Deerhunter4

I put on a grille and have been monitoring intake air temps with a bully dog watchdog. There is no difference with or without the grille.

z06

If the temps are the same with or without the grill then its not adversly affecting it. My Buick GN's didn't have exposed intercoolers. Not hardly any of the new passenger cars have exposed intercoolers. Keep in mind that that hole has been open in the bumper for years regardless of the engine installed in the truck. I totally agree that a tag over the opening is not a good idea even though quite a few Ford dealers havn"t figured that out yet, Still asking where you got the info about reduced airflow over 70?

04flareside

don't know if anyone mention this but ford even has a different license plate bracket for the eco boost to avoid covering that area.... i work at a dealership and we tell people to never put anything there EVER

z06

That the point I have been trying to make. I monitor mine also with same results. And my grill is not to prevent damage, I just like the looks better.
But the Subaru tech said

BucketMan

I'm not an engineer or an ASE mechanic, just a guy with a truck. I read your post and got to thinking.

If this grill I installed is obstructing air, where is it going?

So, I went out and looked at my truck. I do not think this grill will have any adverse affect on the ability of the IC to function and in turn affect engine performance.

Why?

Well, the grill itself is recessed into the opening. It sits behind the LP bracket and the dummy plastic on the passenger side, additionally it sits behind the bumper fascia as well.

This pic might help



So, for this to adversely affect air flow it would have to direct it elsewhere, away from the IC. With its location being recessed, I do not see how this would be possible. It would have to push air back out, against the force (speed) and then around, above or below the bumper.

Otherwise the air is merely flowing around the grill and toward the IC as it should and would otherwise if the grill were not there.

Additionally, although I have not done the math, but I do not feel as though there is enough metal in front of the intercooler to make a difference if it were displacing the air to another location. If this were the case you could even make the argument that the grill is protecting the fins from being compromised (rocks, debris, etc). How many miles of driving would it take to fold over enough IC fins to equal or eventually exceed the equivalent square inches of metal in the grill? Guess it boils down to driving habits and luck.

In conclusion, I appreciate your thoughts, concerns and research. However I do not feel the grill is causing harm to my truck. If at any time I do suspect otherwise I will remove it and report back.

falcon10

Pretty sure the GN when first introduced had zero intercoolers not saying it's right but can't see a grill dramatically effecting The EB Plus on my Subaru sti I had to add a timer to the ignition to help cooling. Ford supposedly has worked around this being water cooled verse oil.

I'm a bit drunk so ideally don't know what I'm saying. But for a fact I know this intercoe on the ford gets damaged. Over 8K before adding a grill the intercoolers has taken a beating especially to the tubing. Prior to seeing this I was optimistic but now I'm convinced it's a benefit.

RES4CUE

Some effort to shift the plate???? It's the same bumper, they just made a liscence plate bracket that mounts where the rubber bumper pad mounted and walla, an EB license plate! lol

Using your line of thinking, we should also remove the grill so the radiator gets all the air possible without any obstruction! lol

The Subaru and Audi guys are performance orineted and will most likely run their cars to the max as that is what they are designed to do, Now the F150 is a truck and unless you are towing full time and spooling the turbos all the time, the minimal blockage will be fine.

TonyB.

I don't need to prove anything to you. You already proved that you don't know **** by saying that intercoolers work by "uncompressing" the charge. Kinda defeats the point of a turbo, huh?

TonyB.

This is the comment I was referring to. By this logic you could put your intercooler in the glove box and it would work.

P150

I see you're stuck on this 70mph example. Here's what to do. Get a piece of window screen and your garden hose. Turn the hose on slightly and aim it at the screen. The water should pass through without any noticeable resistance. Now turn the valve to increase the FLOW. At this point, a noticeable amount of water is in fact bouncing of the screen, and not passing through. Huh? Believe it or not, air behaves the same way. To clarify, the hose at low pressure is say 5-40mph, and the higher pressure represents 40-75mph. Get it?