Grille Blocks in the Summer

[99LeCouch]

I went out for a brief drive tonight, and all was well. Tomorrow will tell on my afternoon drive back through downtown, and then on a 2.5 hour drive to the coast.

My car is a lot blunter than yours in the front. I'm not sure how the Cd differs. Mine probably gives up a few hundredths to yours.

[QuickLTD]

I wasnt as concerned with the cd number but rather how the different shapes affect flow. I don't understand why you are having a problem. You still have more open grille area with your blocks than I do with no blocks.. Its a bit of a puzzler. But now you have me glued to this thread LOL.

FYI: The low speed fan relay kicks in at a coolant temp of 215deg and the high speed kicks in around 225. I forget the exact temp on the high speed fans though. They run all the time with the A/C on.

[99LeCouch]

With further reflection, I was blocking the area of the radiator where the upper hose connects to with the full block. So part of the blocked area did have an effect on cooling.

Also, I installed a 180* thermostat and a re-tuned computer that kicks in the fans at 186*, among other things. That had completely slipped my mind that this was the case until seeing the fan settings on your car. Seeing how my car runs at 177*, there's not too much room before the fans kick in. Much less than the same car with a 195* thermostat running at 193-200*, with the fans set at 215*.

Quick, that should make it less puzzling why I'm having issues.

[QuickLTD]

Yep, Those other mods would make all the difference. Makes total sense now. I am glad I brought up the fan temps.
Thanks

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I doubt that the way the hoses attach matter very much. How is the area under the chin: is it blocked off, so it can act as a duct to the radiator -- or is it open?

If it is open, I would try enclosing (the majority) of the chin opening, so the air tha is coming in the lower intakes actually goes throughthe radiator?

[99LeCouch]

It's blocked off. The only airflow the radiator gets is through the upper and lower grilles in the car.

A brief test drive through downtown revealed that the car is okay when it's moving above 20 mph.

Onto the highway test!

[QuickLTD]

Do you have fan indicator lights or do you hear them turn on? Your car came with an undertray from the bumoper cover to the radiator support or did you make one? Mine has some holes on the front side of the radiatpr support that seem like they would be used for that but my bumper cover has no way to mount anything. I wonder if thats how they made up the difference in grille sizes

[99LeCouch]

I keep one slot on my ScanGauge to water temp. When it spikes to 186 then quickly drops, I know the fans have kicked in.

[QuickLTD]

Makes sense. LOL I'm still to cheap to buy a ScanGauge but I really should invest. Sorry I edited my last post as you were reading what I originally posted.

[jamesqf]

Umm... What's the main object of a grill block? To block the cooling airflow so the engine gets up to operating temperature faster (or in my case, period) in winter, right? So if you're not getting enough cooling in summer, you take it out.