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Project
Jeep CJ-7 Radiator Protection
Using 6 bucks
worth of material to protect a 300 dollar 3-core radiator (not to
mention the V8 engine its there to cool) |
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When looking at the grill of my 78 CJ-7, the one thing that just
stuck out like a sore
thumb was how exposed the radiator seemed to be. While the
grill protected the radiator from larger horizontal impacts such as
from tree branches, it still seemed to offer little protect to the
small bullet rocks that could possibly get kicked up at it and
blow a hole in the thin copper material that makes up a
radiator.
Imagine being out on the trail following someone and a rock gets
kicked out of the mud tire lugs on their Super Swampers and a little
dime shaped rock pokes a hole in your radiator. I've seen it
happen before. It sure puts a damper on the days activities as your
precious cooling fluid oozes out.
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When you look at the Jeep CJ's grill, you'll see a gap that runs
down on front of the radiator and behind the grill. I figured
that I could easily slip a piece of protective "hardware
cloth", or "chicken wire" as some folks call it, in
front of the radiator to protect it from these small rocks.
So I headed out to the hardware store and for 6 bucks and some
change, I bought a 2' x 5' roll of galvanized 1/4"
"Hardware Cloth". This wire cloth is a tight knit
fence-like material that has 1/4" square holes. Galvanized
so it doesn't rust, its easily cut with tin snips and can be molded
and cut into shape.
I measured out about a 24" x 24" square and cut it off
the roll. It wants to roll back up so I scraped it over the
edge of the table to force it to bend the other way. It
eventually flattened out so I could work with it.
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I bent the side over one inch in onto itself so I didn't have sharp
edges down the sides.
In the bottom I bent it in a shape as you see to the right.
The bend at the bottom is bent forward so it rests on the inner
ledge of the base of the grill. This will hold it up and
prevent it from falling out the bottom of the Jeep. The blow
tape you see is blue duct tape that I later painted black.
This serves the purpose of preventing damaging contact between the
hardware cloth and the inner edge of the grill which will eventually
cause rust.
for the top I test fitted it, marked the top, pulled it out, bent
it down over on itself. Then I taped up the top where there
would be contact against the radiator and the grill.
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The finished product looks like the picture to the right (before
painting it black). I bent it in a slight arch so that it will
bow forward a little. This will keep it off the radiator and
help to deflect that rock that might have otherwise punctured the
radiator.
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The front face of this radiator protector then got a shot of black
paint to tone down the galvanized shine it had and to hide the blue
duct tape (I only had the blue tape around). I let the paint
dry of course before installing it.
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Re-inserting it was easy since I had already fitted it before.
Securing it wasn't necessary since it fit snug and couldn't go
anywhere anyway because of the upper and lower bends I put on it.
The pictures to the right shows how it really doesn't appearance
wise, it doesn't appear to be anything other than the radiator
itself. However it really does offer some good security
against those small rocks that might get kicked up into it and
possibly puncture the radiator. As far as cooling goes, it has
no effect of cooling since it doesn't restrict air flow at all.
For 6 bucks and 1 hour of work it seems well worth the effort for
a little protection against the elements.
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Project
Jeep CJ-7 Radiator Protection
Using 6 bucks worth of material
to protect a 300 dollar 3-core radiator (not to mention the V8
engine its there to cool) |
Back to Project
Index
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|
|
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Home-built
Serious Skid-Plate protection for the Oil Pan for under 20 bucks!
