Do I have to give up my front bumper support for a FMIC?

[meliketoball]

Do I have to give up my front bumper support for a FMIC? I found an evolution 8 FMIC for 100 bucks with its piping and was wondering do I have to give up safety for performance/looks?

 

[1GDSMGUY]

You might have to cut out a piece of the bumper bracket (metal piece behind the plastic bumper) to make it fit, but after the intercooler is in you can weld a thinner piece in the bracket's place.

We had to do that on my 1G as the intercooler was too big!

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[96_charcoal_tsi]

In some cases yes and in other cases no. I am running the ssautochrome front mount and the size of it is 37x10.5x3.5 and i still have the bumper support. You just have to cut alot out of it. It is all about how much you are willing to cut out of it.

 

[99gst_racer]

Do I have to give up my front bumper support for a FMIC? I found an evolution 8 FMIC for 100 bucks with its piping and was wondering do I have to give up safety for performance/looks?

A few things worth noting:

* You aren't giving up safety my removing that bumper support. It serves two purposes: A mounting and resting point for the bumper cover, and also a cushion for impacts of 5mph or less. Other than that, it doesn't do anything.

* Usually you can trim it and retain it with a FMIC. After you cut it, it won't be crash resistant anymore anyway, so it will only serve as a bumper cover support at that point.

* With an EVO8 FMIC, you probably wont have to trim much at all, so I'd recommend that route.

 

[DGajre777]

I have a XS/SSAC and I cut mine. Here is a pic, more pics in my gallery.

 

[DsmDave95]

front bumper support ftl

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

Do I have to give up my front bumper support for a FMIC? I found an evolution 8 FMIC for 100 bucks with its piping and was wondering do I have to give up safety for performance/looks?

You don't have to give it up but you'll definitely have to do some hacking. Here is a pic of the Evo 8 FMIC with the support. I know, I know; dont thank me too much.

 

[kenamond]

A few things worth noting:

* You aren't giving up safety my removing that bumper support. It serves two purposes: A mounting and resting point for the bumper cover, and also a cushion for impacts of 5mph or less. Other than that, it doesn't do anything.

If you know this for sure, that's fine, but it would take a crash test (or a well understood actual accident) to know this for sure. If you're assuming, don't. It may be needed to support the front rails during frontal impact and hold the crumple zone together. If the rails can't buckle as designed, you will compromise frontal crashworthiness.

That's why I'll go with a bigger sidemount and water/meth injection. I drive my kids around in my car, and I'd rather trust the Chrysler/Mitsu engineers' design.

 

[99gst_racer]

If you know this for sure, that's fine, but it would take a crash test (or a well understood actual accident) to know this for sure. If you're assuming, don't. It may be needed to support the front rails during frontal impact and hold the crumple zone together. If the rails can't buckle as designed, you will compromise frontal crashworthiness.

That's why I'll go with a bigger sidemount and water/meth injection. I drive my kids around in my car, and I'd rather trust the Chrysler/Mitsu engineers' design.

I'm definitely not assuming; my post was from knowledge and experience. Those crash supports are actually called "5mph crash bumpers" or something to that affect.

I've personally been involved with two separate frontal collisions with my '99. Both were well over 5 mph. The first was with the complete bumper support in place, and the second was with nothing there. Neither incident was affected in either way but he support or lack of.

At 60 mph, direct collision to the front of my car (with support installed) resulted in extreme damage of parts at least two feet behind that crash support. The support itself was in a thousand pieces. They are only designed to protect the front of the vehicle itself in the event of an extremely slow speed frontal collision.

To support the rails and hold the crumple zone together, one would assume that the support would have to be close to the same strength of the rails, or at least something stronger than a poly-based material. Upon strong frontal impact, the support diminishes before the rails are given the opportunity to buckle and absorb impact. Again, this is not speculation, but gatherings from personal experience from my own (not-at-fault) front collisions.

 

[DsmDave95]

You don't have to give it up but you'll definitely have to do some hacking. Here is a pic of the Evo 8 FMIC with the support. I know, I know; dont thank me too much.

nice find that looks sweet, and a money saver right there

 

[mikh338]

check this out guys im buying this soon when i install my fmic setup

http://www.maperformance.com/store/product.php?productid=17490&cat=259&page=1

 

[kenamond]

I'm definitely not assuming; my post was from knowledge and experience. Those crash supports are actually called "5mph crash bumpers" or something to that affect.

I've personally been involved with two separate frontal collisions with my '99. Both were well over 5 mph. The first was with the complete bumper support in place, and the second was with nothing there. Neither incident was affected in either way but he support or lack of.

At 60 mph, direct collision to the front of my car (with support installed) resulted in extreme damage of parts at least two feet behind that crash support. The support itself was in a thousand pieces. They are only designed to protect the front of the vehicle itself in the event of an extremely slow speed frontal collision.

To support the rails and hold the crumple zone together, one would assume that the support would have to be close to the same strength of the rails, or at least something stronger than a poly-based material. Upon strong frontal impact, the support diminishes before the rails are given the opportunity to buckle and absorb impact. Again, this is not speculation, but gatherings from personal experience from my own (not-at-fault) front collisions.

Thanks for the explanation. Hope I didn't sound like too much of a dick. I just get edgy sometimes when safety is concerned. The fact that the bumper shatters is enough for me; it can't possibly be part of the full speed collision crumple zone. My research group in grad school worked on simulating frontal impacts in a computer, and it was pretty scary what was considered "good" crashworthiness in the mid-90s. They've gotten much better in both testing and design.

 

[djmixerx]

Now im gonna cut my 2g bumper support didnt know that all you had to do is cut the bottom. How do you avoid getting itchy from the fiberglass?

 

[94tsi]

Why would u cut it, if u cut it ## pretty much killing the strength of the bumper beam; so why not just take it off

 

[kenamond]

Why would u cut it, if u cut it ## pretty much killing the strength of the bumper beam; so why not just take it off

The bumper cover rests on the bumper. I don't know if it'll sag or stress the bumper cover if it has absolutely nothing to rest on, but it's something to consider.

 

[djmixerx]

I live in the city so theres alot of people that dont care bout there car and bumper check. Better then having nothing protecting the IC. Also it helps alittle bit from the bumper from sagging.

 

[DGajre777]

Now im gonna cut my 2g bumper support didnt know that all you had to do is cut the bottom. How do you avoid getting itchy from the fiberglass?

The bumper support (or the bumper itself) is made out of some super high density plastic, it is not fiberglass. I cut it with a jig-saw.

 

[99gst_racer]

Thanks for the explanation. Hope I didn't sound like too much of a dick. I just get edgy sometimes when safety is concerned. The fact that the bumper shatters is enough for me; it can't possibly be part of the full speed collision crumple zone. My research group in grad school worked on simulating frontal impacts in a computer, and it was pretty scary what was considered "good" crashworthiness in the mid-90s. They've gotten much better in both testing and design.

No problem. I definitely understand your concern; I wasn't offended in any way.

Why would u cut it, if u cut it ## pretty much killing the strength of the bumper beam; so why not just take it off

The bumper cover rests on the bumper. I don't know if it'll sag or stress the bumper cover if it has absolutely nothing to rest on, but it's something to consider.

Even when hacked up, the bumper beam offers support to the bumper cover to hold it in place. Without it, your bumper cover would sag, sit crooked, etc. If you remove the support all together, I would recommend fabbing something up to offer support to certain areas of the bumper cover.

After I demolished my bumper beam in my first collision, I bent and welded these in place to hold the bumper cover up:

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[94tsi]

well maybe i need to look at mine then cause i didnt put my bumper beam back on

 

[99gst_racer]

well maybe i need to look at mine then cause i didnt put my bumper beam back on

1G's may be different. I've never tried to re-install the front bumper on my 1G without the support.

 

[djmixerx]

Thougt it was fiberglass oh well now im gonna do it right away. Thanks.

 

[SwitchSkier]

I have also been wondering about this. The stuff 99st gacer makes me feel better. But I was talking to my body shop guy about it and he seemed a little more adamant about keeping it. He said that it keeps the side support frames more sturdy to stop the engine from smashing into you as easily from what he has seen brought into his shop. It really is hard to argue with cold hard facts from your expierence though haha. Regardless of all this, I it's not gonna stop me from slapping on my SSAC FMIC and hacking away my support to only use it as a bumper-holder-upper.

 

[meliketoball]

You don't have to give it up but you'll definitely have to do some hacking. Here is a pic of the Evo 8 FMIC with the support. I know, I know; dont thank me too much.

Nice and thanks for the pics! The point of this whole thread was because I found an evo 8 FMIC for 100 bucks. I guess this isn't going to be an easy task..without the proper tools that is.

 

[2geclipse565]

I have been in two accidents wear I rear ended somebody. Both were about 20 mph and both times I did not have my bumper support on becasue of my fmic. First accident I smashed my hood, upper radiator support, radiator, passenger fender and headlight. Fmic was fine. Second collision I smashed my hood, upper radiator support, headlight and broke off the upper bracket of my fmic. Both cars had trailer hitches DOH! Im still not going to put the bumper support on. I think its pointless. It would not of helped out with anything if it was there, expecially if I had cut it.