Bullnose cold weather grill cover

This thing popped up for sale locally for $20 bucks.

I have no use for it, but I thought it was an interesting Bullnose era accessory. Good for a diesel in the winter I'd imagine.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1518577234

That's cool!  I've never seen one of those.

As a kid I was of the opinion that those kinds of things weren't necessary, that the thermostat staying closed would cause the engine to get warm enough.  Then we had a serious cold snap here in Okiehoma and it got to -14F.  Our car wouldn't get warm w/o cardboard in front, and apparently no one else's would either as everyone had the radiator blocked off.

So, it must be that it isn't the radiator but the engine block itself that has to be protected from the cold air?

Gary Lewis wrote

That's cool!  I've never seen one of those.

As a kid I was of the opinion that those kinds of things weren't necessary, that the thermostat staying closed would cause the engine to get warm enough.  Then we had a serious cold snap here in Okiehoma and it got to -14F.  Our car wouldn't get warm w/o cardboard in front, and apparently no one else's would either as everyone had the radiator blocked off.

So, it must be that it isn't the radiator but the engine block itself that has to be protected from the cold air?

These covers used to be pretty common up here Gary, and I still see them on the 18-wheelers all the time in the winter. It would mainly be for the diesels out here on the east coast, but out west where it gets truly cold you'd see these covers on just about anything, gas or diesel.

I'm not familiar with the Bullnose era diesels at all, but I've been running diesel Volkswagens for years, and they are truly difficult to get warmed up in the winter time, and left at idle...they will never warm up (not like a gas engine will). You have to drive them and work them to make heat.

Neat!
I picked up a Deflecta-Shield brand one not too long ago just to have in the rare occasion it's needed (similar climate to Gary). It does have one 'problem' though and the photo on the box for the one you found shows it well. Essentially it's too big. Not for functionality or anything but purely from a standpoint of not wanting to screw into the headlight bezels or the chrome bar above and below the grill. Mine didn't show a photo so I was thinking I would just find a cheap jy or aftermarket grill that could be swapped during winter weather.
So just a heads up.

Aren't they held in with snaps? My buddy had one on his Ranger, and the snaps were bolted to the grille shell.

Yep - they have button snaps and you screw the button stud to the headlight bezels and top/bottom pieces. Basically the snaps border outside the grill. Which again, is fine from a functionality standpoint. I just don't want to drill into those pieces and would rather just have the cover snap onto the grill itself so that you could have a winter and summer grill. Purely a cosmetic concern.

I had a cover like that on my 86 K5 Diesel Blazer.
I would install it when it got to 40*f or below as it helped heat up faster.
Only time I would need to un-zip is if it got up to 60*f or if it was 40* and was pulling my trailer on the high way.

Mine had snaps across the top and used small bungies on the bottom.
I did have to cut the bottom corners for the turn / park lights.

BTW diesels don't make any heat unless under power.
I could of had it idling for hours with the cover and not get any heat to come out the heater and the stat was working.
Dave ----