[Raysp30]

I went to look at my grill block last week and it was deteriorating quite a bit with all of the rain lately. It was made out of two layers of foam board and wrapped in tape around the 75% of the grill.

I decided to go all the way when I started thinking about a permanent solution.

I started with putting cardboard behind the grill and then inserted three 1 1//2" PVC pipe sections into the existing grill for venting. Then I sprayed the entire grill with gap seal. It's like insulating foam, except doesn't cause the same problems that other people have had on this board. Once the foam cured, I cut it to shape using a hacksaw blade. Filled in gaps with more foam, cured, cut again.

Once I had the shape I wanted I went for a test drive. Turns out 3 little openings were't quite enough for cooling the engine. I was getting temps around 210F on the highway and 220F+ with stop and go traffic. Went home, cut 4 more holes and went for another drive. 7 holes seems to be the right number for my Saturn. No overheating.

After all the foam was cured, I started putting Bondo over everything. I still have quite a bit of sanding to do before I paint it with factory spray paint. I'm hoping to get it so close that you can only tell from a few inches away where my paint job started.

Not done yet, but the pictures should give a pretty good idea of where I'm at.

As a side note: the test drive I did was after I installed the belly pan.