I sent these to Fmax. They said they use jigs to make them and were surprised they don't fit. Well, i'm sure my car is no different than any other GSR or LS from 1995!
This is the view from the front of the car


Initial Bend for Intake Tubing


Some views of the intake tubing coming up into the engine compartment indicating how it comes up too soon taking up the space normally occupied by the ABS relays and the reservoir coolant:







The other side showing how the pipe wont fit...
first if I attach to the compressor, the pipe is too long at the intercooler:



or, if I attach to the intercooler, I am too short in extending to reach out to the compressor outlet (harder to appreciate, but you can imagine what I mean)






[Modified by GruvyTune, 1:44 AM 10/17/2001]

 

Geocities checks the HTTP referrer to prevent people from using their bandwidth for sites other than theirs. They only make money when those stupid popup things show up on pages, which means they lose money when people link pictures to other places.

Dustin

 

Torin

The guys at FMAX can be real ********....I contacted them several times during this buy-in thing and they weren't very helpful...Since you've got pictures, you should show them what you have. They claim its a bolt on affair with no cutting...I'd make them live up to their claims (even it means that they fabriate a pipe just for you)...if your car is standard, then the have no right to shrug you off...cantact yor supplier too and get him in on it....make sur they get it right...also having said that...make sure that you haven't made any mistakes either...(the IC positioning etc...)

 

i emailed the pics to them: fmaxpower@hotmail.com

I talked to Rich at R2Autosports and he has had problems with them returning calls as well!

The intercooler only can go in one place so that is not the reason. I don't know what to think now. Why me???

 

Oh...and Rich told me how much its costing you to have them shipped to Japan!! Man, I hope you don't have the same grief I am having with parts missing and things not fitting. you'll spend as much in shipping and phone calls as the kit cost you!

 

If FMAX is anything like other kits...you will have to cut the piping to fit.

 

Don't say that.
First off, cutting the piping that goes up to the intake won't help. Its bends are no good and will need to be redone.

And, Fmax prides itself on its custom piping and how it fits. I will demand that they live up to that. I can't wait to see what happens with the other 8 people that just ordered their kits. I wish them the best but i'm curious as to what will happen.

 

Oh, pics should show up now in my initial post.

 

no kidding...I can"t afford to have the parts not work or fit..so I told them to send me extra piping...don't know if they will though

Might want to talk to reverend...his was a special case though...or you might consifer buying some silicon flex pipe at summitracing.com

plus FMAX told me straght away that the pies wont fit my car cause its a JDM...but i am prepaing myself for that


[Modified by MiraiZ, 10:53 AM 10/17/2001]

 

this might be a waste of time, but did you try to put back the original intake mani to see if the piping will line up? i think i read that you have an aftermarket intake mani in some other thread.

 

Please, see my point here!!
The intake manifold has nothing to do with the fact that the initial piece has a bend in it that takes the pipe right where the relays and the coolant overflow tank sits. Also, the compressor outlet tubing into the intercooler has nothing to do with that either!!! Neither are correct!

 

Come on Dude!!! I paid over 3 grand to get a kit that is correct. Don't even suggest something as silly as that. Alot of what your paying for here is mandrel bent tubing that will fit your car. What would you think if you were me. 8hrs install my ***. How about the time your waiting for the right parts... More like 8 wks!!

Excuse me for being pissed but we have been talking and researching this kit for months now before we all invested our money and time in this project. I emailed Fmax. Do I expect a response (uhm...)? I sent them this thread too. I hope that they get the message! Add up the money Rich has sent them--$3000 x 10.

 

Relax dude...I hear you and I'm on your side... All I'm saying is call F-MAX....and don't hang up until you get a solution from them (no cutting or hacking) Tell them that you want parts that fit...like it says on their site. If they're going to be hard about it, then be ready to call a lawyer or something....

In the meantime, squabbling is not going to get you rolling and quicker, so consider your other options:

1. Call F-max...get them to give a working solution, hence have them express mail you parts that actually fit right....don't let them off the line until they say okay, or come up with a better soultion that won't cost you more money or time.

2. If they don't comply, you can either go back to NA for a while until you get your mess sorted or consider the flex hose solution as I suggested earlier (save the receipts if you buy the hoses. you might be able to have them re-imbusted by F-MAX for false advertising)

3. relax�@

4. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING WITH PHOTOS! Make sure you make them aware of what you had to go through to get it right.

I know you're frustrated; I would be too! When I ordered my kit, they e-mailed me back and told me they don't make kits for ITR's (Especially JDM) and that they weren't guaranteeing me anything!! So I'm probably in for 10 times the work you're going through....just hang in there and keep posting...all I can do personally is offer suggestions....its up to you to take them or not. But for now, all I gotta say is don't give up...get on F-MAX's case and keep in touch with Rich....(you are his customer so he has to give you some degree of support as well)

Good Luck!


[Modified by MiraiZ, 1:52 PM 10/17/2001]

 

No doubt, Rich has been great. Overall, I love this kit! I'm whinning because I want to drive it.

You are right though, I will keep on them till its right. i picked up a short piece of flex radiator hose that might let me get the intercooler pipe on. I will have to shove my overflow tank somewhere or just let it drain to the ground till this is fixed up. I put in my RC 440s and they look nice!

I'll keep you posted. Do you see what I mean in the pics? I hope they illustrate the problem ok.

 

man that sucks!

 

Also keep this in mind...Rich has a lot of power here....let him do the talking for you because most distributors don't like getting complaints from customers about a crappy product they sold them. Its not good credibity for business .And if they lose confidence in a certain product, they can stop selling them. So, without guys like Rich, F-max can't sell and make money and they are up dookie creek. Make it clear to Rich that you are not satisfied with a product that he sold you, and you need help in getting F-max to get it right.

Take Ben (importparts) for example...he must of sold F loads of Drag III kits because he stands by and believes in the the product...and when word got out that there was a batch of bad manifolds that cracked , he and Drag took responsibility for it (which should be done)

So I'm sure Rich can get FMAX to comply, because if they don't, word is going to spread that FMAX does not live up to their main claim to fame (proper fitment and quality) and all their distributors will start dropping them...just hang in there...something positive is bound to come out of this..

 

dude, just go out and make ur own pipe...get a pipe cutter and piping from home depot....all you got to do is make it air-tite and you can drive while you wait for f-max to fix things.

btw, has anyone else gotten their kit yet in the groupbuy besides gruvy?

 

he wasn't in the buy-in...he got his 3 weeks before the rest of us...I'd say another 2 weeks or so for those who paid early....

 

I had started to talk to Rich this past spring and was impressed with him as a person. That is why I decided to do business with him. He continues to impress me the same way that Ben impresses me with his customer service. I had decided on Fmax after long and hard research and talking with others who have bought the kit. I seemed that they had an edge on quality (albeit slight) on the Drag kit (my 2nd choice). I then put in an order at a very good price (thanks to Rich) and sent his name on to MiraiZ in hope that Rich would get some business through it. I hope in the end people will see that he is a person to continue doing business with. He has come through so far. He too is having problems with callbacks from Fmax. I too believe that he will have to push them to move on any problems with paying customers in order to smooth out any errors in their production. Believe me, I'm trying to get this car up and running while Fmax figures out why my tubing doesn't fit!

 

Oh, and I sent this link to Fmax. I hope they read all of it and see that we all do talk about this stuff with others! And believe me, if and when they do fix my problem, I will be singing the praises of Fmax here too!!!

Hallelujah

 

Well, I spoke to Scott and Shelly today at Fmax. Scott tells me the tubing I got was bent for a 94-00 GSR and that there must be something different with my car that it is not fitting. Well, my frame is straight and it hardly seems my car was ever reconstructed or ever in an accident.

He asked what I wanted him to do and I said I would like it to fit like it should. I prepared a picture with measurements and they will have piping bent for me that will hopefully ship MONDAY! I hope this will work out!

I can't wait till others get their kits so I can see pics of how their's goes together. Is anyone else gonna install on a 94-95 GSR???

Torin

 

Excellent...I knew things would work out...I went to other sites around the web and I have read nothing but praises about the quality.....keep posting and let us know how it goes.....might want to finish up s much as you can...don't rush it!!


by the way...others should start getting theirs by the end of the month...we've got more preludes and civics ...I think...I think I'm the only Type R, so I'm anticipating hell!...but luckily Dave (JDM_DOHC_SiR) is going to help out. He's convinced me to pull the head and do some gasket work which is his expertise! But I already know..Thanks to Reverend - that the IC pipes are going to be a bitch, and th down pipe will probably be too long? too short??...but I'm prepared...sort of..


[Modified by MiraiZ, 11:06 PM 10/18/2001]

 

I'm about ready to rig up something temporary just to be able to start the car and see how things run. I'm planning on going up to Toronto to get the car Dynoed and have the Hondata chip tuned just right.

I still have the boost controller and timer to do but that is the last to go in. Still waiting to get the 6psi spring for the tial so I can regulate my boost from that point up.

Otherwise, just about ready to give it a go.

 

I have the fmax kit on my 99 Accord and I had a lot of problem straighting everything and check engine, but I took my time to fix it. I talk to one of fmax sales rep and I have no problem contact them, but I those reps are full of BS and seems like they don't know what they are talking about. My problem with the kit is the manifold doesn't line-up to the wastegate and the extra injectors connector is hitting the temperature sensor. Solution: I drilled the bolt hole bigger on the wastegate to manifold so that I will a little play and I can align it. I remove the connector of the temperature sensor, trim the top, solder straigth to the sensor leads, and cover it with high temp silicone. The gasket by the wastegate was linking and I replace it with a new gasket and put a high temp gasket maker on the gasket. For the check engine, I replace the check valve to a billet bypass valve. Goood luck.

 

Does there need to be a gasket between the wastegate and the turbo and downpipe? They didn't include any and I just assumed I had to use silicone gasket material to make the seal.