[drocksmooth]

Originally Posted by Tiago@VRSF

The metal clamps have to be removed and you're supposed to replace the original couplers with the couplers we provide

The lower chargepipe with the coupler is the exact same size as your OEM lower charge pipe. Please shoot us an e-mail if you have any additional questions, we usually answer e-mails within the hour.

I didn't want to start anything with you Tiago or your products. I was just providing some information for others, which is what this forum is for. Trust me, if there was some way for me to fit that coupler on the lower chargepipe and intercooler, I would've done it. I really didn't want to do extra work.

From a business perspective, though, as a customer I would have appreciated some install information on your product. While there may be information out there on how to properly install it, why would you leave it up to the customer to find? I obviously didn't find the information, so why would you chance it and have other customers feel frustrated? A simple link on your webpage that brought us to an install video or post would have been immensely helpful. Again, we're the ones giving you our hard-earned money, so why not make it easier on us to properly install your products? That's just good business.

[Jklad]

Originally Posted by drocksmooth

I didn't want to start anything with you Tiago or your products. I was just providing some information for others, which is what this forum is for. Trust me, if there was some way for me to fit that coupler on the lower chargepipe and intercooler, I would've done it. I really didn't want to do extra work.

From a business perspective, though, as a customer I would have appreciated some install information on your product. While there may be information out there on how to properly install it, why would you leave it up to the customer to find? I obviously didn't find the information, so why would you chance it and have other customers feel frustrated? A simple link on your webpage that brought us to an install video or post would have been immensely helpful. Again, we're the ones giving you our hard-earned money, so why not make it easier on us to properly install your products? That's just good business.

There's about 10 ic manufacturers that I know of. Does any single one of them offer directions, or links to installation videos?? While it sounds like your install experience was a PIA, I think you'll start to learn that when tinkering with your car, things will rarely go exactly as planned and that you'll almost always have to make modifications or correct things that were not planned for.

[Tiago@VRSF]

I'm not taking any of this personally and I appreciate your feedback. I was simply stating that the couplers were incorrectly installed and offered assistance via our e-mail support.

Judging by the pictures posted, the couplers/lower chargepipe are definitely incorrectly oriented. You also need to remove the driver side OEM coupler via the metal one time use band, otherwise you'll continue to have boost leaks.

We don't include step by step instructions simply because there's a million guides and resources currently available. Most of our customers who aren't comfortable doing this kind of install without directions will generally reach out to us for assistance before attempting the install

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Jklad

There's about 10 ic manufacturers that I know of. Does any single one of them offer directions, or links to installation videos?? While it sounds like your install experience was a PIA, I think you'll start to learn that when tinkering with your car, things will rarely go exactly as planned and that you'll almost always have to make modifications or correct things that were not planned for.

Evolution Racewerks provides instructions to all their products including a spec sheet and quality check list.

My ETS intercooler did not include instructions but the install was straight forward. 1 Core. 1 Lower CP. 2 Couplers. 4 Clamps and re-used the 2 factory screws. Hardest part of the install was fitting the pipe onto the couplers then I realized it needed some lube

At the end of the day, instructions are very helpful, we get asked as dealers a lot for instructions. Many customers like to see the instructions before they buy. Then again, when we have products we offer that provide instructions, people complain they weren't thorough enough or missed a tip here or there. So it's hard to please everyone.

From not only being in this industry for a quite a while but tinkering with cars for over 15+ years, I usually say if you have to ask how to install it, leave it to a professional. Most of the products I've installed myself on my own vehicles, I installed without instructions. Only time I really sought after instructions was with supercharger kits.

[davidwarren]

Yeah, I think you borked up the install. I'd go back and re-do it. I remember getting the lower charge pipe off and out fairly easily, just FYI. But I cut out part of the radiator support for the 7 inch. Might have made it easier.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Sorry to hear you had problems with your install OP, unfortunately lots of BMW companies dont provide installation guides nowadays.

Next time you do not get an install guide, contact your vendor or the manufacturer for some help. The 5" FMIC install should be a very easy and straight forward process

[drocksmooth]

Thanks for everyone's input. Yep, I f*ed up and tried the install based on incomplete information. I'll admit my mistake. Again, I just wanted to post my experience to help other guys not make the same mistakes. Honestly, it wasn't meant to be an indictment against VRSF or its products. The car's running fine, despite the mistakes; no engine malfunction lights, so I'm happy for now. I'll go back and fix the problems later and I'll reach out to Tiago if I have any questions.

I thought, based on what I read on the forums, that the intercooler install would be quite easy. I enjoy working on my car and modding it myself, and I pick projects that I think I can handle. In this case, I should've done more research I guess. Obviously, for bigger jobs, I go to a mechanic. Although, I've already reached out to couple of shops here in Tucson to get my VRSF catless DPs installed, and they've said they won't touch catless DPs. If I do decide to do it myself, I'll be more prepared this time!!

[ferocity02]

I agree it would be nice if it came with instructions. Mine went in smoothly. Only very minor cutting to get it to fit, and had to get new bolts because the supplied studs are garbage; there is no good way to thread them in and I feel like they are too large for the plastic.

[Dhillon92]

I have a 7" VRSF, me and my buddy with an N54 got them the same time. Went over a YouTube video before I got started, I think it was for a Helix or HPF or something, but the install is really the same.

Installed both intercoolers that night with no problems, replace lower cp with vrsf cp, replace core with core, replace couplers and clamps with provided couplers and clamps.

All the fmic DIY that do not use OEM couplers are all alike for this platform.

[Sered]

I installed my 7" VRSF unit just fine. Only issue was two missing t-bolt clamps and Tiago got that sorted very quickly after I emailed him about it. Very quick response too.

Not sure why people need a big writeup on it unless you're unsure about where to cut the plastic for the 7" unit. It's pretty straight-forward: remove stock intercooler, put new unit in. Studs installed easily using the two nut method. Perfect sizing imo.

[TEC]

I disagree with anyone saying that this is a straightforward install. You have to have done some homework on the install previously or have a friend there to tell you what to do. I've been wrenching for years and I had a tough time figuring it out. It took my reading what others were having problems with and doing wrong before I could figure it out.

Bottom line, they need to provide a simple set of directions for the 7" install. It can even be a one pager.

Letting people know they shouldnt waste time trying to cut portions out of the shroud to make it fit and to just hack off most of the bottom half would have saved me about an hour. Trying to figure out that I needed to cut off the metal band at the turbo inlets would have saved me another 30 min. Knowing that I should not attempt to use the screws they give you (because they are too long) over re-using the stock screws would have saved me another 30 min because I dumped them.

[Tiago@VRSF]

You really shouldn't use the stock screws, you should use the screws we provide.

[NoQuarter]

I just did the 7" install on my E89. The kit sold for the E89 doesn't work without figuring out that you also need to buy a different silicone reducer and not use the lower pipe provided in the kit.

The "instructions" were a terribly written email from someone that installed it telling them that the kit did not work without modifications/additional parts.

[ATLIEN]

Originally Posted by TEC

I disagree with anyone saying that this is a straightforward install. You have to have done some homework on the install previously or have a friend there to tell you what to do. I've been wrenching for years and I had a tough time figuring it out. It took my reading what others were having problems with and doing wrong before I could figure it out.

Bottom line, they need to provide a simple set of directions for the 7" install. It can even be a one pager.

Letting people know they shouldnt waste time trying to cut portions out of the shroud to make it fit and to just hack off most of the bottom half would have saved me about an hour. Trying to figure out that I needed to cut off the metal band at the turbo inlets would have saved me another 30 min. Knowing that I should not attempt to use the screws they give you (because they are too long) over re-using the stock screws would have saved me another 30 min because I dumped them.

I installed the 5" intercooler and I got through it but I agree it was far from this 2 hour job that i heard about online. My challenges were getting the couplings onto the intercooler and charge pipes as well as positioning it doing the job solo.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

With a good understanding of how to install the kit, it shouldn't take more then an hour. I did my ETS in about 30 minutes. Even the companies that provide "good" instructions have still fallen short on peoples expectations. There are a couple youtube videos floating around with the basic principals of the install. Trust me I'm not that fastest mechanic on a wrench. Most 2 hr jobs take me 6 LOL. I always double the time everyone else says. I always run into stupid issues.

I just removed my intake manifold the other day and it took me 1 hour to move the junction box. It should take anyone less then a minute but mine was being completely stubborn and I didn't want to break it. So 1 hour wasted just on that. Everything else was seamless though in comparison. The stupidest mundane tasks can eat up loads of time.

If the intercooler is not re-using stock connections, then you need to cut or pry off the one time use clamps.

At the end of the day it's a core connected by two couplers. As far as cutting or trimming that's where some intercoolers should probably offer more information in detail.

[TEC]

Originally Posted by Tiago@VRSF

You really shouldn't use the stock screws, you should use the screws we provide.

The screws that were provided to me were too long. The would not bottom out and left a sizeable gap between the intercooler flange and the bracket. This allowed the intercooler to shift around and possibly pull loose from the couplings. The stock screws however worked perfectly and I was able to lock down the intercooler.

[DennyD06]

Originally Posted by Tiago@VRSF

We sell hundreds of chargepipes a month and we definitely had a short coupler issue that has been resolved for quite a long time. A simple e-mail would have resulted in us express shipping you a replacement coupler.

As far as the FMIC goes, if it's correctly installed there will be absolutely no issue what so ever. If you're not familiar with the correct install procedure, it's going to be very easy to assume the product doesn't fit correctly.

I also had a problem with that coupler being too short for their CP. Emailed Tiago and he claimed no one had reported this issue . Sent him pics and he said he wouldn't have a replacement coupler for me until 6 months ... had to source a coupler locally. I eventually sold the cp anyway because I needed meth bungs. First and last vrsf product I would ever purchase .

[lurker14]

did my 7" vrsf install today, it took me a few hours but i also did some cleaning while i had the bumper off, shoved the intercooler up in place a couple of times to figure out in what order i wanted to put couplings on and which directions i wanted the clamps. i could see it going very fast if you had done it before and had a lift. the only info you need to know going into it is:
1. its worth the time to take the bumper off
2. you have to cut the factory clamp on the turbo side
3. cut out the entire support rather than try and be surgical(its obvious how much to cut if you hold the inter-cooler up to where it is going.

I used the included bolts the last couple turns were a forearm workout but they went all the way in, anything other than Philips head would have been nice but it got the job done.

I used an oscillating tool(wood/metal blade) to cut the plastic, it worked fantastic, fast and clean. All the couplers fit great and i had no problems.

[Tiago@VRSF]

Originally Posted by DennyD06

I also had a problem with that coupler being too short for their CP. Emailed Tiago and he claimed no one had reported this issue . Sent him pics and he said he wouldn't have a replacement coupler for me until 6 months ... had to source a coupler locally. I eventually sold the cp anyway because I needed meth bungs. First and last vrsf product I would ever purchase .

I'm incredibly sorry we couldn't provide the replacement coupler to you in time but to be fair, you were probably the first person to bring the problem to our attention.

It's strange that you sold the coupler because you needed meth bungs, our chargepipes have always included meth bungs.

Either way I'm very sorry for the trouble you experienced with the coupler. If you have a copy of the receiept and an order number I'll be happy to compensate you for the coupler.

If anyone has any trouble with an older chargepipe they purchased before 2015, we offer free coupler replacements if you received a chargepipe during that batch where the coupler was a bit short.

[GTxx]

planning on doing this myself, thanks!

[ANMVQ]

hoping mine goes smooth also, my 5 inch stepped goes in Wednesday

[Mr. Tasty]

Originally Posted by ANMVQ

hoping mine goes smooth also, my 5 inch stepped goes in Wednesday

It is super simple, and scary that people find it difficult.