[M_a_t_t]

I am going to try and make another (and better) upper grill block for the mercury. The previous one was just some roof flashing screwed into the bumper and rad support. I was having issues with it getting noticeably warmer at long stop lights. Not overheating, just getting warmer. I need to install an LED so I know when the fan kicks on and get a temp gauge that actually has numbers on it.

To get back on topic though, I cut a section out of a water heater skin and just wanted to attempt to make the right curve that I wanted. The curve I wanted was cosmetic (Not going to aero test different curves is what I mean). I think it will be fine in aero terms. I might test it at some point on vs off though.

Pics and captions:

I just cut out a small section of a water heater skin. This piece is probably about 3"x10"


I flattened the piece back out some more and put it in the vice with a 1" piece of square tubing and used a carpenter's hammer to bend it over to a 90




And finally the end product. You can see the cut out piece on the right, that is the bumper side. The left end of the piece is towards the hood. Most of the curve is towards the bumper end. I wanted it to be kind of flat as it meets the hood. It lines up with the hood curve a little better that way.

I want this to be stout enough that I can put some weather-stripping on it to seal up the hood and headlights. There is actually a stock piece that I think is supposed to seal the top of the headlights to the hood. The one on the driver side is missing though and it is a plastic piece so I can't imagine it would be better than a rubber gasket.