1226/2000

[turbohf]

found a pic for ya... so as you can hopefully see from this shitty pic, that some of the back of the of the bar was trimmed out. not just the whole thing hacked out the middle. so it should still service its purpose as a crash bar and still have intercooler flow...

 

[coyotes]

I wonder how thick that one is? There is no way to fit the one I have now without some major hacking. Kinda sucks, I misunderstood the position of the crash bar before I went into doing this. I do like the look of the intercooler sticking out, but I really don't want to chop the crash bar up.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting coyotes:
I also don't want to cut the crash bar unlike the rest of you.



It has been said here before, but the crash beam is pretty much useless anyways. It is outdated, and provides very little extra protection in an actual crash. If anything, I would just remove it completely, so you could put it back on at a later time if desired.

On the plus side of getting rid of the crash beam, you'll shed a good bit of weight if you do ditch it. And as far as the intercooler is concerned, you would probably be better off going with a larger core now, instead of needing to possibly upgrade in the future. The core you pictured isn't even that big. It's pretty average size, and if 400 WHP is ever going to be your end goal at some point, a core at least that size would be required.

Keep the intercooler you have, and make like the rest of us by ditching that pile of dead useless weight.

 

[coyotes]

Alright I will give it some more thought. My friend gave me the YOURE GONNA DIE speech...

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Here's a speech for you...

That crash beam may have satisfied manufacturer safety requirements in the 90's, but the "technology" in it's current configuration is pretty much completely useless now, just like it was back then. The only perk I see, is the crash beam would do more to protect the car itself in a crash. It doesn't really do sh*t to protect the passengers within. If you are ever in a life threatening accident while driving your VR4, I think it is safe to say the crash beam isn't going to make much difference. We're not talking about removing air bags here. Think about it. If you collide with something hard enough that the front clip and motor aren't enough to absorb the impact before crushing you, chances are you aren't going to live anyways, much less give a sh*t about the crash beam not saving your life. By today's safety standards, your VR4 is a rolling death trap. That's something to think about.

Now, ditch the crash beam, and put that space to use with something worthwhile...Like a giant intercooler.

 

[coyotes]

So basically I'm gonna die crash bar or not. So I might as well die in style? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

^Yes. And, you need the large intercooler to make sure the car is fast enough to get the job done.

 

[coyotes]

alright alright. so I have some other questions while we're on the topic:

-Are people just looping their power steering lines to delete the cooler? I will have to relocate it, get a different cooler, or remove it altogether to fit this intercooler.
-How about the AC fan? Can I delete that and still have more or less functioning AC? I hardly if ever use it, Seattle isn't really known for its brutal summers.
-What are people using to cut the crash beam? I have a chop saw, but not sure about the lateral cuts. I have heard about saggy bumpers if it is removed alltogether.

 

[turbohf]

mine is a spearco 2-216 core... think its 4". but should be easy to find the specs. there is lots of room between the core and the ac condenser also. as for the PS pipe back there I think I just bent it back behind the hood lock support even though my buddy said to loop it.
my beam had been cut out for an intercooler before. looks like they used a plasma cutter. I trimmed it up with an angle grinder with cut off disc.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

You have a few options with the PS lines. Delete the cooler by looping the lines. You could get a different cooler and relocate it (I wouldn't). Or, you could just bend the lines around as needed to clear your core. You might be suprised to find you may not even have to move them at all. Here's a pic of some dude with a DSM bending the lines to clear. Not exactly pretty, but you get the idea.

Keep the A/C fan. The intercooler mounts in front of it. Here's Mark's car, which does a good job depicting how the intercooler meshes with the A/C fan. I believe his core is larger than yours as well.

Lastly, to cut the crash beam, just get an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel. It will do the job just fine.

 

[coyotes]

The problem is with the way my piping is laid out I am somewhat forced to install the intercooler where the lines have been routed. I could get new piping, but these are really good and would rather not have them made up again.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Just loop the lines then. I wouldn't consider eliminating the PS cooler much more of a loss than the crash beam /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[turbohf]

my intercooler is 28x10.5x3.5... so says the internets. Mark has the same core on his car also.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Huh, that's it? Looks wayyy bigger in the pic I guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[mitsuturbo]

You can see how i did mine here:

click

That's before i cleaned it up and painted it, but after it had been run on another car for some time without having been cleaned up and painted. Thus the rusty appearance. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I kept only as much as i needed to of the bumper so that the fascia and fogs could mount to it properly. No sagging. Durable.
Hell, you can literally stand on the bumper and not worry about it sagging.

 

[coyotes]

Thanks. I'll have to set aside time for it next time I can get around to it. my friend with all his nifty tools won't be available for like a month, may have to wait till then.

 

[turbowop]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:
Huh, that's it? Looks wayyy bigger in the pic I guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif



The core is that size not including endtanks. I don't think it's possible to go wider since it has to fit between the "frame rails" but you could possibly go thicker or taller. But going taller means it will hang out the bottom a bit.

It's already been said, but the crash bar is useless. It's there to satisfy 5mph crash standards of the early 90's. Crumple zones are what save your life in a head on collision. The crash beam just saves sheet metal in a parking lot. There is a reason that particular bumper was used in the USA only, and JDM bumpers don't have that gigantic paperweight within.

Also, here are some old pics of my USDM crash beam after modifying it to fit a FMIC. I left just the very top to support the urethane cover:








This isn't the core I have now, but a smaller custom one I had built. But this shows what it looked like behind the USDM bumper. If I ever did it again, I would have left all the slats and not cut any of the urethane. I might even get a new JDM bumper because I'd rather have the slats in it as well. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[coyotes]

Do you still have that crash bar mark? Thanks for the input

Or does anyone local have an extra cut crash bar?

 

[turbowop]

Naw, I chucked it into the garbage over a decade ago. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[89Patches]

Lol crash bars are over rated. Weight savings BABY!!!