STM Front Crash Beam Evo 8/9 Install

Having removed the front bumper in order to access the oil cooler, I decided it would be a good time to also swap in STM’s lightweight front crash beam. This was an easy 5.5lbs of savings directly off the very front of the car, while still providing decent protection up front.

Since there are a ton of videos on removing the evo’s front bumper, I won’t review that here. With the front bumper removed, the stock crash beam can be removed by uninstall 4 12mm bolts inside the beam.

The only thing the crash beam seems to have are bolts that hold the front bumper to it. Not entirely sure why these are here, though it has been suggested that they assist with bumper sag. I find this hard to believe, as this crash beam is not used in Japanese evos.

Behind the crash beam are 2 body-colored steel pieces that can be left or removed to install the STM crash beam. They use the same 6 bolts (3 on each side) to mount. The only purpose they seemed to serve was to mount the factory crash beam, which seemed redundant, and hold the factory horn.

With everything off, I decided to lightly brush off all the dead bugs in the intercooler:

Removing the piece on the left revealed a surprising amount of surface rust behind it. Given that I was already in there, I decided to sand it down, wipe it up, and treat it with Rustoleum’s rust converter.

Before:

After:

Post treatment:

After letting it cure, I decided to very lightly coat the surface of the crash beam with antiseize to prevent any rusting, and mounted STM’s crash beam. I mounted the horn to the furthest bolt on the driver’s side. The installation order is car-beam-washer-bolt. I added some washers on the driver’s side to help with the fitment of the horn holder.