Radiator grille cover

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rolandmhall

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Dec 9, 2011
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St. Louis, MO
My Car
72 Mustang Coupe - Restomod
I met a guy at an All Ford show two weeks ago that installed a radiator cover on his car and it looked great. It did a great job of covering that ugly gap between the grille and the radiator.

I'm really thinking about buying one for my car. I was wondering  has anyone here purchased and installed one. If so what are your thoughts 

Here's the one I found.

https://www.mustangsplus.com/1971-1972-1973-Mustang-Radiator-Grill-Cover.html



 
I've heard that these don't fit properly and will need some adjustment.
Ok thanks for the info
Are you in a particularly hot ambient environment ? In my climate (in England - UK) it might not matter.

But ...Made out of thermally resistant material?  :chin:

Sorry - but the engineering devil on my shoulder just popped out -- the whole point of a radiator is to radiate heat. When you are stood in traffic and the rush of air has gone, the standard process of convection (Hot Air rises) could be hampered by sticking what is essentially loft insulation over the top  of the very thing that needs to cool down. 

If it were made from a thin sheet of anodized aluminium, I'd kinda understand because you'd be adding a thermal conductor with good convection properties.

 
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  the whole point of a radiator is to radiate heat. When you are stood in traffic and the rush of air has gone...
Usually it's used in 73 models where there is this huge (bit ugly) gap between grille and rad support. My 71 (and yours) have the grille going deep, practically same depth as this cover. No need for a cover for 71, at least with the deep grille (and hood locks).

The radiator is on the other side of the support and there is first a gap in between of say 4 cm/2 inches then its the front side of the radiator. Plenty for hot air to escape.

As about the above piece. it will flap up/down, unless you'd use...  double sided tape, which I believe is provided with this part.

Considering how thin a 73 grill is on top, not sure I'd like that. There are few threads on this cover thingy...

For my own, made decades ago, after a grille update a few weeks back, I went for rivnuts. So it's adding strength to the grille and prevents it moves or vibrate and its now even more easy/faster to remove it than before. In my view, a 73 bay looks nicer with a cover than without.

Reminds me I still need to find SS M6 30 with alen heads...



 
  the whole point of a radiator is to radiate heat. When you are stood in traffic and the rush of air has gone...
Usually it's used in 73 models where there is this huge (bit ugly) gap between grille and rad support. My 71 (and yours) have the grille going deep, practically same depth as this cover. No need for a cover for 71, at least with the deep grille (and hood locks).

The radiator is on the other side of the support and there is first a gap in between of say 4 cm/2 inches then its the front side of the radiator. Plenty for hot air to escape.

As about the above piece. it will flap up/down, unless you'd use...  double sided tape, which I believe is provided with this part.

Considering how thin a 73 grill is on top, not sure I'd like that. There are few threads on this cover thingy...

For my own, made decades ago, after a grille update a few weeks back, I went for rivnuts. So it's adding strength to the grille and prevents it moves or vibrate and its now even more easy/faster to remove it than before. In my view, a 73 bay looks nicer with a cover than without.

Reminds me I still need to find SS M6 30 with alen heads...



This looks really good. I'm going to continue researching. Thank you.
 
Mentioned was the gap between the radiator and the radiator support itself. The early Shelbys, six-cylinder cars, and I believe most, if not all of the air-conditioned earlier mustangs, had a rubber flap stapled to the radiator support to help direct any air that might bleed off, straight into the radiator. My '71 Mach 1 also has ( had ) a rubber flap which has metal clips on it to hold it onto the radiator's top U-channel. Currently, I haven't been running it because it was old and cracked, however, I noticed that, in a restoration catalog for Fairlanes and Torinos, this same rubber strip is listed. I don't know if the attaching clips are available, but that little issue can be delt with.

While not the last word in cooling a problem car, it certainly was part of the factory package, and you really never hear anyone mention that rubber piece.

 
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