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Winter grille cover

SolarWizard

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Alright folks, FIA winter front is installed and yea, it fn works. Coolant temp reaches optimal about 3x faster than prior. Only downside is the thermometer for outside temp is completely FUBAR with this thing on. The picture below was taken at about 0F ambient in AK. The engine compartment stays good and toasty with an insulated cover on apparently. Oh and one of the snap rivets broke when I installed it so FIA is sending me a new one.
C67A5542-B3B5-4317-AC30-CB96E8D32BA3.jpeg
1488E8C8-259B-4239-91F0-44104DCC50C6.jpeg
what tires are you running for winter?
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JLURD

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what tires are you running for winter?
Nokian Hakkapeliita LT2 studded 35s. I just finished an 800-mile loop of ice and snow-covered roads with zero issues...just wish they came in 37s lol.
 
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JLURD

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CJ SCION

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Going to try the old cardboard method.
Removed the plastic cap above the radiator.
Cut a piece of cardboard to size.
Put some tape over the mounting points and edges of the cardboard.
Drilled some holes in the cardboard so it is adjustable.
Painted it black with a coat of Plasti-dip and then a coat of old header paint I had laying around.
I found a few metric bolts in my bolt bin to mount to 2 conveniently located speed nuts on the radiator shroud.

If this works out I'll probably get some little metric studs and wingnuts, and a large sheet of that silicone you set pots and pans on to use instead of cardboard.
I know this post is dated. For others looking to address cold temperature mitigation, I have had great success with cardboard also, however I replaced it with black corrugated plastic. Affordable, easily cut to fit and plastic auto fasteners work well to rig an adjustable opening. It is water proof.
 

Compression-Ignition

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I know this post is dated. For others looking to address cold temperature mitigation, I have had great success with cardboard also, however I replaced it with black corrugated plastic. Affordable, easily cut to fit and plastic auto fasteners work well to rig an adjustable opening. It is water proof.
Duh moment, that is the perfect material you used. Where'd you get it from?
 

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CJ SCION

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Duh moment, that is the perfect material you used. Where'd you get it from?
Amazon. It was available at the time from other retailers (years ago) but was priced like gold. We got a package that contained maybe a dozen pieces and expected it to last forever. Guess what, that stuff is handy for various projects.
 

Patthe

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I plan to get one next winter.

So between the Mopar 82215365W Or F929-68 not sure witch one to get.

When I Google the mopar part I got 2 different type of cover for some reason.

One if a full cover winter protection and the other one is a bug cover protection.
 

BUSHRVN

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I did the corrugated panel as well. I used an old election sign that my daughters had collected, painted it black, cut a 4ā€x5ā€ ish hole in the middle, wrapped the edges with some good gorilla duct tape and dropped it in against the radiator. It is a tad narrow and about 1.5ā€ of the radiator is still exposed on each side. This worked well in our coldest cold snap of -38C while driving. It was up to its normal operating temp quickly. The cooling system also kept up just fine at +8C as well on the highway and city driving. I am on the prairies so I didnā€™t have any long climbs to do which Iā€™m sure wouldnā€™t go over to well with this much cover on at above freezing temps.
Putting it directly in front of the rad also means that the ambient temp sensor isnā€™t impacted and the ecm and dash display will read correctly.
Itā€™s just hanging there by two aluminum wires that you can see wrapped up at the top.
Jeep Wrangler JL Winter grille cover 0275974F-BC84-4C7F-B31A-DDBF05677F6D
 

Outback101

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If you donā€™t have xpel on that paint, I highly recommend it. Adhesives wonā€™t damage xpel. In AK, ainā€™t nothing attractive on vehicles in the winter and we spend long enough below +10F that Iā€™ll have to find something either way...FIA seems to be the only real option until someone finds something else.
Alaska Tent and Tarp makes great grill covers! You may have to message or call them in F'banks.
 

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Momo5755

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I did the corrugated panel as well. I used an old election sign that my daughters had collected, painted it black, cut a 4ā€x5ā€ ish hole in the middle, wrapped the edges with some good gorilla duct tape and dropped it in against the radiator. It is a tad narrow and about 1.5ā€ of the radiator is still exposed on each side. This worked well in our coldest cold snap of -38C while driving. It was up to its normal operating temp quickly. The cooling system also kept up just fine at +8C as well on the highway and city driving. I am on the prairies so I didnā€™t have any long climbs to do which Iā€™m sure wouldnā€™t go over to well with this much cover on at above freezing temps.
Putting it directly in front of the rad also means that the ambient temp sensor isnā€™t impacted and the ecm and dash display will read correctly.
Itā€™s just hanging there by two aluminum wires that you can see wrapped up at the top.
Jeep Wrangler JL Winter grille cover 0275974F-BC84-4C7F-B31A-DDBF05677F6D
What size corrugated sign did you use ???
 

58Willys

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Iā€™m not familiar with the 3.0 diesel; but do they have an intercooler for the turbo? If so, make sure any winterfront does not block air flow to any turbo cooling; or you could cook your turbo. I know this from my trucking days back in the ā€˜80ā€™s when the winterfronts for intercooled tractors had a permenent opening in them so as not to block turbo cooling.

Just a thought.
 

BUSHRVN

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What size corrugated sign did you use ???
Itā€™s the full height, which Iā€™m not sure what that is, from the top right down to the air dam below the bumper. It comes in about 1-1/2ā€ from each side, so thereā€™s still so air flow there and the hole in the middle is about 4ā€ x 4ā€. We get -40 C/F here sometimes and it helps. I havenā€™t had any over heating or running warm issues at all when we occasionally get up to +10C although Iā€™m in the prairies so I donā€™t get any long climbs etc that could become an issue on a warm day with it on.
DEE8A955-56FF-41AD-A5EB-42FBD55DE658.jpeg
 

JLUR Farout

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I like the Mopar one more because it has four flaps in place of two, so you can still get some air flow but not the full grill. I like FIA products but with what people are saying about the JLU heat ability, more flaps are better than less IMHO. Thanks for the pictures and information folks!
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