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The screen you mention is attached to the underside of the cowling with this black epoxy goo volvo used all over our vehicles. You can also find it around the widnshield, etc.
To reattach it you have t remove the cowling from the car, flip it over, and reattach the unit somehow to the cowling. You might strip it and glue it, you might tie it up against the cowling with metal wire, or you might use some new epoxy. On my brick I just pulled on the existing epoxy and remashed it all together. I then stapled it (yeah, staples) over itself over the grill and duct taped the ends. It's actually worked amazingly well and hasn't moved in a year. I just couldn't think of a better way to reattach it quickly with the limited matericals I had on hand.
As for whether it's necessary or not... the cowling grill (not the screen) keeps out most of the big stuff. The opening for the air/intake system (that runs down to teh heater blower) is actually well protected by being up off the bottm (there's a 2" or so lip) under a secondary plastic cowling. There is the possibility that stuff could get sucked into the blower, but it isn't as likely as you think (water is a bigger danger)
The reason I wanted the screen in place is a bigger problem you might not think of. The area under teh cowling runs down the side fo the car behind the "volvo" patch and into the hollow runners under the doors. This is supposed to serve as a water drainage system. However, if the debris that falls in the cowling gets down there it can allow water to pull or get wet and rest against the metal. This then causes the whole thing to rust frm the inside out. It actually happened on my brick... I've got a big hole (2") under the passenger's door a a result. Blame volvo for the bad design.
-rt
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