Subaru radiator lower support replace or custom?

Long story short I was 18 once and went off the road smashing my lower core support nicely. To fix it so mom and dad didn't see I smashed the car I had a loan on, I wrapped a towstrap around the support and 2 poles and proceded to WOT in reverse. That was fine when it was a little 1.8 but now the turbo piping comes way too close to the radiator so I have to run slim fans which are only cooling a small bit of the radiator after doing some testing with a infrared temp gun.

I want to get some fans in there with shrouds so I need to make room and I might as well fix the front mount for the skid plate so I don't have a 2.5" notch where the bolts might line up.

I know Grant;s school of thought is to leave the front crush zones in place for safety reasons but i wasn't sure if that applied this far forward. So I am considering getting the 2 facory pieces and fixing it like stock, or I have some 1", 1.5", and 1.75" tubing left over that I could make something up with. Any recommendations?

I have no problems with tubular up there. Radiator hose fit can get tricky if you move it too much.

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Grant Hughes

Plus one for the tubing. I changed mine over to 1 3/4" tubing. It has held up super well in rally conditions. many many hard hits with a 3500 lb rallycar and it barely shows any damage. Now if I could keep bumper covers from shredding apart that would make my rally cheaper!

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First rally 2013
Rally car type AWD subaru
Total rallies as driver 6
Total rally cars built 2
Total rally cars caged 3
Total rally cars repaired from offs 4
Total years racing exp other then rally 19 yrs
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I've bent an OEM rad support, then replaced it with OEM then did it again.... Replaced it with tube! and not looked back.

What i did when i did it. Build a rad support that does nothing but just that....support the rad. Don't mount your skidplate to it, don't put anything else to it, just rad support.

Then build a tube structure to bolt and support your skidplate to either infront or behind the rad support. This way when you take a bit hit and bend the skidplate/support you don't crush the rad and rip hoses etc. and you can keep on going down the road!

The rad is a critical piece to driving down the road, a skidplate isn't.

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Chris

Quote
Do It Sidewayz
I've bent an OEM rad support, then replaced it with OEM then did it again.... Replaced it with tube! and not looked back.

What i did when i did it. Build a rad support that does nothing but just that....support the rad. Don't mount your skidplate to it, don't put anything else to it, just rad support.

Then build a tube structure to bolt and support your skidplate to either infront or behind the rad support. This way when you take a bit hit and bend the skidplate/support you don't crush the rad and rip hoses etc. and you can keep on going down the road!

The rad is a critical piece to driving down the road, a skidplate isn't.

Thank you! That's why I started this thread I was thing about the rad mount and the damage it might see from the skid plate but my brain couldn't separate the two. You wouldn't happen to ha a link to a picture of your setup would you?

Are you talking about removing the front bumper and cutting out the radiator mount so it can be moved forward similar to this? I have a Mishimoto that I got years ago but never put it in due to fans being too close and not wanting to downgrade to the slim ones.

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

Would love to do a v-mount like that but pricey and unnecessary(remind me of that in the future).

I just want to move it forward of the 2-3" it pushed back when I was coming back on to the road from going off.

Right, just ignore that silly v mount part. I couldn't find a link to a "stock" radiator that's been pushed forward so one so Logic's build pics had to do. But basically you're talking about cutting the top of the stock mount out to remount the radiator?

Finally saw you can upload pictures, here's a couple others from my collection. Not sure it it's what you are talking about. How would you avoid not removing the front bumper too? A front collision without it has been my biggest worry, same reason I haven't pulled the rear bumper. No telling when someone will rear end me on the highway.

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

I think you miss understood me Ryan. I smashed my lower radiator support back 4-ish inches and up 2-ish inches long ago and pulled it back down and forward just enough for the hood to almost line up. So in order for radiator fans to fit with out hitting the pulley, I had to run slim fans and they are just on either side of said pulley. I just need to bring it forward enough that the fans will clear so basically like stock. If I had money (still work at a bike shop with randon subaru work and other odd jobs on the side) I would love to do a v-mount and go nuts with fabrication on the front of the car because it would be fun to make, but i couldn't afford tires to race last year so that's just not in the cards.

your lower pic is Stephan Verdier's rallycross car?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2015 09:02PM by FunctionAuto.

Got the old radiator support cut out, now what?
Grant is bending me up a skid plate mount I will mount to the frame rails after I plate them.

I have some 1" or 1.25" x 0.095" tubing that I could make a separate radiator support with if that would be enough to support it.

What do I do with the rest of it? Would it be wise or ill-advised to cut out the crumpled sheet metal below the headlights? Can that space be used for anything useful like oil or power steering cooler? I need to add a tow hook while I am in there somewhere.

What's everyone doing with the wiring that runs across the lower support?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2015 01:58AM by FunctionAuto.

Tyler - AJ got here earlier than I expected so didn't get it bent. I will tongith and figure out way to get it up to you.
I've seen radiator supports made from aluminum U-channel. I'd be a little hesitant to mount it to skid plate support.

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Grant Hughes

Thanks Grant. Not a super huge hurry, my job is up in the air right now anyway. If I get to an even this year it will be one of the last hill climbs.

Quote
FunctionAuto
If I had money (still work at a bike shop with randon subaru work and other odd jobs on the side) I would love to do a v-mount and go nuts with fabrication on the front of the car because it would be fun to make, but i couldn't afford tires to race last year so that's just not in the cards.

your lower pic is Stephan Verdier's rallycross car?

Right, I understand that part. I originally though you were trying to get rid of the front bumper and push the radiator more forward.

The lower picture is from last year when Flatirons had a customer appreciation day and had a "Higgins" GRC car brought over.

This was Verdier's setup a few years back.

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

Back from the dead now that I have a job again! I have a tube bent up with enough material to do what I want with and I want to use this just as a skid plate mount. That said, is putting the mount close to the sump the best idea? And how thick of plate should I use to mount it to the frame rail?