DIY Grille cover?

[z0mb13k1ll]

I live in Canada and winters are always hard on my car, mostly the fact that it struggles to stay warm, out of my last 20 recorded trips my car got to ~80C (180F) only 3 times. It is averaging 66.5C which is within acceptable range, but by less than 2 degrees.


I usually end up getting very little warm air from the vents. My cooling system is running 19PSI which isn't optimal for cold conditions, Is there some way to DIY a Grille cover? Nobody sells them for the car because they believe only large diesel vehicles need it, but i'd like to not be a popsicle inside the car while driving.

Was thinking about doing something on either the bottom half or top half of the split grille, I would cover it completely and let the air come in through the very bottom grille but it gets blocked with snow quite often so i don't want overheating all of the sudden.

Would some black quilted leather (or similar) with some grommets in it work? I could bolt it through the grille and use large washers or just use cable ties.