Hyundai Genesis Forum banner

TurboXS Gen 2 Front Mount Intercooler kit for 2010-14, Review and writeup *pictures*

24K views 29 replies 14 participants last post by  Jason Maxwell 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi All!
TurboXS has redesigned their Front Mount Intercooler kit for 2014, for all years of the Genesis Coupe. I love these guys, they never leave anything alone. All products are constantly updated, they listen to customer feedback, and find ways to improve existing products.

I currently run the Generation 1 TXS FMIC, and have never had any issues with it. However, a handful of people experienced splitting at the long diagonal welds on the end tanks of the first generation kit. I personally know one person that it happened to, but the vast majority of people had no issues. TXS replaced all defective cores free of charge to my knowledge, and the replacement cores all featured massively improved welds done by the in house welder at TXS in Maryland ( rather than the overseas factory ). If your core broke a weld, they sent you a replacement that was better than the core you sent them. Other than that he original kit had no issues that I know of, I never had any complaints about it. Raj@TXS always gets me though, insisting that I try out the new kit and show you guys all of the improvements they made.

This new kit fits all years with the 2.0T engine, 2010-2014.

So let’s start here, this is the old kit, you can see it in detail in my original Generation 1 TXS FMIC install walkthrough http://www.gencoupe.com/2-0t-discus...rcooler-kit-install-review-diy-lots-pics.html



The original kit had a lot of good things going for it already, a big @$$ core that was very efficient, high quality piping with high quality welds, high quality silicone couplers, high quality t bolt clamps, and a really nice power steering cooler kit. If there were any things about the first kit that weren’t great, I would say , the crash beam/fmic mount could have been beefier , and the original kit required some minor cutting behind the bumper with a dremel to get perfect fitment.

Here’s a pic of the original TXS Crash beam vs the OEM crash beam. There is no way TXS or a any other company could make a crash beam as good as the OEM one, but I always felt they could have done better here. And they did as you’ll see later


On the original kit, you had to grind down the back of the fog light shrouds like this. Thankfully, as you’ll see later, no cutting or grinding necessary with this new kit!


Now, enough about that older kit! Let’s see the new one! What changes were made?

First of all, this thing shipped in one gigantic lol-worthy huge box, effing heavy too.


Unboxing










ooohhhh..





I had to stop and fan myself a little after the unboxing, seriously it took like an hour, and there was enough packing material left over to make at least five homeless dudes have a really pleasant winter.


Lots of changes..Pretty much everything changed..




For starters, the piping is even higher quality, with even nicer welds. The piping feels thicker than the old piping, and the welds look twice as good to my eyes.


Seriously all the welds are this nice..





They did not change the T bolt clamps, these are the same exact, wonderful, high quality clamps they used in the original kit, and i’m glad they weren’t changed. You need a 10mm deep socket to tighten these by the way.




They did not change the power steering cooler kit, but the whole crash beam and FMIC core is totally redesigned


Here’s the Generation 1 core again, for reference


This picture shows the cold side blow off valve relocation kit, this is not part of the normal FMIC kit, there is a separate charge for this product




Welds are really nice on the BOV relocation kit too


Again, the BOV relocation kit is a separate product




Let’s take a look at the new FMIC core. Plenty of changes here. For starters, it’s a totally different core. They eliminated the welded end tanks and replaced them with new cast end tanks. The piping angle is different, the welds that join the cast end tank to the core are epic huge, stamped logo in the core, and one boost port on each end tank, sealed off with an allen bolt and o-ring









Here is the power steering relocator kit. You need this because the new intercooler core sits on top of the OEM power steering cooler location, and part of this install requires relocating that cooler. The kit includes everything you need including hoses.


The quality of the silicone couplers is identical to the generation 1 kit, but the couplers that go on the core are totally different due to the new piping angle.


Here were my feelings on the new core at this point summed up in one picture

I really need to re-iterate, cast end tanks are usually not seen on the type of intercooler that goes on a Hyundai. This is effing cool.

I just can’t stop looking at this new core. It’s so damned pretty. You know you want one. You need to just send Raj@TurboXS a PM now and buy one. Just do it. Now that you’ve seen it, you know you have to have it.




This is one thick a$$ core. 3.5 inches thick, same thickness as the generation 1 core. Here it is compared to a big Arizona iced tea can, so you can understand the girth.


F!ck those cast end tanks are pretty




Let’s take a look at the new crash beam. Totally redesigned piece. The steel is at least twice as thick, the whole design of the bar is different, a bit more compact and significantly stronger. I’ll show pics of the old vs new bar later on in this thread










Before we get on with the install though, since I was doing a whole new turbo build along with this kit, with a white theme, I had to get my stuff powdercoated white! I use a powdercoater named Jay Banda from Kings Custom Powdercoat in Anaheim, California. He does great work, and his rates are excellent! Here are a few pics from the powdercoating process. I also had the turbine housing from my new TurboXS GTX2867R top mount turbo kit powdercoated white at the same time.

Masking everything off – I really only had to mask the turbine housing, and one part of the FMIC piping ( where the BOV and Map sensor mount ). You have to use a special type of tape for masking a powdercoat job, the tape has to survive being baked at 400 degrees




This is what a powdercoating machine looks like. This machine does several things at once. It uses air pressure to suck up and spit out powder out of that Nintendo zapper looking gun thing, and also provides an electrical charge to the rail that the items are hanging on, which attracts the metallic powder to your items.




So here’s my stuff hanging on the rail ☺ Waiting for my turn to go





Honestly that’s all the masking you need to do for this stuff, the rest of the piping needed no masking at all


First they start by baking your stuff, the heat serves two functions- it burns off any impurities on the surface, and it makes the powder stick to the item. In my case it was baked at 400 for about 10 minutes, something like a wheel would be in there a lot longer


Literally as soon as the stuff comes out of the oven, the powder coating must begin. The electric charge makes the powder get drawn to your stuff like a magnet, and the heat makes it stick instantly. You’ll watch it turn from flat to gloss colored right before your eyes in seconds. Cool stuff


That mask is kind of scary


He needs to get a nice even coat on everything as quickly as possible




I dunno I think this would be a really cool job lol


Pretty much as soon as the spraying is done it goes right back in the oven for another 10 minutes


Viola! All done!






The turbo came out beautifully!




So did the TXS FMIC piping!
 
See less See more
62
  • Like
Reactions: BrandonM
#2 · (Edited)
Part 2: More differences

I want to show you guys a few more things as well

Here is the New vs Old TurboXS FMIC core. The new one is in the front, the old one is directly behind it. We can see that the old core is about 1cm taller than the new core, but the new core appears to be a little bit wider than the old core.




Both the generation 1 and generation 2 cores are the exact same depth, 3.5 inches


Now here is the really really important thing! The fin density. Generation 2 core on the left, Generation 1 on the right


Here is the Gen 2 up close, if you count the fins, you see around 12 fins per inch


Here is the Gen 1 core up close, if you count the fins, you see around 6 fins per inch


The new Generation 2 core has literally double the fin density, and therefore probably double the cooling capacity of the Gen 1 core. It should not only cool better, it should resist heat soak much better as well. This is epic!

Here are the two cores side by side again, confirming that the Gen 2 core is slightly wider than the Gen 1 core, in addition to having double the fin density




Here are the crash beams compared, the new Gen 2 beam in front, Gen 1 beam in the back. The new crash beam is slightly shorter, much more angled, with different locations for the support beams. I like this new setup, slightly bigger and better core, paired with a smaller, stronger crash beam. This kit is a total improvement over the already very good Gen 1 kit



In this pic the Gen 2 beam is on the bottom, Gen 1 on top. You can clearly see the Gen 2 beam is thicker


More crash beam comparison, Gen 2 on the left, Gen 1 on the right


Look how much thicker the metal is on the Gen 2, double, maybe even triple as thick in some areas. This new crash beam is a major improvement overall!


So there you have it. In a nutshell, this kit is twice as good as the old kit, at the same price. The Generation 1 TXS FMIC kit was already the best bang for the buck FMIC on the market to begin with, there are cheaper kits out there, but none overall as good in this price range. The Gen 2 kit, with all of these improvements, might now be the best overall Genesis 2.0T FMIC kit, period. There are still more expensive kits out there, but this kit now completely outclasses anything else in its price range. I cannot recommend it enough. If you’re looking for a FMIC to get, this is the one. Honestly it could only be better if they gave it a Garrett core! Maybe in the 3rd Generation LOL!

*Continued*
 
#3 · (Edited)
Part 3: Install time!!

At this point, we’re ready to install!

The install for this kit is pretty easy. I would rate the difficulty at 4/10. It can be done very easily with basic hand tools and little to no mechanical knowledge. I definitely recommend having a helping hand, as some of the parts youll be working with are large, and much easier to handle with two people. I did the install by myself though, for both the Generation 1 and Generation 2 kit. The Generation 2 kit is slightly easier to install due to no cutting!

This install should take around 4 hours if it’s your first time installing a FMIC kit on the Genesis Coupe. It’s really not hard at all. Most of the more experienced guys on this forum can install a FMIC in their sleep lol, so this walkthrough is mainly for the newbies, people new to the Genesis, new to modding cars. I want to empower you guys to do these easier installs on your own. Don’t be intimidated! I would rate this as a below average in difficulty install.

NOTE: I AM USING A COMBINATION OF PICTURES FROM MY ORIGINAL TXS FMIC Gen 1 install, and also pictures from my new Generation 2 install below. Please don’t be confused!

Tools needed:
Medium sized Philips screwdriver
Medium sized flat head screwdriver
Socket wrench
10mm deep socket
14mm deep socket
Some socket extensions
10mm box wrench, a racheting one would be better if you have it
14mm box wrench
Pliers
Jack
Jack stands
Patience
Beer
Allen key set
1 bottle of power steering fluid

The first thing you need to do, is jack up both sides of the front of the car, and put it on jack stands. Don’t use your OEM jack for this, go to Harbor Freight and buy a good jack and jack stands! Ignore the fluids under my car, those were drained for my turbo install, and no fluids need to be drained for this install ( though you will spill a little bit of fluid when you’re relocating the power steering cooler later on )


Once the car is jacked up, you’ll need to remove the front bumper. Don’t be scared! It’s really easy on this car, and in time you’ll learn to do this in 5 minutes or less LOL. Your first time it might take 10-15 minutes to remove the bumper


To remove the bumper, you simply pop out the 8 push pins holding the grille in place , including the two to the left and right of the grille. It is your choice whether you want to remove the headlights or not, you don’t have to. Removing the headlights makes the install a little bit easier. To remove them, unbolt the 2x 10mm bolts holding each headlight on, and then unclip the headlight harness. Then push with your hand from behind the headlight, directly forward, and the light will pop right out. Again, you can get the bumper off without removing the headlights, but if it is your first time ever removing the bumper- I recommend taking the headlights off, just so you can better see how the bumper is clipped in below it.


Mike@ImportShark did a DIY on how to remove the bumper, you can see it here
http://www.gencoupe.com/exterior/18414-diy-front-bumper-removal-importshark.html

Once the grille clips are out, and the headlights are out, there are four more push pins at the under side of the bumper, holding the fender liners on. Remove those as well. Then lastly, there is one screw holding the edge of the bumper in, right below the seam in the wheel well. Remove that as well. Once all those are done, the whole bumper can be easily pushed forward and removed. If you have fog lights, carefully pull the bumper about 6-12 inches forward, then reach down and unclip the fog light harnesses before removing the bumper completely.

Once you get the bumper and headlights off, you’ll be looking at something like this, the crash beam is exposed. This needs to be removed.


See that dopey little thing below the crash beam, that is the stock intercooler. It sucks badly on the 2010-2012 cars, but the stock intercooler on the 2013 is a lot better. One thing to note is that the stock intercooler shares the supports with the radiator, so it is impossible to remove the stock intercooler from the car. Beyond Redline makes brackets that let you remove it, but with this FMIC kit, and basically every other FMIC kit, the stock intercooler remains in the car. Also note that the curved piece of metal on the right side of the stock intercooler, is the stock power steering cooler. This gets removed during this install, just unbolt it from the car ( I believe it’s held on with 1x 10mm bolt ) and hang it off to the side for now as it gets in the way.

The crash beam is held on by 6x 14mm bolts and 2x 10mm bolts, all very easy to remove.



Here’s what it looks like with the OEM crash beam off the car




From here, the next thing you want to do is go ahead and remove all of the OEM intercooler piping from the car. You’ll need a good pair of pliers to do this, lots of clamps to remove. The OEM hose clamps are tough, and you need to squeeze them with man strength. I don’t wanna hear any whining.




Once again, you’ll be removing the intercooler piping, but leaving the OEM intercooler in place


While you’re removing the piping on the throttle body, you’ll need a 10mm wrench to remove the MAP sensor on that particular pipe. Leave the sensor hanging there for now, you’ll have to reattach it later on


At this point, you might as well take care of the power steering cooler. Honestly this is easy, but it’s also one of the more pain-in-the-butt parts of the install. The process itself is really simple. Unbolt the OEM PS cooler, follow the hoses all the way to the other end, and remove the entire OEM cooler and hoses from the car. Replace with the TXS PS cooler and TXS supplied hoses. The process is easy, but the hoses are really tight and are really hard to push over the pipes, like really hard. Lubrication helps. You’ll definitely spill a bunch of PS fluid while doing this, so be prepared with a bowl or something to catch the fluid. I didn’t get any pics of this, but its easy and you can do it without a pic, I’m sure of it. For the time being, once this is done, just leave the new PS cooler and hoses hanging somewhere. You’ll mount it a little later in the install.

( switching to the newer pics now )
This brings us to here:


Next step is to mount the new crash beam, this is pretty easy. Get a second person to hold it in place while you put the 6x 14mm bolts, and 2x 10mm bolts back in place. Depending on your car, you might have to use a 10mm wrench to reposition your horns to clear the new beam. Just loosen the horns and swivel them about until you find the best angle. It’s also totally alright to bend the metal brackets that hold the horns in place. I pushed mine backward about an inch per side..


When putting the crach beam back on, you can put on the one 10mm bolt on each side first , loosely, to hold the beam in place, youll need to shift it around a bit to get the other bolts to line up


From here you can mount the FMIC core to the crash beam using the included 14mm long bolts and washers. It definitely helps to have someone hold the core in place while you do this. You can see my power steering hoses hanging in the lower right corner of the pic


Push the core as far back against the car as possible before tightening it down




Next step is to use the supplied brackets to mount the new power steering cooler to the crash beam, this uses the front bolt on the crash beam, one of the same bolts that holds the FMIC core to the crash beam. Once this is done, don’t forget to top off your power steering fluid reservoir


 
#4 · (Edited)
Part 3: Install time!! ( continued )

Tee hee hee I just love these new stamped logos!


Now from here, you can start loosely putting on the piping. It can be a little bit tough to figure out which pipes go where, but there’s an easy strategy to get you started- put on the ones you know are definitely correct first. You should be able to easily identify the silicone couplers that go on the turbo outlet pipe, and the throttle body- they are the only ones that are reducer couplers ( one side wider than the other ), put those on first. It should be very easy to identify the pipe that goes on the throttle body, since it has the sensor attached, so put that one on next. You might as well take this time to reattach the MAP sensor on that pipe. It should also be pretty easy to identify the perfect U shaped hot side FMIC pipe- the one that comes directly out of the turbo and feeds the intercooler. Put that one on next, and also put on the long angled silicone couplers that go on the FMIC core. Once these are in place, you’re left with only maybe 3 pieces of piping, and it’s a lot easier to figure out where they go. It should only take you a few minutes to figure out the rest from here

Again, don't forget to reconnect the MAP sensor on the throttle body pipe and tighten down the two 10mm bolts holding it into place! There is an o-ring on the sensor, be careful not to damage it when re-inserting.



In my case, since my stuff was powdercoated, I kept the bubble wrap on the piping for as long as possible


Making progress☺


On the passenger side of the core, attach one of the other U shaped pieces. I want you guys to notice a major fitment improvement here- Notice how tightly the piping wraps around here?


Compare that to the Generation 1 kit, notice how much further out the piping on the Generation 1 is? It sticks out pretty far!



When you compare that aspect of the Gen 1 vs Gen 2 piping, that explains why there is absolutely zero cutting necessary for the Gen 2 kit. The pipes are tucked so much closer in that they never interact with the bumper at all. No cutting, ever!


Oh yah, also note that I bought red couplers on my own, from SiliconeIntakes.com

Now my kit differs from most of yours in this next step- since I use a top mount turbo kit , the hot side turbo pipe is different. This is what mine looks like


If you run a stock turbo, or any stock location upgraded turbo ( this means you ), this is what your hot side piping will look like in the end. The 2013 Genesis kits might have a slightly different hot pipe due to the location of their stock BOV


In my case, I also use the cold side BOV relocation kit, so my cold side pipe looks like this


Once you get all the piping lined up, then simply tighten all of the couplers down, very tight, with the 10mm deep socket. Make sure to tighten them in a way that does not affect bumper clearance ( not pointing forward, point them up or down ).

And literally at this point, you’re done. I would go for a quick, slow drive around the block before you put your bumper back on. Listen for creaks or bangs where the new metal intercooler piping might be vibrating against the chassis. If you hear any of that, then simply loosen your couplers with the 10mm deep socket, and readjust the pipes a little bit until everything is perfect. It’s really unlikely you will get everything perfect the first time, so expect to do at least one re-adjustment. After that, simply reverse the process of removing the bumper to put it back on. Put your headlights back on, and you’re done!


Review:
Basically…. Buy one.

This kit is great, period. The Gen 1 kit was awesome and never let me down, the Gen 2 kit is better in every way. I am positive this will show on the dyno when I get retuned soon for my new turbo, if it doesn’t show in actual gains, it will show in the ability to do many more dyno runs before heat soaking. The fit and finish of this kit are top notch, every single thing you need for installation is included, nothing is left out. You will not ever have to run to Home Depot for parts in the middle of this install. This is a super complete kit, just like the Gen 1 kit. This kit also includes spacers for guys with the 2013 front end, that makes the FMIC core mount a little bit lower down to take advantage of the better shape of the 2013 bumper. They thought of everything. I simply cannot believe that they can offer this Gen 2 kit at the same price as the Gen 1, given all of the improvements, especially the double as good core. TurboXS is going to sell a ton of these things, I guarantee it! They have raised their product up to a higher tier, while keeping the mid tier price. This thing totally outclasses anything you could ever hope to see from Treadstone, CX Racing, and the like, and frankly it's better than almost every other kit i've seen, including some other super expensive, huge Japanese branded products. Ultimately though, the real strength of any product comes from the backbone of support that the manufacturer provides, and you can't go wrong with TurboXS in that regard. They will always take care of you if something goes wrong. Best customer service in the industry, bar none. It never ceases to amaze me how well they take care of their customers, given how small their USA side operation is.

JUST BUY IT.

This is my install in the end guys☺


I can’t say enough good things about the new Gen 2 FMIC kit, and about TurboXS as a whole.

Please make sure to read my entire Generation 1 TXS FMIC install walkthrough as well, as it contains a LOT of other great information that might help with this install. Also note that these directions, while specific to the TurboXS FMIC kits, are also very similar to just about any other Genesis FMIC install, regardless of brand name.

http://www.gencoupe.com/2-0t-discus...rcooler-kit-install-review-diy-lots-pics.html

Thanks for reading and get those credit cards warmed up!
 
#7 ·
TurboXS Gen 2 Front Mount Intercooler kit for 2010-14, Review and writeup *pi...

Great write up and amazing kit. I just installed this and I love the new huge core. Money well spent right here and I got to thank Raj and Jermaine for an amazing price as always.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#10 ·
Great write up/review. Thanks for this!
 
#13 ·
man that thing looks awesome!! love the way they did the inlet and outlets on the IC also. reminds me of the older Evo's. Just wish the GC had a bigger grill to see those things!
 
#14 ·
The 2013 bumper will show it off nicely:)
 
#16 ·
Quick question, I see that you said the cold side relocation kit is something separate, but is it necessary? If I order just the FMIC kit and the FRL bov, that would work, correct? I mean, isn't the flange for the bov already on the cold side? Thinking about pulling the trigger on this real soon..just want some more information so I can order everything I need at once.
 
#18 ·
Actually no, if you just order the regular FMIC kit, that does not come with a BOV flange at all. Your OEM BOV is on your OEM turbo compressor housing( and in the 2013 genesis, it is on the hot side pipe ), not the intercooler piping, so there is no need for a cold side BOV flange at all. I think if you order the RFL, that may not come with the cold side BOV pipe either, but it does come with a flange to weld on to the existing pipe. The cold side BOV kit comes with all piping to use a cold side BOV with your OEM intercooler, or with the TXS intercooler. It also includes a block off plate to seal up the hot side BOV location. I think you need to order both the RFL and the cold side relocation kit. In the end you will have one piece of piping left over/ not used from the cold side kit ( the metal reducer pipe )
 
#17 ·
Another question that doesn't need a separate thread. Turns out this kit doesn't come with radiator support brackets... TXS suggests to leave the OEM IC in place in case of front end collision, so it would serve as an additional cushion... I'd like to get rid of it and install cp-e mount/power steering cooler since I would have to mess with PS lines anyway.

The question is - is it really worth having a power steering cooler? Should I just get some ebay brackets like this:



I really just want to get rid of the OEM junk forever....
 
#19 ·
AEM sells the radiator brackets for cheaper than CPE. In the 2010-2012 models the OEM intercooler stays in the car, and in the 2013-2014 models the OEM intercooler is easy to remove. The TXS kit comes with a PS cooler, so im not sure why youd spend extra money on another different one. Removing the OEM intercooler from the car might improve airflow behind the new intercooler slightly, and reduce weight slightly. I don't really think it's worth it until you're at the hyper advanced bolt shaving track racer level of weight reduction.
 
#21 ·
Installed this on my auto, but I can`t get the bumper back on :/
Tried to wedge my trans cooler right behind the fmic due to the short hose, but that ended up making me bolt the core further up

Also doesn't work with my RMR fog light bezels, but will have to try again when I get the core moved back
 
#22 ·
OK let me see if I can figure out some way to help you..

Please post as many pictures as possible of the trouble area, show me the trans cooler, where the fog lights have issues, etc.

Are you 100% sure you are running the new generation 2 kit and not the old generation 1 kit? The generation 2 piping does not go anywhere near the fog lights, the generation 1 does and it requires some minor trimming to the fog light housing behind the bumper

Please post pics, and we will see if we can figure it out.
 
#23 ·
Hehe, also trying to help work this issue. With the old core, there was room to fit the cooler behind it but since the new one sits further back it gets rid of that option.
 
#26 ·
I second extending thw hoses. Get some 3/8 ID, and then enough to move it where ever. 6-8 feet of hose should be more than enough.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top