3rd Gen Explorer mods

[awdrocks]

Hello everyone,

I would like to start a thread for modified 3rd Gen Explores. I have looked everywhere and have not found one specifically on this subject. I hope im not alone on this one.

I have a 2002 Eddie and these are my mods:
custom cold air intake
JBA headers
no cats
Borla cat back
bored block .020 over
JE 9.3 CR forged pistons
Eagle H-Beam rods
AED roots ported M90 9psi supercharger
stock limited slip diffs with 3.73's
SCT flash
30lbs injectors
70mm throttle body
Eibach springs
Monro gas adjust shocks

Im building this now and should be done in about two weeks.

VERY near future mods are:
4.10's
2,800 stall converter
MAYBE relay to turn off AWD for the hard launches
42lbs injectors
250 fuel pump
70mm L-MAF
Noszle 100hp shot

Later this year mods:
ported and polished heads
bigger valves stronger springs
OR
do the same to a 3v head conversion and use a different blower.

Im hoping that with the mods I will have in the next two weeks to be somewhere in the 13's.

Maybe with the future mods dip into the 12's.

I have no idea what to expect with E/T's. Im hope there are people out there that have experimented with 3rd gen explorers and can give us some feed back and what they have found, along with maybe your related finding on hits and misses. But im DIEING to read what E/T's people are now pulling in 3rd gen Explorers...

Hope this thread sparks like wild flowers!!!

 

[dannyb420]

3rd gen mods? Im in!

Im in for that! I am waiting for this crappy weather to end, then Im doing quite a bit of work. Its hard to find many people doing mods to 3rd generation explorers. Thanks for the idea!

 

[awdrocks]

THIS POST IS FROM:
rocket 5979


First off I want to say THANK GOD THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE BESIDES ME!!!

One another note if I were you I would not be going with 4.10 or 4.30 gears especially. With the positive displacement type charger that the AED roots is it will roast those tires way more than you want. And IF you were able to get the power to stick to the ground you would snap that tranny like a twig. If I were you I would stay with the 3.73 rear for now. If your spinning your butt off at the starting line then your wasting power and powerband! The name of the game is to go with the highest numerical gears that will also allow you to stick the power to the road. That will net you the best E.T's down the 1320. In the future if you added a KB or something then you maybe would even want to go down to 3.55's.

The weakest link in this whole system will be the 5R55W tranny. As of now Lentech and all other tranny builders only offer an input shaft. That is one of many weak links in these trannies. Another option is to go with a standalone tranny management system like what is offered from TCI or Baumann and hook it up to a fully built 4R70W tranny and run it stand alone from the main ECU. Then program the PTEC ECU to take the transmission maps out. Your rear will be the next to go after that. I am still looking into the possibility of the DSS level 5 halfshafts made for the 03 Cobra's will work for our trucks without too much modding.

Dont go with a 3 valve engine if you plan to make more power in the future. The 3 valve heads are totally different top side bolt pattern than the 2 velve heads are and would not fit your supercharger. If I were you I would throw small shot of nitrous on top of it. Run an intercooler and add a few more degrees of timing would net you more power too.

I have been in the middle east for the last 2 years and will be coming back in 6 months or so. I have been saving the entier time while over here. I will initially have about $14,000 to put into the engine and further mods when I get back. My plans are to go with a VT engines built 5.0 stroker engine, Kenne Bell 1.7L supercharger at 14# boost, Lentech built 4R70W with standalone tranny comp., DSS rear halfshafts or solid rear 9" axle swap, NX or Holley NOS 100 shot of nitrous, VT ported and polished heads with stage 2 blower cams among other things. Those are the major things. It will cost more than $20,000 for all that but $14,000 will get me through stages 1 and 2 of my build-up. I will be looking for 500rwhp from the charger and all and after stage 3 is complete I will be looking for 650+rwhp on the nitrous, heads, and others. My goal is to get deep into the 11's. With the charger and stage one I should be able to get into the 12's no prob with maybe a little breakage. Hope this gives you an idea of what some others are doing or planning on doing. I am really glad to see someone else tackling these trucks. As long as we do good writeups maybe we can get a few others to follow along. BTW if you want any more information or advice feel free to ask. I get the feeling that I am probably the person to talk to about any power mods with the new gen explorers. Well see you around.

Rob
__________________
Robert......................
2003 Black XLT Explorer 4.6 liter V-8, 2.5" true dual exhaust, MAC intake, 20x8.5 Boss #306 rims, and some other stuff too.
Planned mods: VT engines forged 5.0 SOHC longblock, KB 1.7L Twin screw charger @ 15 psi, Lentech built 4R70W, and possible rear solid axle swap. 550+ rwhp goal.

1987 Mercedes 300E.

 

[awdrocks]

Awsome Danny & Rocket,

Your right I will stay with my 3.73's for now. Ill see what kind of wheel spin I encounter. The thing is that I cant switch to 2WD (yet Well ive spoke to AED and they have put a few roots at 9psi and dont have any wheel spin problem with stock tires, just a chirp on AWD versions. Especially me as I have 295-45-20's on all four courners. BUT on race days I plan on taking them off as they are just way to heavy... but now its all theory. I will do tests when im done with my first stage and see how she responds.

I also looked into a solid rear axle... I got quoted a custom job for the explorer for around 3k... seems high. But then another tuner told me that a solid rear axle would be a nightmare on the 3rd gen explorers... as it will pull and skip around turns etc. Again to me thats all theory still and we really wont know untill its tried.

The best bet for me now with my tranny I think is to buy the stronger input shaft and to launch in 4x4high... I will know later this week but I think the 4X4High locks the front and rear diffs by means of a gear. If so it will be much safer than launching in 4X4Auto, as the auto will tranfer power back and forth under any wheel spin and really upset the tranny.

Im not sure but I think your XLT has 2WD mode? Mine does not. Another safe approach for me is to get a relay to cut off the AWD and keep her 2WD at the track. I have Limited slip so I THINK its quite strong.... I like your idea on the cobra upgrade. Look what I found:

http://www.lx.net/jlynch/IRS_conclusions.html

http://www.lx.net/jlynch/

http://www.modularfords.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10264&page=5

Well now that I come to think about it, I think I will hold off on the stall converted untill I we get more experience. I could imagine a launch at 2,800rpms's can almost guarantee a fail in the drive train very quickly. Ill finish the motor then start working on the tranny.... make it bullet proof, THEN and only then start adding more power.

The good thing is that I will VERY SOOOOON have a nicely blown powerfull 3rd gen explorer... and we will get an idea of how it all responds. I really want to see my E/T's. I think the 3rd gen has LOTS of potensial. Im hoping to be in the 13's for this first stage.

And yes im planning to do a DOSzle sooner or later:

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/NOS/NOSNS/NOSzle.html

Well if we can get the tranny and rear end to be bullet proof/everyday drivers... then Ill step up to 3v or possible 4v conversion and change my blower.... alowing me to be in the 500-550hp range with 4.6L's.

EDIT: Remember we have the same tranny as the 05' Mustang. So its most likely not weak... but then again we are much heavier... but im sure with the 05' Mustangs having the same tranny lots of aftermarket parts will start to come out for them.

Theres a guy in www.tccoa.com who is now in the process of converting from SOHC to DOHC. It can be done... not easy but possible.

Im hoping the troll team has done something for this gen and can share any experiences.

 

[awdrocks]

I like those level 5 half shafts.... look at this:

http://www.driveshaftshop.com/MUSTANGC.V..ivnu

So you think with this level 5 and a solid tranny we are golden?

 

[awdrocks]

make sure you read this... its very interesting and informative on the half shafts:

http://www.modularfords.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10264&page=7&pp=30

 

[awdrocks]

Do the level 5 shafts also work on the front? If they do.... im deaming up the drive train now.... front and rear level 5's with a 4R70W 4X4 version. Loc the front and rear diff together and it will be unreal. The chevy Syclone had a similar drive train.

 

[rocket 5979]

Awsome Danny & Rocket,

Your right I will stay with my 3.73's for now. Ill see what kind of wheel spin I encounter. The thing is that I cant switch to 2WD (yet Well ive spoke to AED and they have put a few roots at 9psi and dont have any wheel spin problem with stock tires, just a chirp on AWD versions. Especially me as I have 295-45-20's on all four courners. BUT on race days I plan on taking them off as they are just way to heavy... but now its all theory. I will do tests when im done with my first stage and see how she responds.

EDIT: Remember we have the same tranny as the 05' Mustang. So its most likely not weak... but then again we are much heavier... but im sure with the 05' Mustangs having the same tranny lots of aftermarket parts will start to come out for them.

Theres a guy in www.tccoa.com who is now in the process of converting from SOHC to DOHC. It can be done... not easy but possible.

Im hoping the troll team has done something for this gen and can share any experiences.

I forgot you are running AWD. Yeah you can go with a higher gear then. However your transfer case will suffer more. The best would be to go with a bullet proof T-case and then run 4.10's or even 4.30's with slicks at all four corners. You would easily dip into the 1.8 second 60' times then! Well with a good stall TC anyways. You could launch like crazy if you didnt break anything first.


Although we do have a very similar tranny to the new gen stangs that does not mean much. They are starting to have problems around the 450rwhp mark. With your AED roots at 9 psi you should be good to go for a while or until you start launching it hard with different gears and slicks. Then the built tranny is a total neccessity.

Bill and Dan (the Troll bro's) havent done an aweful lot with the 3rd gens yet. They were developing a true dual exhaust setup for them but I dont know what happened with all that. I was going to be the guinea pig for that one but I had already had my dual exhaust done and was in the middle of coming over here too. They are more into the 5.0 explorer arena. I have pm'ed them both on occasion not too long ago and they do work to 4.6's but not alot on explorers as of yet. I was talking to Dan about running a pigyback EEC-V and PTEC CAN computers for the getting the tranny to mesh with the rest of the vehicle. Then after having ideas of just going fully manual valve bodies tranny I came upon the trans controllers. Much better option than manual VB.


The 2 valve to 4 valve head swap is not teribly hard. Pain in the arse yes, but not impossible at all for someone with some decent skill and attention to detail. I was thinking of going that route when I first started planning this project 2 years ago but decided to stay with the 2 valve because I could put the Kenne Bell charger on the stock engine running at 9 psi and getting 400 rwhp and then once I was ready to up the boost it was just an smallblock swap and pulley swap away, instead of buying a whole other blower.


I thought about fabbing my own single turbo system for it but I would want to go with a custom engine management system like FAST if I were to go that route. If I find a good deal on a turbo it is still possible I will do that. But most likely I will do the KB charger. Less fabbing and more low end torque without all the tuning hassle. Of course i would have no problem hitting 800+rwhp then! But I would be well into full rollcage territory then and I want to keep this at least mildly streetable and stock looking.

 

[rocket 5979]

Do the level 5 shafts also work on the front? If they do.... im deaming up the drive train now.... front and rear level 5's with a 4R70W 4X4 version. Loc the front and rear diff together and it will be unreal. The chevy Syclone had a similar drive train.

Heck I am still looking into the possibility of them working for the rear, let alone the front. Even the level 2's would be pretty good for thr most part. If they can launch a manual car going off the line at 5600 rpm's then launching a truck with a slushy auto stalling to 2,500 will be no problem even with 500+rwhp.

 

[rocket 5979]

You should be able to put down about 350rwhp with the right tune. It all depends on the tune +/-. Are you running an intercooler? I would say that you should be able to easily slip into the 13's. It should be around a 13.75-13.95 area. I would be a little more specific if I knew your exact weight and actual horsepower.


One thing you might want to think about is your fuel pump. It will be running pretty hard at 350rwhp. I would reccomend to at least throw in a Ford SVT Focus pump for more fuel. Heck if your real serious about more power in the future I would say throw duals in there so you dont have any fuel issues later on. Measure twice cut once type of thing. I wish our fuel tanks were baffled but alas they are not. That will lead to fuel delivery issues upon hard acceleration if your gas isnt pretty much all but topped off or close to it.


Another thing worth mentioning is tuning for the nitrous. I wish we had a dateport so we could chip these things and run dual program switch chips! Man I miss that! Oh well. We will fight two demons when tuning for the extra shot of nitrous. First will be timing. Either your going to have to back your ignition timing off a few degrees and run it like that all the time, which isnt too bad. Lose a little power and be safer doing it. Also fuel delivery will be an issue. Letting the computer know that your running a shot of nitro. It is easy to program for this, it is just a PITA that you have to reprogram it to swap the tunes, which isnt nearly as easy as, "flip". I will stop *****ing about this now.


Another thing worth mentioning is blower cams. They cost about $700 for the VT stage 2's. Well worth it in my eyes. Will give you about a 20-30 rwhp increase on top of the blower. I seen you had a P&P job for your heads planned for the future. I would do this either during or in place of the P&P job. The best would be to do it all. The stock heads dont flow terribly, so a P&P job doesnt net as huge an amount of power as it did on say the 5.0's. Still worth it, but I would do the cams as an option A and then if you got money left over have the P&P done. New beehive valve springs would be a great idea too. Mainly for strength but also for revving higher. Your heaton will stop making power fairly early in the powerband if it is not intercooled or the nitrous is flowing, but that is not to say you cannot rev higher to take you through the traps at a higher rpm. Sometimes even after your power has started to fall off it is still better to rev it past to get you though the traps without shifting and losing momentum right before the end. Only take this reccomendation if you plan on racing 1/4 mile alot. If you plan on more of a street application then dont plan your shift points and revving around the 1320 marker.


Blah blah blah blah. Long posts I know. I got alot of information. No one else had any plans like this besides myself and about one other guy, so I have to unleash my fury of knowledge on someone! lol.

 

[rocket 5979]

VERY near future mods are:
4.10's
2,800 stall converter
MAYBE relay to turn off AWD for the hard launches
42lbs injectors
250 fuel pump
70mm L-MAF
Noszle 100hp shot

I dont reccomend the Lightning MAS. There are etter options out there. I owudl have said something from Pro-M but they went out of business about a month or two ago now, along with Allen Engine Development for that matter. Sucks! I would take a look at what SCT has to offer. You can get a bigger MAS like a 90mm you will be best off and not run out of meter anytime soon should you feel the need to upgrade for more power in the future. Just a reccomendation. Once of your enemies will be vacuum on the intake side of the charger. You want to eliminate that as much as possible. Bigger TB, bigger MAS, free flowing and cavernous intake tube, big open filter element(exposed to cold external engine compartment air is ideal). And I think that about covers it for now.

 

[awdrocks]

hehe.. thats great. I feel the same way about unleashing. MAN I have looked forever for someone to work on this project together.

My eaton has an air-to-water intercooler. Its a great unit. If I would have know all my future mods I would have bought the KB also. So for me it will be easier an cheaper to swap out to 4v and sell my eaton and get the KB. Then I should be looking at similar numbers as you.

What do you know about beefing up the tranfer case? Or could this just be my ultimate weak point no matter what?

 

[rocket 5979]

I wish I could tell ya something. I have a 2wd so I havent really looked into the T-cases. From what I know so far it does look like that has the chance to be your weakest link. But those can usually swap out fairly easily(comparatively easily I should say).


With the Eaton turning at 9 psi and intercooled I dont see any problem with you hitting 13's. Run a good tune and your set. Definately get a wideband A/F dynotune. It lets you see where your at for power, see if your running safely on the A/F aspect, and also tune for power and see the affects accordingly. Once you get your dyno graph you can also set your WOT shift points according to your powerband too.


Heck if you do the 4V head swap and then top it off with a KB 2.4 Liter charger you can push more than 800+rwhp through it with ease! Of course the rest of your drivetrain needs to hold up. hehe. If I did that I think I would go all out race and just put a powerglide in it. I really want to go with the 2.2 L charger for the mustang GT instead of the 1.7L but I dont want to hassle with getting the 8 rib pulley system to fit. Plus, I will be happy with more than 600 rwhp on nitrous.


On another note. Where is the pics of this truck of yours? I always like to see another streeter truck. Especially one going for power.

 

[awdrocks]

I dont know how to post pics here... maybe I can email them to you and you can post them for me It looks a little better and different now... once I get it done ill send some new and improved photos.

Well I wanted to buy a wideband guage: AEM Wideband UEGO Controller Air/Fuel Ratio Gauges

http://store.summitracing.com/defau...earchinresults=false&N=0&target=egnsearch.asp

What do you think?

This is exciting.... I will finish what I have now and then work on the drive train... once thats done.... the skys is the limit.

 

[psychotic]

HEY!!!! When I get money and fix a big scratch on the side of my EX, MODS WILL BE COMING! Right now its just an intake, some nice stuff for looks and a nice system. But you guys keep talking about the relay to turn off the auto 4wd. It was really really easy for me. The wire that runs to the tranny (signal tells 4wd when to turn on) I found on the passenger side underneath the plastic step, I think it was brown. Anyways, I hooked up a simple 4 pin relay to interupt the wire to tranny and ran the switch to control it underneath my seat. Very simple, very effective. Switch one way, and the 4wd kicks in when the rear slips, switch the other way and i can fish tail alllllll over the wet roads :roll:

 

[awdrocks]

HEY!!!! When I get money and fix a big scratch on the side of my EX, MODS WILL BE COMING! Right now its just an intake, some nice stuff for looks and a nice system. But you guys keep talking about the relay to turn off the auto 4wd. It was really really easy for me. The wire that runs to the tranny (signal tells 4wd when to turn on) I found on the passenger side underneath the plastic step, I think it was brown. Anyways, I hooked up a simple 4 pin relay to interupt the wire to tranny and ran the switch to control it underneath my seat. Very simple, very effective. Switch one way, and the 4wd kicks in when the rear slips, switch the other way and i can fish tail alllllll over the wet roads :roll:

Sweet deal... im doing that right away.

I think rockets xlt can switch from factory from 2x4 to 4x4.

But not meeee.... Do you mean under the outside foot step, the side step part... that bolts to 4 points on the chassi? I think theres a fuel rail under there right?

 

[psychotic]

no, the plastic molding, on the inside. the piece holding the carpet down... you pull that off and underneath there is a place for running wires down the side of the car, inside one of the them is a brown wire. I think there is more than one group of wires, so i'll try and take a picture. someone give me an email so they can post it.

 

[psychotic]

btw... this is for the auto 4wd that kicks in after the rwd slips. if you have true AWD like the old mountaineers have, this won't work. that AWD system was mechanical and is constantly on, mine is electrical and kicks in only when the tires slip. so I just interupted the electrical signal that turns the 4wd on

 

[awdrocks]

I called Hughes Performance and they have heavy duty 4R70W trannys. He said they have seen a 10sec (2nd gen) explorer awd with the stock tranfer case holding up. Interesting.

EDIT: took out nonsence

 

[awdrocks]

btw... this is for the auto 4wd that kicks in after the rwd slips. if you have true AWD like the old mountaineers have, this won't work. that AWD system was mechanical and is constantly on, mine is electrical and kicks in only when the tires slip. so I just interupted the electrical signal that turns the 4wd on

Right.. we must have the same system. I have three buttons. 4x4Auto / 4x4High / 4x4Low

4x4Auto - only comes on when the rear slips. Up 100% of the power can be put to the front if needed.

4x4High - locks the front and rear diffs together with a 50/50 split always. I guess more or less what you would call a "true awd". If your going to the strip I feel this would be the safest possision so the tranfer case is not being turned on and off. Any other use should be only for the dirt.

4x4Low - for the obvious off-road situations.