Thread: my DYI Saudi grille(for D1)

Originally Posted by Pub247

i would say EF/EL thermos i would say. But AU's are good too.....

Aha! you're referring to the radiator fans(which also work on the A/C condenser too.
I thought that you were hinting at some 10" AC condenser fans of a Falcon that could replace the LR condenser fans.

I've thought of mucking about with a Falcon thermo fan mod for my Tdi, but I'm thinking it's a lot of mucking about for zero to very little gain in anything.
As my Tdi rarely runs over low 80°C coolant temps, the fan hub rarely runs .. not like a V8, where it's locking the viscous hub every few minutes trying to keep cool.

I did a thermo fan mod on my RRC many years ago and worked flawlessly ... also saved me between 0.5 to 1 km/lt on most types of road conditions. With it's 80lt tank, that was more than enough to justify the mod.

Looking at my D1 again in that frontal area where the lower half bumper air deflection would be, I remembered a while back I had to remove a black plastic shroud thing, as the auto trans pipes had melted the deflector.
This deflector sits along a horizontal plane about parallel with the top of the chassis rails.
What it seems to do is to stop(or minimise) air through the grille from deflecting downwards under the front and away from the radiators. Also seems to stop road crap from deflecting upwards into radiators and fans and stuff too.
So what I'm thinking is(on mine), that as mine was basically useless due to the melted sections, I removed it. I'm sure had I left it in place, it may have disintegrated at some point.
Anyhow, what I'm thinking is, with the panel not there, maybe the air through the grille is being partially forced downwards and under the front, rather than 'scooped' and forced through the radiators.

I'm going to attempt a bodge fibreglass repair on it to strengthen it enough for it to hold itself into place and see if this helps in any way.

Removed the number plate and revealed the winch rope access opening now(no winch) so a bit more air through to the rads. Not a heap(small access opening) .. but I'm thinking more can only be better.

I might try to get back up to Pick-a-part in Campbellfield and see if the D1 there with the std bumper is still there .. and have a good look at the design. Dunno nothing about them, and I won't assume it's the same as the D2(which I do have).
Lower scoop of the D2 bumper seems to add a fair amount of air through to the rads.

Yes sorry I bought elcheapo 10 inch fans to replace my ac fans I was rffering to discomick I assume that as all the falcons I've owned only had those ones no ac Thermos.

The 10 inch ones I bought fit but the mounting brackets don't line up which is to be expected. I just have to go to car wash and hose off mud.

Originally Posted by 4bee

Amazing isn't it. One gets a nice interesting project under way & bloody work gets in the way.

Kind'a sort'a!
Actually what got in the way properly was a wasp sting.
I have the most annoying wasp nest under my house .. been trying to deal with it myself for a month or so until last week.
Anyhow, for about 3-4 weeks I have been spraying, praying, baiting, sealing .. you name it I've tried it on these annoying critters.
So I left them alone for about half a week, and started mucking about with the grille.
On Wed(last week), I got stung on the hand by one while spraying the grille ...
I think it may have been annoyed by the black paint/fumes/whatever. After half an hour the swelling felt like it was going down, no probs.
Did a bit more on Thu(being lazy in fits and bursts), then again Friday and so on. Just dribs and drabs, dishes to do, laundry, and lot of lazing about too.
Hand was fine. Had a shift for work Sat arvo. Hand was fine at work, then using it to 'do stuff' .. wind legs on trailer, open close door, climb into cab .. all easy stuff.
Hand started feeling swelly. as the day wore on, swelled more .. and more, and more. About 6 hrs into the shift .. doing stuff all really .. and my hand now looks like a mutant potato .. with fingers.
Can't make a fist. Can't use it to climb into cab using the proper 3 point entry system. Can barely hold the wheel, just had to rest it. I can feel the swelling slowly travelling up the arm, by 9PM I can feel it in the wrist!

Anyhow, had to cancel my Sunday shift, went to doc, they gave me anitbiotics and anti inflammatory meds. Had them for 5 days, and had to cancel my weekday shifts. Hand still swollen, hard to make fist or hold stuff.
Very annoying on Wed when the remote control doodad on the fanlight died.
Had to sort that in Thursday with hand still swollen. very hard to hold a screwdriver to remove the receiver device on the fan light. Kept dropping it due to numbness.
Meds really did nothing, it was only lots of doing nothing that it came good .. primarily on Friday.
No problems today at work too .. which was a relief.

What was annoying about the saga was that the swelling came 3 days later! .. and even then, only after I had to use it occasionally to do something.

So work wasn't the PITA, it usually is .. god damned wasps got in the way of the project!
Called a pest control chap, 30 mins later 99% of wasps gone, some buzzed about for a short while, but they all buzzed off, not landing on whatever stuff he sprayed on the house.
The entry to the nest was between the stumps and the floor boards opening on the outside between weatherboard and a finishing timber, so access was easy for pest control man.

Cripes, you have been in the wars! Sorry to hear of your woes.

Using a screwdriver with a potato is difficult to say the least.


If you are referring to the Euro Wasp (apparently really bad bastids) we contact the council at first sighting, bloke comes, out with his pepper pot can, drifts a bit of powder around said nest location. We come home, job done, wasps not to be seen. I'm not 100% sure but I think it is Carburyl (sp?) they use.

Being semi-rural here, there is always an old stump or fence post hole that they can get into so we take action immediately & Council will act if you know where the nest is or you can leave them a sketch if you are out. One day I suppose they'll use GPS.

Over many years I think we have had them out about 3 times.

Originally Posted by AK83

I might try to get back up to Pick-a-part in Campbellfield and see if the D1 there with the std bumper is still there .. and have a good look at the design.

It was a couple of weeks ago, it will be there for 6 months no doubt...
Its got a LRA auxiliary tank in it but the goons that work there propped a wheel under it. If you take a jack you could get it out but i cant be bothered, the thought of chewing through another 30lts of petrol scares my wallet

Bugger! .. didn't think to try council!
Anyway, paid my $200, feel better .. keep the economy rolling along I guess.

@ Jim. Re D1 at PaP .. LPG conversion IIRC. Motor looked in half decent condition. Clean for it's age, which looks very likely it'd have been rebuilt not long ago.
One more thing, if it's not a problem for 'ya Jim.
Is this black plastic tray/shroud/deflector thing still installed on yours too.
Also, do you have a bullbar/winch on your D1.

The plastic tray I talk about is easy to see at front, underneath.
It'll be placed between the trans pipes and trans cooler. It's flexible enough that if the mount holes for it are all broken, you just move it by hand, flex it around and it slides in/out.
Mine wasn't secured, so resting on the trans pipes, which I assume get hot enough to melt the plastic over time.
I know you're also having A/C and and coolant heating up issues too .. similar to mine.
Mine doesn't boil over tho. Have run it for over an hour .. in fact hours on end sometimes .. and never loses any coolant.
I doubt I've added more than a litre since last Feb when I did my final flush and added the Penrite coolant I now use.
Even then! .. I only added most of that lt on our recent trip to the VHC, when on the way up there I found out that my viscous hub stopped working. So topped up reservoir at the first chance to the brim. It's only dumped about an inch or so out since.
ie. I'm confident I have no cooling system issues(leaks/HG, etc)

I took a few photos of the original valance which sits below the bumper, it has a large air ram that would sit a bit below the winch rollers. Im thinking some sort of scoop that sits behind the winch but infront of the front crossmember, sort of like a backwards bashplate. Nothing too big but just enough to direct the air into the fans from underneath.
I think i found the plastic shroud you are talking about, it does nothing for air flow i would replace it with the scoop idea.
I sorta drew on one photo its on my phone but best i could do with the editor 🤣🤣
I havnt finished my winch yet its a mess, i bolted it up for the extra weight bloody HD springs hurt.
Cheers Jim

Originally Posted by AK83

A/C works perfectly .. some say too cold!

Which Falcon(model) A/C fans did you replace with?

Don't remember sorry, it was from a wreckers yard.