2004 Honda Integra Turbo Conversion

[boostin]

Hi there,

Seasons greetings and whatnot! Hoping the team at LVVTA have a good 2015!

I am in the midst of a turbo conversion for a Honda Integra Type R, being a 2004 model, we all know what this entails.... Frontal impact, airbag sensors, bumper bars yadayadayaydayada....

I have 2 questions, is it possible to modify the factory bumper bar at all? I am aware that the inner guard is able to be modified so long as I don't cut into the chassis rail.

The inner guard in question is shown below



The blue dots indicate the factory spot weld between the chassis rail and the inner guard; am I able to trim the lime green area to fitting the hot and cold side intercooling piping without any cert issues?

And regarding the bumper bar, I'd "ideally" like to have the intercooler mounted like so:



Any ideas?

[Leon]

Right, well you've certainly chose a tricky one to try to put a big intercooler into!

Before cutting into anything, do take the car to see the certifier who will be doing the job.

From the first photo, if it is a light sheet steel area, you can take the minimum amount of metal out required to fit the pipes. Generally that means cutting holes for the intercooler pipes, rather than an complete removal of an area of steel.

Nothing but bad news I'm afraid on your third photo. Being a frontal impact compliant vehicle with airbags, the only thing you can alter there is the plastic cosmetic features of your bumper skin. You can't take structure out of the bumper, and you can't take structure out of the bumper support bar. So you are going to need to come up with a Plan B, which I suspect might involve a smaller intercooler.