Technically this would be the final post in the “Upper Support Fab” series. However, I threw all the work I did previously in the trash and started from scratch. Instead of dragging this series of posts out even more, I decided to just cover the entire “re-do” in this one.

I decided to start over because I wasn’t happy with the design, finish and strength of the previous support. In addition, if that wasn’t enough, I also decided to run a factory shroud and clutch fan, so the position of the radiator wasn’t going to work. This time I put a good deal of thought into the new design, and came up with something simple, clean and pretty strong.

The end brackets are cut from 16g steel sheeting and bent with my cheap Harbor Freight benchtop brake. The actual support bar is just 1” steel square tube I grabbed from Lowes. I spent a good deal of time with a level making sure everything was in the right place before I pulled out the welder and tacked the brackets to the bar.

Once everything was welded out I test fit it and it sat perfectly level, which was a big relief. At this point I stopped taking pictures so get ready for a big jump forward…

Picking up a few days later, I had made the brackets for the intercooler out of 16 gauge steel and welded them in place. The support is held in place by a single bolt on each side. The stays for the radiator were made from aluminum flat bar that I hammer bent and shaped with a grinder and some files.

To keep the intercooler from moving I put together a bracket out of steel flat bar, which mounts to the bottom of the intercooler on either side and then utilizes a factory bolt hole on the lower rad support to keep everything in place.

Jumping forward again. At this point I had grinded all the welds down and prepped it all for paint. I used the same Duplicolor Perfect Match gun-metal I previously used in the engine room as a base coat. However, instead of shooting clear from a gun I decided to use this as an opportunity to test Spraymax 2K clear out of a can. I’ve been wanting to try it and was genuinely surprised at the results. The finish on the support looks as good as the engine room, which was sprayed from a gun. Definitely worth the $18 spent.

I painted the lower bracket black with Rustoleum. I wasn’t sure if the 2K clear would work over it, but it laid down and cured fine. I wish I would have tried this stuff when I re-painted all my suspension arms and coilovers.

I thought about polishing the the radiator stays, but there were some hammer pits in them. I decided to spray them with some Seymour Cast-Blast and then finished them off with some 2K clear. I also picked up some nice hardware to mount everything.

I’m definitely much happier with this upper support. It’s stronger, looks nicer, and has a much simpler design.