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I took a large chunk of card board, bomb canned it black, removed the grill (4 screws, and 4 clips), cut the card board to fit, and put the grill back in. Can't even tell that it's there.
Easy 10 min job minus the paint drying. The the engine warms up much faster, but doesn't overheat. Gauge gets to about half and stops.
The highest outside temp we've had since I've done this is about 25 above and the gauge never went over the half way point.
I just did what you did and it worked great. Easy fix, and the price was the best yet.