xluben's 2011 WRX: Spec B 6 Speed and Rotated PTE 6266 by xluben

2 minute(s) of a 643 minute read

My engine bay. Don't mind the water drops. It started drizzling as I went to take the photos.

And for those that didn't notice, I moved the OEM coolant overflow tank over to the passenger side of the engine bay and got rid of the tiny, crappy tank that comes with the FMS FMIC. Here's a close up photo:



To do it, all you have to do is unscrew the hardline from the radiator fans. Then remove the hoses and flip the hardline. I bent the mounting brackets 180 degrees, so I could use them to remount the hardline after flipping it. I drilled 4 new holes for mounting. Two for the hardline, and two for the OEM coolant overflow tank. I attached everything with zip ties. After I flipped the hardline I just hooked the hoses back up. Everything fit quite well.

Here are the 4 holes that I drilled:



There are plenty of reasonable ways to do the mounting. This is just the one I chose. If you wanted you could probably mount the hardline with nuts and bolts. Just make sure they clear the fan blades. The tank could also be mounted with nuts and bolts, but you would need custom brackets or spacers. I did this because the FMS (and TurboXS) coolant overflow tank is waaay undersized. I went to the track on Monday and I was blowing coolant all over my engine bay because it was overlowing the tank. The OEM coolant overflow tank is 2-3 times larger and should provide plenty of room for expansion.

Thanks to synolimit for the idea. His install may have been a little cleaner than mine, but I'm happy with my setup. Here's his original post:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...4#post33883784