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My first Rule of Thumb is that a tube bender is a tool, not an obligation. A straight section of tube is stiff and structural. A section of tube with an unsupported bend in it is a spring. To me those front tubes are springs and not of any structural value. Feed loads into the structure at tube intersections (or better put: put the tube intersections at the load points). A tube intersection in the middle of nowhere, like the front of the bent front tubes above, does nothing for the car but add weight. Take that bend out, put a bend in it to align it with the top of the engine bay and extend it to the core support, then put in a "Monte Carlo bar" tying those two bends together across the engine bay, then tie across in front of the radiator with at least a single diagonal if not an X. Now you're starting to build some stiffness into the chassis.
Simplified I see two distinct possible distortions of the OE front structure. First is the UCA inner mounts trying to move laterally under load. The second is the whole front of the car trying to twist. If we didn't have an engine in the way an X'd pair of tubes crossing from the left upper shock mount to the right UCA mount and vice versa would stop those 4 points from moving relative to each other.
Then the second mode, the twist comes along. If there were truss type structure btwn the end-points of the X above and the main cage it would resist the twist.
The reality is that there is an engine and a radiator and steering, and and and to work around. But if you start with the ideal you can then fit it around the reality. I have seen that X fitted btwn the engine and the radiator (electric fans) and I have seen that X in front of the radiator. When in front there was removable structure over the top of the engine. To do this clean and nice have a look at the cage couplers that DeNunzio Racing offers. http://www.denunzioracing.com/shop/denunzio/tubecouplings.html
I used to swerve around my hallucinations, now I drive right thru them.
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