So we were bored around our shop the other day and i came up with the idea of making my own rad cooling plate. I don't really buy into the whole cooling aspect of such items (correct me if I'm wrong), so the general idea was to cover up the huge hole there since I added the intake.

If it really does any "cooling" i figured maybe it will help keep the cooler air down where the intake entrance is. Thats why we didnt include any slits.

I didn't really take it seriously at first, just something to pass the time, so I bought a thin piece of aluminum, and needless to say my methods of cutting it and bending it didn't cooperate with the thin metal.

So my good friend Shaun really wanted to dive into this idea and he decided to take a swing at things, using a thicker piece of metal. Surprisingly it's come out very well so far.

Heres the progress pics.. (cell phone pics BTW better ones up soon)







Smoothed all the cuts with an air grinder.



Painted black for now, it may get painted gold to match the ends of the J's strut bar


The pics dont really do it justice, the bends are amazing looking and cuts came out great

comments welcome

 

good job! whatcha use to bend the metal with, to make it look like that?

 

 

Scotch brite and anodize!

Looks like a good job

 

great job

 

We just used the edge of the workshop bench, and put it in vices and pressed down slowly. The bends look great. If we make another one we may use metal bender.

Thanks guys!! We're really proud of this.

 

Nice job!

 

looks great !!!!

 

looks really good!

 

Thanks everyone! Hoping to get it on the car tomorrow.