Speaker Grill Removal for Venting?

['01 Big Bird]

I have been having hot engine problems with my '01 GTS idling in Vegas traffic. I am trying the fan controller and water wetter route for a quick fix and have also heard that venting the left driver's side hood speaker grill can alleviate engine heat that gathers above the left footwell.

Here are my qustions: A) Will this indeed help with cooling issues and will rain be a new factor B) How do I remove the grill, does it snap on or do I need to get underneath the liner? C) Will high-flow cats help with running cooler?

 

[Fishtail]

I thought about removing the center hole to but I don't think you'll notice that much of a difference. Let us know if it works. High flows help the heat inside the car but I don't know about engine temps.

-Lou

 

[Matt M PA]

Removing the driver's side grille will do nothing to alleviate underhood temps. I think Nadine, from the UK, removed hers...then actually cut out the hood in a similar fashion to the way the passenger side hood hole is cut for the HVAC box. I could see how this would help. But to remove the grille will do nothing in of itself as there is no hole for it to vent from.

 

['01 Big Bird]

I wanted to know how to take out the grill to access cutting a hole underneath. Also the rubber stripping that surround the grill is partially shoved underneath the grill. I don't know if the rubber shrank from the heat or if the previous owner was messing with it.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

I wanted to know how to take out the grill to access cutting a hole underneath. Also the rubber stripping that surround the grill is partially shoved underneath the grill. I don't know if the rubber shrank from the heat or if the previous owner was messing with it.

It has three small nuts on the bottom side of the hood to remove. BE CAREFUL and there was a post a couple of weeks ago that it easy to drop the nuts between the too layers of hood never to be seen again but to be heard as a rattle.

 

[jp]

Have you burped the Cooling system?

 

[Sam 01 RT10]

Watter wetter helps out here. If you want to cut the hole in the hood, give me a shout. I have a 3" hole saw that will do the job, I had considered it for my car. Also, check your temp gauge while you are driving. My '01 would shoot up under acceleration, had the water pump replaced.
Burping the cooling system may be a good idea too.

 

[ROCKET62]

STOP, don't cut the hood just yet. One fairly easy thing that I did to help with under hood heat build up was to remove the rubber weather seal that runs along the top of the hood - between the hood and the windshield cowl. Its fairly easy to slide the rubber seal off the mounting push tabs and then remove the tabs so that you can remount the stripping if you like.

I then used some 1/2" diameter x 4" long rubber tubing mounted in 4 different spots using the old mounting tabs so that the hood would not rub or rattle. I was happily surprised at how much this helped.

Good Luck!

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

I have not found the need to do this. I've run my car on a very hot track and drove it hard. No problems. I did put in a 180 and Sean Roe's Fan controler. All seems okay.

AC

 

[pdmracing]

I have used that even cool waterless coolant in my race car. it boils @ 280 degrees & will not blow gasgets.

 

[AviP]

You will have to make sure that the water drains away. I wouldn't recommend this because it probably will not work. Turning the heat on always helps. The engine will be cooler, you won't.

You did not mention what the outside temp and engine temp were? How long were you idling in traffic? Traffic speed?

 

[Hisserman]

Have you considered the vented cowl that Autoform makes. Looks good and lets out a substantial amount of heat -- much more than a hole where the speaker vent would be. Less problems with water also . . .

 

[FE 065]

Unless of course the vented cowl is leaking water onto your coil packs behind the intake manifold..

The coils and spark plug wires,should be insulated against moisture, but I wouldn't think that placing a screen above them that's injesting runoff from the windshield would something to do on purpose.

There's already some long term problems with electrical connections corroding up back there and having to be tracked down and cleaned.


but I've been wrong before

 

['01 Big Bird]

Thanks for the great feedback, guys. I will try the weather stripping method before cutting anything. I will burp the system and do the fan, coolant and maybe the thermostat. The weather is starting to cool off here, so maybe I will be fine for now.

 

[fast?]

get a vented cowl, use water wetter, 180 thermostat, and a huge ron davis radiator. even with those mods i'm still thinking about cutting out the other speaker grill.

 

[GTSnake]

I've talked to some GenI owners that said the hole under the speaker made a big difference. But if you're a GenII it won't make much of a difference.

 

[ViperJoe]

Benefits of reading EVERY thread EVERY day.......LOL!!!

From prior threads:


"After reading this post from Leonard from TX, I decided to go ahead and cut a hole in the driver side grill of the hood of my 95 R/T. Leonard’s suggestion seemed to make a lot of sense and since there was already a water drain hole in the grill, I figured that if Dodge wasn't worried about water entering the engine bay, I shouldn't worry either. After surveying the situation, this is the procedure I used:

1. Remove the grill - 4 screws from the underside. Cover the engine bay and the balance of the car with a drop cloth to keep off the work dust.

2. Cut away the hood insulation on the driver’s side to match the insulation cutaway on the passenger side. You can make a template from the passenger side and use this if you are anal like me.

3. Use a compass or other round object 4" - 5" in diameter to draw a circle in the grill opening on the topside of the hood to match the location on the other side. I used a 5" circle figuring....bigger is better! Be careful to locate this circle so that it allows at least 3/8" clearance or more from the edge of the grill cover.

4. Drill four 1/16" pilot holes (12, 3, 6 & 9 o'clock) on the edge of the circle from the topside of the hood to use as reference points from the underside. Be careful not to let your drill bit skip over the paint!

5. From the underside, locate the four pilot holes. Take a piece of white chalk to draw the circle using a template to match the diameter of the circle drawn on the topside. You may need to use a free hand on the uneven portions of the underside when drawing the circle. Take your time on this step ensuring the circle is not outside the grill area! Check 4 or more times to be sure you have it right. A mistake here would be a hard pill to swallow!

6. Drill a hole just inside the chalk line circle using progressively larger drill bits until you can easily fit an electric sabre saw blade through the whole. Sharp drill bits are a must!

6. FROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE HOOD, carefully cut just inside the circle with the sabre saw (medium tooth blade) from both directions until the hole is completed. Take your time, stopping occasionally to check your work from the topside. You may need more than one blade to complete the job. Wear eye protection and a dust mask - VERY dusty and messy!

7. Use a half round wood file from the topside to even out the circle so that it is perfectly round. Again, be sure not to go outside of the grill cover area.

8. Use quick setting two-part epoxy to coat the cut edges from the top and bottom. Not sure if this is required, but felt it couldn't hurt to strengthen the edge and to keep any moisture out of the freshly cut edge.

9. Cut a piece of 5/16" black rubber hose to length and carefully slit it down one side using a razor blade. (I found this part to be the trickiest part of the job!) Good thing rubber hose is cheap and readily available at the local hardware. Fit the rubber hose over the edge and cut it to length so that it fits snugly around the cutout. The hose seemed to easily go over the thinner and thicker portions of the cutout with no problem. The hose finished off the edge giving it a factory appearance.

10. Use black silicone rubber sealant by 3M to secure the rubber hose from the underside. In addition, seal the opening between the hood and the insulation with the black sealant so that the heat from the engine compartment will flow directly through the hole and not between the insulation and the hood. This step also finishes off the underside of the hood area nicely.

11. Clean the grill area and install the grill covering using the 4 screws. Take your time, as these screws tend to fall into the openings, have a few extra "black screws" just in case.

The job took about 3-4 hours taking my time to measure once, twice, three and a fourth time time to ensure that I was drilling and cutting in the correct area. The finished project looks great (sorry no pictures available). The outside temperature was in the 30's and the heat from the engine bay was definitely exiting this hole. It seemed that the temp gauge was also registering lower than normal.

I am hoping that this will help lower the heat in the footwell area. If not, the drivers side grill area definitely looks much better!

 

['01 Big Bird]

I went with a simpler suggestion of attacking the weather stripping. I used a utility knife to cut out the center section of the rear hood stripping, just over the block and headers since there are no exposed electronics here.

I also cut around 2" of the hood pad out to just past the recess to allow maximum airflow clearance. With the hood closed, I can see the engine block through a one finger gap between the hood edge and cowling.

Cheaper than a new cowl and less anguish than taking a saw to the hood. I will let you know how it works out. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Mike 99ACR]

I just used a 1/8 inch bit and drilled a pilot hole from under hood, if it was wasnot center enough you would see where you needed to drill 2nd hole exactly, once pilot hole was center to grill I used a 4 1/2" whole saw blade and drilled a perfect hole centered under grill and never removed the grill, just be careful and go thru very slow with light pressure. No doubt that it helps release heat from under hood. Sometimes just sitting I can actually see the heat rise out thru that hole.

I never had problems with the car running hot. I did it because I had headers with no heat shields and it seem to get hotter in the car. I also removed the cats which made a huge difference that would allow you to touch sills without burning the crap out of your calves. If you don't or can't remove them install high flow cats.

The only down side to the hole in hood is if you drive in rain you might take a chance with water above your brake fluid cap and maybe electrical unless you made some kind of cover. This was a none issue for me because I don't drive everday and I never drive in the rain.

Good luck