Thread: getting cold, anyone ever make a grille cover/screen for a 1930s Ford?

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"......my '39 does not like cold (lower than 60°) mornings, and even after a 45 minute /35 mile commute in stop and go traffic I can't get her up to a good operating temp......"


I had a car like that once, it ran great in the summer but drivability in cold weather was horrible and got worse the colder the outside temperature got. Driving in stop and go traffic was miserable. The engine was set up with aluminum heads (that had no provisions for a heat crossover) an aluminum intake and an air cleaner set up to pull air from behind the grill instead of the warmer air in the engine compartment.

Turns out the real issue I was fighting wasn't the operating temperature of the engine coolant but rather the temperature of the air coming into the induction system. The lack of heat in the induction system wasn't allowing the fuel to vaporize enough to get good combustion especially at lower RPM. It became even more noticeable when all we could get for fuel was E10.

Your comment about covering the side vents making a difference makes me wonder if that's not the same issue you're running into. If that's the case covering part of the grill may not actually help all that much. It may raise the under hood temperature slightly but with open side vents that heat may not stay in the engine compartment long enough for the intake to actually see it.

The cure/band-aid that I finally ended up using on mine was the addition of an MSD 6a box. It was a night and day difference. The box really cleared up the idle and low RPM drivability issues and with complete combustion the engine even ran a bit warmer.


Oh, and please let us know what you figure out on it.


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