I have several questions about blocking the grille on my 06 Dodge Ram 3500 Diesel Automatic. I've been using foam pipe insulation to play with the config for now (1/2" fits perfectly between the ribs of the grill BTW). Hope others might have some of the answers from their experience. For the record, I'm in Texas where I'm somewhat concerned about summer heat and as a newbie, not as confident with my ideas, so I'm being conservative for now. The truck is not my daily driver, but it does do some 500 mile+ long hauls each year and the once-weekly around town Home Depot/Lowes/ranch run.
Anyway, on the questions.
1) There is a scoop inside the passenger side of the grille that appears to feed the cold air intake in the wheel well. I've trimmed the block to leave this area completely unblocked for now. What's the best for this? My thinking is the diesel needs the cooler air more than it needs the aero mod for that space?
2) I've wedged pipe insulation in the inch or so gap between the hood and the lower flaring. I had to step up to 1.25" for that really large gap in the front near hood release. I'm assuming this is all well and good. That is a really odd gap around the entire front end. So odd I started wondering if there was some reason for it I couldn't see.
3) The cross hair thing Dodge does in the grill styling divides the opening into quadrants. I've fully blocked the top two (minus the scoop referred to above). Any experience blocking the lower areas as well. Is that too aggressive?
4) There is a 3" to 4" tall and 24" wide opening where the tow hooks are located. I've read the discussion on adding back a factory part that blocks this gap for gas engines. Because this opening exposes the very bottom of the heat exchangers, I'm not sure it it would be best to leave this open and close up more of the lower two quadrants on the grille, or close this up and leave the grill open more. My thinking is while the grill area is higher up on the front profile, it would be exposing the center of the exchangers rather than the bottom and that would be most effective for cooling. For now, both are open. With the radiator, AC, transmission, and intercooler, there are a lot of things to cool in there.
5) Finally, any ideas on a variable block? Most of the time, the truck is hauling lighter loads, but from time-to-time, it is working at loads closer to the maximum capacity in the Texas summer. I was thinking a permanent block of the upper two quadrants with coroplast installed behind the grille, but a removable block for the lower two quadrants for hauling in the summer or adding back in the winter, or with working lighter loads in the summer, etc. For now, that might just be pipe insulation that gets pulled out or added back as needed, but it would never look as good a stealthy coroplast install behind the grill. Ideas?
Thanks for the advice. Feeling a bit timid with the block but wanting to get as close to maximum as possible without damaging anything like the automatic transmission.