Blacked out sport grille

[mezzoni28]

Finally got around to wrapping the Grille slats. Took a while, by far the most involved thing I’ve wrapped, happy I finally got it done tho, and it came out pretty well. I was able to pop the slats out by using a long flat head screw driver and pushing the tabs down

 

[G-Ride990]

Looks great! Matches the overall look of the tuck much better IMO

 

[diymirage]

yup, not enough chrome on that truck to make the slats look good

this fits the overal theme much better

 

[olyelr]

Yep, much better ! Great job man

 

[olyelr]

I for the life of me cant understand why they even put chrome on the grill in the first place. So out of place.

 

[Wild one]

I'd of swapped those restrictive grill inserts for the more open and better flowing honey comb grill inserts.

 

[mezzoni28]

I'd of swapped those restrictive grill inserts for the more open and better flowing honey comb grill inserts.

The honey comb looks good. I don’t thing the sport looks bad at all tho, I’d be happy with either tbh

 

[Wild one]

The honey comb looks good. I don’t thing the sport looks bad at all tho, I’d be happy with either tbh

The Sport grill lets alot less airflow through. Look your sport grill over close,then compare it to the honeycomb grill,and you'll see the differance

 

[mezzoni28]

The Sport grill lets alot less airflow through. Look your sport grill over close,then compare it to the honeycomb grill,and you'll see the differance

While I do agree the sport is more restrictive, how much of a difference is that actually making? Is be surprised if it made any difference on a dyno and as far as temps go I can’t really see it making that much of a difference either. Has this been tested do you know?

 

[Wild one]

While I do agree the sport is more restrictive, how much of a difference is that actually making? Is be surprised if it made any difference on a dyno and as far as temps go I can’t really see it making that much of a difference either. Has this been tested do you know?

On a 90+ day it stabilized my temps a fair bit,that was way back when my truck was still semi stock with a 203 thermostat,it was also before i removed the middle shutters.
There's been a few guys on here that have reported better temps when they swapped to the honeycomb grill,so i'm not the only one,lol.
A few guys have even reported slightly lower transmission temps,especially when towing. The transmission cooler is in the top of the A/C condensor,so more air across it,helps cool the transmission fluid better .
If you really wanted to test it,wait till you have a hot day,then pull the grill,and do a back to back test.Only takes a minute or 2 to remove the grill,and see if your truck shows any differance in temps,or how stabile the temps stay.
The grill isn't going to show any differance on a dyno,unless you managed to strap that dyno to the bumper and somehow drove down the road with it still giving a torque reading,lol

 

[04fxdwgi]

Stock Sport grill here (no auto slats behind grille thought). On 95 degrees days towing my 4500 lb boat, I have not seen any hot engine / transmission conditions

 

[mezzoni28]

Stock Sport grill here (no auto slats behind grille thought). On 95 degrees days towing my 4500 lb boat, I have not seen any hot engine / transmission conditions

I tow a boat as well, about 5k pounds iirc. 21’ bow rider. Towed it home from Maine to ct no issues. Now I just pull it to the local launch 10 min away and slip it for the year

 

[zrock]

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Finally got around to wrapping the Grille slats. Took a while, by far the most involved thing I’ve wrapped, happy I finally got it done tho, and it came out pretty well. I was able to pop the slats out by using a long flat head screw driver and pushing the tabs down

What did you use to wrap? Been wanting to do this as well but their are so many options out their don't want to buy a crap vinyl

 

[mezzoni28]

What did you use to wrap? Been wanting to do this as well but their are so many options out their don't want to buy a crap vinyl

I used 3m 2080 m22 vinyl off Amazon. Don’t really have any complaints with it, couple you tube videos and a heat gun later and you ready to roll

 

[Wild one]

Stock Sport grill here (no auto slats behind grille thought). On 95 degrees days towing my 4500 lb boat, I have not seen any hot engine / transmission conditions

But you have nothing to referance it to,so you don't know if it'll actually run cooler or not with the honeycomb grill
I'm not the only one who has noticed a change by switching to the honeycomb grill. There's a few posts on here with guys who've made the grill swap and noticed a differance.
Easy way to check would be to pop your grill off,and see what happens

 

[04fxdwgi]

Yeah, I get it. Just wanted to say the OEM grille doesn't present a problem in high temp / towing / with shutters deleted. Not in my truck, anyway.

 

[04fxdwgi]

I tow a boat as well, about 5k pounds iirc. 21’ bow rider. Towed it home from Maine to ct no issues. Now I just pull it to the local launch 10 min away and slip it for the year

I should have said 5500 lb). The boat filled w/ gas / gear and on trailer is closer to 5500 lb (the Big Block Chevy 454 Mag in the boat is a good portion of the weight)

 

[Wild one]

I should have said 5500 lb). The boat filled w/ gas / gear and on trailer is closer to 5500 lb (the Big Block Chevy 454 Mag in the boat is a good portion of the weight)

For $h!t's and giggles someday when you have the boot behind it,you should pull the grill and see if there is any change in coolant /oil or transmission temps when hauling the boat.The trucks look kind of sinister with the grill out,so you shouldn't worry about it looking funny

 

[ToxicFire]

I quite like the appearance of the wrap.

I recently acquired a new sports grille after a deer collision and was considering switching it out since I would not have had to pay for it, but I ultimately decided to stick with the same sports grille. Initially, I had some regrets about this decision, but after seeing the wrap, I am now motivated to undertake a new project this spring.

 

[GTyankee]

i still need to spray the two brackets by the Tow Hooks, been lazy