New cheap DIY lightbar

[driven3]

Made this up because I refused to spend crazy money on the Rally Innovations bar for the 08+. Bought their bar for my wifes Forester, and while it does provide a nice solid mounting point for AUX lighting, it doesn't fit, and has taken good chunks of paint off of the bumper. When they didn't offer to make things right, they were dead to me...

So, I did a little bit of measuring, a bit of cutting, some soldering and painting and had a very solid little lightbar.

It mounts at the top using the front liscence plate holes, using #14 stainless coarse thread screws. On the bottom, I drilled a 1/4" hole in each of the black lower bumper support beams, and used long stainless bolts with plastic washers to have it sit flush.

THERE IS NO SHAKE DURING NORMAL DRIVING. I suppose I'll find out how it does in the rough during the PBX in a few weeks.

Bar is made completely out of 3/4" copper tube and standard plumbing connectors. Total cost was in the neighborhood of 15-20 dollars. Of course that will go up if you don't have a blowtorch, cutting wheel, etc.

[dunkinuts]

looks great !!

[HoganWRX]

I have been searching all over for a lightbar solution for 2008+ WRXs. Spent some time infront of mine....looking at all the plastic up front....and no solid attach points. May have to look at trying what you did.

Thanks for the share.

HoganWRX

[DeathSStar]

You can add me to the list of unimpressed RI light bar owners. After spending $Texas for it, I've got it on the car but I can't use it as intended because it shakes so much. I have to engineer a solution this spring.

I would have never thought of copper pipe. My only concern is that the material is pretty soft so don't hit much with it.

[sleepersoob02]

Looks good, im making my version of this for my 2002 WRX with copper pipe.

[orderingchaos]

Why copper? Easy to work with and cheap?

[Miner WReX]

I've got a lightbar made up for my car with no shaking. 08 sedan with premium trim and sport grill. Its holding 2 Hella FF200's right now, and could probably hold about 2 more with no issues (size being the limiting factor, not weight).

Sorry, no pictures yet...I'll see if I can get someone to take some at 100AW in a day or two. I'm '00' bravo, so if you see me and want to have a look, stop me and let me know.

Anyway...on to how I did it. This won't divulge the actual lightbar itself, but how to find some solid mounting points. We all know that is the real problem on these cars, and I trust you can all fabricate your own lightbars using flat stock, a drill, and some nuts/bolts (welding is completely unnecessary):

-Remove grill
-Locate 2 vertical holes through your bumper beam, about 3" outboard of your front license plate edges
-Use either a bolt/washer/nut combo or allthread/washer/double-nut combo through the holes so that you end up with a solid, stationary, and <ABLE TO BE TORQUED ON> thread hanging down beneath your bumper beam. This will require that you torque down the nuts/washers and squeeze the crap out of your bumper beam...so use big washers. (I used allthread and 2x nuts on both sides so I could cut the threads to the exact length I wanted)
-Find some kind of steel or aluminum (steel is ~3x stiffer than aluminum for the same geometry FYI) stock and make yourself a bracket.

Its convenient to put this stuff in place the same time you install supertones, even if you don't have lights yet.

[GreenMtnMan]

That falls into the "Why didn't I think of that?" catagory.

Well done.:cheers:

[SnakeFart]

Miner - Pics?
<--- Happy but not satisfied with the RI...

[Miner WReX]

I didn't get any myself, so believe me...I'm hunting around for someone who did. Here is one that gives you an idea what it looks like. About 3 mins to install or uninstall (2 nut/lockwasher/washer combos).

http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?p=270843&posted=1#post270843
(2nd post)

I saw a guy in an orange vest snap a pic of me during one of my 'pucker up' moments. Came around a corner at about 50 right into a pretty decent water crossing. Had water probably about up to my driving lights, splashing well above the roof of the car. Trying my damnedest to figure out who that guy was.

[cantpee]

Yeah, about that Rally Innovations bar for my 02 Impreza... it looks good, but color me unimpressed in regards to the mounting. I'm about to hack it up so I can mount it at six different points...