xcntrk75 - I have a question about underhood clearance issues with WRX swap

[Dobes]

I noticed the sweet smell of coolant today from my car so I decided to pop the hood and take a look. Seems as if my hood is rubbing the coolant overflow line hard enough to break it off at the tank. You can see in the first two pictures how I had zip tied a thick piece of rubber around the return line thinking this would be good enough to avoid damage from hood contact. I suppose in hindsight I should've known the engine would move around enough to eventually snap this line off but oh well.






And here's where it's rubbing the hood:




The easiest solution I can see is to dremel out the piece of hood that is making contact with the coolant tank and just treat it with some rust inhibitor. How did you deal with the lack of clearance under the hood? Is there a cleaner way than cutting off part of the hood?

Thanks.

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

[GotTurbo]

yea i have to do the same thing to my hood but it is my ac line for the compressor that is causing the problem. the ac line was heated and moved out of the way of fmic piping . i also have to cut a hole into the hood to stop it from rubbing.

-matt

[xcntrk75]

Well if this is the only area you’re rubbing then you’re in better shape then me

I rub all over the place, most notably around the TMIC and sensor on top the throttle body. Also if you use sti motor mounts, which sit a few mm higher, you’ll rub even worse. The best alternative is to make a little more room on the under-hood bracing which is rubbing. No real need to cut these section out but if you carefully dent these sections you’ll allow the necessary clearance. It’s going to sound crude, but I simply used a ball-peen hammer with heavy paper (to keep from scratching the paint) and started pounding away.

I rubbed in the following place and have since made a little more room:

Back side of the IC. (stock wrx barely rubbed, but the sti rubs like crazy)
Top of throttle body (sensor which sits very high)
Any aftermarket BOV (rubbed like crazy)
Header tank coolant lines (as you have experienced).

The more miles the better. Eventually with the help from the hammer you’ll make the necessary room for each of these components as they flex under power. If you plan to do any serious power upgrade, I’d also install sti mounts (if not already) as they firm things up a bit and prevent excessive flex…

Hope this helps…

[Wiscon_Mark]

do the cf hoods have a little more clearance underneath? Maybe it would be a worthy investment...

[Gator GT]

VERY interesting thread.....thank you for the input!

GGT

afterthought...do the CF hoods have connection or hardware points to install a TMIC splitter?

[AFBeefcake]

No rubbing that I can see with a CF hood, but the car only has 6 miles on it with the WRX motor in it. This is on megabeast's car.
I think you could mount a spliter. I don't know what they mount to. Any one have a pic of how the spliter mounts to the hood.

[Gil]

looks like it screws into a few of the stock holes.

[AFBeefcake]

Here is the botom of the CF hood.

I think it would work. You would just have to drill the holes and use some sheet metal screws.

[xcntrk75]

I can tell you that with the stock hood, you won’t be fitting a wrx air diverter. Due to the extremely tight motor clearance, the stock wrx (or sti) intercooler sits very high in the hood, with a portion protruding into the actual scoop. I bought a wrx splitter when I was gearing up to do my swap and once the motor was in it was clear it wouldn’t fit.

Here’s a pic of how high the IC sits with regards to the stock GT hood:

[Plays_With_toys]

You all are making me so jealous.....

[Gator GT]

Originally Posted by xcntrk75

I can tell you that with the stock hood, you won’t be fitting a wrx air diverter. Due to the extremely tight motor clearance, the stock wrx (or sti) intercooler sits very high in the hood, with a portion protruding into the actual scoop. I bought a wrx splitter when I was gearing up to do my swap and once the motor was in it was clear it wouldn’t fit.

Here’s a pic of how high the IC sits with regards to the stock GT hood:

Wow, I guess I cross that off the list.....

From the looks of the tight tolerances, doesn't even look like it needs one!

Back to the drawing board.

GGT

[Dobes]

Thanks for the replies, they're very helpful! I had a clearance problem with that sensor on the throttle body too but that's already been remedied with a hammer And the intercooler did rub a bit but Rallispec fixed that by bending the mounting brackets slightly downward which totally cured the problem. Finally, it's good info about the STi intercooler in case I ever go that route. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is hammering on their hood!

When the motor was going in, the car got STi motor mounts since the originals with 150k on them were thrashed. It sounds like they are a double edged sword, less flex but they sit higher - good to know.

Has anyone looked at adjusting the rear of the hood up a few mm's for clearance? I've seen some cars use this tactic with some success although it might look a little strange. Just a thought if anyone wanted to try and avoid hammering their hood. This is what I'm talking about (although it's a bit extreme):

[Gil]

i've seen that done in singapore. all the do is throw spacers in between the hood and the bracket to creat a small gap (mostly 0.5 inch or so) to help with cooling in the hot tropical climate.

the propnent rave about it, and the opponets also rave about it, but in regards to how you'd be screwed if the engine blew and you cannot look out teh windeshield cos of all the oil.