automated grilleblock

[Philip1]

I've been thinking about this for a while and I think I have come up with an acceptable solution. I work with metal so I figured go with what you know. A Stainless steel grille with 3x5 slots cut into it would have a hem top and bottom(see lower right of sketch)this will allow a piece perforated stainless to slide behind. The perforated stainless will have matching 3x5 slots cut into it. a door lock actuator will move the perforated sheet sideways either exposing the slots (for max cooling) or covering them) for max efficiency. thoughts, critiques, and opinions?

[GasSavers_BEEF]

just a thought, and first of all that is a good idea. the people on here that are doing partial grill blocks that don't have issues are only leaving an openning about as big as one of your sections. you may be better off just using one slide piece as you described.

the over all idea is great. there was a guy that did something like that with coroplast and a throttle cable but there again I want to say his opening was the size of one of those.

if you do decide to do this, we need pics.

[lunarhighway]

i'm toying around with the same idea, but i haven't decided yet on a sliding vs hinged door. i slider takes us less depth and is perhaps simpler but even when fully open it still blocks the grill for about 50 %.

interestingly yesterday i spotted an automatic grillblock "in the wild" it was a factory installed setup on a bwm 1 series hatchback, i think it was the vavorable light as the block sat quite deep.

it was some sort of "windowblinds" like setup with individually hinged vanes that where shaped to interlock and form a complete internal grillblock behind the topgrill

for now i'm leaning towards a single or multiple hinged door design, opperated by tow strings and a pulley connected to a single electric motor...

one string winds up while the other unwinds. this was there will be some restriction to the door movement when the motor is off so it doesn't flutter about, but also it's the simplest way to convert rotary motion into a 2dimentional movement, and have a reduction at the same time without the need for precise gears.

i hope to build a working off-car prototype over the next weeks, but several issues and parts need to be located so we'll see

[Philip1]

I am going to press on with this I have a bit of coroplast and I think I'll build an upper block with doors

[GasSavers_GasUser]

I think that is an awesome idea. Some trucks have automatic ones that work off a thermostat. But manually operated louvers with maybe a cable going to the dash (like an old fashioned choke cable with a knob on it) and you could open and close it when you wanted.

Just my opinion.

[theholycow]

It may be possible to find bulk bicycle cable and housing cheaply at a local bike shop. You'll need to buy bulk stuff so you can get a single long length instead of pre-cut pieces that would be too short for the grille louvers on most cars.

[dkjones96]

Vacuum controlled pneumatic cylinder controlled by an electronic pneumatic valve and an electric fan thermostat. Once above a certain temp the valve is activated and engine vacuum is disconnected from the cylinder so the flaps can open can open. The surplus store can be your best friend here. They have nice, cheap valves and cylinders. When you start the car engine vacuum will pull the flaps closed and they should be spring loaded to stay open.

I'd recommend this setup mostly for a fail-safe. By default, the spring loaded flaps stay open so if you wake up one morning and some freezing rain has gotten in there and made it where the flaps won't move they are stuck open(or if your solenoid fails you just disconnect the vacuum line instead of finding a way to wedge the flap open). If they are stuck open they will eventually melt down and they can close again because of air moving through the radiator. If you leave the flaps closed then need to open them it can leave you stuck.

[Philip1]

I've built the grille block it is manual but adjustable

Here it is open. I used some Fly line to operate it (the green line you see)



and now closed


I also reworked the lower block to be more efficient

[theholycow]

Why didn't you paint the coroplast black? It looks good, and would look great if you did.

[Philip1]

I may yet paint it but I kind of like the contrast for now