Grille Blocking, on the cheap

[oilyriser]

I cover my car's radiator grille in winter and sometimes summer to make the car use less gas. Nothing is wrong with my engine's thermostat. The cover keeps air from flowing into the engine bay and slowing down, losing energy, so it improves aerodynamics. It also keeps the engine warmer, even after sitting for two hours in a parking lot.

***** don't do this if it's warm where you drive, or while you're towing or climbing mountains with the car

materials and tools:

-scrap solid copper wire, about 1 foot long, no insulation
-corrugated plastic - the stuff they use for those signs that get planted all over the place.
-knife

Cut the plastic into the shape of the opening in the radiator. Cut the wire into two equal pieces by bending it back and forth until it breaks (or use a cutter). Bend each piece of wire into a U, and find a spot on each side of the radiator grille where you can hook the U inside. Poke two holes in the plastic where the U hooks will go. Hook the wire onto the radiator, with the pointy ends pointing out. Thread the wire ends through the holes in the plastic, and bend them over to keep the plastic in place.

done

 

[The_Jeff]

This thread is useless without pictures.

I use cardboard and a utility knife; cut slits in the cardboard so it fits up one of the slots in my lower fascia. It expands with its own springiness and jams in there nicely. The slits fit around stuff that holds it in place. My car's designed to grab its air from below the bumper so that's where the mod goes.

I could do either side but do the side the air intake is on; it's not 100% tight of course and the car still breathes but I've heard the incoming air charge is largely responsible for engine cooling.

I remember those "stoves" in the 80's that dragged air over the exhaust manifold, and wonder where they went. Even fuel injected cars benefit from warm air a minute after start.

 

[oilyriser]

I opened up the cold air inlet, too, right after the intake muffler. It cures the persistent piston slap in very cold weather if the engine breathes warm air from under the hood.

 

[Kestas]

Caution: Don't use bare copper wire in contact with the aluminum radiator or condenser. Once it gets wet, the galvanic cell will corrode the aluminum, rendering the core as junk. I learned the hard way!

 

[oilyriser]

yes, something non conductive would be best. The grille on mine is plastic, so I'm not worried, but some have aluminium there.

 

[Shannow]

ekpolk showed a neat system a while back where he used (I think) pipe insulation, cut to length, and wedged into the grill slots to restrict inflow.

Looked pretty alright.

 

[oilyriser]

I like to make my stuff out of garbage. Old election signs could be made into something useful that way.

 

[Papa Bear]

Old Liberal signs ...

 

[oilyriser]

I tried one of those, and my car kept pulling to the left.

 

[byez]

wait a minute why would your car pull to the left...................
hahahahahahah

 

[Shannow]

Put one of different persuasion on each side, and you'll be able to drive clean around telegraph poles.

 

[cosynthetics]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Old Liberal signs ...

He he....

 

[Eddie]

Improve aerodynamics? I think not.

 

[porcupine73]

hehe, I use scraps of Reflectix insulation in the winter. Mainly to cover my ATF aux cooler, and sometimes the entire front of the a/c condensor. I can monitor engine coolant temps to see if it gets out of hand.

 

[Duffman77]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
Improve aerodynamics? I think not.


Why not?

I use a folded up carboard box between the grille and rad for my winterfront.

 

[oilyriser]

In winter, a cold engine burns lots of fuel for the first couple of minutes to overcome the drag from thick oil. Blocking the grille will keep the engine 5 or 10 degrees warmer even after 4 or 5 hours, so the bearings will start out a bit warmer when you make your return trip. Parking with the engine facing away from the wind will probably help, too. I have a thermometer under the hood, and can see how much heat is left at the end of the day.