Man, now I'm going to go check mine since its sitting in the garage awaiting for my royal-ness:-).

 

Me too! Just checked and everything is okie dokie.

 

Regardless of GB, when the next batch of IC will be arriving at Helix?

 

Okay mine checked out good! Thanks helix!!!

 

I've been in contact with Rob today about what happened to my FMIC. He offered me a few different options for going about fixing it. As I said in my first post, my intention was just to fix it myself and not worry about it. Rob was nice enough to call me within minutes of me posting my story and pictures, before I even knew he had responded to it via PM

After considering the options I was given, I decided I'm going to do as initially planned and just fix it. I feel like it would be a waste for Helix to spend time and money shipping, fixing, and re-shipping the intercooler when I'm confident I can smooth it out myself tomorrow and get it put in the car Sunday.

 

That's unfortunate!! I know how excited you were to receive it to! Hopefully everything gets worked out for ya.

 

Good man. I know many people would have flamed Helix by this point and blasted them all at once but you took the higher road and now you're just gonna fix it yourself. Glad Helix stepped in and tried to help and give you options but your consideration to not want them to make a new one was probably a nice gesture too.

 

I"m in agreement with ra2fanatic. You took the high road on this, and I like seeing that. Rob, with the little back and forth emails we have had, seems like a very straight shooter. He's working with me on my Helix intercooler, by holding off with mine until May, and same with the charges. Not many companies would do that. Also, when he probably thought that he'd take a hit on 20-25 units, then 39 sales came thru, that's a lot of lost profit. Sure, he sells some quantity, but well if you guys ever run a business, you know what I mean. Nice to know that there are guys like Rob, as well as Tony.

Bill

 

Bad news here... Got my box, outer box was in perfect shape. Got inside and found the inner box to be all, well, actually in perfect shape as well... I guess there isnt actually any bad news, except figuring out when and where ill actually get this guy installed. I also in the meantime had found myself a chromeline lower grill insert to dress up the bumper a bit more as well. Very excited. Thanks Rob and all the other guys and gals over at helix! Your group-buy was much appreciated!

 

I'm not gonna lie, I was upset initially, but after thinking about it, I look at it like this...

If, when things like this happen, everyone were to really pitch a ***** and cost a parts supplier money, any bit at all, it just ends up getting added to the retail price increases of parts over time.

Any time there's a small issue that can be resolved by me at home for free, I'm going to do it. I might be pissed that it's gonna cost me time or delay my install, but if it's not completely messed up, I'm gonna try to take care of it because I know in the future I'm gonna want more parts and I don't wanna contribute to price increases due to ******** claims.

I wanna also publicly apologize to Rob from Helix for giving him some attitude via PM. It was right after I had received the part and I was still a bit hot-headed. I recognize you extended me every proper avenue available for you to rectify the situation. It is much appreciated by myself and, I'm sure, the community as a whole.

At the end of the day, Keep Calm and Motor On.

 

Hats off to you Tony, the world could use more like you. For every 1 person with a cool, calm and conscious demeanor, there are dozens of hot heads & scammers. There are some that would've said they never rec'd the damaged part (even w/tracking #s) and demanded another part or refund. Then peddled it on Ebay. Or as you mentioned, made vendor backtrack to make it good adding to his expenses which in most cases are added to later sales.

Karma has a way of coming around, keep it good and it returns tenfold...

Now I'd like to see some of these installed and your DIYs

 

Nice to see calmer heads prevail, and that it was resolved.

I went ahead and installed my FMIC yesterday, and since the wheel arches had to be released, the OEM driving lights pulled and the bumper removed I also relocated my Hella fog lights, had found out they were to be 20" center to center as per PA State law. The whole project took me 6 hours, most of that was spent moving the lights, cutting the lower grill and adjusting the wiring. Had intended to take some photos but got caught up in the work and well did not. I did use the Helix video as my only guide, it is right on target as to what and how to do.
Of course I did not have acces to a lift though my home-ramps lift the front of the car an additional 18" off the ground, so I had plenty of space, and I only had to crawl under there one time when the driver side hose/pipe did not want to slide in to bottom. Turned out the hose clamp was hanging up on the radiator frame, oh and to help them slide on easier, took a rag and with just a bit of WD40 on it wiped the inside of the pipes. It is amazing how snug the IC fits, once the pipes were on and the clamps tight there was hardly any noticeable movement.
Took it for a drive, of course, after I was done, and according to my butt gauge it was quicker off the line and to jump up when the pedal met the metal, well the rubber floor mats but you know, while driving at speed through town and especially on the Interstate!
Thanks again to Rob and the folks at Helix for this opportunity!

 

I flipped out because I uesd the tracking number and saw it was delivered yesterday. The only packages I had on my door yesterday were NM engineering wheels. I then realized my debit card is attached to my ex girlfriends house. Called her just now. It's safe and sound. Whew!

 

That must have been a very amicable breakup!

 

Hey Tony, just curious to see how your going to fix this. Please elaborate. Thanks.

 

yea it was. she wanted kids i didn't. plain and simple we agreed to disagree and stop wasting time. plus buying her a 20 inch flatscreen monitor today for a comp i built her before i moved out helps in the "taking care of my car parts" area.

 

im going down to Helix to get mine installed. i think im more excited for the ride back to ny from philly!!

 

Well... Aluminum is a pretty soft metal. If any of you dare to take your keys out of your pocket and run them across the polished surface of your IC, you'll see it doesn't take much to scratch it. That being said, It can easily be bent with relatively little force from a ball peen hammer.

I took the ball end and worked my way around the inside of the bent area little by little (as not to crack the aluminum) until I got it pretty close to round. Before I go to install it, I'm going to take a fine rounded metal file and clean up the inside of the mouth a little bit more and then run the file around the outside of the mouth to redefine the barb-end shape that the hose clamp will hold behind. I'll rinse it out with water to clear any metal shavings that I might have missed and then slap it on the car.

 

Good work!

 

Heyyyy let's make an update to the bumper removal video that says if you have a post-facelift mini that you need to watch out for and remove the brake cooling ducts cause they hold on to the lower bumper grill!

Other than that, smooth install. About 2 hours with no jack/lift, 2 screwdrivers, a torx 25, and a 10mm socket.

Please don't mind the filth of the car, it's going to the car wash now.

 

Looking good! Except for being dirty.

 

Nice pics Tony! Thanks for sharing and reminding us post facelift owners about those brake ducts even though I don't have my FMIC yet.

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

The best way I found to take the ducts out is just to separate the two duct halves. Pull and wiggle on them from inside the wheel well and the pop off, then they pop back on for install.

Probably easier to do BEFORE you disconnect the other bumper fasteners so the bumper stays still. Was kind of a pain for me with the bumper flopping around when I pulled on the ducts.

 

looks good tonycheckraise. i'm contemplating spraying a stencil graphic on mine.

 

Installed mine yesterday. It took me 1.5 hours. It took a little longer than I anticipated because of 2 pop off clips that were stubborn and also figuring out how to take off the brake duct. I did have my younger brother dealing with the clip while I disassembled the other side. (Make sure you have a really short stubby Phillips for the screw clips if you are doing this with out a jack or anything. Or you can turn the wheel.) anyways other than those two encounters the install was pretty straight forward and easy. I will take pic either today or tomorrow after I give the car a wash. Thanks again helix for the great offer. Great product!