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

 

That was my old pickup line in college...

 

where are the pic.?

 

Nothing but upload errors arrrugh.

 

Dont know why but the uploads did not take.

Photos are in my Gallery

Click on the SRT photo above
See my album
Look at the Cooling study album
Click on the photo to get full size and see the description as the order is according to file numbers and dont match fully'

Usually I get the photos ok, not sure..
Sorry bout that, Woody

 

Makes sense. The grill flaps are curved upwards, so from the front, you can't see the radiator. Keeps the bugs off the radiator, I guess.

I'm not surprised that removing the grill increases the efficiency of the radiator, but I am surprised by the amount!

Have you thought about putting some kind of mesh there instead?

 

In a word, yesssss the grill needs to be covered with fiberglass screen, like on RV's grills.

The H/E has shown me that the bug factor and grit/stones demands the screen, yes sir.

REMEMBER that I have a 172 stat and the computer fan (limits) holds my temp up above that UNLESS there is enough air going thru it otherwise. The airflow increase is terriffic as demonstrated. Also the change is not visible to passers-by. Woody

 

Try uploading a few pics at a time then editing and adding more.

 

how does the Crossfire grill design compare to that of the SLK320 grill?
does the SLK have the same blocking fins in the way?

 

Now that's really cooooool!!!!!!!!

 

Interesting....
Mine usually sits right about here or just below that line.


So your saying just by doing your grill mod it dropped to here?

 

hes also got an upgraded tstat but it is a good idea to do that

 

i wonder if the chrome srt six mesh grill eliminates the problem

 

can I get the part number for the lower thermostat???

 

Thanks Waldig for all the research and sharing you have done for this forum. My question is what to expect from a stock SRT6 without all the changes you have done such as the thermostat modifications and adjustments to the fan speed you made. If one was to remove the grill obstruction would I also expect a 20 degree or so change in temperature with a stock SRT6? Also would one gain any additional improvement with a LET heat exchanger and Johnson pump upgrade or would you still think that type of upgrade would not be beneficial? Thanks

Dennis

 

The changes were as follows:

I removed my stat and added a stant stat as described in my posting about the work to do that. In my estimation, if you can remove the stat - the draining of coolant, pulling the fan and stat - you can modify a SPARE tstat housing as I did without any special tools (drill and star bits )

I removed the grill and used a tool, drill could work, just requires a beverage or two more.

The speeding up of the fan is not needed and much less beneficial unless you are trying to cool down between runs at a track; Drag or Autocross. For most of you Dudes and Dudettes, I would not suggest it.

Cooler is better for power and it keeps the computer from pulling timing for all out power. Hotter engines is an emissions thing, and that is why you do not just toss the stat, it does serve a purpose.

ENJOY, Woody

The WOODY H/E parts are in and I will get back to you about the heat exchanger upgrade if it works as designed.

THe pump is an issue in my mind, I keep thinking of pulling the OTHER PUMP in the car to reinstall it in the H/E circuit to see what its flow rate as compared to the Johnson style. The second pump is probably used very little, to heat the cabin in winter with the motor off.

:

 

Great thread Woody ! I will definetly be looking into this mod as being in Central Texas with our eternal summers, cool is, well.....cool !
Thanks for sharing your research !

Just my Dos Centavos

 

Very cool stuff but... Im completely lost with the pictures. Which ones in your gallery reference this? I guess it doesn't help I bought my car 5 days ago and know nothing at all about it.

 

OHNOESAZ, the photos are in (waldig) MY Gallery titled "Grill upgrade study". I had trouble with the upgrade, Woody

 

Has anyone ever use that Redline Water Wetter in their radiators? Supposedly they claim that it significantly lowers the water temp but not sure how true that may be.