**STEALTH** Grille block installed in THE BEAST!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Went out for a long drive today. Temp was in the 90's and I had the a/c on MAX the whole time. Max water temp was 204, and my IAT was still 160-170 in city driving. A/c performance is greatly improved, and my IAT is still up there. My max temp did not go down much though. Only about 4 - 5 degrees. I'll drive it like this for a week and see how it does in my daily driving. I may need to get just a little more air in there.

-Jay

[67 Satellite]

That is the same look I got on my 04 Dodge Ram.I only blocked the top half of the grille and left the bottom open.On Dodges the A/C condenser is mounted beside the radiator instead of in front of it. I may still play with partially blocking the outsides of the remaining open portions of the grille.I also like your air dam solution. I've looked at lots of possibilities for lowering mine but that is the best looking/easiest fix so far.I don't know why Dodge put their trucks up so high. I can lie on my creeper and slide under any part of the truck without jacking it up,and it's a 2 wheel drive.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I just think that in general, trucks ride high. More ground clearance for you know, truck stuff. Mine rides low for a 4x4. My brother in law's Ford Ranger rides higher than my truck. The extended airdam was easy. Its an airdam from a Chevy Tahoe flipped upside down and bolted to the existing one.

-Jay

[GasSavers_BEEF]

what are your temps without the grill block? what is your T-stat temp?

if you are like me, you never really looked at it before. also, the winter is hard approaching so you may want to keep a winter grill block and redo one for the summer and higher temps.

looks good, nice and symmetrical

[Jay2TheRescue]

Well actually, I have been watching all that stuff closely since I got my SG II. The thermostat is 195F. Its the stock temp for that vehicle. Before my grille block it would range anywhere from 188F to 196F. After the grille block I'm seeing water temps of 198F - 204F in 90+ degree heat with the a/c on MAX.

My IAT's with the stock air intake would be high @ startup as the air was ducted through the passenger fender. I called it "solar WAI". It would be as high as 145F if parked in the sun for a while, but would fall to +5F to +10F within a few minutes of driving once air moving through and around the fender cooled it off. Removing the lid from the air cleaner box got me to +15F to +30F over ambient. Now with the grille block I'm up to +50F to +80F for IAT.

I have been thinking about toughing out the slightly warmer temps as fall will be here soon. Having 2 different grille blocks sounds like a lot of work. I'd rather have one with a few panels that I can add to block off an extra hole or 2 in the winter. This tank really hasn't been driven for economy. My battery died the other day so I jump started the truck then let it idle for 30 minutes to charge. In testing the grille block I tried various speeds, up to 70 MPH with the a/c on MAX to try to make the engine run hot so I knew what the limits were. SG is still reporting 17 MPG for the tank, which is a +3 MPG from what SG usually reports. We'll see what it is after a week's worth of short trip city driving.

-Jay

[Jay2TheRescue]

How's this for temps. This is after a 5 mile drive in stop & go city traffic today... (Sorry about quality again pic taken with cell phone) Ambient air temp was 90F. According to my calculations a temp of 75 over ambient virtually reduces my displacement from a 350 to a 302.

[COMP]

[Jay2TheRescue]

Out of curiosity I just looked up the mileage ratings of my truck equipped with a 305 instead of a 350, and see what a smaller displacement does to the mileage as far as the EPA is concerned. The 305 is only rated for 1 MPG better than the 350. I think I have to get the intake air **really hot** to make a noticeable difference. I won't undo the airbox mod though. One MPG doesn't sound like much, but it is an 8% increase. Each of my mods individually probably don't make a noticeable difference in FE, but when used togeather I do get an increase.

When I really get down to crunchning numbers, I see why some say that WAI/HAI doesn't work. On my vehicle, a mod that nets an 8% increase in economy will only get me 1 MPG. I'm still taking it wherever I can though.

Now that fall is beginning its about 55F in the morning when I leave for work. I think I'm going to fabricate a removeable panel to cover the second hole in the grille block for the winter, and maybe make some ducting for the WAI.

-Jay

[lunarhighway]

nice clean mod!

since you've got such nice clean holes cout out. maybe you could make something like an adjustable opening in the middle; cut out half a circle and add a slightly bigger half circle behind that wich rotates around an axle (a bolt or something) so you can spin it from the outside, to adjust the side of the remaining opening.... this way you could trim the side of the hole to suite your cooling needs, you could even add mark for different settings so that you can adjust the disc to suite different seasons...

[Jay2TheRescue]

The holes are clean because I used a 4" hole saw to make the holes. I have thought of making something that's adjustable. My initial thought was to have a sliding panel behind the second hole. A rotating one sounds interesting, I hadn't thought of that. For now I think I'm just going to block it with a piece of black plastic, and worry about design improvements later. I'll be moving soon, and I've been spending my time working on finding a place, not working on the truck.

-Jay