You should cut the frame back further than they did on my car. There is no reason to have all of that box frame for the extra 8 - 10" on my car, when it could just be tube. It would have more weight savings, and clean it up even more.
Looking good though man.
After seeing how accessible the engine bay is right now I definitely want to. It will be easy for the lower bar, but much more difficult for the top which will mount the headlights, bumper, and hood. Since it needs to be strong enough to keep everything in proper alignment after some aggressive driving it will take a while longer to plan out how to properly do it.
Because of this I decided that I’ll do this in 2 phases. First just the bottom as I mentioned before leaving the top structure in place. and then later on after its running and drivable I’ll play around with fabbing up something to replace the top support.
---------- Post added at 04:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------
Interesting. I’ll have to look into that a bit more. It makes sense, but I’ll have to take a look around and see what all would be affected.
would replacing crumple zone with tubing be a safety concern? (I don’t know)
Both cars have a cage, no airbags and non-OEM seats/seatbelts. I wouldn’t worry about crumple zones.
it needs to be considered, but essentially the factory crumple zone is mostly gone already: crumpling metal hood, metal crash bumper, and EPS foam. Combine that with the fact that every sol crash i’ve seen turned the car into a wedge diving under another, and what brent mentioned, it’s pointless too lose sleep over it
+1
I decided to keep this somewhat contained and just go with the original plan of splitting the radiator support at the middle. This way I don’t have to worry about headlight/bumper/hood alignment. I decided that cutting more of the frame, while beneficial, would open up a whole 'nother can of worms that I really should be staying away from at this point. If it did cut the frame back then I would want to tub the front fenders, which would require tucking the frame in a bit more, and at that point I might as well just tube the entire damn car.
switching the lower radiator support to a tube directly helps me get the car running because I will be able to get the turbo, manifold, and charge pipes setup easier.
With that being said, I’ve cut the support, trimmed the top to allow me to tuck the radiator into it, measured it all up, and came up with a design for the lower bar:
Here is my plan for the bottom half:
with the simplified front end model:
Awesome
I like this better then what I came up with! Nice work
I’ve seen a couple like yours before and it seems like it would work just fine, is it bolted into the factory tow hook location? One of the reason I wanted to avoid that is because I may want to use those mounting points for a tow strap, splitter, or jack point.
What happened to the bumper you filled in the fog light/vent holes?
I finished re-fiberglassing where it gave me some flex cracks and now its just waiting to be trimmed for the final intercooler fitment and then will be painted and of course at that point I’ll do the same thing to the other bumper.
ohh, I didn’t realize you had two. I’m sure you’ve stated that before.
Anyone have any experience with the MR2 electric power steering pump? I was thinking that it could make way for a much better turbo setup in my bay and it would facilitate my future build plans for the car.
http://www.evalbum.com/tech/mr2_powersteering.html
I found one for sale for $150, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around the wiring of it.
want to convert your whole interior to a RSX interior? lol i have all the parts needed 
just a little trims here and there we can get it done!
Looking good. I like the plan for the lower support.
Dan
end of summer update:
Sold the old setup
Got scammed by a person I bought my new motor from: http://www.k20a.org/forum/showthread.php?t=80356
And got paid by a stolen credit card by the guy who bought my motor: http://hondamarketplace.com/showthread.php?t=464136&page=209
paypal bailed on me on the first and basically robbed me for the second issue.
How is it legal that they can deduct from my account to repay the CC company of the card owner of the stolen card? That’s complete bullshit and I’m done with paypal completely.
new motor:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/Mafdark/26db0d0b.jpg[/IMG
some more changes and updates on the way.
You’ve been fucked so many times with Honda/Scooby parts. I feel for ya.
I’m excited to see some progress on this man!
That really sucks. Did you find out if there are any other problems with the engine?
The crank and rods looked alright, I took a magnet through the oil and didn’t come up with anything, and the cylinder walls look normal.
But it does have a lot of issues that are more minor, stripped threads all over it, hacked wiring, paint caked on everything (sensors, threads, inside the alternator, on coolant hoses), and I found a bolt that fell out when I turned it upside down (still not sure where it came from. Its not a typical bolt either, I’ll have to get a picture of it.
Just typical BS that will cost me more money and make the build take longer. That and I’m still concerned about components such as the ECU, Kpro, alternator, etc. Who knows if any of them are working properly or not.
