3rd Gen Explorer mods | Page 4 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

3rd Gen Explorer mods

GOL said:
Hello every one, good to hear there are more who want to modify their units, I would like to hear comments on cold air intakes and waht is recommended, as well as performance reults.

Does it affect the engine in any negative way?

What about chips?


It may be better to post your question in another thread meant for this instead of making this thread go off topic. Just a suggestion even though it is 3 weeks late.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Hell yeah I want to mod my 3rd gen

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!!!

:thumbsup:

I've got an '02 4.6, and I gather Ford has them pretty tamed out.. In addition I am at 6200 feet in Colorado.. So my X is sucking on thin air..

I want to drop that CAT's, and was looking to stay with the single out the back. I am not sure how one would go about running true duals and still be in the frame for 4 wheeling reasons. In addition I fear losing low end torque, any recommendations of pipe size if I went true duals with no CAT's?

I am looking at the Xcal2, but I am having a hard time justifying that kind of money.. Exhaust or CAI sure.. Anyone in Colorado have a Xcal2 I could rent? :)

So I am looking at:

- Xcal2 with throttle fix (fly by wire) and disable rear O2 checks
- KKM Air filter kit, or self engineered
- CATless exhaust, probably same configuration on pipe as stock. Just drop the cat's and get a better muffler...
- Thinking about the brown wire mod, right now I just unplug the 4x4 computer :)

l8
 






I've got an '02 4.6, and I gather Ford has them pretty tamed out.. In addition I am at 6200 feet in Colorado.. So my X is sucking on thin air..

I want to drop that CAT's, and was looking to stay with the single out the back. I am not sure how one would go about running true duals and still be in the frame for 4 wheeling reasons. In addition I fear losing low end torque, any recommendations of pipe size if I went true duals with no CAT's?

I am looking at the Xcal2, but I am having a hard time justifying that kind of money.. Exhaust or CAI sure.. Anyone in Colorado have a Xcal2 I could rent? :)

So I am looking at:

- Xcal2 with throttle fix (fly by wire) and disable rear O2 checks
- KKM Air filter kit, or self engineered
- CATless exhaust, probably same configuration on pipe as stock. Just drop the cat's and get a better muffler...
- Thinking about the brown wire mod, right now I just unplug the 4x4 computer :)

l8


You can run duals and still be within the frame. I have a 2wd 03 4.6 X and they ran just fine till the pipes had to come to the spare tire area. Rather than bend and kink the pipes around the spare, I ditched it to keep absolute max exhaust flow. With your 4x4 TC the pipes may need to be bent a slightly different way, but they should still fit. The best pipe size for these engines in mildly modded-decently modded form is 2.5" each side. The preference on whether you want to stay with cats or not is up to you and your local emissions tests.

An Xcal2 is well worth the money for the additional power it gives you. You mention that you have an 02 but then you talk about throttle by wire fix with the Xcal2. If you do have an 02 X then you don't have TBW. Only 04+ has that feature which does have to be tweaked with an Xcal2 to prevent lag. Us 02-03 guys don't have to deal with that (thankfully).

The order of mods that I reccomend you do is:

Exhaust (for power and also sound). With this mod your getting two for the price of one.

CAI (more power and also more sound). This one will give you some of the torque that you may have lost with the free flowing exhaust.

Xcal2 to tie it all together and advance your spark timing to take advantage of higher octane fuel among other things.

Back when I had just those mods listed above I was able to absolutely roast my tires off when hitting the gas from a dead stop. This was with the 20's BTW so they are one heck of alot harder to roast than the stock AT's.
 






anyone use a high flow cat instead of removing them? i have a bad cat and do not want to spend the $$ on a factory cat. I cannot seem to find an aftermarket one anywhere.
 






You can run duals and still be within the frame. I have a 2wd 03 4.6 X and they ran just fine till the pipes had to come to the spare tire area. Rather than bend and kink the pipes around the spare, I ditched it to keep absolute max exhaust flow. With your 4x4 TC the pipes may need to be bent a slightly different way, but they should still fit. The best pipe size for these engines in mildly modded-decently modded form is 2.5" each side. The preference on whether you want to stay with cats or not is up to you and your local emissions tests.

An Xcal2 is well worth the money for the additional power it gives you. You mention that you have an 02 but then you talk about throttle by wire fix with the Xcal2. If you do have an 02 X then you don't have TBW. Only 04+ has that feature which does have to be tweaked with an Xcal2 to prevent lag. Us 02-03 guys don't have to deal with that (thankfully).

The order of mods that I reccomend you do is:

Exhaust (for power and also sound). With this mod your getting two for the price of one.

CAI (more power and also more sound). This one will give you some of the torque that you may have lost with the free flowing exhaust.

Xcal2 to tie it all together and advance your spark timing to take advantage of higher octane fuel among other things.

Back when I had just those mods listed above I was able to absolutely roast my tires off when hitting the gas from a dead stop. This was with the 20's BTW so they are one heck of alot harder to roast than the stock AT's.

On the TBW, I will have the check.. The service rep at the dealer told me I had one.. But, I will look under there later..

On the Exhaust, did you run yours with a pipe down each side of the frame? I was thinking of running both of mine down the current side so I could use an X-pipe on it..

I will at least leave the two main cat's in place, as they are up by the manifolds.. The "Super cat" as they seem to call it will go, there seems to be debate on that actually being legal to do. Otherwise I may look at two after market cats to replace it with.

It seems to be legal to replace a CAT with an after market if it is "damaged" (ie something the warranty would not cover). So I will just have to find my hammer and say it bottomed out on a rock :)

But, for now I am looking at a KKM setup for my intake.. Except I will machine the adapter myself, and buy a filter and save half the money..

Thanks!
Scott
 






On the TBW, I will have the check.. The service rep at the dealer told me I had one.. But, I will look under there later..

Your service rep is a moron if they told you that. I would RUN AWAY from letting that guy get anywhere near my truck if he didn't even know how to tell that it doesn't have TBW. If you have an 02 4 door Explorer then you do not have TBW.

On the Exhaust, did you run yours with a pipe down each side of the frame? I was thinking of running both of mine down the current side so I could use an X-pipe on it..

The new pipes went in a relatively similar location to the stocker one.

I will at least leave the two main cat's in place, as they are up by the manifolds.. The "Super cat" as they seem to call it will go, there seems to be debate on that actually being legal to do. Otherwise I may look at two after market cats to replace it with.

The aftercat is legal to take off in most states to my knowledge (unless CA is being dumb again). With you two primary cats you will pass emissions without issue.

It seems to be legal to replace a CAT with an after market if it is "damaged" (ie something the warranty would not cover). So I will just have to find my hammer and say it bottomed out on a rock :)

But, for now I am looking at a KKM setup for my intake.. Except I will machine the adapter myself, and buy a filter and save half the money..

Thanks!
Scott

Don't bother with anything from KKM. You sound like a DIY'er. Unless you really want to machine it yourself, you can buy the machined billet aluminum MAS adapter from JLT performance for around $20-25 (depending on hookups). Then buy the filter itself for anywhere from $25-45... Buy 4 screws to fit the MAS adapter to your MAS (from local hardware store), make your own MAS gasket (Auto Zone make-a-gasket sheet), and one hose clamp later and you got yourself what KKM offers but for twice as less. For right around $55 you will have what KKM offers. For right around $80 you can make an entire CAI from the TB on down to the filter that looks attractive and makes pretty good power too; instead of sticking with that crappy stock intake tubing.
 






Don't bother with anything from KKM. You sound like a DIY'er. Unless you really want to machine it yourself, you can buy the machined billet aluminum MAS adapter from JLT performance for around $20-25 (depending on hookups). Then buy the filter itself for anywhere from $25-45... Buy 4 screws to fit the MAS adapter to your MAS (from local hardware store), make your own MAS gasket (Auto Zone make-a-gasket sheet), and one hose clamp later and you got yourself what KKM offers but for twice as less. For right around $55 you will have what KKM offers. For right around $80 you can make an entire CAI from the TB on down to the filter that looks attractive and makes pretty good power too; instead of sticking with that crappy stock intake tubing.

Sweet thanks, that will be easier... Do you have a recommended source for the intake tubing replacement? Or should I just shop around a bit.. I plan on doing the exhaust myself if I can find a lift to use, just makes it so much easier then laying on the ground..

BTW, do you have any hookups on the MAS adapter from JLT? :) The cost I am seeing is right around $35..

Thanks!
Scott
 






Sweet thanks, that will be easier... Do you have a recommended source for the intake tubing replacement? Or should I just shop around a bit.. I plan on doing the exhaust myself if I can find a lift to use, just makes it so much easier then laying on the ground..

BTW, do you have any hookups on the MAS adapter from JLT? :) The cost I am seeing is right around $35..

Thanks!
Scott

For the intake tubing I went HERE. I used to go to another site that offered a lot of different pieces as well. I forget which one that was.

I talked to J himself at JLT. I had bought a few things from him before and talked about intake designs and tuning one or twice through smalltalk on the phone. The next time I called to order an adapter he dropped the price to either $20 or $25. I was happy with it. ;)
 






On the TBW, I will have the check.. The service rep at the dealer told me I had one.. But, I will look under there later..

On the Exhaust, did you run yours with a pipe down each side of the frame? I was thinking of running both of mine down the current side so I could use an X-pipe on it..

I will at least leave the two main cat's in place, as they are up by the manifolds.. The "Super cat" as they seem to call it will go, there seems to be debate on that actually being legal to do. Otherwise I may look at two after market cats to replace it with.

It seems to be legal to replace a CAT with an after market if it is "damaged" (ie something the warranty would not cover). So I will just have to find my hammer and say it bottomed out on a rock :)

But, for now I am looking at a KKM setup for my intake.. Except I will machine the adapter myself, and buy a filter and save half the money..

Thanks!
Scott

Will it throw a code if the "Super Cats" are removed?
 






Will it throw a code if the "Super Cats" are removed?

It shouldn't.. The Super Cat (there is only one) is just before the muffler, and I did not see any O2 sensors around it. Plus I plan on getting the Xcal2 programmer and having a program that tells the computer not to check the rear O2 sensors, for possible future changes.. Assuming of course I can get the folks over at Bamachips to answer my email.

Scott
 






It shouldn't.. The Super Cat (there is only one) is just before the muffler, and I did not see any O2 sensors around it. Plus I plan on getting the Xcal2 programmer and having a program that tells the computer not to check the rear O2 sensors, for possible future changes.. Assuming of course I can get the folks over at Bamachips to answer my email.

Scott

i need to replace one of the cats that does have an 02 around it. any idea on what size it is and any recommendations on an aftermarket one?
 






I have an '05 XLT 2wd with the 4.0L.

Current mods:
Silver Star Ultra- Highs
Phillips Blue Vision- Lows
Silver Star- Fogs
Silver Star- Turn Signal/Parking Lamps
Blue Reverse lights
Clear Corners
Window Vent-shades
Removed all emblems (except the ford emblems)
22% window Tint
K&N Replacement Filter

Mods coming in the near future:
Rims and Tires
Billet Grills
Speakers and Stereo
Alarm w/ 2-way pager
Tinted Tails

Mods coming later:
Ground Force Springs (1.6" Drop)
JBA Headers
Flowmaster Delta 40 w/ dual rear exit
EE Supercharger
And anything else that I can come up with!
 






suggested inexpensive mod: change the 194-type bulbs lighting ur license plate... adds some style for a very low price.. i got mine for like 2 dollars and it looks pretty sweet.. also the white LED bulbs lighting the plates on like a lexus look pretty sweet.. pretty easy to buy

2456765_12_full.jpg
 






suggested inexpensive mod: change the 194-type bulbs lighting ur license plate... adds some style for a very low price.. i got mine for like 2 dollars and it looks pretty sweet.. also the white LED bulbs lighting the plates on like a lexus look pretty sweet.. pretty easy to buy

2456765_12_full.jpg




Teeheeheehee.....Ok, I am officially out of this thread. You guys have fun.
 






I'm sorry......but changing light bulbs is NOT considered a mod....come on guys
 






i thought i would throw in a rediculous "mod" to see get some attention since no one responds to my hood scoop thread... if anyone has any info on how to get a hood scoop and how much it would cost, i would appreciate it
 






Yeah sure. Any way, if you want a hood scoop, get the hood scoop from Explorer Express and fab it in like Alex did (awdrocks). I don't know of anyone who makes a after market hood for the Explorer, not with a scoop anyway. You can get a carbon fiber hood though. Bill (NaplesBill) had one on his Explorer for a while.
 






i thought i would throw in a rediculous "mod" to see get some attention since no one responds to my hood scoop thread... if anyone has any info on how to get a hood scoop and how much it would cost, i would appreciate it


How about instead of driving this thread off topic, that you find another way to pull people into the thread you posted. Don't try to BS people around here by posting stupid crap in one thread to make them go to a thread that they apparently were not interested in the first place (hence the no posting). That stunt seems like something a kid would do. :rolleyes:



Nevermind, I just seen your birthdate... I understand now.
 






fair enough...

but yea more on that explorer express thing... is there a website or a number to contact the people?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





fair enough...

but yea more on that explorer express thing... is there a website or a number to contact the people?

Go to www.explorerexpress.com They should have all their contact info there. I have talked with John V and Dave V @ EE over the years and both are really pleasant to deal with. Always took the time to just sit and BS about different things instead of cutting conversations short just to try to make another sale on the other phone line. Good people.
 






Back
Top