NOTE: Both pipe pieces were full of fine shavings from the pipe bending process, and there were some nasty burrs in the pipe where the DV flange was attached. Clean and deburr as needed before final install.

So, I wanted a short route intercooler pipe that would fit with my medium size battery setup, and after some searching, I decided to give the Muse short route UICP a try because it looked like it would cleanly clear the battery, and the price at VRSF was great. I also looked at the ETS short route, and decided it was unlikely to fit.

The UICP sat around in my garage for a few weeks while I tryed to find some time to install it and a new ETS FMIC that I had bought. While I was waiting, I came across a thread indicating fitment issues between the MUSE short route and ETS intercoolers, so I contacted Tiago, and he sent out a modified UICP that was supposed to have better fitment.

Anyhow, I eventually found some time, and off came the front bumper. After getting the ETS FMIC installed, it was onto the Muse UICP. A careful test fit of the original "non-ETS" Muse piping revealed that in order to get the UICP to line up with the intercooler outlet, I had to shove the UICP pipe all the way into the throttle-body and butt the two intercooler pipe pieces together. In this configuration, the UICP was firmly touching several parts of the car, including the clutch hardline. Not such a good start...

Mockup picture #1 of standard piping


Mockup picture #2 of standard piping


Mockup picture #3 of standard piping


Mockup picture #4 of standard piping


For the next round, I mocked up the ETS-friendly Muse piping that Tiago had sent. With the expectation that it would fit ok, I mocked it up with the couplers, some props to hold it in the desired configuration, and I spaced the two pipe pieces properly. With the lower pipe positioned to provide at least 1/4" clearance from any parts of the car, I found I had an impressive fitment issue. The pipe was 1.5" too long, and twisted by ~13 degrees. I talked with Tiago about it, and he said this most recent batch of short route pipes might have been made to the wrong spec. He said he would test fit one from the current batch, but I didn't want to wait, so I cut 1.5" out of the bottom pipe piece, marked the desired rotational orientation, and it was off to English Racing to have it welded back together and have some bungs installed.

Misfit in length with ETS-friendly piping properly positioned



Misfit in rotation with ETS-friendly piping properly positioned


With the pieces welded back together, I did another test fit and decided that it was still coming close enough to the ACD bracket and ACD line bracket that it would likely bounce around and hit the brackets during driving. I also figured it would bounce around and hit the clutch hardline, so I decided to ziptie some urethane sheet to the pipe and then ziptied the pipe to the ACD bracket. This actually worked out quite well for stablizing everything. The hot ticket would be if the bottom pipe piece actually came with a bracket to bolt it to something.

Lower pipe piece welded back together and ready for install


Lower pipe piece zip-tied to ACD bracketry


Last ordeal was the diverter valve hose. I figured the UICP was designed to work with the factory DV hose, but it wasn't even close, at least not without kinking the factory hose substantially. Another trip to English Racing to root through their boxes of hoses netted me a piece of hose and a coupler that I was able to adapt to the factory DV line to make everything work.

Adhoc DV hose (had to cut up the stock hose)


Overall, it was quite the ordeal. Interestingly, even with paying to get the two pieces welded back together, it was probably still the least expensive short route UICP out there. However, if I add in my hours to make it work, it was likely the most expensive UICP out there! In the end, I'm pretty happy with it because I was able to get it to cleanly installed, its now sufficiently braced, and it clears my battery.

 

Certainly nice looking pieces.

Fabing stuff that is supposed to fit is sometimes a PITA. You got it sorted though.

I do like your battery set up allowing you to go Short Route without a full on mini battery.

Did you have to extend POS/NEG wiring to make it work?

PN for battery??

 

Adding some more pictures.

 

Its the Odyssey PC925. I had to make up a new ground connection. I went with this setup before I realized that the Miata battery would work. The Miata battery is less expensive, and IMHO, lead acid batteries are better as car batteries than AGMs because they seem to work better with vehicle charging systems. There are some pics floating around showing that with a bit of tugging on the positive lead, the Miata battery fits without any battery lead modifications. Note that this guy has the same style UICP, and it clears the Miata battery as well.

 

After almost two weeks of driving with the new UICP and intercooler, I think it has made an appreciable improvement in responsiveness. There isn't a signficant difference between my old and new intercooler (both ETS), so I attribute this more to the slightly larger diameter UICP piping and smoother routing over stock. The turbo feels like it responds more quickly, and will spool faster. I used to have to anticipate when it would spool, and while I still have to do that, its not nearly so much. Another interesting aspect is that boost is more controllable with throttle position. The BBK Full was better than the stock turbo for controlling boost with throttle position, but now its even better. I was pretty sure an UICP was going to be a waste of money, but overall, I'm quite pleased now with the improvement.

 

bump- does anyone know if the new batches of the muse short route intercooler pipes fix the fitment issues w/ ets intercoolers?

 

Man that stinks, glad you were able to figure it out