$10 Winter Front
 

It's been pretty cold here recently and I've been having a hard time keeping the truck above 140*F when I'm just driving around town, and it's only going to get colder, so I set out to find a winter front. Much to my dismay options are fairly limited. All of the vinyl covers, such as the one from Fia, required snaps which I wasn't too keen on. I did see where someone had taken a Ford cover from a 6.4 superduty and made it fit, which I thought about doing until I ended up finding the cloud rider inserts, which I really liked, but they are obscenely expensive, $550, for a few bits of metal, mighty fine bits maybe, but still obscene. I did manage to find a similar type product on ebay, but it didn't cover as much as I'd of liked.

So I thought Hey! I can make that! I didn't really feel I needed a metal one, nor did I care to work with metal for this even though I do happen to have a few sheets of stainless sitting around.

I ended up buying a sheet of black textured plastic from Menards for about $10.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_1321.jpg

And spent a few hours cutting out the required pieces.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_1312.jpg
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_1313.jpg

I then bolted it to the grill using some fender washers on the back side.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_1314.jpg

And the final product

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_1316.jpg
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_1320.jpg

Overall it turned out pretty well, I've left some space around most of the pieces for some airflow, but the fan should be able to pull all it needs through the bumper. Originally I was going to paint the bolts black, but once I got them on I kind of liked them the way they were. By the time I got it all back together it had warmed up outside to about 30*F, but the truck still warmed up noticeably quicker. It didn't seem to have a problem maintaining temps in town or on the highway, the fan never even bothered to kick in all day.

Great Idea! Better than my making a 6.4 cover work!

Very nice work, I likeee! I wonder if you'll need to make one more piece to go between the tow hooks in the front bumper.

It looks like you could eat off your shop floor. :-X22

That looks absolutely fantastic!

Very nice job and a great idea!


If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.:D Quote from Red Green.

Very Nice!!! :-X22

I like the idea. It gets pretty darned cold around here in the winter also. This would sure help with quicker warm-ups. Reps sent. :-drink

Any chance of using a fastener that would allow you to install/remove without removing the grille?

I don't mean to downplay your idea. Quite the contrary. I bet you could market your product if you could use a different fastener on the back side. I'm simply too lazy to remove my grille twice a year for a winter front. A grille insert I had on a previous truck used a longer strap type of fastener on the back side, so that once you started to tighten the bolts, it would hold itself in place and simply pinch the grille between the insert and the back of the grille. Just an idea. I certainly don't mean to take away from your mod. I think it's awesome.

Awesome idea! I might have to copy this

The Red Green Show is so funny. My wife and I used to watch it every week. That and SCTV. Our northern neighbors certainly have produced some fine entertainment.:-drink

Great job and looks awesome! Better get a patent on it and run with it.

Very nice work! I'm curious to see if you notice decreased warmup times with it. :-X22

Thats an excellent job! Me, I'd just use parts of a Pampers box and duct tape.:-X03

thanks for sharing, reps left.

Thanks Everyone!

I was going to wait and see if it was necessary, but I do have some scraps that look like they'd fill that area nicely.

I did think about using a toggle bolt, but I was worried its edges would wear into the grill plastic. I thought about getting some small pieces of metal and bending them into a C shaped bracket and tack welding some nuts to them, so all you would need to do is push them through the grill and turn them 90* to grab hold... But Taking the grill off is a 5 min job that I don't mind doing, so I took the easy route with the fender washers.

It's hard to say definitively yet, it seems to, but that could just be the warmer weather yesterday. Come Monday when I start taking the regular routes I'll be able to tell for sure if it's helped, as I've memorized most of the temps I'm used to seeing for them.

Comparisons with the red green show were definitely made during this project. ;)

That looks excellent, very clean and professional looking! If i had a 6.7, i would definitely want to buy one from you :)

Any chance you'd like to share the templates? (Not surprised if the answer is no, they are at the manufacturers)