Front mount with modified 2GB Talon bumper, in progress.

[Jesse Veitch]

Got my SSAC intercooler mounted, started modifying the bumper as well to give it some more air. It's just kind of half sitting on there now, still need to cut a little more out on the bottom portion of the opening to get it to sit all the way back. Then I'm on to reattaching the top portion of the opening up higher and filling in the rest with fiberglass, which I've never worked with before.

Should be fun! I still haven't quite decided whether or not I should try painting it myself, but I thought I'd get to all of this a lot sooner, with the weather starting to turn I don't really have anywhere I can do it that's heated without too much humidity, so I'm starting to lean towards just having a simple job done for now, since I plan to eventually have the whole car done. I still haven't quite gotten all of the all flaking away paint off of my spare bumper (the one I've started modifying) with paint stripper. Some stubborn stuff still on there.

I'm going to get the bumper all fitted up properly so it's not warping when I start fiber glassing, then I plan to use some spray foam insulation to make some "mounts" to temporarily glue the upper part of the opening up higher while I fiberglass it in place. Then I need to fill the crack that will be between the bumper and the part I reattach. I imagine there is some type of filler meant for big gaps? That I can sand nice and smooth.. Then just recreate the sides of the inner part of the opening and sand it all smooth.

I didn't want to just hack off the bottom of the bumper support and rest it on top of the intercooler, so I modified it to use the same mounting hole as the hood latch. I then put a bolt through from the back to act like a stud to mount the hood latch, bumper support, and the intercooler. I had to bend the tab a bit to get it all to work. The intercooler is spaced out on bottom and top slightly, so it doesn't touch the power steering lines. I also left the OEM plastic shroud in place that goes over the lower part of the rad support, and attached to the bottom of the bumper, that will direct air up into the condenser/rad after it goes through the intercooler. I just had to cut it up a bit.

I wanted to be able to modify the crash beam and put it back in, in some form. Doesn't look like that's going to happen though, there's just no room for it at all. I guess the intercooler can be my new crash beam.

[DarrylDhaliwal]

damn that thing has a big mouth;) Good job buds keep the pics comming

[Brett Haviland]

Thats going to look awesome when its done!! Keep us updated!

Happy with the quality of the SSAC kit?  Come with everything you needed and more??

I was VERY happy with the SSAC kit i had on my DSM.

[Jesse Veitch]

Thanks.

Kit looks good. I've never inspected a spearco or some other well known core up close for comparison, but I can't see anything that looks sub par, it all seems to be quite well done. It comes missing one coupler and 2 clamps, but I knew that so I just ordered some from ssautochrome.com, they're the same ones so it doesn't look any different, $20 shipped for 2 2.5" couplers with clamps.

The IC I actually got from xs-power.com for $300 shipped to states. SSautochrome is cheaper at $245, but they've said out of stock forever.

Back to slicing and dicing for a while.. who would have thunk that a plastic bumper would eat through cut off wheels so fast?

[GlenMartin]

it shouldn't cut through the wheels thats weird. i did this to mine not to long ago. one word of advice take your time. i didn't and i am regretting it. that bumper looks like it has seen better days. yikes. just cause the paint is coming off and so on, or did you sand all that off? looks good i have a similiar intercooler. whats the width on yours? mine is huge way to big for what i want. i think mine is 3 and half.

[Jesse Veitch]

I always take a lot of time whenever I'm working on my car. I can take days to do something that might take someone else 4-5 hours. But I meticulously clean and paint every little bracket and such.. replace all the hardware with stainless. I'm still just cutting little bits away right now to get the bumper to fit perfectly up against the IC.

The bumper is the original that came with my car, the paint was screwed right up on it, chipping and flaking away all over the bottom, because it was bent and scraped on the ground all the time I imagine.. the car was ridiculously low with the sportline/tokicos. I bought another white bumper from a member here a while ago and put it on along with the koni/GCs and raised it up a bit. I just used some paint stripper on the original bumper to take off almost all the paint (so far) because it was so screwed up you couldn't just sand and paint over it..

The core is 28"x10.5"x3.5"

I was on the fence for a while between this one and the punishment fmic which is smaller, and I decided to go with a bigger core and shorter piping. Should be a similar volume to fill with more cooling capability.

[GlenMartin]

ya i think mine is the same size. they look identical. mine came with my car. i kind of dont like mine. i dont plan on having a really high hp car, so i was contemplating taking it off and seeing if someone on the forum might want to trade me for a smaller one. how much did you pay for yours? did it come with piping? or just the core?

[Kyle Kemp]

How do you like it?? I was looking into getting one but there is alot of pros and cons online about them.

[Jesse Veitch]

I got the whole kit with piping.

Paid $300USD shipping included, and picked it up in the states.

Why don't you like yours? it doesn't hurt anything to have a big intercooler.. slightly more laggy, but if you work out how much air is flowing, and how much volume you have to fill, it works out to a very small amount of time.

The cons don't seem to be too serious. It's missing a coupler, like I already mentioned, you can get 2 more with clamps at your door for $20.

You have to space out the core from the rad support or it hits the power steering cooler lines, just buy 50mm M6 bolts to mount, and buy a couple m8 nuts to put between the IC and the rad support. The upper tab doesn't line up all that well, you can bend it around.. or a lot of people just hack it off and don't use it. The guy on DSMtuners that rebrands these same kits and sells them pre-drilled for install and such, his don't even come with the upper tab. Modifying the bumper support is needed with any big kit. Apparently the outlet of the IC is a little long and touches something on the oil filter housing? I don't know.. I haven't installed the piping yet, got more to do under the hood once parts get here. If so, no big deal though, just cut it back a bit.

Still working on getting everything to fit. I think I'll be gathering supplies tomorrow and hopefully fiberglassing.

Spent a long time working on getting the bottom part of the opening cut perfect to fit on the intercooler.




Had to cut 3 slots and bend the plastic piece to fit in up higher.









Now I need to fill in the joint on front, fiberglass in the back to reinforce, and then finish building the sides of the opening up into the top, and then sand it all smooth.

Anybody like Zach maybe have some advice for me? never done anything like this before, from reading a bit I think I should use something called bondoglass to fill in the joint? Bondo with fiberglass in it I guess. I plan to shape the sides with foam, then lay down some duct tape, and then the fiberglass.

With the bumper like this, I have all of the intercooler exposed except for 2 rows of fins on top.

[GlenMartin]

ya my problem with mine is the outlets for the ic itself they are in weird places and do make it kind of hard for the other ic piping. i would rather just have the outlets, and inlets on the sides facing outwards, rather than pointing back towards the engine. i think it would make for better fittment all around. but then again who knows. mine wasn't done very well and i have to mess around with it a bit to get the best fitment possible. you will run into problems where it comes back into engine bay by the throttle body side as the stock maf and such sit right there and take up a lot of room. mine hits and there is almost no room for the filter. if you install a gm maf its no problem cause that huge plastic piece gets replaced. so when i re-do mine i will be installing my 3 inch gm maf, and translator.

[Matt Mann]

Hey Jesse is that the original bumper or is that a spare? Did you wreck yours or something?

[Jesse Veitch]

The outlets are setup like that so the pipe routing can be as short as possible. The original company that designed the kit, AGP, which was copied by SSAC, designed the kit that way. I'll be building my own intake to go into the stock smic location anyway, so shouldn't have a problem with the piping.

Forgot to mention one more of the cons of this kit. The throttle body flange is usually warped I guess, mine was, I just flattened it with a file.

I have 2 bumpers. This is the one that originally came on the car, I took it off a while ago and bought a decent looking one from a member here to use, because this one that I'm modifying had horrible paint, all cracking away.

[Jesse Veitch]

Sadly not much to report here, but I thought I'd update anyway.  Weather has been pretty crap and I was busy with some other unexpected stuff for a while. I did get the aluminum MIG setup for the welding I need to do.. the machine + aluminum kit + argon gas cylinder really adds up!

I have the materials for the custom catch cans I'm fabbing on the lathe, but haven't got ahold of any 4.5" aluminum bends to make up the intake yet. And I have somehow misplaced my compressor cover for my turbo. I need to cut off the elbow on the outlet to weld on a straight piece, and finish polishing it. I looked for 2 hours today with no luck, I must have put it away somewhere "safe" before I left for work.

Left to do...

-Wrap, and then install FP exhaust mani with new OEM studs and gaskets

-Find comp cover, finish polishing, put together and install turbo with all new lines

-Paint valve cover

-Install mishi rad with mishi hoses and fan shroud w/ fans.

-Install 255HP

-Install Fuelab FPR

-Install AFI 1050 injectors

-Fab catch cans for breather and PCV, install proper check valve for PCV

-Fab 2.75"-4.5" velocity stack, weld up 4.5" intake to old SMIC location

-Install AEM 3.5bar and IAT for speed density

-Install HKS 272s

-Finish modifying bumper, and then paint it, along with the 2GB eclipse sideskirts that are going on my talon.

Whew! I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a bit too.. not to mention all the little things that will come up.

Back to work in about a month, so looks like I won't be done all of this until spring.

Is there anything bad that could come about from the engine being outside in the car all winter with no oil or coolant in it?

[Carl Gould]

I would definitely recommend against using fiberglass on the bumper. What you should do is go to any autobody supply store and pick up some plastic repair adhesive and reinforcing mat. On the backside, make a sharp, tapered edge on both sides of the joint, sand the plastic with 80 grit, use plastic cleaner (which is pretty much rubbing alcohol), and then use adhesion promoter if the type of plastic your bumper is made of needs it (more than likely does).

Once you've done that, cut a piece of mat to the length of the joint, stick a strip of tin tape across the front of the joint. Now lay your mat down on the back of the joint, mix up some repair adhesive and spread it across the back, making sure to force it into the joint.

Once it's all set up, remove the tape and V the joint out on the front and sand around the joint with 80 grit again. This time you don't use any mat. Mix up some more adhesive and spread it across the front, just enough to fill the V and slightly over the edge.

Once this has set up you can sand it smooth with 100 grit paper. Now you're ready for a flexible putty. I recommend Carsystem FLEX. We've tried a few different products at work and so far this has been the best. Once it's set up, sand with 100 until you have the right shape, and then finish with 180. Sand everywhere you plan on priming with 180 as well.

Hope this helps.

[Jesse Veitch]

I'm going to have some shaping to do, this repair adhesive will be able to build up and be sanded down to shape?

Sounds interesting. I also will have some decent size gaps to fill in, that I was planning on using bondo glass for, Can I use the repair adhesive for this?