I just pulled the air silencer out of the airbox and drilled three 1 inch holes in it also. I was wondering what, if any gain did I get from this besides a throatier sound. Did I gain any hp and torque or did I lose any hp or torque? It sounds alot meaner now. Next is custom exhaust. Let me know guys. Thanks for all the help.

as far as numbers go, who knows how much you gained?...not much, but it is definintely worth doing (im sure you know that a lot of guys do the same thing.)

its definitely a less restrictive setup. think of it this way: try running a marathon with a gas mask on; now run without it. big difference, huh? (and, no, i dont actually expect you to go run a marathon) ;)

If I had to guess I would say 5hp maybe. Get a drop in K&N and you should get about 10hp. The reason I say this is I usually can't "feel" anything less than a 10hp gain and I definately felt a big difference when I cut my airbox and added a K&N. Definately add an exhaust. With those 2 mods, I gained some power and gas mileage. Good luck.

Sounds good! Where do I drill?

Dumb question from an explorer newbie. Where is the air silencer on a 96' 6 cyl? I already have a K&N, but the tip of its cone fits into a rubber sleeve. Am I missing something?

More stupidity....Where is the actual intake? I can see that it runs into the fender well, but I can't see where the air actually enters the intake. Is it under the fenderwell cover?

I know, I know - all dumb questions, but I'd rather ask than tear it apart looking.

Thanks,

Douglas

Good job on taking out the silencer. I went 1 step further by enlarging the hole to 4" on the airbox and the shield and hooking a 4" dryer hose to it. I know that fuel milage and power improved. Hopefully, I go to track this spring to find out what the plug wire, K&N filter, shift kit and "cold air" did to improve performance. I should be able to estimate HP from there.

Originally posted by checkedout
Sounds good! Where do I drill?

You can either drill holes or do what I did and use a Dremel and cut a big square on the front of the air box. Either way you go, only drill/cut the front to try and keep the engine pulling the cooler air through the headlight/grill. Make sure you don't cut the top 1 inch of the air box to allow room for the depth of the filter.