Should I put mesh on air scoop?
 

My left rad started leaking at the end of the season.
Just got to looking into the situation.

The rad is beat to hell by rocks I guess.
I'm thinking about putting mesh on the scoop to prevent rocks from getting to the new Rad I will be putting.

Will this restrict airflow to the rads?

Does anybody make such a insert?

It will restrict airflow but it will be a minuscule amount of difference. They make mesh inserts for the 1997-2002 style bumper but I’ve never seen any for the 2003-2004 style but it’s very easy to make your own mesh inserts with the mesh gutter guards from a hardware store for less than 10$. I made my own out of the gutter guards but ended up removing them after a few days because of how many bugs just stuck to it.


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The front Rad on the drivers side is for AC?

There is an engine coolant rad plus an A/C condenser on each side, left and right. The A/C unit is mounted in front of the coolant rad. On an 'S' model there is a third engine coolant rad in the centre.

I replaced my drivers side coolant rad last spring after I found a very small pin hole leak when doing my yearly rad cleaning. The A/C unit is slightly smaller that the coolant rad and stones or other debris can get to the lowest section on the rad which is where my pinhole leak was. While I had the bumper off put in some gutter guard screens to hopefully prevent stones from getting in there. I still plan on a yearly rad cleaning.

Yes, you should have screens/mesh over the radiator air intakes on the front bumper cover. Otherwise, debris will enter and can damage the radiator fins which can reduce cooling efficiency.

Screens are pretty easy to make and mount and unless you select a incredibly fine screen, they won't reduce cooling efficiency.

Here is a link with photos: http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/36662-radiator-grills.html

Or you can buy here: Great deals from zunsport | eBay stores

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Most other cars have a fine meshed grille but our cars either have 2 or 3 big cavities open to cigarette butts and other large debri. If you don't want to spend much$$ or time just get some rain gutter mesh (black plastic) they come 6in wide and cut to size and fasten. Very cheap and takes about 15 min!

After cleaning a lot of leaves, cigarette butts, feathers, fur?? and unidentified composted, compacted material out of my ac condensers and radiators, I made grills out of powder coated hi-flow grill material from CCG. The perforations are honeycomb shaped and the material is very rigid. Wanting to retain the stock look of my SE, I went with black instead of silver. No identifiable negative impact on cooling. Pretty much eliminated any worry of puncture damage. Much easier to clean the grills rather than the rads & condensers.
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Anybody have a video of how to change the rad?

Just checked it. I have a small pin hole at the top of the coolant rad.

I know, the top. The bottom is fine???

I want to replicate that on my own SE. What is “CCG”?

It’s a company called CustomCarGrills (dot com).They sell some pre-made kits but their selection of raw grill, trim and attachment materials is excellent. No affiliation with the company but I bought some stuff both directly from their web site and through Amazon if I remember correctly. I selected them because they publish detail specs on their grill material. YYMV, but I was happy with them.

As per what everyone else above said.. Buy mesh, cut mesh, cable tie mesh in place.

If you spend more than $5, to purchase the mesh... and the ties... for both the side vents and front vents...

I did mine while cleaning out the radiators. Took an hour. Looks nice, and the car has been mistaken for cars that cost tens of dollars more.

Zunsport
 

I purchased these just after getting my Boxster over 4 years ago....was never sorry

These are really well made, not cheap

My screens in stainless steel meshhttp://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1512639816.jpg

grills
 

The previous owner of my black 986S had the two outside grills painted red. I knew from the first time I saw it that I would be painting them satin black as soon as winter was here. The bumper comes off pretty easy and I pulled the two grills and wet sanded them in the kitchen sink. I already have a filtered dust collector in the shop and fashioned a small paint booth out of cardboard. I wiped them down a second time with 3M grease and wax remover and shot them with a higher quality spray paint made for plastic. They turned out looking very nice.
While I had the bumper off I cut a pieces of aluminum mesh that I had leftover from a previous project for the center radiator opening. I cut it to size with about a 3/8" overlap. Then I formed a 90 degree lip around the mesh using a small anvil and body hammer. I sanded down the new grill with a scotch brite pad and painted it satin black as well. The front bumper has gussets molded in the plastic around the inside of the center port. I drilled 1/8" holes carefully through the center of each gusset all the way around the center port. Then I used small zip ties through the holes and through the grill to hold it all tightly in place. I think I used around 16 zip ties. Overall I am pleased with the results and and cost was next to nothing. I'll see if I can post a picture later.
Cheers. Ernie

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Go for it. Easy to fabricate yourself with some "gutter guard", tin snips, spray paint, and black cable ties.

While you're at it, also sand and paint the plastic grills.

No overheating problems for me, and it keeps all the leaves and rocks out of there.

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My bumper cover wasn’t in great condition and the grills were awful so ...


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Edit: Wow that picture came out big.