What the heck am I up to?

Engine in the Abarth, 500T, 500L, 500X, 124, Dart, Renegade, and 2018+ 500 All.
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MadFiat
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What the heck am I up to?

Post by MadFiat » Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:05 pm

Can anyone tell me what craziness I'm up to?

Check this out and tell me if you can see what my latest mod is.... I may have cut too far back and will have to make an oval rather than a circle opening, but I'll get there. And I'll update if it works!
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2015 Rosso Abarth 5MT - MAD FIAT - EC Phase 2 + Supporting Mods
2015 Granito Lucente 500T 6AT - Projecto Estupido
2017 Fiat 124 Spider 6MT - Another one???

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operamatt
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Re: What the heck am I up to?

Post by operamatt » Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:17 pm

i’m interested to see where this is going
“if one day speed kills me.... i was probably driving a fiat”

sportfan
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Re: What the heck am I up to?

Post by sportfan » Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:14 pm

Moving the radiator ?

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MadFiat
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Re: What the heck am I up to?

Post by MadFiat » Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:25 pm

sportfan wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:14 pm Moving the radiator ?
Yes.... bumper is going to fit no matter what .... stupid intercooler. Probably nothing so exciting as y'all were thinking.

Long story.

It seems after the wreck I had a couple years ago, they put an aftermarket AC Condenser.. which takes up more space due to how the drier is mounted to the condenser. Was not an issue because the body shop re-used the radiator - which happened to have broken off the mounting pins on the bottom, in addition to being bent and warped! .. it was therefore pushed back further than it should be and everything seemed to fit. Except I had a rattle. Which I solved by zip-tieing the radiator until later. Later came when I swapped my engine. After swapping the engine, I could not for the life of me get my bumper to go back on with the intercooler installed. I fought and fought and fought with it, taking it on and off over the last 6 months or so probably 6 or more times trying to figure out why it wouldn't fit. Then I realized that the condenser was larger than it should be and that was forcing me to position everything differently so the intercooler hose wouldn't rub on the drier part of the condenser... .... SOOO... the fix for my bumper not fitting would be to buy an OEM condenser for $254... or make this one fit somehow. I realized that since it fit fine before with the radiator pushed back.. why not just push the radiator back again?

So.. thus was born this idea of modifying the brackets. Moving the radiator back will give more room for the intercooler to move sit without interfering with the bumper.

This isn't only useful (hopefully) in my situation, but also anyone who is having difficulty getting the EC FMIC (or any other larger frontmount) to fit. One could move the hole back as far as necessary, from just a few CM to as far back as I have this one. It might allow for larger frontmounts to fit...

My quest to have my bumper actually go on without a giant panel gap continues. We'll see if it works (some adjustment of the new mounting location may be necessary). It also probably won't work for those who have the stock downpipe with heatshield, but instead a wrapped downpipe gives more space. I may add more wrap to my downpipe since the radiator is moved that much closer to the downpipe.
2015 Rosso Abarth 5MT - MAD FIAT - EC Phase 2 + Supporting Mods
2015 Granito Lucente 500T 6AT - Projecto Estupido
2017 Fiat 124 Spider 6MT - Another one???

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MadFiat
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Re: What the heck am I up to?

Post by MadFiat » Wed Apr 03, 2019 9:59 pm

Good news / Idiotic News? Which you want first?

Good news - mod did give increased clearance and allowed me to, once I properly mounted things (see below) to have the FMIC hose and outlet not rub against the condenser or the drier. Mod is recommended for anyone who needs more FMIC clearance - though you can't move the passenger side back as far as the driver w/out crushing the intercooler hose if using an EC Fmic.

Bad(?) news - Actually good news but I AM A HUGE IDIOT... Apparently I had the crash bar on upside down. This is why my bumper fit like crap. Today I learned you can install the bash bar upside down. Right-side up the bumper goes on fine.

However, I would still recommend the mod to anyone having clearance issues with either the stock or aftermarket condenser and an FMIC.

Here is the clearance I had on the driver side AFTER modifying the bracket as you can see above. Imagine if the radiator was that much further forward:
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Mod Status: Successful....
Modder Status: Idiot.
2015 Rosso Abarth 5MT - MAD FIAT - EC Phase 2 + Supporting Mods
2015 Granito Lucente 500T 6AT - Projecto Estupido
2017 Fiat 124 Spider 6MT - Another one???

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