93 Explorer Air Intake Question

[Sturnbow]

I have a 93 Eddie Bauer Explorer that im looking to put an intake in. Few questions, any help would be much appreciated. The two hoses that go into the stock air box, what would i do with those? and the boot that goes down the side of the airbox with the silver flexible hose, do i just remove it? thank you! I tried searching but didnt find to much to do with the boot the drops down off the airbox and ect.

 

[arco777]

The stock intake is the best way to go. I have tried various cone style filters and piping but beyond increased intake noise, the stock intake is best. It is already a true "cold air" style from the factory and adding a cone filter in its place just grabs hot air from the engine bay.

The vacuum hoses that go into the stock airbox are for the cold start air diverter valve. You can disable this if desired, unless your state does emissions tests. There is a temperature sensitive element inside the airbox lid that, when intake air is very cold (such as winter cold starts) it allows vacuum to the valve in the air intake hose, which diverts to draw warmer air off the exhaust manifold. This aids in warming up the engine faster in cold conditions. Again you can modify this if desired to never pull air from the manifolds but besides that I would keep the stock air filter, as it flows more than enough air for the engine. The factory filter will be fine until you reach around 300hp, which is not going to happen on the 4.0 OHV.

Also, welcome to the forum!

 

[Sturnbow]

Thank you for the information and advice! think ill stick with the stock for now

 

[arco777]

Sound plan

If you are looking to improve power without spending much money there are other ways. Look up the "50 horsepower for 5 cents mod" and "Spdrcr34's Throttle Body mod". You can also make an intake manifold spacer out of a spare fuel injection plate, though it is tricky to make.

 

[Jason94sport]

You will see an increase in HW passing with a cone filter. I did on all my installs.
I also dumped the airbox, hoses & the heater thing. Useless for me since I live in a hot climate. But that is me.

Arco...Anyone actually done measured flow tests with the stock setup? Just wondering.
There's a large baffle at the stock air hole location behind the grill.

 

[arco777]

Most of the variations on airbox design didn't have much effect for me. I ran a full cone setup with shiny tubing for two years and thought it was better over stock. Definitely sounded better. However I noticed on longer trips the hot air it was pulling from the engine component was really killing power. On a whim I installed a stock airbox and noticed no change in power at all, so I concluded the noise was the only real benefit. I have gone back and forth on both my Explorers and if there is any improvement with a cone, I can't feel it. I got tired of washing the cone filters too, they get dirty so fast in the engine bay.

I did notice a slight improvement in full throttle power from the throttle body modification mentioned above.

I have also tried some variations on the stock intake system. At one point I "swiss cheesed" the lower portion of the airbox. This seemed to make a little improvement, probably due to restrictions in the tubing path, but once engine bay heat increased any benefits were negated. I have also compared round tubing for the MAF-to-throttle-body path versus the stock tubing, and got no gains.

The baffle in the stock air intake could possibly be removed. I am not sure of the flow dynamics on it exactly. It seems to accept air from the high pressure area behind the grill. I think that Ford prioritized radiator cooling over intake airflow. The stock air intake is not perfect but can be improved without completely deleting it, and I do think it is better than a hot air intake under the hood. Keep in mind the flow rate of paper media is not a block to power at all, and paper media filters much better.

Check out MCM (Mighty Car Mods) on YouTube for their dyno tested results on cone air filters versus stock in various configurations. I believe the title is "Pod Air Filters Mythbusted" or something like that.

 

[Sturnbow]

Thank you arco77 for the information, ill check out "50 horsepower for 5 cents mod" and let you know how that went tomorrow, i cant find the throttle body mod but ill keep looking... Ill try them both out and let you know how it went. I dont know if you would have any information on this and it is off topic but... would it do any harm to put a high flow cat in my exhaust instead of the stock double cat? I dont have emission test in oregon either. Thank you!

 

[arco777]

The stock cat shouldn't be hurting your horsepower at all but no, it wouldn't hurt anything. Modern catalytic converters aren't typically a bottleneck to performance except in high power applications, which this is not.

Spdrcer34's throttle body mod link: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185223

 

[Sturnbow]

Alright and thank you again. Its just time to replace my cat and its a lot cheaper to buy a single and weld addition pipe then it is to buy a stock like double cat. 80.00 compared to 250.00

 

[arco777]

its a lot cheaper to buy a single and weld addition pipe then it is to buy a stock like double cat. 80.00 compared to 250.00

True that. I had good luck with the Magnaflow Universal High Flow catalytic converter.

 

[Sturnbow]

True that. I had good luck with the Magnaflow Universal High Flow catalytic converter.

Alright ill look into that! thanks! any improvement in MPG? Been hurting on it recently and did a full tune up. Plugs, Wires, Coil/Distrubter, Cleaned MAF. I heard the EGR can also effect MPG. Thanks for all the information i really appreciate your time and advice.

 

[arco777]

The Magnaflow I used was on a Firebird. Did not notice any difference in power or performance but it was hard to because the stock converter had fallen in and was blocking exhaust flow.

On the Explorer I average 16mpg. The best I've ever done was 22.5 but that was a real effort to get that mileage.

The Explorer is pretty good about EGR. If you're not getting any EGR-related codes you're probably okay. The DPFE sensor is what usually goes bad, rather than the valve itself. The EGR valve can be tested by manually applying vacuum to it. If you pull it off you can clean the crud out that has accumulated, but these engines aren't bad about crud and it won't likely make much difference.

If your mileage is bad after a tuneup I would look at your axle ratio. Your signature mentions 1/2 ton axles so I'm assuming you have already addressed that though. Also your driving habits play into mileage a lot.

 

[jd4242]

Wait what..what axles do you have and how much body lift do you got??PICTURES! !!

 

[Anime]

I bought the KKM intake kit long ago, and noticed a pretty big difference, both in just low-end torque and in passing ability at highway speeds and hillclimbing ability in 5th gear.

Adding a Dynomax cat-back exhaust years later also made an improvement, again both in low-end torque and higher-RPM use. The improved airflow allows the engine to rev a little easier and make the power/torque it's truly capable of.

I highly recommend both the KKM and the Dynomax if you want a more sporty Explorer.

 

[Sturnbow]

I bought the KKM intake kit long ago, and noticed a pretty big difference, both in just low-end torque and in passing ability at highway speeds and hillclimbing ability in 5th gear.

Adding a Dynomax cat-back exhaust years later also made an improvement, again both in low-end torque and higher-RPM use. The improved airflow allows the engine to rev a little easier and make the power/torque it's truly capable of.

I highly recommend both the KKM and the Dynomax if you want a more sporty Explorer.

Alright, thanks for the input! I have a catback system and I noticed some difference as well besides just the noise. Having a shop here do some work this weekend with a new cat and headers as well. I'll look into the kkm intake, I'm going to do some mapping out before buying though. I want to avoid sucking in all the heat in the engine bay, how is your experience with that factor?

 

[Sturnbow]

Wait what..what axles do you have and how much body lift do you got??PICTURES! !!

I'll get back to you with more pictures! The only picture I have now is older and can't tell how far off it sits. 10 inches total, little more if you count the tires lol I plan to cut out the wheel wall a bit and put 35's on in the future.

 

[jd4242]

How do you have 6" of body lift and why??

 

[Anime]

The 'heat' issue is not an issue.

While it's true that a cone filter under the hood in the stock airbox location will draw in the engne heat more directly than the stock system with ducting that brings in cooler outside air, this is really only the case at idle, and the greater amount of warm air is marginal. Even the stock airbox and duct winds up getting warm at idle and so the air drawn in is warm, plus the stock airbox uses the emissions-related system that draws in hot air from around the exhaust manifold during engine warm-up, and this also conributes slightly to warmer air seeping into the airbox even during normal operation.

It's also incorrect to assume that you want cool/cold air drawn into the motor in the first place, as while cool/cold air is denser and does give increased power, this also burns more fuel to do so. Warm air doesn't produce as much power, but gives better fuel economy. Of course, this effect is very minimal either way when it comes to the 4.0L OHV V6 and so it doesn't really matter, how you drive makes a bigger difference than the temperature of the air.

The big reason why it doesn't matter though, is that once the vehicle is moving, all the warm air in the engine compartment is pushed away, and what you get is a steady mix of air that has gone through the radiator/condenser and is warm, with outside air that comes through the bottom of the engine compartment, and so the temperature of the air that will make it through the intake should be fairly moderate.

The big difference the S&B filter on the KKM filter kit makes is flow. The 4.0L OHV benefits greatly from being able to suck in more air than the stock airbox and filter (even a drop-in K&N) can provide. Of course, this also burns more fuel. However, I have found that if you take it easy and drive normally, fuel economy is either average or above average.

It's important to remember that having mods like an air intake and exhaust doesn't mean you have to keep a heavy foot on the gas or always drive like you're in a race to take advantage of them. You can drive normally but only take advantage of the increased performance ability when you need it.