Retro fitting newish OEM grill shutters to older vehicls

[Zerohour]

I always thought of using door actuators and a universal radiator fan controller (for electric fans). Have the fan controller open/close the door locks based on engine temp. You would still need to build the opening mechanism.

[getnpsi]

I like all the approaches as a whole, and each one may work better for some vehicles and not others. You don't want your oem cooling fans turning on earlier or staying on longer than they do without a new grill shutter mod. The e-fans eat mpg on their own. I always wanted to just shut off the seconday fan for my a/c once i was rolling 30mph or better, especially if its really hot the regular fan may be on too anyway and pulling air thru the condenser already

[Galane]

Many cars in the 1920's and 1930's had thermostat controlled shutters in front of the radiator, in some cases the shutters were also the grille. Depending on the design of the car the shutters were horizontal or vertical.

Look up photos of 1930's Packards. They used two panels of vertical chromed louvers. With the car at rest and engine off and cool, the grilles look like solid metal sheets with some vertical grooves.

[Varn]

Question, If you are worried about running a cooling fan to save fuel, why are you then running the air conditioning?

I barely see any difference when running an electric load but when I turn on the AC, I get anywhere from 2 mpg in my Econoline to 5mpg in my minivan.

Be careful cutting off your cooling fan with your ac condenser on. The money you save in gas may be going to buy you a new engine or transmission. Just saying....

Originally Posted by getnpsi

I like all the approaches as a whole, and each one may work better for some vehicles and not others. You don't want your oem cooling fans turning on earlier or staying on longer than they do without a new grill shutter mod. The e-fans eat mpg on their own. I always wanted to just shut off the seconday fan for my a/c once i was rolling 30mph or better, especially if its really hot the regular fan may be on too anyway and pulling air thru the condenser already

[slime]

While they are just now arriving on the streets, the new Dodge Dart/Alfa Romeo also has a shutter system in the grill. I was a detailer for Chrysler at the shows this year. We had first a pre production show car ( only the motor under the hood and nothing hooked up) that we used on a display to show the new model. By Cleveland, we had actual running test cars that could be driven onto displays and a cutaway..

[slime]

Not a great picture, but here is a view of the shutter system and location

2013 Dodge Dart | All New compact that's everything but compact | Dodge

[oil pan 4]

Its getting cold out so I broke down and got the broil master grill shutters a few days ago, should be here any day now.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Exploded view of Chevy Cruze "shutter" grille [w/video]

So simple, never thought I would see such a thing coming from an OEM these days.
Looks easy enough to build up a stack of these as needed for use in an existing vehicle.
Could it be too good to be true?

I thought the best grill to block was the upper one, but this shows the shutter only operating on the lower one ?

[oil pan 4]

Upper is better, but a lower grill block is better than no grill block.

[Arragonis]

Pondering further I think we have seen these types of blocks here before haven't we - sliding covers with grill holes spring to mind, operated by cable and returned with a spring or a cable going in the opposite direction. Something using a warm air style heating vent may be possible too.