My grille block is complete. I'd been running with some cardboard behind my upper grille and my radiator completely blocked off for a while now, but I finally got around to finishing my grille block this morning.
On my truck there's 2 "grilles" in the front--the upper grill (attached to the hood), and the lower "grille" (in the bumper).
For the material I used some leftover Thermo-Ply I had laying around. It's basically 1/4-inch plywood. It's used for sheeting on the outside of houses. I primed both sides with some interior/exterior primer/sealer I had left over, and then spray-painted the side that shows with some black Rust-oleum I had left over.
The upper grille is pretty easy, you just pop out 1/2 the grille, trace around it, drill a couple holes here and there, and use some black zip-ties to attach it. Here's a close-up of the outside:
and the back side:
Sorry, but I didn't have my camera out before I put it on to get a "before" picture and I really didn't feel like taking it off and putting it back on again just for a picture.
So, now on to the lower "grille" block. This one is trickier to attach because there's not actually a grille. Here's the "before" picture:
Here's the cut-out Thermo-ply:
I thought about removing the tow hooks but I decided to leave them on for two reasons. First, they're pretty hard to take off because the back side of the bolts is really tough to get to. Secondly, I'd like to keep them on especially in the winter in case I'm out on the road and me or someone else is stuck in the ditch--it makes it so easy to hook on without having worry about tearing up the bumper. So I decided to cut slots in my cover instead.
Okay, so the catch is I wanted to attach my cover to the bumper without damaging the bumper. I'll most likely take off this cover when it warms back up so I wanted to make it so I could take in on and off without affecting the bumper at all. This is what I came up with:
I took a fender washer and bent it 90 degrees. That way the forward-facing lip on the washer catches on the backward-facing lip of the bumper. I also used to 2 liscence pkate holder holes that were there.
And the finished product:
Not bad for under $10 if I do say so myself (nuts, bolts, and washers were the only thing I bought.
Next, I want to block those fog lamp holes and the gap under the lower grille. If I get some more time I want to start my belly pan too.