Jakee's 4.0 SOHC Build up discussion and motivation thread | Page 43 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Jakee's 4.0 SOHC Build up discussion and motivation thread

After Camber adjusters, Body bushings, rear sway bar, and brakes are complete, I'll be posting baseline dyno numbers. First things first. Must be safe!


EDIT (11-6-2007)

Let me save you some time by posting the summary to this thread. The thread is filled with a bunch of off topic ramblings. Read on if you want but be warned.

Summary to this thread....

I'm going to attempt to close this thread because the N/A goal is coming to an end. I really lost interest in the N/A goal a few months back, and It just doesn't make sense (from a $/HP perspective) to buy anymore bolt-ons when the force feed options are available for us 4.0 SOHC guys. I would rather save the money to buy a turbo than to keep spending big bucks for little gains. And so, this is what I did, and these are my opinions on how the mod worked out.

The first thing was the intake. I can remember going around in circles trying to figure out which one to buy. The Volant? no, the K&N....wait a minute, the MAC is cheaper? Anyways, I finally decided on the MAC intake because of the cost. All and all, an intake is an intake. You're not going to see a big huge difference between any of them, but I still feel the best out there is the Volant. I believe in a "Closed" intake. In other words; I don't like the idea of sucking hot engine air thru an open filter under the hood. That's just me and the difference between a "Closed" intake and an "Open" is very small. I did, however, see a gain from customizing the MAC intake by closing in the air filter with a trash can....Yes, you heard me right, a freaking trash can that I cut to fit in the engine bay. It worked good and people usually don't notice what it is. They just think it looks cool. Anyways, I also replaced the MAC filter with a Volant filter; cut a 3-1/2" hole thru the fender and placed a Volant filter thru it. No water can get to it, well....not from this area....I then added spectra hoses from the front of the vehicle where the fog lights were for a "Ram air" attempt. I had a couple of aluminum parts machined for a clean install. That was it for the intake.

Next, I believe I ordered the 73MM C&L from hensonperfromance. This housing uses the same electronics but is just a bit bigger than the stock plastic MAF housing. The gain was small, but was worth it. I believe I've found dyno's of a 7 RWHP gain? Not sure, but there is a gain there.

The TB was the next thing. I purchased a 4.6 TB from KBX performance because I heard a guy named James had discovered it to work with the 4.0 SOHC. I later fooled around and half shafted it. Basically, what that does is removes half the rod that the butterfly is attached too. Do a search on "half shafting a TB" or something like that to get more details. I believe this mod really doesn't give big HP; more throttle response than anything but it's worth it.

When I had the TB off, I noticed this big tube right in the way of the airflow. The tube is the EGR valve and the reason it's sticking in there is to evenly vent exhaust gases back in the intake. Do not remove the EGR valve; it actually helps you. What I did was remove the part that's in the way of the air-flow. I have no idea if this helped me, but It felt like it did. The only ill effect I can think of is maybe one side of the engine is getting more EGR flow; however, I haven't seen traces of this on the spark plugs so I believe it's good.

Now for the exhaust....yeah, it's hard to get a 4.0 SOHC to sound good. In fact, I think mine still sounds pretty bad. I started off with the Gibson Cat back and if your looking for a "Slightly louder than stock" exhaust, then this is the one for you. The gain was good and I liked the sound but I wasn't satisfied. I felt there might be just a little more power I could unleash so I tried a higher flow muffler; a magna-flow. I started off by having a custom Y-pipe made. It has 2-1/4" primaries that y's into a 3" single exhaust. The pipes run back a little ways and goes into a 3" magnaflow cat, then into a 2-1/2" magnaflow muffler, and dumps right before the rear axle. The flow is there but the sound.....I hate it.

I also added JBA stainless headers. I have to say that headers are very expensive for the 4.0 SOHC but there is gain, trust me. If your looking for EVERYTHING you can from the engine, add headers to it later on down the road.

Next is under-drive pulleys....This is one of the better mods in my opinion. The under-drive crank pulley works by slowing down the serpentine belt, which in return, slows down all the accessories running off the belt. The result is more power to your back tires. The only problem I had was it slows the alternator down too much. The fix is an overdrive alt pulley and I added one to speed the alt back up. Problem solved. I'm also running a underdrive water pump pulley with no problems what so ever.

Another good mod is a electric fan. I went with the flex-a-lite 180 and haven't had a problem yet. Very good quality pc.

The best mod, in my opinion, is a tuner. I went with a SCT XCAL II that I picked up from hensonperformance. I think this changed my truck the most and I'm very pleased.

I believe this about sums it up. Every pc of info I just typed here is on the net, and most is right here in this forum, but I wanted to compile some of it for reference purposes....

I made a goal at the begining of this thread, but I'm really not interested anymore. It doesn't make a hill of beans to have high dyno numbers, but it is nice. The only dyno I had sucked; I made 189 to the rear wheels. I'm thinking I'm a bit higher than that but I'm not worried about it.


Next project......TURBO!! and I'll probably do a baseline for this. If so, I'll add the baseline dyno here so there will be N/A results.
 



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No data or no show?

I didn't make it to the session. Called and canceled.

I've received the ball joints and tie-rods yesterday. I'm still waiting on the Rear sway bar and font sway bushings. I'll install everthing after getting them.

Also, I'm haveing custom "Cal-track" traction bars being made right now. I'm gonna see if these will help before I make both wheels spin. These bars should be pretty cool and might be available to anyone that's interested. There custom made and high quality. You'll see the pics pretty soon.


As you know, I've pretty much done every Bolt-on mod there is to do in the past seven months. I'm starting to run out of options so in order to go to the next level, I'm more than likely going to yank the engine and build it up with forged internals. Lower the compression and get it ready to be force feed. However, I do not plan on starting on these anytime soon. I have some other things to take care of before I dedicate myself to this. Afterall, I still haven't produced any numbers for what I've did this far but I constantly look to the future.

And for all you knuckle-heads that think I'm all talk and no action, I have something to say. Put your money where you mouth is. If you've done more than me in the past seven months, then you have room to talk. If you haven't then get back on the porch and keep your mouth shut.
 






...If you've done more than me in the past seven months, then you have room to talk. If you haven't then get back on the porch and keep your mouth shut.

:salute: Aye, aye Jakee! :salute:

:p:
 






I possibly have a bad head gasket. I have a slow water leak that apears to be coming from the head gasket. Lovely.
 






Jake,
I have to say you have been plagued with the bad luck this year.:eek: I am sorry to hear about this. The timing chains in the sohc is a little complicated as the have no timing marks on them and the camshafts have a tapered (no keyway). You will have to buy the tools to time the cams. Lets see, this can be positive. The thread was started as a 4.0L sohc buildup and now it can quite possibly turn into that. Lets see....Ported heads and med cams will be nice additions to the truck. HMMMMM! This sounds real good.
 






Jake,
I have to say you have been plagued with the bad luck this year.:eek: I am sorry to hear about this. The timing chains in the sohc is a little complicated as the have no timing marks on them and the camshafts have a tapered (no keyway). You will have to buy the tools to time the cams. Lets see, this can be positive. The thread was started as a 4.0L sohc buildup and now it can quite possibly turn into that. Lets see....Ported heads and med cams will be nice additions to the truck. HMMMMM! This sounds real good.


That's exacly what I was thinking. Turn it into something Positive!

I won't just re-build with stock parts, I'll upgrade to forged internals. This may be a blessing.
 






Pics of the new ball joints / tie rods and the possible head gasket failure

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I can't think of anything else this leak is possible coming from. If you have any ideas, please let me know.
 






After looking more, I think the leak is coming from the lower intake bolts that go into the heads. I'm going to get a pressure tester and pump it up to see where the leaks coming from. This may not be as bad as I'm thinking.
 






Good news! I rented a pressure tester and use it so much now I never returned it!
 












I've been thinking V8 for along time.
 






Jake I had a customer who brought a Ex to me and I thought it was a head gasket until further inspection and there is a hose which comes off the thermostat housing on the bottom and it was split. The only way to find it was to use a pressure tester. The hose cost me about $15(only available from Ford). The only other thing was that it is a major pia replacing it. I am very experienced mechanic and this job took me 2 hours. While you are at it replace the T'stat if this is your problem because you will have to have this removed anyway. I wouldn't suspect a head gasket as these 4.0L's aren't really known for popping head gaskets so I really will be surprised to see that is what your problem is.-James:thumbsup:
 












I've got it tore down; just need to get the tester now. There is a rusty ole freeze plug beneath the lower intake that may be the problem but I'll find out for sure tonight.

The 4.0 SOHC is actaully a very good motor in my opinion. I'm just a little worried about it making the cut for what I want to do. I'm sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place here. To go v8 I really need a donor. On the other hand, I may be limited with options if I keep going with the 4.0. I may just rebuild(motor and trans), slap a M90 on it and call it done.

There comes a time where it starts to make sence to throw the towel in.
 






Or I could run a 200 shot of nitrous on it and see what happens?
 






Or I could run a 200 shot of nitrous on it and see what happens?

LOL there is no towel when it comes to modding!
 






Yeah - I just get frustrated from time to time. "negitive attitude"

I may talk "negitive" sometimes but I don't give up easy.
And honestly, my biggest challenges have not been the actually modding of the truck, it's the other things.

Anyways, after I get this water leak solved, I'll drop the truck off with my Dad so he can finish the traction bars I've talked about.

If these things turn out worth a crap, I'm gonna see if JAH81592 is interested in hosting these things on his site. I'm just the middle man here.
 






43 pages and no dyno somewhat dissappointing :( but sweet intake jakee :D and i am anxious to see how every thing turns out for you
 






Or I could run a 200 shot of nitrous on it and see what happens?



I called Dionne Warwick....She said.....BOOOOOOOM!!! ;)
 



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