Radiator Shield for Winter

My dad gave me a good idea the other night from what he did to his bronco and new tacoma. He took a sheet of metal, cut it to fit the radiator, put somekind of texture cover on it, painted it black, welded little bracket holes on the top of the sheet and the put the holes on either side of the radiator mounts where they mount to the frame so that it would be sturdy. The end result is faster warm-up time in the winter due to the metal shield blocking all the cold air going straight to the radiator. He said he would do it for mine as well after he gets done with my mom's camry. Do you think it would be worth it.

It depends on how cold it gets where you are. Living in Edmonton, where it regularly gets down to -30 C, and often colder, I've still never had a problem with my CRX. No block heater, no rad shield, still started fine in -45 for a few days straight.

Rad shields are a good idea if you're driving a long distance in really cold weather, though. I guess it couldn't hurt to run one all of the time, at least until it warms up.

Nate

Shag, where you live in VA it probably wouldn't matter much. I run my fan on all the time and my car takes the same amount of time to warm up as always. If it needs 4-5 min. to idle to warm up then so be it. Not taking the time to warm your car up is just plain stupid though so your thinking is good, but I'd just start the car and wait to drive and not worry about it.

just use the covers that they use on big-rigs and dump trucks, or make something similar. they are zipped up and such so you can open/close it easier.

want a free way of doing that? its called cardboard. i did it when we had a very bad cold weather up here, it was so bad that it would warm up to operating temp, start driving and i'd watch the temp gauge drop, put the cardboard in and solved the problem :)

hey shag its not that cold here in VA lol. I think the coldest its been here is like 12. Just dont run a CAI and let it warm up for more than 5 mins. As long as your thermostat is good youre fine.

hey shag its not that cold here in VA lol. I think the coldest its been here is like 12. Just dont run a CAI and let it warm up for more than 5 mins. As long as your thermostat is good youre fine.

A CAI won't make a difference when you're idling...

i think he ment in the winter or when its just plain out cold take off your cai extension?

I know it's not that cold down here, but still, I find it to be a rather good idea nontheless. But I still warm-up my car and all, but by the time I get to school which is a 15 minute drive, my heater and temp will finally reach warm. And 1phatcx is right, cardboard is great cause I used it once when it was about 6 degrees and I actually noticed that the car warmed up quicker than usual. That's why I'm thinking I should just make this for the winter and take it off when it warms up. it's worth a shot.