Astra Grill Block

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by aearles

Also, what are you guys using as fasteners? I would like to only run it during the winter but have it easily removable and replaceable instead of using zip ties etc, and of course I want it to look clean.

You can put the grill blocks on the inside.
Stealth
Slightly less efficient than a smooth front, but it'll still work OK.
It's how car manufacturers do it.

I'd block the entire upper grille, and half the lower grille.
If air can get to the radiator behind/below the front spoiler, block the entire lower grille.

Keep an eye on the coolant temperature though !

[aearles]

Yeah, by putting them on the outside, I'm hoping to avoid this, lol

[aearles]

Well, here's what I came up with - not sure if it will be the permanent solution or not but I'll test it out tomorrow and keep an eye on the temps and go from there. The shape of the top grill ended up being a lot more difficult than I thought, so I screwed it up, I'll have to try again on that one but for now it has the foam pipe wrap on it. The two 1.5" holes in the lower block are right in front of some temperature sensors, does it make sense to allow those to breathe like this or should I cover them up?

[Daox]

Looks good. You can do either with the holes. I leave mine covered. This does mess with the outside temp sensor a little bit (they react slower), but it doesn't bother me. I'd rather have my car get warm faster and stay warm!

[aearles]

Hit a max temp of 99c on the 20 mile commute this morning, I was getting nervous because the normal max is 90c but after doing the math, that's only a difference of 16f with a max of 210f, I guess I'll have to find out what temp the fan comes on normally.

There was something nerve-wrecking about 99c never hitting 100c, but in Fahrenheit it doesn't look so bad! lol

[Daox]

That is pretty warm. You might want to pull out the foam or put some more holes in the bottom. I'd bet your radiator fan is turning on.

[aearles]

Thanks, yeah I've pulled the foam and I'll keep an eye on it on the way home tonight, from some quick research, it looks like the fan comes on at 99c so that's why I never saw it hit 100c.

[cfg83]

aearles -

Originally Posted by aearles

Thanks, yeah I've pulled the foam and I'll keep an eye on it on the way home tonight, from some quick research, it looks like the fan comes on at 99c so that's why I never saw it hit 100c.

My fan automatically comes on at 220 degrees F. I have a manual fan radiator switch on my Saturn S-Series, and I usually turn it on at 210 degrees F.

CarloSW2

[aearles]

Well, I removed the foam from the top grill and the trip home was a success, it maintained it's normal old max of about 92 bouncing back to 90, and seemed to warm up faster, of course I did no scientific tests before hand so it's probably just in my head - but I'm okay with that as long as I FEEL warmer!

I'll probably leave it as is and keep an eye on temps, I may switch it around or try to make it more flush but I was more interested in the faster warmup than the FE gains, of course those are always good too so we'll see..

Thanks for the help.