Did you know that . . . How HOT?
In my estimation the SRT runs hotter in the summer : than a Caribbean hooker on Nickle night.
It has been my quest to improve this cooling situation and I have created many changes and different approaches for my car. About half are worthy, the rest are on left on the garage floor cause they didnt make it. I wanted to share one of, in my estimation, the strangest and MOST effective improvements. Sorry this is not a $5.00 fix like I try to generate, cause I believe you can do it for much less............oh yeah, thats a big TA DAA! for us.
OK, as a Lysdexic person and also OD SCHOO* type of hot rodder I wanted to drop the water temp cause I came from a 180 degree water era for cars. The stock stat had no replacements and as I stated in another post the drilling of a stat does nothing constructive. I posted the SAGA of the 172 stat in my car and I was going to be in high cotton or so I thought.
Turns out that the computer will restrict or limit the engine cooling fan operation below the standard 194 degree setting. My cooler stat (172) netted me NO improvements, much to my dissapointment, Boo. At the same time I was working to get a meaningful temperature reduction on the supercharger water circuit, but Ill do that later so as to keep my readers from getting retinitis.......
While doing work on the H/E, I decided to chemically flush the radiator again, this too is another issue for a later day. It was during this process that I decided to take a drive WITH THE GRILL OFF THE CAR! OOOH sick......
Short and sweet, the steady state temperature of the motor was about 20 degrees cooler. That's right the grill was limiting the air flow thru the radiator ( tested between 40 and 60 MPH ). I did not believe this and began adding and removing the grill during different ambient conditions to prove it.
ITS FOR REAL, the grill materially reduces the flow of air under the hood due to its restriction. Now my thermostat would hold the temperature to about 170 degrees in steady driving of 40 - 60 mph on days up to about 90. Testing beyond that has not been conducted yet, mother nature you know.
SO I decided to cut my grill and have the guts to show the photos to God, his mother, and the Forum.
Iam partial to the carbide bit die grinder cause it sounds neat, get cooler with use, and is easy to rout out the plastic on the backside of the grill. I guess that I spent less than 10 minutes to cut out*** the offending sections start to finish.
The grill is blocked about 50%, and I know that all of you will be out there checking your grills to see this. I believe that the blocking "ski slope" parts of the back grill plate adds more RESTRICTION due to turbulance, due to their shape than the physical area covered by the plastic 'ribs'.
THere it is. The grill blocks lots of air and restricts FREE cooling from the car's forward motion. I cut mine and have photos showing the 'before and after' grill images and the instrument panel readings with the ambient conditions.
This works for me, and is about more fun than a new pair of blue jeans with the pockets cut out. If I did not do it I would not wanna believe it. For thoes that wanna experiment, the grill pops out with 4 screws that are 5/16" on the top. No under the car stuff to mess with..
Like it hate it I dont care, but I would like to hear your thoughts.
* That was back so far that the letter L was not created yet.
*** I wanted to remove the back area of the grill but being OD SCHOO I have done this stuff a long time. I know that the plastic should be cut with a ROUND SOFT RADIUSED SHAPE to eliminate stress risers, cracking, or weaking of the grill material. This is why I drew lines on the backside to guide me so that I didnt get too close, cause cutting has a way of getting away from you QUICK if you dont watch out..
ENJOY WOODY
PHOTOS
Stock grill in place 77 degrees
Stock grill in place 74 degrees
Cut grill in place at 89 degrees
Cut grill in place at 76 degrees
Bug eye view of grill
Independent observer, Hank the Horrible, you can see why he got this name.
Photos wont load, see my Gallery "Cooling
study", please. I was to do some editing to get some photos up.
Stock grill Bugs eye view
Grill Cut as viewed from the front
Cut grill back showing the radiused cuts
Grill rear side marked to assist my cutting, a guide
Last edited by waldig; Aug 1, 2008 at 12:04 PM.
Reason: photos didnt get included again..............again