f4 plt

Last week I had my dealer install a set of front grill screens on my 997 GT3. From delivery I was concerned with the lack of protection for the coolers hidden within the large openings in the front bumper cover. I got the grills from Alex at Sharkwerks. The quality is excellent and they are powder coated black The installation is clean, the grills are recessed and unless you are looking for them invisible. They do protect the front coolers very well and do not seem to restrict air flow at all ( an important consideration in 100 degree weather). I took Alex's suggestion and had the dealer drill small holes in the back side of the front bumper cover and install the grills with small black tie-wraps. I would recommend this enhancement to all GT3 and RS owners for both street and track.

BBTurbo

Any pics? Are the grill available in Stainless? How many hours to install?

f4 plt

i had the car in for the RMS fix so the dealer did it while it was there and I was told a little over an hour. I won't be home until Weds. but then I will take some pictures as I had promised Alex Ross (Sharkwerks) that I would. I think he had told me that they were also available in stainless but since my car is white and I wanted them to blend in and be somewhat invisible I choose black. Look on the Sharkwerks web site for details.

Brian S

Skip grill screens, use 1" thick air conditioner filters (they come without the side board in a big sheet, only blue but you can paint it black but keep it light) and cut them to size, the radiators and holes are actually quite a bit larger than you would expect so cut large first until you can get the template. 3 of us are using them in houston with plenty of 100 degree day track days with no temperature problems. Once wedged in, mine have not fallen out or even moved with over 1000 track miles.

These have protected my radiators from two bird impacts at over 100mph, It would have to be a pretty impressive mesh install to match that but if you think the filter idea is too ghetto you absolutely NEED something or you will be replacing radiators at some point.

chardonet

Brian:

Your set up has piqued my interest. I may give it a shot very soon, as I run exposed right now. For those of you that have the screens, how do you get the muck out between the screens and the radiators? Can it be vacuumed out? Thanks.

KenW

Brian, Sounds very interesting.
Any photos? Please?
Thanks.

C.J. Ichiban

chardonet, I've got screens and the grass or weeds that get stuck come out with some tapping and if necessary the vacuum.

Brian S

Here are a couple pictures, sorry my car is still dirty but I pulled one of the sides out to give you an idea just how big they are.

Brian S

there are two types at lowes/home depot, this one which has a bunch of tiny pieces of wood woven/glued together and starts off kind of dark green and then there is an all synthetic blue open cell foam type of material. I've tried both now, and I think less bugs stick to the blue foam. you wouldn't believe the amount of debris I pulled out of the front of that vent when I removed the pad, there was seriously a mcdonalds cup and a wad of tin foil down in there and I only drove it to the track, ran 200 miles and drove home for a total of about two tanks of gas.

the best part is that they're less than $5, and you just cut new ones if you want to replace them instead of cleaning them.

MarekN

I would be slightly concerned about air flow with such a plug. I know that when you put it to your mouth and blow, there seems to be hardly any resistance. But what happens when the air is flowing at 100 mph?

MarekN

Another thing, these plugs look like perfect thermal isolators, hardly what you need for radiators to work.

Hanz

Many of us install screens because we think that it is inevitable that the radiators will get damaged. Has anyone actually punctured a radiator? If it's really such a problem why doesn't Porsche install them or better yet offer it as a high priced option (I know they make Cup Car screens)? They have no problem selling us tons of stuff so an intentional design flaw is not necessary to sell us radiators. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the screens cut airflow. Check the percentage of flow a screen will block (20-30% easy). Those HEPA filters look way to restrictive (the radiators can definitely withstand pollen and dust mites!). Unless your running an endurance race (or the LIE on a summer weekend headed East!) I think Porsche has sufficiently overengineered the cooling system that it won't make a difference. So I'm happy with my fairly tight weave stainless steel mesh. It keeps the acorns out in the fall and looks very racecarish to my eye.

Brian S

Because the gt3 isn't meant to be a street driven car, although the birds I hit are always on the track. I'm not exactly sure what would have happened to the grill without the filter material in place but the white dove (small bird) dented the radiator past just the thin fins. not enough to cause a leak but you can certainly see the impact mark from 120mph or so when I hit him. I too ask myself why porsche didn't design this better and if it's required.. but I am happy with my solution.

My screens obviously impact air flow more than say a carbon or steel mesh, you can see in that picture above that you can not see all the way through it even on the ground. That being said I drove for over half a tank of gas almost straight (time enough to come in for water) last weekend in 102 degree weather with 80% humidity and I never saw over 175 degrees on the water temp and never more than 1 mark below the 250 degree mark on the oil (240 maybe?)

Here is a picture of the entire front of the car, it was parked in the garage backwards last night so I couldn't get it until now. And it's still not clean :P

Brian S

That does look nice especially on the silver car, well done.

Alan Smithee

I've had a rock puncture the AC condenser on a regular 997 (can't remember which side it's on, but I imagine it's in the same place on the GT3). While it won't leave you stranded, it wasn't cheap to replace.