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K&N Intake

The HP and Torque numbers are the same for the 2011 as they are for the 2015 with the 3.5L V6 engine.
290 HP @ 6500 RPM
255 (lb-ft) @ 4000 RPM

Did you kit include a metal or carbon fibre intake tube. Metal will heat up and heat the intake air, thus reducing the effect of "cold air intake".

Peter

Thanks, Peter, I was fairly certain the numbers for the '11 were the same as mine, I just hadn't looked it up.

As far as the 'cold air' aspect of these systems, it is very subjective anyway. All it really means is that the system is ducted to receiving cold air. The Ex is already set up that way with the 'snorkel' mount it uses of which is reused with the K&N system.

The K&N for the Ex does use a 'metal' [aluminum] tube and may reduce the effect as you say. However being smooth surfaced, it may eliminate the restrictions of air flow that the stock air tube may have. If K&N's number claims are true, then the system does improve performance, regardless of the 'heat' involved.

This is why I was looking for someone who's done a before and after dyno with the K&N. The bottom line though is, will it change the performance experience you already know about when driving. Will it make a noticeable, positive, difference. Reading some of the threads in this post, it has for some. This can only be taken to mean that the 'numbers' may have improved. That remains to be seem for myself.

Also, I'm a 'tinkerer' and will probably attempt to address some of the issues involved with heat and sound with this CAI. Like, what would the effect be if I used 'exhaust wrap' on the tube? I only wish I had access to a dyno for testing without the expense of paying for it each time. :D :salute:



Instead of starting a new thread, I thought I would just add to this one. As I mentioned before, I went ahead and installed the K&N today with no drama involved. I took my time doing it so that I could further inspect and make note of things not easily seen with the air box and tube in the way. I was a little amazed at what Ford did to accommodate the starter as they engineered a 'pocket' into the tranny housing for clearance. Anyway I found that interesting. After the install, I was pleased that the CAI cleaned up the area well and opened it up a bit more. The tyranny dipstick is more accessible now. :)

It was interesting to see how the snorkel relates to the 'cold air' condition but, was a bit disappointed in all the open area left around the housing mount for the filter. It's a little odd that they designed it this way and even odder that they would attempt a 'seal' using the supplied seal strip. A half-arsed approach. Be that as it may, I already have an idea how to remedy this and complete a job they didn't. Just have to decide what materials will be appropriate to do this. What ever I come up with, I'd like it to involve aircraft aluminum.

I'd also like to note that I did not disconnect the battery to do this job. I understand K&N's desire for this but, I found it unnecessary. YMMV but, the only electrical component to deal with was the MAF and it's not powered anyway when the engine is off. I just didn't want to deal with resetting everything in My Touch. ;)

When I finished, I did the obligatory road test, hearing for the first time, the sound created by this thing and found it to be, well...funny. I can't imagine wanting my engine to sound like that. It was what I can only describe as comical. However, it is what it is and I think I can deal with toning it down to lesser degree with some modification. None of my Mustangs or even my Ranger ever put out a noise I wanted to change. Not like this one. :D

Anyway, I wanted to put up my first impressions of the K&N and it needs some work as noted. On my drive, I think I noticed a better throttle response but, I have to run it more to decide if that's the case. I've thought that there is a slight delay in throttle response since I had it. Time will tell. As for my thoughts on increased performance, I did not focus on it. I'll either notice it or not the next time I need to punch it. I'll know then if it's changed anything other than the funny noise it makes. ;) :salute:
 



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Has anyone HAD to tune their explorer after a K&N CAI is installed. In other words is it a necessity or will the XS run smoothly with just replacing the CAI?

I am told that you would have to TUNE the XS if putting in any type of CAI...

Just got a '15 Explorer Sport
 






Has anyone HAD to tune their explorer after a K&N CAI is installed. In other words is it a necessity or will the XS run smoothly with just replacing the CAI?

I am told that you would have to TUNE the XS if putting in any type of CAI...

Just got a '15 Explorer Sport
Welcome to the Forum. :wavey:
Time to update your profile or add the new ride to your signature,:):thumbsup:

Peter
 
























K&N air filter - thoughts?

There's got to be a thread for this already, but can't find it. Anyone replace their stock air filter with a K&N filter? Wondering what your reviews might be...run into any problems since putting it in, any boost in performance? Worth it or not?
 






There's got to be a thread for this already, but can't find it. Anyone replace their stock air filter with a K&N filter? Wondering what your reviews might be...run into any problems since putting it in, any boost in performance? Worth it or not?

Yes there is and I merged your thread with it.

You were probably searching in the stock forum. If you do a search for all forums, it will find it using "k&n"
 






K&n

Fordgrl,

I have a K & N filter that fits in stock air box. It has worked well for past 200,000 miles.

GOOD points of K & N air filter...

Reusable, just rinse and spray on oil.
Might be better filter, if you keep up on the maintenance.
Might get better mileage, but I did not specifically measure this.

BAD points of K & N air filter....

Oiled filter can be tough on Mass Air Flow sensor, when excess oil gets on the MAF, but you can clean the MAF, if necessary. And try not to over oil the filter.

My conclusion... Probably a good purchase, over time.

Mr. Alligator
430,000 miles on 97 Explorer and still driving across the country.
 






Yes there is and I merged your thread with it.

You were probably searching in the stock forum. If you do a search for all forums, it will find it using "k&n"

Thanks!!
 






Fordgrl,

I have a K & N filter that fits in stock air box. It has worked well for past 200,000 miles.

GOOD points of K & N air filter...

Reusable, just rinse and spray on oil.
Might be better filter, if you keep up on the maintenance.
Might get better mileage, but I did not specifically measure this.

BAD points of K & N air filter....

Oiled filter can be tough on Mass Air Flow sensor, when excess oil gets on the MAF, but you can clean the MAF, if necessary. And try not to over oil the filter.

My conclusion... Probably a good purchase, over time.

Mr. Alligator
430,000 miles on 97 Explorer and still driving across the country.

Thanks much! Pretty much what I was thinking but I wanted to hear from experience. :)
 






Point that K&N to the sun, and look through it. You will see the open holes and how your engine won't see clean air ever again.
Coming from a diesel performance background, a K&N is probably the single worst filter on the market, and nobody who wants their engine to last uses them.

There are much better aftermarket choices on the market that actually filter air.
 






Tuscany:

There are much better aftermarket choices on the market that actually filter air.

Such as?
 






Personally, I would stick with stock. Air intake velocity and restriction may have an effect on a high performance supercharged large CI engine, but not a little turbo four or V-6.
And stock still offers the best filtration for keeping out tolerance killing grit.
But if I somehow thought a CAI would help, which it doesn't, I would probably go with a direct replacement from a company who makes a multi layered gauze product like S&B.

The irony is that the dirtier an air filter gets, the better the filtration. So a clean K&N is about as bad as it gets for an engine, and a filthy dirty oiled K&N would do the best job.....but now your air flow is less than stock.
So pick your poison.
 






Point that K&N to the sun, and look through it. You will see the open holes and how your engine won't see clean air ever again.
Coming from a diesel performance background, a K&N is probably the single worst filter on the market, and nobody who wants their engine to last uses them.

There are much better aftermarket choices on the market that actually filter air.

Yeah I read that line on the duramax forum too. meh, ever really look hard at your paper element one? some of them (not all) are worse than that and they have no oil boundary layer to distribute the dirt pattern
 






can someone download an application to their phone that measures 1/4 mile performance and make a few passes on the same day with and without the cold air kit and report the mph and time? 1/10 of a sec and 1 mph would be significant :D
 






I got to thinking about putting a new filter box mod on the explorer as I have done something to every car I've owned. They were however all GM cars, and the one 2012 ford focus. I did nothing to the focus because the filter it used and the hole it had to breath through - mathematically seems plenty. turns out that was right on.

On all my other cars I have had a KN or other flavor of oil filter and some airbox tube or such mod. Even having a pipe kit for my GTO - which helped that LS1 tremendously.

SO a few things that bother me and I see it all the time.

OIl filters don't clean for anything - this is a new twist going around. Now compared to what exactly- if you use a fram paper air filter. Stop now you've already wasted most of your time. There are, some, very dense packed paper element air filters out there. Most say Bosch, Delco, Wix on the boxes. Some are indeed designed to trap very tight down to the microns. Most however- do not. They also will flex in the box under high vacuum, or rather high MAP. (it's a matter of how you measure it)

But KN and Green and other oil filters with a gauze weave with the right oil, and amount, and solid backing - clean just as well or better that MOST paper filters. I said most not all. If you maintain them - and some do not - they work great.

That bit about the dirt brittle in teh bottom of the chrysler 4 cylinder - could have just as easily been about the **** oil filter the person used than it was bout the air filter they used. I have had the pan on my G8GT once already - mostly because I thought it leaked. at 121K miles, most of which with a KN air filter. It was clean in side. Clean, as in no sludge - no dirt, nothing - not even on the magnet. Now I do use good oil filters and I use decent oil. But no the KN filter on that car didn't put mica dirt in the oil pan.

CAI kit caused the car to resonate at _________ RPM. OF course it did. Look at what you replaced again. SOmeone else mentioned it, good on them.. Those boxes you see off the sides of the main tube - they are resonators but more importantly they are accumulators. This of it this way, under certain RPM ranges the air flow the engine needs causes sudden increases in the vacuum in the air tube. Those accumulators help provide a instant supply while giving the tube time to refill. Basically they help level out the pressures along the whole tube. replacing with metal - and taking some flex out of the system - and the pipe will want to ring. I suspect due to RPM it will resonate more at 5800 ish RPM - but you can't hear it due to other noises.

MAF coatings and killing them with oil - only if you put the filter in sopping wet and immediately start your car. OH and hey - clean your maf every so many miles regardless of the filter type you use. I do mine about once per year. AEM, KN, Green they all have guidance about how wet is wet, and how much coverage you need. Follow the instructions and let the filter sit for some time before installing - let alone starting your car. Yes you can kill a MAF sensor - not saying oyu can but anyone that does so reoiling their filters is doing it all wrong. ALso if you car has gone more than 3 years and 50K miles already - perhaps you should clean your maf and your throttle body.

Oil and gauze filters don't make power or increase MPG: Well short of you replacing everying and mucking up the works. Any filter or airbox mods that helps the engine breathe in fresh air - helps with power and MPG. Now will the Computer adapt. Most cars built after 2000 have a return loop and will over time adapt it's Air Fuel ratio maps accordingly. It takes time- why do they want you to pull the battery cable with a tube mod- to reset the short term trims in the computer. Yes getting colder air in the hole is more dense air, which if mixed with the right amount of fuel makes more power. But far far more importantly. It takes X tq for the engine to pull in the required intake charge per cylinder. Reducing X, frees up load for the engine. WHich will eventually free up fuel burned for equal load. So far on every car I have done a modification to I have gotten better mpg. I won't go so far as to say the mod alone increased the HP - because I never measured it that way.
 






Specific to the explorer - more specifically the 2016 model 3.5L TI-VCT or Duratec engine. (do they still call it that?)

first thing I notice in the air path - there is a small snorkel under the hood, over the radiator to pull fresh air directly into the air box - free of heat in the engine bay.

Removing that would be a bad thing.

The air box - or filter box itself seems rather small for the displacement of the engine. I say that comparing it to the box used on the 2012 focus for a 2.0L 4 banger. I expected a bigger filter, this I think is a minor issue. Other comparison the box on my 6.2L V8 was more than twice the size. 6.2/2 - 3.1L. SO rough order I expected to see a bigger filter box. Not horrible by any means but I feel like the engine is being held back due to packaging issues.

The tube has 2 nodes on it that are hollow for accumulation. Quite common on non-performance oriented cars. quiets down the intake noise. I like it but the rest of the tube restricts quite a bit.

Now I'll stop here - keep in mind something - FORD tested this engine, AS INSTALLED in the applications (IE in the explorer). So This hit their targets for design need. same to be said for the ecoboost installation which I didn't spend a lot of time looking at. So straying too far from this design is probably going to be detrimental to some aspect of the performance. Often noise - they spends lots of money on tuning for noises.

If going up significantly in pipe diameter- you could lose the accumulators. But you'll find you'll need to neck back down at the throttle body and you'll have to do something about the MAF pocket.

Changing the diameter of the area near the MAF will affect it's calibration - so that's complicated. If you don't care about noise - leave the existing tube.

Efficiency - what you want to do is make it easier for the engine to breathe. I can see where you might open the bottom of the filter box to the side and make a tube from the wheel well dead zone - so it can pull air from down there, AND through the existing snorkel. Or perhaps - make the top snorkel larger while still closing it off from the rest of the engine bay. IE you do not want to make a path for hot bay air to come in if you can help it.

Insulation - Not really necessary unless you spend much of your time in stop and go traffic. If you have a metal tube and want to go that way. Coatings suck. Polished tubes are better due to effects of radiation. IE heat radiates as IR light - polished or shiny metals reflected the heat away, where that nifty powder coating will store it in. It is a minimal effect but if wanting to go all out might as well get all you can.

Also metal tubes aren't bad - if done right they will get cold. All that air flowing though the tube while the engine is running, if the system is rigged right - will actually cool the tube to where it is cold to the touch.

Dry filter - I see nothing wrong with the idea and I will try one if I can get one for the explorer. I'm curious as to how they will workout. Otherwise I was going to use a Green Filter. At 17K miles our paper filter is already grey and needed replacement. Not that surprised. I should have gotten to it at 10K miles.
 






Personally, I would stick with stock. Air intake velocity and restriction may have an effect on a high performance supercharged large CI engine, but not a little turbo four or V-6.
And stock still offers the best filtration for keeping out tolerance killing grit.
But if I somehow thought a CAI would help, which it doesn't, I would probably go with a direct replacement from a company who makes a multi layered gauze product like S&B.

The irony is that the dirtier an air filter gets, the better the filtration. So a clean K&N is about as bad as it gets for an engine, and a filthy dirty oiled K&N would do the best job.....but now your air flow is less than stock.
So pick your poison.

Finally, someone who gets it. I will never put a K&N in my vehicles. K&N is fine for weekend cruisers or for extracting every last HP, but for daily driver, stick with OEM type.

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html
 



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can someone download an application to their phone that measures 1/4 mile performance and make a few passes on the same day with and without the cold air kit and report the mph and time? 1/10 of a sec and 1 mph would be significant :D
If you're into racing.;)

Peter
 






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