HISTORY OF GRILLS MANUFACTURED BY MCCUNE TECHNOLOGY, INC. AND MARKETED BY COSTAL METALS.

I bought a Honda S2000 #233 and decided the condenser coil, radiator coil and exposed refrigeration lines should be protected. I designed and manufactured a Grill and tried it on the S2000 #233. It looked great and screened out bugs, pebbles, birds and other flying objects that would have plugged or damaged the opening in the condenser and radiator coil. To date we have produced 300 Grills and these are used in all parts of the United States and Foreign countries. These areas includes from Canada to Arizona and from New York to California. We have also shipped to England, France and Portugal.

The design was similar to the Grill I designed for the Mazda Miata in 1991. Over 15000 Miata Grills have been produced and sold to distributors across the United States and around the world. .

There is a slight increase in temperature with a dirty radiator or a grill. Extensive testing has been done to determine the temperature changes. I drive my S2000 #233 over 250 miles daily in traffic and the open road. I am on the highway 2 hours twice a day using the product you are buying from us. I have not experienced loss of power or overheating. I want the best performance for my car and yours, so I continue to use the product daily. The Grill is my assurance that I will continue to drive and not have my car in the shop to replace a condenser or radiator coil because of a flying object.

We continue to receive excellent comment on the Grill and our other products. We appreciate your comments on how we can continue to improve the product and the performance of the S2000. We are currently testing a

 

I do not have your grill, but after checking out the construction of it, its aesthetics, and it's effectiveness of protection at Asheville (at least of bugs if nothing else), I think it's a wonderful product.

The quality of it is right up there with what Rick produces.

Good job guys!

PS. The grill is on my wish list, so I will have one mounted on my one day.

 

I've got their grill on my car and have no problems, and feel much better about the life of my A/C condenser & radiator. Just wish it could protect the windshield too...

Great product and look great!

Dave

 

Test I saw of a grill being used on a S2000 there was a 20 degree temperature increse with the use of the grill. Indication I got was that the owner may not be using the product much longer.

Test was done at our latest get together. Some mention of it in this thread.
http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...?threadid=15945

 

250 miles in four hours on the highway? Better drive that thing faster!

 

Have had mine for a month....have seen no reduction in performance(had 3 bars on temp guage b4 & after installed w/daily driving). It works great at keeping the radiator & condenser areas clean! An added plus...I love how it looks!

 

I want to see a dyno. I think that if you are selling the product, you should spend the money and give us a before/after result. That way we don't have to speculate. Honestly, IMO, performance before looks and if its detracting from my HP then i wont use it, but if not then why not!

Prove us doubters wrong.

 

I've have several thousand miles on my Stook with the grill and have AutoX the car every weekend since having it installed in Ashville. I've never seen 4 bars on the temp guage......my guess is any elevated temp is being caused by some other source. What that souce may be is a mystery to me!

Just my 2 cents!

 

Was the tester's car supercharged? Maybe the supercharger is the cause for the extra heat. Maybe it was time for an oil change. Just introducing other variables for this test.

 

I thought I had made it clear during the Seattle meet that I didn't wish to share the test information with the board, but I guess some of you may not have heard.

Why do you think as the person who had the grill on my car, felt something was amiss and who decided to find out if anything was up didn't make a post on Car Talk soon after if I had not wanted to make this information public? And, KenS2K, I didn't even know you were there so I guess you were one of the dudes at the table and overheard or maybe you discovered this thru the thread you linked up in your post.

I am not here to hurt anyone's business. But I think this post warrants some more insight into the front grill since it's the first post I've seen by the manufacturer linking S2000 performance to the front grill.

Mr. McCune, you and I have e-mailed each other a couple times regarding the front grill and potential temperature increase in the engine as read by the S2000's computer. I posted a while back after I had put on my front grill whether it could affect performance or not due to the restricted airflow that I thought was undeniable. Most replies said it probably doesn't do anything as it is perforated. I wasn't satisfied with what I heard so I took up an offer to hook up my ride to the OBDII program and decided to get at some answers.

Now for you to say there is only a "slight increase in temperature with a dirty radiator or a grill" is somewhat misleading without giving them the numbers supporting the "slight increase." Also, you say that there's been "extensive testing" done to determine temperature changes with the front grill.

After I had posted about my concerns surrounding the front grill, I PMed you a few times to ask you directly what was up. Never in any of the short responses did I get any numbers or results indicating you've run any sort of test to prove that the front grill doesn't hinder the engine's ability to breathe. But now suddenly you have?

I don't want to make this long and this is in no way an attempt to hurt your business as my original intent was to NOT let this out. I PMed you the results as soon as I got them.

But now that I see you posting about the grill to the entire S2000online.com community without telling the entire story of the front grill's positives and negatives, thus giving the power to the consumer to decide between aesthetics and performance, I feel a responsibility to put in my two cents.

The tests were very simple. Sunny day, probably 75 degrees out. My car had been warmed up. Ran with the front grill on for maybe a mile or two. Ran with the front grill off. Same exact course in city driving with typical small town traffic. So this isn't in any way extensive, but it's something.

The bottom line:
The car ran hotter with the front grill on.

My take on the positives of the front grill:
1) Looks awesome.
2) Great quality.

My take on the negatives of the front grill:
1) Tests show a consistent 12-15 degree increase in sensor readouts as reported by the OBDII with front grill on v. stock.
2) Potential drop in HP, throttle response, etc.

I was actually disappointed to see the results. I was hoping my butt dyno was off, but the numbers show, it's not that off.

Even after knowing the results I thought about sacrificing performance for the looks, but I decided the affect was too much for me and Mr. McCune has been kind enough to refund my money for the front grill and side grills.

So you guys make the call.