Intercooler Install.. Hood Latch Support Bracket

[YouGotSpooled]

Hey guys and gals,

Im in the process of installing my driftmotion intercooler kit. I was looking around and a few people actually REMOVE the hood latch support bracket which will also weaken the hood latch (not my idea of fun at high speeds). What is everyones thoughts on this? I was thinking of cutting off the piece that angles down (and gets in the way) and bolts at the bottom of the rad. I dont want to mount the intercooler at an angle.

Thoughts, ideas and suggestions welcome!

 

[reeds420]

Not sure about removing the radiator support bracket. When I did mine, that whole "angled piece" that hooks up to the hood latch came completely out. Gives you plenty of room. Also gonna have to relocate the horns, coolant reservoir, and oil cooler as well if you didn't know

 

[hvyman]

How tall is it?

I fit mine straight no cutting. 31/12/3.

Also have have seen people just cut a notch out of the hood latch support.

Never seen anyone cut the rad support for an ic unless it was v mount.

 

[YouGotSpooled]

I appologize. I have my brackets mixed up. I ment the hood latch support bracket. I see people actually remove it (but I dont see this being a good idea)?

 

[HMNGSupraMKIII]

Which kit do you have? The older one or the new one dm has?

 

[YouGotSpooled]

New one.But like I said I dont want to mount it at an angle. Plus, I have the 4" core which doesnt clear very easily.

 

[te72]

Aerocatch hood pins. Problem solved.

 

[YouGotSpooled]

Not a fan of hood pins.. Have pictures of some installed on a supra?

 

[suprasick]

I took an angle grinder to my latch support and supported the ic with it aswell

Its not pretty but it gets the job done

 

[Supra_dan]

Suprasick, is that the new kit or the old one?

 

[91whitepack]

I relocated my oil cooler, rad. reservoir, horns, and removed the hood latch support. I also made room by removing my a/c condenser because i dont have a functioning a/c anyway. im going to use what i have left of the bracket from the intercooler kit to support the hood latch. i cut up the bracket and used it to mount my intercooler straight up and down. its very stable and was easy to do. bumper cutout is just temporary until i can get the mvp air dam. here are some pics of mine so far.

 

[Hotwheelsjr]

I cut a notch -- 31x12x4.

 

[Captain]

Its a little hard to see but I just made a brace out of 1" steel strap.

 

[YouGotSpooled]

So you removed it all together? More pictures would be appreciated!

 

[MNBmk3T]

I have the exact kit in my car. Unfortunately the shop where I got my 1JZ swapped in cut the crash bumper to make it fit.

 

[suprasick]

Suprasick, is that the new kit or the old one?

Not sure, I bought it off a guy about a year ago... Its the cxracing setup with the feed pipe running into a L shaped connector underneath the ic.

 

[88SupraT]

I picked the dm kit last year and ended up notching the hood latch bracket like suprasick, not that bad to do. Didn't even have to relocate anything aside from the coolant overflow when I did it.

 

[Captain]

So you removed it all together? More pictures would be appreciated!

Better side pic:

This is the bracket the HKS intercooler and hardpipe kit comes with that I more or less copied:

Both brackets hold the hood latch as good as the OEM bracket did.

 

[ForcedTorque]

This was on my car whem I got it. I'm not sure what intercooler he used it with, but it was a 700hp car, so probably a good sized one.

 

[SpoolinSupra]

I'm running a 12x24x4, i basically cut the most of the lower portion of the latch support right off. Using the the top piece which anchors to the rad support/latch tabs and the nose panel beam, its plenty stiff. Easiest way to do it that i found. i had to drill out 2 spot welds for a tab that was attached to it so it could be removed. took a few minutes to do, plenty of room for intercooler as well