What happened to radiator blinds?
Discussion
As we all know, when winter temperatures are really cold, fuel economy suffers due to slower warm up times.
In the days of yore and carburettors, as well as having an air filter intake that could be turned towards the exhaust manifold, cars for use in colder climes were often fitted with radiator blinds. They were even sold as after market accessories. For those of us too poor to afford such luxuries, a similar increase in warm up times could be had be blanking off half of the radiator grill with an offcut of old lino.
I appreciate that fitting modern thermostatically controlled electric fans mean that cold air isn't forcibly drawn through the rad until its necessary, but wouldn't the humble rad blind stop cold air being forced through the rad by the vehicles forward motion until it reached optimum operating temp?
I appreciate that winters here are not as cold as they used to be, but is there a place for rad blinds for those cars bound for much colder climes, or would they cause more problems than they solve?
In the days of yore and carburettors, as well as having an air filter intake that could be turned towards the exhaust manifold, cars for use in colder climes were often fitted with radiator blinds. They were even sold as after market accessories. For those of us too poor to afford such luxuries, a similar increase in warm up times could be had be blanking off half of the radiator grill with an offcut of old lino.
I appreciate that fitting modern thermostatically controlled electric fans mean that cold air isn't forcibly drawn through the rad until its necessary, but wouldn't the humble rad blind stop cold air being forced through the rad by the vehicles forward motion until it reached optimum operating temp?
I appreciate that winters here are not as cold as they used to be, but is there a place for rad blinds for those cars bound for much colder climes, or would they cause more problems than they solve?
pyruse said:
And you could fix it with a pair of tights if the belt broke. Allegedly; I suspect the hard bit would be getting your female passenger to sacrifice her tights.
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