negative effects. Samco turbo plumbing is tested to withstand 150 psi - at 10 psi of boost it is nowhere near expanding or rupturing.

Ordering Notes and Additional Parts Needed:

     When ordering the kit, let Hyperflow know that this is an American 2.5RS, ask for extra metal connectors, clamps and Samco hose(s) to play around with, you definitely need extras. Ask Hyperflow to include the 90-degree bended elbow Samco hose as well. You will also need to order a lightweight JDM front-bumper beam, without this beam the installation is unbearable. The Hyperflow FMIC kit comes with options for metered airflow and unmetered for the 2 different MAF and MAP Imprezas. Mine is not metered; hence my Hyperflow plumbing came ready with a plug for a full-air-dump blow-off valve. I am using a Turbo XS RFL blow-off valve; it's plug-n-play for the Hyperflow kit. Keep in mind that Hyperflow blow off adapter is designed for almost any WRX universal blow off valve, I believe that it has a 35mm opening, worked especially well with the Turbo XS valve. Make sure to purchase a very small clamp or two to secure the blow off valve.

Starting the Installation:

     As always, disconnect the (-) negative battery terminal for safety. Use a jack to lift up the front of the vehicle and secure the front with jack stands. Remove the jack from underneath the car since it will obstruct your access. Be very careful - whenever working the car, make sure you properly secure the vehicle on the stands, I imagine that dropping the car on yourself can cause quite a bit of pain and agony. Do not use vehicle ramps, they do a great job at lifting the nose of the car, but you need to create a large wheel gap to gain access to bumper bolts, hence you need to use jack stands. Once the car is secured in the air, you will need to remove the front bumper. There are about thousand different bolts and plastic plugs holding the bumper. I used small labeled plastic baggies to collect all of the bolts and make sure that nothing is lost - I highly suggest that you do the same. I won't go into detail on bumper removal, but it is fairly simple. To begin, you need to remove the front grille, it uses locking bolts, so just unlock them, and pull the grille forward and up, it pops off. Unplug the headlight and corner lenses; remove the bulbs if you can. Unbolt the corner lenses and unbolt the headlights. After taking out the headlights you will see a group of plastic plugs on top of the bumper, remove them carefully. Remove the fog lights, remove the big center bolt behind the license plate, remove the bolt inside the wheel well (it is hiding on top, behind the plastic fender lining). Remove some bolts from underneath the car; remove the plastic bolts connecting the bumper to the fake brake ducts. Disconnect the side markers, if I did not forget to list any other bolts, the bumper should now be somewhat easily wrestled off the car and put aside.

Notes About the Bumper Beams:

     After pulling off the bumper, you will see a huge monstrosity that is the American bumper beam. It is very big, solid and weighs about 50 pounds. It can withstand minor front collisions without damaging your radiator or other parts. You will need to replace the American beam with the lightweight Japanese beam. The JDM beam is tiny and flexible, it cannot withstand even a slight kick - hence there is a trade off of safety. Without this beam you can not really install the FMIC kit, however, if you get into a minor fender bender you have a very high chance of damaging not only the intercooler, but the radiator, as well as other parts. The JDM beam is not made to withstand any collisions. Continuing on with the installation, we need to remove the American beam. There are 2 giant bolts on each side holding the beam in place. You will need a professional breaker bar, a very big torque wrench, an impact gun, or a regular wrench with a long pipe extension to budge the bolts and take them off. After taking out the bolts, pull out the beam. Take the JDM beam and fit it into the place of American beam, however, do not tighten the bolts yet - you will need to cut the JDM beam to clear the way for the intercooler. While the JDM beam is on the car (but not secured yet), take the intercooler and try fitting it to the beam - you will notice the metal tabs that obstruct the way. Carefully saw off the 2 middle tabs on the JDM beam for the license plate, cut them off entirely. Note the other side tabs, they bend towards the intercooler, don't saw off the entire tab, measure carefully and saw off only the needed portion, these tabs stabilize the intercooler - don't cut them off completely. Make sure not to apply major force to the beam while cutting it, the beam will bend and the bumper will not fit on it. Cut while the beam is off the car. After successfully trimming all of the tabs on the beam, reinstall it and refit the intercooler, it should have a very tight, snug fit. If it fits, secure the JDM beam with the 4 huge American bolts; make sure they are on very tight. Use the bolts included with the Hyperflow kit to secure the intercooler to the JDM beam and the bottom of the chassis. This is where Hyperflow truly shines, the fitment is perfect and the intercooler is huge! Now that the intercooler is bolted in place move on to plumbing.

Hyperflow / FMIC Plumbing:

     The Hyperflow FMIC kit comes with all necessary plumbing for the installation. However, since the kit is not designed for the American 2.5RS I ran into a problem. The passenger side of the plumbing, leading from the throttle body, down to the intercooler fit perfectly - apparently this side of the engine and plumbing is similar to the WRX and 22B platforms. The pipe that connects to the intercooler fits very well inside the fender, and fits perfectly inside the engine bay. The Hyperflow connector bracket bolts perfectly into pre-existing holes in the engine bay. The long pipe fits well over the throttle body and connects perfectly to the pipe that connects the intercooler - hence the passenger side, throttle body to intercooler is perfect, no modifications are needed, and it is plug-n-play. However, the driver side of the plumbing, from the turbo to the intercooler does not fit at all. This is where it becomes tricky. When installing the plumbing, install the passenger side last, leave the plumbing out of the engine bay, you will need as much room as you can get to fiddle with the driver side plumbing. Hyperflow includes a plumbing piece that connects to the intercooler, bends sharply under the car, and bends again to theoretically extend up and into the engine bay. However, on an American 2.5RS there is absolutely no space, the passage is completely blocked by the coolant reservoir (overflow tank). You will need to remove the coolant overflow tank and put it aside for the time being. After the tank is removed, you will notice a plastic tab sticking out of the radiator that used to support the overflow tank. You will need to cut that tab off - you no longer need it - and it is blocking the passage for the plumbing. After cutting off the plastic tab from the radiator you will create a somewhat clear passageway for the Hyperflow pipe. You will also notice that the fake brake ducts and some of the fender lining (black plastic) gets in the way of the plumbing, cut a chunk out of the plastic to clear the way for the plumbing. Fit the pipe into its position by getting under the car and inserting the pipe from under the car, wiggle it into place - it is a very tight fit. (Installing this huge and bended pipe took a while, there is absolutely no space to work and guiding it from under the car is tough, this took me a couple of tries). After successfully putting the pipe in place use the other Hyperflow pipe and connect it to the turbo. You will have to use a 90-degree elbow pipe (provided by Hyperflow) since the turbo is positioned towards the sky. (I am using a Ludespeed kit, due to the way the turbo is located I was unable to turn the compressor, if it was turned then the plumbing wouldn't have fit and the turbo would actually been pointing towards other plumbing and create a hassle, so the 90 degree WRX elbow pipe worked perfectly). After fitting the 90 degree pipe onto the turbo, use the straight Hyperflow pipe to connect it to the 90 degree pipe, now you will clearly see where the driver side plumbing comes short of meeting - there is a big break in the driver side plumbing. To fix this situation, use the extra pipe that you asked Hyperflow to include with your kit, it does not fit directly, so you need to measure it and then use a very sharp razor or knife to cut the extra plumbing piece. Be very careful, measure carefully and this extra piece will fit just fine. Finish installing the driver side plumbing; tighten the clamps and double check to make sure the connections are nice and tight. Finish the plumbing installation by reinstalling and tightening the passenger side of the plumbing, as mentioned earlier it requires absolutely no additional pieces, just connect the Hyperflow pipes and tighten the clamps. Bolt both sides of the plumbing to the intercooler. You should now be finished with the plumbing. (Make sure to pay attention to the clamps, some are bigger than others, big ones are used on the throttle body and the passenger side connections.

Blow-off Valve:

     As mentioned earlier, I used a Turbo XS universal RFL blow off valve, it fits into the Hyperflow BOV adaptor and is secured by a heavy duty clamp. Install the BOV and secure it with the clamp.

Re-installing the Bumper:

     If you do not have a JDM front bumper, this part is rather tricky, your American 2.5RS bumper is nowhere close to fitting over the intercooler. In fact, at first, I did not think that the American bumper could be put back at all; there is simply very little room. I had no time, additional money or desire to look for an aftermarket or a JDM bumper, so I decided to install my old American bumper with a Greddy front lip. Bring the bumper to the front of the car, and visualize where you need to cut the middle inner piece of the bumper. In fact, you will need to cut a very big portion of the bumper. Very carefully measure where the intercooler would go, and where you need to cut the OEM bumper. You will also notice that the bottom part of the bumper will also need to be cut to make way for the intercooler plumbing. Cutting the bumper is a very time consuming part of the installation, you have to go slow and easy, or you will damage the paint, create crooked edges and etc. Since no saw or tool would fit into the bends of the bumper, I had to use a dremmel. The edges never come out straight, but since most of the cutting is done in hidden places nobody can see the crooked cuts or rough edges. After completely hacking up the bumper, fit it back over the JDM beam and reinstall it. You will have to reuse most of the bolts that you took out earlier, except for the bottom bolts, but you will notice that those connections are no longer there. After reinstalling the bumper, you will notice that the intercooler is freakishly huge and you may shriek like a little girl with happiness. However, you may also notice that a small chunk of the intercooler is sticking out from under the bumper and the hoses are sticking out as well. To cover up the rough cut on the bumper, and to provide an aggressive look and a great finish I used a Greddy lip. It fits well, covers up all the imperfections, and hides the plumbing and the bottom of the intercooler.

Last Words:

     It is quite possible that I missed, and left out important steps out of this short guide. Please email me at webmaster@altimas.net if you have any questions or comments. Good luck with your installation!