Good Morning all. Question: Just whats behind the front plate on my 86? I'm hoping it's the radiator. Since I drive with the plate cover on and have never had a ticket I was hoping to do a little improvising in lowering my under hood temps by making a screen (out of window screen material) and installing that thus allowing cool air to filter through to the radiator. The plate cover was on when I bought the car last year and I've never removed it so I don't know whats back there. Maybe it's a bad idea but I'm sure someone here has already taken their plate cover off and can tell me if this idea would work. Thank-You.

 

there used to be an expensive kit to do that but they dont make it anymore. if you do it , take pics and do a writeup.

 

I will try to explain the process in steps

The reason I did this modification was to get more cool air into my air to air intercooler for my supercharger. The air to air intercooler sits in front of my radiator and pre heats the air going to the radiator. The supercharger kit came with a diverter to split the air coming from the factory air dam so that half is diverted to the air to air intercooler and the other half to the radiator. I needed cool air into the air to air intercooler.

I looked at the forced air intake and for what they wanted for the kit, at the time it was $450.00, I thought I could do something similar for next to no cost.

Tools needed:

1. Dremmel (or similar tool) I recommend Sears brand (some of the kits come with attachments).
2. Flex shaft attachment (looks like a dental tool attachment)
3. Drill bit that fit’s the flex shaft attachment
4. Cutting wheels (thin that fit the above attachment about the size of a silver dollar, they are sold in packs)
5. Lead pencil or white correction pen
6. Shop light or flash light
7. Painters tape

The tools pay for themselves after just this one job considering the $450.00 cost previously mentioned.

I took the filler plate with the Corvette name and taped it off with masking tape. I wanted to keep the name and make a cross hair. This helps the plate from flexing. I used a dremmel (Sears brand) with the flex shaft and cutting wheel. Take your time cut a little less at first you can trim more after the initial cuts. You will be essentially cutting out four squares. As a side note I drew up several patterns and this simple one allowed the most air to pass through. You can also dress it up with ss or aluminum screening behind the plate when you are finished. I was looking for maximum air flow.

Next trace your license plate attached to your factory attachment points. Remove plate. IMPORTANT - I left the tabs for the license plate bolts in place if ever I should have to mount the plate. I then used the cutting wheel to cut out the plastic behind the plate leaving the mounting points in place. Try to take our in one piece in case you should want to put back in place in the future.

Now you will be facing a grid or egg crate plastic bumper enforcement. Using the dental attachment with the cutting drill bit and cutting wheel remove the section of material behind the license plate. The grid material is gray in color. I painted everything remaining black.

The next step use the light to look inside the opening. You should see a black steel bar(DO NOT CUT). You will be cutting the area underneath it. I placed a small thin board in front of the air to air intercooler as a safety, it was not needed. I then proceeded to use the flex shaft with the drill bit and made an outline of roughly a upside down triangle. Take your time and take a few brakes. I then just connected the holes with the bit until that piece was removed. If you wanted you could use some flex hose to the air filter cover from the opening giving you the forced air you were looking for.

Taking your time it should not take more than a few hours. You will also have the pride of telling someone you did the job your self. It is not a difficult process, I thought it was a fun Saturday project. It did help to cool things down for my supercharger.

I hope this helps. If you look at my pictures you will see a close up of the front plate filler and the parts removed from the bumper. Good luck! Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

I believe once you have selected the tubing you will use you could affix it to the air filter cover with some adhesive. Check out your local plumbing department and I am sure something will come to mind.

 

Very very nice and nicely done. Much better than my idea. Thank-You so much. That's the only way to do it and it keeps Corvette in the Center. Again VERY NICE!

 

You should be doing those for $$.

B

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

Again nice job Vette Fast. I was not looking for forced air I only wanted to cool down things under the hood. It's a project I don't know that I'll get to this year or not as summer is almost over and, that's when I have the most trouble is summer in Redding, CA. The hundred + temps. are really hard on the car. The rest of the year she does fine since I installed the fan switch turning on the fan early. I could and never did get used to the car running at 230-240 degrees as it's cooking everything under the hood. It only gets that hot now in the summer at the stop-light. The rest of the year it's running around 205-210. I have the Dremmel tool but need to purchase the flex attachment. Maybe I'll get to it this fall when things cool down a bit. I was thinking the same thing as an earlier poster. If you could mass produce those plates already cut out I know I'd buy one, I wonder if others would? Of course one would still have to cut away the junk up front. Anyway thank-you again for taking the time to post and share.