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Interested in picking up our 2015 WRX FMIC kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Front-Mount Intercooler Kit

Front-mount intercooler installed

In the last portion of this series we completed the fabrication of our prototype intercooler core and tanks, as well as our new bumper beam. We now had everything in place to construct a piping kit that would route air from the turbocharger to the intercooler and back to the engine.

Hot-Side Piping

We started our piping with the hot-side of the intercooler system. The stock compressor

Interested in picking up our 2015 WRX FMIC kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Front-Mount Intercooler Kit

Crash Beam Fabrication

After an unsuccessful test fit of our existing bumper beam on the 15', we started from scratch to create a beam specific for the 15' chassis. First we hacked off the end tanks of our cooler so we were left with a bare core. This would provide some freedom to design our crash beam and later work on the end tank direction. Next we cut out some new mounting plates and fit them into position.

Intercooler

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX cat-back exhaust? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Subaru WRX/STi Cat-Back Exhaust

As promised, we hit the road to begin testing our prototype designs. Our first round of testing was purely to evaluate the tone and sound level of the exhaust.

What are we looking for?

• Rich tone
• Little to no rasp
• Minimal highway drone
• Noise amplification from one-half to full throttle

As you know, the FA20 utilizes an equal-length header, which means that the traditional Subaru rumble is likely to be lost. Either way, we would be looking for a nice tone that would be acceptable for daily use.

Our first road test utilized our smaller, round style muffler.

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX top-mount intercooler kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Performance Top-Mount Intercooler and Charge-Pipe System

We've shared a ton of teasers that show our awesome charge-pipe design for the 2015 WRX. Now it is time to show you how this component came to life.

First, take a look at the factory-equipped charge pipe.

Stock 15' WRX charge pipe

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Interested in picking up our 2015 WRX FMIC kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Front-Mount Intercooler Kit

15' WRX testing

Already outgrowing the efficiency of your 15' WRX top-mount intercooler setup? Planning for some big power in the near future? Sounds like your Subie needs an efficient front-mount intercooler (FMIC)! Luckily, our team has been working to develop this product for months. Check out the process below!

Intercooler Design

Our team decided to start this product with the design

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX top-mount intercooler kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Performance Top-Mount Intercooler and Charge-Pipe System

Size Comparison

Before installing our prototype cooler on one of our 2015 WRXs, we decided to take a few shots showing the huge size difference of our cooler compared to the stock unit.

Mishimoto prototype intercooler (left) and stock intercooler (right)

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX cat-back exhaust? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Subaru WRX/STi Cat-Back Exhaust

Prototype Fabrication

With the front section of our exhaust complete, we needed to address the Y-section as well as the pipes routing to the mufflers. We decided to go with 2 1/4" piping following the Y-section, which matches the diameter of the STi system.

Check out a couple shots from the fabrication process.

Fabricated muffler section

We bent a few more hangers for attaching the mufflers to the appropriate stock locations.

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX top-mount intercooler kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Performance Top-Mount Intercooler and Charge-Pipe System

3D Modeling

Now that the stock intercooler has been evaluated and modeled, we began designing our own cooler. Check out some of the initial models we put together for this prototype!

Stock (left) and Mishimoto prototype (right) intercooler model

Interested in picking up this exhaust adapter? Check out more details on our product page!

Mishimoto Subaru Exhaust Adapter, 3" Downpipe To Stock Exhaust

Looking for a better way to mate your 3" downpipe to the stock cat-back exhaust? Sick of blowing out gaskets and smearing copper sealant all over your flanges? Mishimoto now offers a 100% stainless steel downpipe adapter flange specifically for mating to a stock exhaust system. If you have a 2002+ WRX or STi, this is the piece for you! Check it out.

The flange adapter itself!