I joined up here quite some time ago when it became clear I was going to need to replace my 1995 6.5 TD Tahoe sooner rather than later. Ended up with an '06 CRD this past summer that, based on what I learned here, I did very well on.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago I decided I didn't want to do what needed to be done around the house, so decided to make myself up a winter front. Based on all of the searches I did, the only one it seems that is commercially available is the blanket style, that I frankly do not care for. What I wanted was a set of grill inserts as was available for the 90's Chevy 6.5s.
Looking around the shop, I had some scrap aluminum Diamond plate and some PCV trim scraps.
So, I made a quick cardboard template and cut the diamond plate to width and length on the radial arm saw. I used the template to trace out the corners, trimmed them roughly with snips and finished them off with a vixen. Turns out, the openings are slightly different, so each was fit by trial and error for each opening. Last step was easing all the edges with a belt sander.
Ended up with this:
Put a little crown on them to create some "spring."
In the first picture you can see a piece of 1 1/4" w by 3/4" h PVC trim that I cut a 1/4" by 1/4" shoulder into. This created a 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/2d plug that fits snugly into the vertical grill slats. I made a quick run to the hardware to get threaded zinc inserts and 7 1" 10-24 stainless cap head screws. Here are the plugs with the inserts and a quick coat of rattle can black.
The white marks on top are small holes I drilled on a diagonal to use a zip tie to keep them in place in the grill. Installed:
Finally, put the plates on and keep a spare hex in the glove box so I can take them off in seconds any place, any time.
I plan to rework the attachment points over the summer, probably some aluminum stock with threaded holes permanently attached to the back of the grill. I also have some SS baseboard lying around that I might use to tackle the bottom opening.
So far, no noticeable difference, but my T-stat is heading south, so I can't really say until I get an in-line t-stat installed.