Nakedhoof

+1

We expect a well documented, and talked about one, too! Take lots of pictures of your victories and defeats.

50pascals

You asked about blocking the radiator - The short answer is yes, you not only want to, you will need to.

The easy way to do this is with cardboard. Heavy, possibly plastic coated. Slip it in front fo the radiator. You will need to remove the shroud / cover to get there.

I have not found any "winter fronts" or grille covers for these cars. Get a scan tool, or the Torque app and watch your coolant return temperature. Anywhere over 100F will be good, as long as you don't overheat. You will find that without the airflow blocked the return temperature will be about 50F and you will not have good heat in the cabin.

AudiFan50629

Thank you, I was actually in the process of building something similar to this today. I was cutting down and seaming together a radiator sized plastic sheet to drop in front of the radiator when you remove the front plastic panel under the hood. Last step is to make clips or hangers of some sort so its not clanking around in there.

But I agree, without that, the temperature won't be stable enough to provide decent heat I think

tenspeed

The early 1950-60's Saabs had a radiator cover on a spring loaded roller like you would find on a window shade. It sat at the base of the radiator and when you needed more engine heat, you would pull it up to cover part or all of the radiator.

What are your fuel plans? I would expect around 15ish MPG which would require a fill up around 300 miles. Are the towns close enough to refuel or do you have to carry extra fuel?

the_duke

I highly doubt any sort of radiator cover will be necessary. But it's not a bad idea to be prepared with something just in case. One thing that wasn't mentioned is snow and ice buildup inside the wheel. If you drive in deep snow or are parked and there is blowing snow it's a pretty common occurrence. Because the inside of the wheels are wide and flat you can get some pretty good buildup inside there and it will cause severe vibration. Usually I just stop in to a car wash and spray out the inside of the wheels. That probably won't be an option so you'll need to come up with a plan to deal with that.

50pascals

A short stick thrown on the floor in the rear drivers side does the trick.

AudiFan50629

I have a roof rack installed with a sizable basket. While I expect fuel to be available along the route, I have 2 six-gallon containers I'll be strapping to the top, along with 1 full size mounted spare and one unmounted spare on top as well. I expect that set up to eat into my MPG quite a bit, so 13-15 mpg on most northern stretches is probably reasonable.

das2.7t

Please take lots of pics and share if you can. Sounds like an awesome trip.

spoon2000

Good call on the extra fuel.

I would also take a flat end shovel aka a "transfer shovel" to dig out underneath if need be -- much more effective than a snow shovel for that purpose.

Are you prepared to have to replace your windshield and/or have tons of rock dings in your hood from flying rocks?

AudiFan50629

Yes I have an emergency snow shovel (to get rid of any banks I see ahead of time) and a flat one should I get perched up on anything.

My hood already has more rock chips than I care to admit, and was probably looking at a repaint anyway. I'm optimistic that once I get off the paved section of highway, it'll be snow covered enough to prevent much flying debris (at least that's what it looks like from the current conditions posted online)