[Concrete]

Taco,

do the E-fan mod, I believe you will notice the difference - grill block or not
mine was 7lbs of rotating madness on the front of the engine
& my little 2.2L does not need that kind of drag

Then revisit the grill block

I did an extreme grill block test first
(will attach the pictures if you promise not to laugh)
engine temp only went up ~20 degrees F
clutch fan got warm & grabbed hold - very much audibly louder

took 20-30% more throttle (by the scan gauge) to get to high way speed and 10% more to keep it there
it was my first real ecomod - I was dumbfounded and crushed

now with the electric fan I have no such problems - runs at least as cool as clutch fan
I have run almost a full grill block - with gap seals
it is hot out now (90-100F) so I have dialed back to what is shown in pic 2 just in case