donjohnson202
New Member
- Joined
- April 11, 2012
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2010 Sport Trac Adrenalin
Hello all,
After many visits to the forum looking for information, I thought I would give my impressions of the mods I've made as a result. As I'm sure most of you would agree, this forum is great place to learn, sometimes far better than from the customer service departments of the products that we spend money on. In any case, here's what I've done so far:
Magnaflow cat-back #16679. Before ordering this one, I couldn't really determine whether or not this kit could be made to fit with a reasonable amount of modification. As it turns out, it was relatively easy to splice it together using the existing joint location on the kit behind the over-axle pipe. I took the rear section of the tail pipe (which seems to be the only difference on the Adrenalin model) and had it cut and expanded at the local muffler shop for $10. Found the kit for $353, which is about as much as I would have been willing to pay rather than the Magnaflow advertised price of $518. Overall I'm very happy with the quality, fit and sound - which is not too aggressive but definitely noticeable.
K&N FIPK #57-2573. K&N does not show this part as a direct fit for this year and model, but from what I can tell, it will fit any Explorer/Sport Trac from 2006 to 2010. The bad news is that it is quite noisy in my opinion. I don't mean at WOT, which I expected, but rather under light throttle around 1800-2200 RPM - where the engine spends most of its time during normal driving. It's a VERY loud howl/resonance which to me is intolerable given the rather modest power increase that is advertised. It does look good (for whatever that's worth) and since it was $211, and I'm going to try a little longer to get used to it before the stock airbox goes back in its place.
SCT X3/tune from Unleashed Tuning. Torrie provided three custom tunes - 87 Economy, 87 Performance, and 93 Performance, which is the one that I'm using. There is a definite all-around increase in performance which I would describe this way (keeping in mind that SOTP feel is very subjective): Most of the obvious power gain is from 3000 RPM and up. Having said that, the off-idle and lower RPM response is much livelier which, at the very least feels better regardless of what a dyno would say. All three tunes modify the shift firmness/overlap resulting in a much better transmission feel. This was important to me, especially since I have read elsewhere that other tuners have been unable to modify the transmission at all. Out of all three, I feel that this is where my money was best spent.
As an aside, Torrie at Unleashed Tuning was incredibly quick to respond to my requests, and generally nice to work with. Highly recommended.
I must admit that I disconnected the battery on a Friday night and did not start the truck again until all three mods were completed, so it’s hard to determine which mod added what, but overall the truck is more fun to drive if nothing more.
Thanks for reading, I look forward to your comments.
After many visits to the forum looking for information, I thought I would give my impressions of the mods I've made as a result. As I'm sure most of you would agree, this forum is great place to learn, sometimes far better than from the customer service departments of the products that we spend money on. In any case, here's what I've done so far:
Magnaflow cat-back #16679. Before ordering this one, I couldn't really determine whether or not this kit could be made to fit with a reasonable amount of modification. As it turns out, it was relatively easy to splice it together using the existing joint location on the kit behind the over-axle pipe. I took the rear section of the tail pipe (which seems to be the only difference on the Adrenalin model) and had it cut and expanded at the local muffler shop for $10. Found the kit for $353, which is about as much as I would have been willing to pay rather than the Magnaflow advertised price of $518. Overall I'm very happy with the quality, fit and sound - which is not too aggressive but definitely noticeable.
K&N FIPK #57-2573. K&N does not show this part as a direct fit for this year and model, but from what I can tell, it will fit any Explorer/Sport Trac from 2006 to 2010. The bad news is that it is quite noisy in my opinion. I don't mean at WOT, which I expected, but rather under light throttle around 1800-2200 RPM - where the engine spends most of its time during normal driving. It's a VERY loud howl/resonance which to me is intolerable given the rather modest power increase that is advertised. It does look good (for whatever that's worth) and since it was $211, and I'm going to try a little longer to get used to it before the stock airbox goes back in its place.
SCT X3/tune from Unleashed Tuning. Torrie provided three custom tunes - 87 Economy, 87 Performance, and 93 Performance, which is the one that I'm using. There is a definite all-around increase in performance which I would describe this way (keeping in mind that SOTP feel is very subjective): Most of the obvious power gain is from 3000 RPM and up. Having said that, the off-idle and lower RPM response is much livelier which, at the very least feels better regardless of what a dyno would say. All three tunes modify the shift firmness/overlap resulting in a much better transmission feel. This was important to me, especially since I have read elsewhere that other tuners have been unable to modify the transmission at all. Out of all three, I feel that this is where my money was best spent.
As an aside, Torrie at Unleashed Tuning was incredibly quick to respond to my requests, and generally nice to work with. Highly recommended.
I must admit that I disconnected the battery on a Friday night and did not start the truck again until all three mods were completed, so it’s hard to determine which mod added what, but overall the truck is more fun to drive if nothing more.
Thanks for reading, I look forward to your comments.
