It's All About the Radiator

Have you ever been driving down the highway and end up behind a dump truck that is dropping small rocks in its wake?  They bounce off your hood and windshield, and you curse him as you pass by.  Well, I started thinking about that and the fact that the front of a cobra is basically a huge vacuum cleaner, trying to suck in as much air as possible to cool the engine.  The only problem is that whereas a vacuum has a filter to keep the dust under control, a cobra has a lightweight aluminum radiator -- an all too easy target for the aforementioned rocks.  Even one small rock hitting the radiator at 60 mph could easily create a pinhole.

Look at the front opening - it's just a problem waiting to happen.  I like the look of the black hole and didn't want to add a grille like the one in the picture below (besides, it costs $200!)

My head is always full of things like this that I need to solve before moving on with construction.  The other day, I was casually wandering through the home improvement store to get some inspiration and I found the answer - a dog gate.  Okay, maybe it sounds even uglier than a grille, but stick with me.

Here it is.  Most people would buy this to put on their screen door so a dog doesn't tear up the screen, and I'm a little surprised that the manufacturer doesn't even bother to market it as a cobra radiator grille (maybe because they'd only sell one for that purpose and I would be their only customer).

Here is what I did.  First, I had to remove the arms sticking out at the four corners.  Then I disassembled two sides.

I trimmed the frame and screen to the proper dimensions.

And then reassembled it.

Here it is mounted on the radiator and ready to go.  The grille actually sits an inch above the radiator to provide some clearance.  The whole thing will be painted black so it will blend together.  It won't even be noticeable.

To get the grille to be spaced away from the radiator, I made these brackets.  It's funny how they look simple but took an hour to design and fabricate.

One everything is painted, the radiator will be ready to go back on the car with the new grille on the front and the fan assembly on the back.

And best of all, my grille only cost $20!