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My 2004 Explorer

Well done.

What are the dimensions of that heat exchanger from the 09 GT500, and what are other common units to compare with? I'm hoping to fit one to the bottom in my 98, with some kind of grille fitted to cover the bumper opening.
 



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Well done.

What are the dimensions of that heat exchanger from the 09 GT500, and what are other common units to compare with? I'm hoping to fit one to the bottom in my 98, with some kind of grille fitted to cover the bumper opening.

Check out my 1998 supercharged Ex thread, there is a picture of the same intercooler radiator (GT500) attached to the front of the truck with the bumper off.
They are about 27 inches long and 6 inches tall. The stock 03-04 Cobra intercooler radiator has the same dimensions but the hose nipples are both on front instead of one on the front and one on the side. Be careful because there are upgraded intercooler radiators that are wider than 27 inches and they wont fit between the frame rails. I will try to post a link.
 






Check out my 1998 supercharged Ex thread, there is a picture of the same intercooler radiator (GT500) attached to the front of the truck with the bumper off.
They are about 27 inches long and 6 inches tall. The stock 03-04 Cobra intercooler radiator has the same dimensions but the hose nipples are both on front instead of one on the front and one on the side. Be careful because there are upgraded intercooler radiators that are wider than 27 inches and they wont fit between the frame rails. I will try to post a link.

Thanks, that's exactly what I was wondering, dimensions to find one that is as large as possible for the space, but not too big/difficult.

I've got a Super Duty trans cooler that I will be cutting the center vertical support out to make fit in my truck. We are very lucky to have so much front grille area for cooling.
 












INTERCOOLER PUMP

Finished the intercooler pump hoses. I have to say I hate worm clamps, they are so ugly.
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DSC00054.JPG
 






INTERCOOLER TANK

Trying to find space for a large intercooler tank under the hood in an Explorer is a challenge.
I would love to relocate the battery and install a large tank there, I even have one that would fit perfectly and was made for that battery spot.
But relocating the battery is not going to happen any time soon so I used a small tank just like the one in my 1998 supercharged Explorer.
The tank is supposed to be for a 03-04 Cobra. Canton makes it as a direct replacement for the stock plastic tank.
It is aluminum and I made a slight modification to the bracket, I bent it facing up to be able to attach it to the inside of the fender.
Since I am only at 10lbs of boost I just got a 10lb cap to top it off.

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STOCK AIR FILTER BOX

Using a cone filter under the hood without a functional intercooler was sucking a lot of hot air so I wanted to try to use the stock air filter box that sucks fresher air from behind the passenger side headlight. There is a small tube that goes from the bottom of the box to the radiator support just behind that headlight. It is not the largest opening so at a later date I plan to open that up by using some black PVC sewer pipe.

1 Air Filter.JPG
2 Lower Box Inlet.JPG
 






MASS AIRFLOW SENSORS

I would have pegged the stock maf with this supercharger so I bought a 2002 Explorer maf that was off a 4.6L engine to test out. The stock airbox for my 2004 has a 2.5 inch(63.5mm) opening where the slot maf goes. This 2002 maf has a larger hole, I will have to measure it but at a guess I will say 3 inches.
I picked up an adaptor for the harness to make it plug and play for some experiments. It all bolts together nicely but I was close to pegging the maf, I was hitting the maf counts just above one down from the top (aprox 4.7 volts). I was in fear that a really cold day with high atmospheric pressure would result in a pegged maf, a lean condition, and a busted engine. The opening on the 2002 Explorer top box has bolt holes around it to attach the MAF sensor housing, time to experiment with different housings!

Note: I programmed the PCM to use the top line(1023 counts) in the maf transfer function. It normally does not and see's voltage readings that high(over 4.7-4.8) as a fault. This could cause the PCM to switch from the maf to the load with failed maf table and if that is not dialed in could result in a very lean condition. And you dial in the load with failed maf after dialing in the maf transfer function so you can see how it is important to tell the PCM to use that area at the top of the maf transfer function.

MAF transfer function 2002.jpg

3 2002 Explorer MAF.JPG
4 2002 Top box.JPG
 






PMAS maf housing

I found a housing from PMAS that accepts a slot style sensor and bolts to the 2002 Explorer 4.6L air box. The housing is for a mustang and has an 85mm opening. I figured I would try to install the stock 2004 slot maf in the housing and see if it would work, going from a 2.5 inch to aprox 3 inch housing should allow the maf to work without pegging was my thought. Unfortunately it hit the spot right below the top box in the maf transfer function with this set up.
I also obtained an SCT BA5000 sensor to experiment with, but it was only using about 2 thirds of the maf transfer function when installed in the 85mm PMAS housing.
Look at how the sensor is supposed to install on the PMAS housing, I was like "you have to be kidding me".
Is it just me, did anybody consider that the maf should be installed securely? This makes me lose faith in the future of mankind.
The housing that accepts the slot style maf was a great idea, but to suggest that the sensor should be installed with out a flange is just plain thoughtless.

5 MAF housings.JPG
6 MAF Housings 2.JPG
8 PMAS housing defect.JPG
9 BA5000.JPG
 






PMAS

Below shows the PMAS installed, it sure is a good looking part.
I ordered a slot maf flange, I may have it welded on for future testing purposes.
The maf transfer function screenshot below was mostly dialed in, it was the stock maf sensor in the PMAS housing. (Was almost pegging as noted above in previous post)
Note: The voltages in the left column are in black because they are the stock data points in the stock tune, I did not see a need to change them for this maf sensor and housing setup. The stock 2002 4.6L setup was the same way.
To get the maf transfer function close when I first started the tuning, I just multiplied the stock transfer function by 1.9. After my first datalog I used the histogram function in LiveLink Gen2 to get it much closer. Using the histogram with LTFT and maf counts (actual data points typed in the labels box) you can easily dial in your maf transfer function after a long test drive.
7 PMAS Housing.JPG
10 PMAS installed.JPG
Stock Maf PMAS housing.jpg

LTFT MAF Histogram 1.jpg
LTFT MAF Histogram 2.jpg
 






BA5000 in 2.5 inch housing

So after all this experimenting, I ended up trying the BA5000 in the stock 2004 airfilter box and it worked pretty good.
There was even a value file for the BA5000 in a 2.5 inch tube, of course it only got me close and I am still dialing it in but the results are favorable.
Since I used the value file to start out with, the data points (volts column on left) are red(some blue). I may change them back to stock, you can change them to get more resolution in problem areas if needed.
I am hitting about 730 counts with this setup, so I have 5 boxes in the maf transfer function before I hit the top box. A little safety margin while experimenting is what I wanted.

11 Stock AirBox BA5000.JPG
BA5000 MAF stock box.jpg
 






What holds that pump on, are there nuts on the other side of the frame?

I agree about the clamps. Pushlok fittings are better because they don't have to have clamps, but the yellow is ugly too. They're just barbed fittings with extra sharp barbs that dig into the hose itself.
 






What holds that pump on, are there nuts on the other side of the frame?

I agree about the clamps. Pushlok fittings are better because they don't have to have clamps, but the yellow is ugly too. They're just barbed fittings with extra sharp barbs that dig into the hose itself.

Those bolts go through the frame rail and there are lock/crush nuts on the other side. I drilled two holes in the frame for the bolts to go through and with the front bumper off I could go through the front of the frame rail with a wrench to hold the nuts while tightening. My 1998 has the same pump but it is bolted to a bracket that is bolted to the frame rail with large self tapping bolts.(never came loose)
 






Very good, great progress there.

For the MAF, with your real world experience with the positive displacement blowers, can you point me to a best model? I've got a BA2600 I planned to use for the KB 2200, but it'll go on my 347 and be NA only. I hope to hit the 14psi range and stay below 6000rpm. The goal is 500hp, and the TB may be the large oval kind, with a big MAF of at least 90mm.
 






I have a question on the histogram.
Do you make adjustments using ltft as an inverse just like stft's?

I thought about using ltft's in the past for tuning.
 






Very good, great progress there.

For the MAF, with your real world experience with the positive displacement blowers, can you point me to a best model? I've got a BA2600 I planned to use for the KB 2200, but it'll go on my 347 and be NA only. I hope to hit the 14psi range and stay below 6000rpm. The goal is 500hp, and the TB may be the large oval kind, with a big MAF of at least 90mm.

Probably not, lol.
I never tuned a 347 stroker before but the SCT BA2600 should be good up to 650 HP (crank), according to internet information.
If you are going for 500 at the crank the BA2600 in its 90mm housing should work fine. You could try it naturally aspirated and see where maf counts go up to.
This is just a guess, seeing the maf transfer function in the tune and a datalog with maf counts at WOT would tell us more.

Tim just got a new MAF and it seems to work well, I forget what brand it was. Dono has a 347 too, I wonder what maf he is using.
I have tuned mafs with 3 different connectors, they all seemed to work well. The size of the housing really affects them so keep that in mind.
And shape and design are what is limiting me, what kind of air intake tube are you going to use?
 






I have a question on the histogram.
Do you make adjustments using ltft as an inverse just like stft's?

I thought about using ltft's in the past for tuning.

No, LTFT works the other way. The right way. lol..
No inverse, just what you see in LTFT.
 






INTERCOOLER PUMP SWITCH

Finished installing the intercooler pump switch and relay today.
Took it out for a ride. dropped the IAT 34 degree's from 180 to 146 at peak boost/rpm.

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IAT 180.jpg
IAT 146.jpg
 






I thought about using ltft's in the past for tuning.

If you set it up properly you can copy the whole column of learned LTFT's after a long ride, then select "paste special" and select multiply and it does the whole maf transfer function at once. Talk about fast. lol.
Experiment and use at your own risk.
 



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ba5000 (pmas equivalent) in a 3" tube. the last wot log I did (far too long ago) was up to 754 and a load of 1.18. I really need to get a wot log done as I am scaled for load of 1.25 max. I won't be maxing this maf out.

Awesome job on the inter-cooler. The whole setup could easily pass for factory. Nice drop in iat's, well worth the effort.

My last wot shows a max iat of 132 (ambient temp was 62, obviously early spring, lol).

Thanks for the help on the ltft's. I'll copy your work (using my maf transfer numbers) on the histogram as its a lot more fun doing that than the monotony of transposing numbers.
 






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