Bug Screens for the Radiator

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EdM

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
578
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Location
Between the Texas Hill Country and North Idaho
My Car
1973 Mach 1 Q code, a 427 Dart based Windsor, Pro Flo 4, Tremec 5 speed, A/C, 12.7:1 steering conversion, SoT coil over and Dakota Digital dash.
Does anybody have photos of their installation to keep the critters out of my condenser and radiator?

epHroAF.jpg


 
I just had my radiator flushed, tested and repainted and wanted to keep it looking decent. Since I didnt find a bug screen for the 71-73 I made a simple one with velcro applied to the radiator sides and nylon window screen that seems to work. It keeps the radiator clean and can be easily removed to get the bugs etc off.

I dont have a condenser but you could probably do some modification.

View attachment 40679

 
Furnace filter. Comes in many sizes. Not pretty to look at, but works great for those long cross country trips

 
Furnace filter. Comes in many sizes. Not pretty to look at, but works great for those long cross country trips

 
If you're not after original/concours, a cover from grille to radiator support is ideal: bug or no bug, you never see them.
Have you used a "cover from grill to radiator support"? Clearly it doesn't solve the problem in my OP but I would like to hear about your cover experience as I have been considering one.

 
If you're not after original/concours, a cover from grille to radiator support is ideal: bug or no bug, you never see them.
Have you used a "cover from grill to radiator support"? Clearly it doesn't solve the problem in my OP but I would like to hear about your cover experience as I have been considering one.
Indeed, never said it kills or prevent bugs, it just hides them very well! ;)

In my case, I added one not for the bugs but because I hated the void between grill and radiator, which is for a 73 even worse than a 71, as the grille is thin.

I wanted to hide the ugly and overkill latch mechanism and while at it, have vacuum and temp info at all times. Last but not least, the air flowing thru the grill doesn't go up, reducing the parachute effect under the hood and helps guide the air thru the radiator. So something like 25 years ago, made this cover.

My 71 will get one as well once I'm that far. Prolly in aluminium vs polyester, (if I finally manage to do what I plan for a long while: practice/learn weld aluminium)

While I'm very happy with it. The next one will probably have own frame/locks vs bolted on the car. So that I could access underneath in matter of seconds vs minutes.

making a basic one (no gauges, no hidding latch) is easy and cheap. You simply need to go to a metal shop, pick a plate and ask they bend it, back home you simply cut following radiator support/grille shape. rest is about polishing/painting.



 
That's pretty slick, probably increases cooling ability too!  ::thumb::
Probably, as I have also closed the gap between the parking lights (72 valance) and there is practically no space left between valance and the radiator/frame underneath, the air that comes in thru the grille has no choice but go thru the radiator to escape.

 
That looks sharp. When you say polyester, what specifically did you use, how thick and where might I find some?

 
That looks sharp. When you say polyester, what specifically did you use, how thick and where might I find some?
First lets talk shape if you do not go for the aluminium. To get a flat shape that wide in polyester that looks good when painted is hard, normally you must do a negative from a positive based on flat surfaces, add details then make a positive from it. But this shape can be done in one go as a negative and with nothing in it that prevents you to extract the part from the mould once done.

So for the mould I've used simple MDF plates, but instead of making the radiator side going up, it went down. I was then milled the corner, to have a nice smooth rounded corner when you that this almost 90 deg angle, then because I wanted to hide the latch and have a lower surface to include the gauges. For the gauges I've cut the shape I wanted, milled the corners and glued it on the plate (so a higher level in negative means lower level in positive). For the latch cover that needs be higher in the final piece, I did the reverse and cut a hole using a shape defined on the car latch to define its contours with another cardboard. From the other side milled it and screws a thin plate underneath that would define the top of the cover. The milling here must be done from the other side at same angle otherwise you will never get that part out the mould without damage. Its also nice to have the same angle at the edges on the final shape.

Then sprayed thick primer and sanded it. At this point I got a perfect negative of the shape I wanted in one go.

Once the surface was smooth, used polyester wax, and then rolled 2 layers of gel coat with few hours of interval. (that gives you the hard and smooth surface that you see on boats) Once dry, poured polyester resin and applied fiberglass fibers, pre cut for the shape and did that twice. All fiber was hand cut so there is not much overlap to keep the thickness almost same everywhere. Rolled till I could no more see air bubbles and waited. The final piece is +-4 mm thick and fairly strong, More than enough for its purpose once bolted on the car.

At the end of that weekend, drilled at a corner a hole near the gel coat and blew some compressed air, my part popped up. Then simply needed to cut 2 holes for the gauges with a rotating saw, cut the contour in front by placing the grille on it, same for the radiator side and the latch hole. A short sanding and polishing session and my part was ready. 

Using a plate of aluminum is much more easy to make.A basic flat cover is a 2 hours max job and it looks very nice. But with gauges and latch regions, that I wanted, this simple shape is very confusing as everything is the opposite of what you want and will cost you a weekend, but then  you are good for 25 years and more :)

Its 3 am here, so I'm not sure what I wrote is clear. I'll post more picts and some drawing later on if you guys are interested.

 
I've been meaning to snap a pic and post bug screen I made for my 69 (same can be done for any 71-73).  I use small bungies to hold it in place top and bottom.  No issue with cooling and it does stop 95% of bugs from embedding themselves in the fins.



Used duct tape folded in half around the perimeter of the nylon screen door screening material.  Punched in holes with grommets to handle the bungie hooks.  Takes 2-3 minutes to remove at show field when being judged for bug free conditions.  So far it has held up for 4K miles / 6 years so far.  Cost was about $20.

 
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