Front Bumper Cut outs? (Cooling)

[ShizzySupra]

Seavee's GSX looks great. Even the mesh doesn't look bad.

 

[iTSaTSi]

I've seen a 2g with what appears to be 4-5 4" or so circles cut out of the front bumper. I've never seen it in person, just on craigslist a dozen times.

Edit: Found it http://altoona.craigslist.org/cto/2827255107.html

 

[Paching]

That would probably be me.

And for the OP, the cutouts make a HUGE difference on keeping the temps dowm. Before the cutouts, even with my pair of SPAL hi flow fans, ceramic coated EM, 02 sensor housing and turbo exhaust housing and with DSMlink running both fans on full hi all the time my temps would still creep up in stop and go rush hour type traffic.

Now, other than a 10 degree + offset on the temp coolant with DSMlink, I run the fans like stock - one on as cycled on by the ECU and the second with the AC on. I can now sit at idle - with or without the A/C - on even the hottest days here in Miami and the temps run fine - basically never more than 203 and most of the time about 196. In the summer down here it gets brutally hot and the humidity is higher than Megan Fox's inner thighs.

Notice that aside from the cutouts I also trimmed off the little (formerly) black section that ran horizontally at the top-most edge of the regular bumper opening.



To do the cutouts:

Do it with the bumper ON the car initially. Use blue painter's tape to make the outline of what you want. I had to do several iterations until I got it to visually "flow" right - especially the upper line where I followed the curve of the front edge of the bumper (the second pic below shows this better than a straight on low level shot). Use a dremel with a cutting wheel to make a rough cut about 1/8" SMALLER than your painter's tape outline. Then use an 80 or 100 grit dremel grinding drum wheel to refine it. For the corner radiuses (sp?) use the dremel with a tapered, conical shaped stone. The mesh I glued in from behind (with the bumper removed and laying face down supported between two saw-horses - a couple patio chairs will work too) using 3M 5200 marine adhesive. I also added a couple of aluminum vertical "spars" (about 1/2" X 4" X 1/4" thick) and hammered them to make them curved to fit the inner curve of the bumper) to give it a little more rigidity. The spars run vertically - one just behind the Mitsu logo and one just below it.

There are a couple more pics in my gallery.

Good luck.

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That's the man SeaveeDSM, If I ever were to cut the bumper, It'd be the way he did it. Best air ducts I've seen on a DSM hand down!