Hi NAMers!

I received by Helix FMIC yesterday. Since $ is pretty tight, I couldn't justify paying over $100 for someone to install it for me. With advise from my fellow MINI club members that I belong to and after browsing several how-to's online, I decided to install it myself. Minus the picture taking, dinner, and stopping to take a breath because of a current bronchitis, it took me about 3 and 1/2 hours to do the install. Oh and I did it in the evening (that was not a good idea).

Hope this will help someone in the future.

Chris

 

Nice, thank you for taking the time to put the guide together.

 

Good work.

 

Chris:

Outstanding job on putting this PDF install guide together The manufacturers of the various FMIC's should take note!

Stephen

 

Excellent attention to detail, now I can actually put this together and know where the extra screws are suppose to go!!! Great Job!!

So do you notice a difference with the FMIC or is it really not warm enough yet?

 

I started installing the Helix IC and the only difficulties were the brake cooling ducts which actually were easy once I figured out why the bumper was not coming off. The other thing is that little torex that holds the top of the bumper cover to the fender, up under the wheel arc behind the arch light; that was a real bugger to get to. I finally figured out that if you take a box end ratchet wrench that fits the 25 Torex hex end you then have a very close quarters torex ratchet and it works!

I have a VIP Custom Quad Lamp Bar that hold the 4 Hella 500 Lamps and the center bracket that comes with that setup is REALLY CLOSE TO THE IC. I put some rubber padding between the IC and the bracket. In some ways it might be an asset because now the IC does not wiggle.

I also am putting on the OutMotoring Mid Mount Light Brackets to move the Hella FOGs to be on either side of the stupid front license plate. I am going to hang the plate off the Quad Lamp Bar so the plate is no longer hanging down in front of the IC like the stock plate holder.

I fired it up, warmed it a bit and then reved it to check for leaks and codes and the test was good! Just burned out bulb indicators, which I expected.


I will update this once I get it back together and on the road.

 

how do the brake ducts get removed, SMOG?

 

They are actually a 3 part thing. The first part is in the wheelwell and there is a lip that is visible. When messing with the wheelwell liner it makes it easier to pop the liner over that lip. The second part stays in the car and is hooked to something, like maybe frame sections?!? The third part is the duct that stays attached to the bumper cover. When you are trying to pull the bumper cover straight off you will find that if you reach back into that wee space you can pull the ducts out of that fixed tube (one on each side).

I have not put it back together yet because I am adding more stuff up front. I will Post any difficulties if I find them and then Post a final photo.

 

double Post, OOPS!

 

All back together and the install went pretty easy. The only difficulty I had was I had to get some tough rubber to put between the IC and the center mount for the VIP Quad Lamp Bar. It is visible in the center of the IC. It keeps the IC from possibly contacting that metal bracket. I considered making a new bracket that contours to fit the front bumper more closely, but I got lazy and in some respects it takes all the wiggle out of the IC.

The brake ducts do go through a section of frame/sub-frame. I would imagine that my small hands helped in getting this lined up correctly. They just snap together and pull apart and push back together. There is a photo of the sub-frame in my web site under the photo entitled "test fit of mid-mount lamp brackets". The rectangular duct hole in the frame is visible in the lower right of that photo.

Since I was adding mid-mount fog lamp mounts I had to add wiring for them in that location at the same time.

http://www.mini4fun.info/Fog_Lamps,_...p_Sensors.html

 

Nice write-up.
Here is another (Alta FMIC install) how-to guide that some folks might find helpful.

2 additional notes from personal experience:

#1. Another "while you are in there" upgrade to do during FMIC install would be removing the OEM muffler from the FMIC input line. Also known as "hot side boost tube. You don't need to buy the tube from Alta, plenty other suppliers offer one either a complete tube or a metal piece to splice in place of the "muffler". Since you are unplugging one side of the tube at the FMIC and have access to the

#2. Get a few spare OEM plastic fasteners from MINI. I destroyed one screw-in faster that goes inside the wheel well, and broke 2 snap-in fasteners holding the bottom of the bumper to the nose of the car. My dealer carried both at <$1 each, so I got enough to repair the damage and some spares for the future.

HTH,
a