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On my way to the Supercharger!

I'm probably posting this prematurely, but I'm so excited! It turns out I just got an infusion of cash, so I might be able to afford the supercharger! I have to somehow get my parents to approve and help out a little bit, but I think its very possible I could have it done by late January. I also have to determine if I can do it myself (with a little help), or if I need to have it professionally installed. I'll also need to get a larger MAS, so that's another $300.

So has anyone heard anything lately about the BBK supercharger? I know there was a big buzz a while back, and I even called truckperformance.com to see what's up. I'm gonna give them another call and ask them if they've shipped any, and if they're actually shipping on time.

So, anyone want to sponsor the first BBK-charged Explorer on this site? Rick, you wanna help ;) j/k. I'll keep y'all posted!
 



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Do it yourself my man! I'm to understand it's a fairly straightforward procedure. If I had a supercharger sitting in the garage I don't think I would have the willpower to not install it ASAP!
 



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I just put in a call to BBK. It seems they decided not to send me instructions for the blower. If I have a complete manual, I might attempt to do it myself.
 






Hey Alec have some confidence in yourself. :) If i could replace my head gaskets with my only previous experiance being replacing a head gasket on a 3.5 hp briggs and stratton engine then you can certainly do this. It is really straight forward and I would say that it is easy. If you do decide to do it yourself then if you run into any problems you have many well informed people here to help you. Just do like me and say what the hell, break out the torque wrench, and have at it! :)

Take it easy,
Chav
 






I'm still thinking about doing it myself...Once I get the entire instruction set I'll look over them carefully. I have a few reasons for not doing it myself:

1) Time, both the time I'd need to do the work, and the time my truck would be immovable.
2) Facilities, the garage at my apt isn't the best place to do the work, and my friend's warehouse is full.
3) Warranty, a quality installer will warranty their work.
4) FMU and computer, both these need to be installed also. If it was just the blower I'd for sure do it myself.

We'll see, the instructions should be here any day....
 






Another extraneous update:

I found an installer who 1) won't take 4 days, and 2) quoted be less than $400. He'll probably let me help out (to lower the price) and take pictures. He ownes a Supercoupe, so he has experience with Fords and Eatons. He seems like a very nice guy and is actually the uncle of a good friend of mine. Now that school's started (first class today!) I really don't have the time to do it myself. One way or another, though, this should be done by the end of next week. Cross your fingers!
 






Yet another update...

Splat should be going into the shop Monday morning and should be out by mid Tuesday. It is going to cost me some $$$, but today was the second day of school and I'm already swamped with work. I really trust this guy to do a good job. He also has a digital camera and is going to take pictures of the install. Like I said earlier, he has a Tbird SC, so he knows what he's doing. He's also put a lot of blowers on many different types of vehicles.

Hopefully I'll have great news on Tuesday!
 






Sounds awesome can't wait to see it!

Steve
 






Supercharging

Alec, I read on the Ford web site that the BBK superchargers cannot be used on the 98-present Explorers due to the fact that these engines(4.0L SOHC) do not have a fuel return line, which is required to supply additional fuel under boost conditions. In your talks with BBK, did you hear anything about this? If it is true, I might need to look elsewhere for big number power gains. Maybe, a Nitrous system?!
 






i dont know man. my friend has a supercharged 4.0 that beats a GT mustang easily. its 0-60 is amazing now and his isn't anywhere near as souped up as alec's ride.
 






OMG! my heart is pounding, ive been keeping up with this thread and im about to explode with excitement! monday is only two days away and it will be done on tuesday. i cant hardly wait 3 days to finally hear of someone's actual experience with the BBK, oh man if this works out good im gettin one! this is sooooo exciting you got to post pics and tell us about it. ahh man this is f@#&*#g awsome!
 






Supercharged, just not for MY Explorer

I'm also looking forward to Alec's finished ride! Oh I wish they(or whatever company) had a supercharger for the 98+ Explorers. I guess for now I'll just have to drool over Alec's ride! Got a napkin there Alec? LOL!
 






WOW!

Y'all are drooling almost more than I am! Sorry I've kept y'all waiting so long. I promise I'll post as soon as I get home with the truck. I'm not allowed in the shop where the work's being done (insurance), but the mechanic says he has a digicam, so I'll have him send me the pics. Honestly, there's not much to take pics of. There's the main blower assembly, which I'll for sure get a bunch of pix of when it's done; there's the piggyback computer, which is two little black boxes, one with the timing control reostat; and the new fuel pressure regulator, which looks unremarkable. All in all, the kit has a great fit and finish, and is going to look pretty unremarkable to the casual observer. The only clue to the presence of something abnormal (to the casual observer) will be the shiny stainless intake tube, and the word "instacharged" on the new manifold. However, I'll post plenty of pix for all you info starved guys.

BTW, if y'all are thinking of getting the blower, a tip: make sure you get the install kit too. Truckperformance.com includes it on their site, but Summit Racing and others don't. The blower's part number is BBK 1590, and my install kit was BBK 1593. The install kit probably varies for different years, so make sure you're getting the right stuff for your truck. I did see an ongoing installation write up on a Ranger, and he'd gotten the wrong kit, and the intake tube didn't fit up to the MAS.

I'm really excited now, I can't wait. I'd be jumping up and down right now, but I'm emotionally and physically drained from a practice MCAT I had today; but that's a whole other story.....let's just suffice it to say that 8 hour tests suck!
 






Tests do suck!

Don't worry about your tests, man. Just think about that rush you'll get when you tromp the pedal and get stuffed in the back seat as the rear end drops and the nose jumps up. The feeling of acceleration and the raw power on tap puts a tight grin on your face. You push her to redline as she hits second, and another gear puts you against the seat once more! Oh, sorry man! Got a little carried away there. Maybe I need therapy! A supercharger support group!!! Yeah, that's all me!!! LOL!
 






Hey, I already get that rush with my truck now, imagine what it'll be like on Tuesday!

BTW, I had a nice adrenaline rush on the freeway last night. I was so pumped I was on a high for about an hour and a half!

I was on the freeway (3 lanes on my side with an intermittent right exit only lane) going with traffic at about 80-85 mph. We were in a pretty large sized pack, but with plenty of spacing. All of a sudden, the pack ahead of us, about 20 cars, slows to about 50. I could just see an accident waiting to happen. I whipped into the acceleration lane (#1), got up to about 105, then changed to the #2, then #3, then back to the #2 lane. I'd cleared most of the pack, but there was a rig in the middle lane and a Boxter, a Vette, and a Z3 passing it in the left lane. So I passed the truck on the right, then moved to the middle in time to wave to all the old farts (sorry, they were) in their nice cars. It was an interesting 40 seconds! Needless to say, I ended up doing 12 miles in 12 minutes on that trip, including 3 miles of that off highway.

I normally don't drive that aggressively, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! It helps when you've done some autocrossing and gone through an emergency driving class, though! After taking that class and tossing an ambulance around, an Explorer is no problem!

So, who wants to ride with me after I get the blower? ;)
 






posting to get updates
 






Alec Hey, good luck on taking the MCAT exam (medical doctor admission exam)! Perhaps you can specialize in sports medicine and "fix" us Explorer off-road & on-road drivers injured via whatever(butt blisters, white knuckle syndrome, ear ringing from too loud speakers, etc) . On the installation of the BBK supercharger it would be nice to get some detail posted on the installation procedure (I realize you are having someone do this), even if it is merely a summary of BBK's written installation procedure (which to my knowledge is not availabe anywheres on the internet - yet). Surely glad to see you take the initiative to get this installed!
Mike 91XLT4x4 in Seattle (University of Washington Huskies).
 






After the install, I'll post a summary of the procedure and any input the mechanic has.

I gave Splat a frontal lobotomy about an hour ago and removed the Hypertech chip. I'd forgotten what a difference the chip makes! I took a short drive of mixed highway and city, and boy does the truck feel like crap! Off the line and passing, the power's just not there. Also, the stock shift points just don't cut it, and I hate the downshift delay of the stock programming. I'm definately not worried about the power, the blower will definately fix that, as well as it's own computer. However, the blower computer doesn't modify the transmission programming like the Hypertech does. I'll see how it is for a while, but might call up BBK and Hypertech and see if they can work something out. Maybe they can burn me a chip that's compatible with the blower and helps the tranny. Who knows? Maybe the stock shift points will be better for the blower than the hyped ones. This blower produces most of it's power at less than 3500 RPM, so maybe the stock points won't be so bad. We shall see!

Note to everyone: GET A CHIP!
 






whoa there! i damn near had a heart attack! the words "frontal lobotomy" jumped out at me and i thought you smashed splat! oh well, everything is all good and its goin to the shop tomorrow right? i cant wait to hear how this thing works out. you gonna be able to get some info on how the install is going and maybe a couple of pics monday night to kinda give us a "teaser"? man the suspense is already killin me!
 






:p
 



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