There have been a few threads lately complaining about Samberg’s radiator fitment. I decided to address this with some modifications to his design.
Disclaimer: This is not to bash Samberg’s product or design but to let people know what I did to fix the multiple issues I found. Modify at your own risk.
I believe there are two issues that people have with the kit. First is the “hood gap” issue and 2nd is the intake pipe hitting the hood.
I will address the “hood gap” and overall fitment issues first:
When I first received my kit, I noticed that the front of the cover was not parallel with front hood support. I initially contacted Samberg and he just told me to “bend it up”. Well I tried doing this, tightening everything down and it just moved everything around and caused a huge gap between the bumper and hood. I tried making a makeshift brake to try to put more bend in the cover and was unsuccessful.
Notice the angle:
After messing with it for awhile I noticed that there was about a 1/4” on the top of the sides that could be trimmed off which would lower the upper plate and improve the angle. (as an added benefit, the intake would clear the hood perfectly, more to come on that) I tested this by lowering the entire radiator setup by about 1/4”. it seemed to improve fitment so I decided I would start cutting:
Cut line scribed, I used my 5” cutoff wheel on grinder.
Result:
After cutting both sides I did a test fit. Without the bumper, the overall angle and fitment looked better:
I had to trim about 3/16” from the under lip, was able to us my table saw to get a nice straight cut:
I installed the bumper and discovered some more issues. First was the front of the top plate hitting on the “rib” on the bumper support. More cutting:
And then the front of the top plate was not allowing my bumper to pull back all the way. (Side note, I had slotted my holes in order to get a tighter gap on my hood, so some people might no have this issue) I ended up grinding about 3/16” off the from curve of the top plate.
It is close but fits nicely:
I still need to make a bracket to attach the cover to the radiator setup, still determining the best method to do this.
Some more pics:
I will only be able to touch on the upper intake hose issue in limited capacity cause my motor is out at the moment. I am running a little different setup from most people as my MAF is a straight pipe with honeycomb installed. By moving the top plate down, I have added the perfect amount of clearance with the hood. I think it will still rub on the back hood support which I am okay with. I might trim but not sure yet.
One more note: It has been mentioned that Samberg now offers a two piece upper plate. This might be a better solution for most but I still think it will fit better by removing that extra 1/4”.
Feel free to ask questions!
