thinking of getting a new front grille

[Bbasso]

Here is my 2001 grill...

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by WhitH

I have a billet and wanted to get some increased airflow as well. After some pondering I simply removed every other cross piece and rattle canned it black. If I decide I like it I'll try and go back and possibly powder coat it. It looks pretty good actually and there is a lot more room for airflow although I'd be hard pressed to say exactly how much it has dropped my temps. They do seem to stay a few degrees lower than they used to under any given driving condition but that is just a seat of the pants measurement. I can take a picture this weekend if there is any interest in seeing what it looks like.

Please do! I have thought about doing the same thing. I'd also really like to know how you removed slats, as in, what tool and method did you find easiest. I've looked at mine and can't figure a good way to do it without risking butchering the thing.

[JackTuppVan]

86scotty Here is a picture of your van with every other slat removed . Made this awhile back when you were having cooling problems.viewtopic.php?f=39&t=16683 You mentioned reinstalling your old grill so i didn't bother sending.This is not as good as an actual photo but it may give you an idea of how it looks.

[WhitH]

My grill actually started off more like the one on the right and I removed every row from there. I'll get a picture posted up this weekend so you all can see what it looks like.

[daveb]

Same here. No wonder some people have heating issues with a tight grill like the one on the left!
Now I also might see why you didn't see much of a difference in a temp drop. I don't want to
spend money on a grill or damage mine if it doesn't get better results.

[WhitH]

Dave, mine looked just like yours. So to put some numbers to this, my temp drop I would only put at around 2 degrees maybe. Driving down the freeway at 70 miles per hour in around 70 degree temps my coolant stays around 197 and oil about 204. Those of course still go up the hotter it gets outside. I did a fairly slow climb up to Bohemia mines here in the Willamette Valley several weeks ago and ambient temps were in the low 80s. My fan did kick on once but only very briefly and appeared to be because of air temp as the oil and water temps were only around 210-216. I do run a light 80 hp tune. My 2 cents would be its not worth the hassle for you, but for those with that densely packed version it is worth doing.

Eric, I used a Dremel multimax to cut the slats out and then just a Dremel rotary to polish off remaining bits after the cut. Upon seeing how densly packed your grill is though it would be much more challenging to get the bit in between those slats to make a cut.

Again I'll post a picture this weekend.

[daveb]

Thanks. Yeah, I think some of this is apples and oranges. I always wondered how
somebody could claim that my grill was restricting flow compared to the stock grills.
Still I wondered if the total slat area added up to more blockage than the large plastic
bars the stock grills have. My temp numbers are very close to yours although I'll say that
my summer temps can rise to about 228 before the fan kicks in and drops to about 190.
Again some of this will vary from vehicle to vehicle IMO. I have the Starcool system and
I have a couple of extra 12v fans on the back side of the radiator which unless I'm wrong
a stock vehicle doesn't have??? Before I added the louvers I rarely saw ECT's below 209
and my transmission ran about 200. Now I see 190 ECT's often and T-temps of like 140 on
warm days. Like you, a steep climb in hot temps vary but everything is lower these days
even running a higher HP tune.

[TheLetterJ]

Originally Posted by Bbasso

Here is my 2001 grill...

Where did you get those hood vents, got a link? I've been contemplating some "Raptor-esque" styling ques for my van and the hood louvers are kind of hard to find in a similar size/shape. Yours are a bit smaller for sure, but have very large/coarse louvers vs others that I have seen.

[WhitH]

Here are the pictures I took over the weekend. They aren't great but hopefully they give an idea. My guard is kinda blocking the view a little bit.

[WhitH]

And...they're sideways, sorry. I'm not very good at this sort of thing but that is stating the obvious.