96 4.0L airbox mod!

[inh]

After reading all about swiss cheese airboxes and whatnot, i decided to see what i could do to my 96 eddie bauer 4x4 with the 4.0 V6.

My airbox was round, and it had a fram paper cone filter in it.

One thing i noticed is that the cone on the end of the filter covers a large amount of hte intake area where the air is piped in to the airbox. What i did was pop loose the band clamp type thing that holds the two pieces of the airbox together. I lifted out the intake tube, and removed the filter. i then grabbed the bottom of the larger half of the airbox (the part the filter sat in) and pulled it up so the two pegs that secure it came out. then i yanked it towards the drivers side really hard and it popped the clip out secureing the top.

So now with the restrictive airbox out of the way, i had to find a way to mount the now open element cone filter. Thankfully, the band clamp that held the two pieces of the airbox together also worked to hold the base of the cone filter to the smaller half of the airbox (the part connected to the intake tube going to the engine.) Viola! Instant, cheap, open element filter.

So what happened? Well first off ther is the nice sound. Definatly sounds more throaty (seafoam also helped that out a lot as well, do a search.) A surprising thing was the addtion of what feels like a little low end tourque. Getting on the gas from a stop seems to push me back in to the seat a little more now, and I think it's working better at higher RPMs as well.

Good luck with this if you try and do it. I did and loved it

 

[BeauJ]

So did you just keep the Fram filter or get another?

 

[inh]

I kept the fram. I decided to do this a few mins ago (about 10:30pm.) I can only imagine what it would be like with a nice free flowing k&n or similar.

 

[BeauJ]

The K&N won't give more power, but will filter out more bad stuff

 

[inh]

I figured it might flow better, so it might add a tad more power, or something.

 

[96limitedX]

heres what i did..

i noticed it was a tad more responsive after i did it..

 

[inh]

Thats exactly how mine looks!

 

[explorerfriend]

alright so i came upon all of the swiss cheese airbox mods and decided i wanted to do something similar to my conical type airbox and filter and finally found someone with a conical type filter, ididn't know there were box filters on explorers.
eventually once i get a k&n filter and it stops raining im going to go for it. My question is, sometimes it rains pretty hard here and some streets will flood, is it okay for the filter to get soaked or at all wet? would a plastic barrier under the filter mainly solve that problem? hopefully the city will fix the drainage problems on some of the streets, but i just want to make sure that if i do have to drive through 1/2 - 1ft deep water (slowly of course.lol.) i won't have any problems... thanks everyone!

(Ohh yeah i know my dad is going to freak out when he sees an open filter!)

 

[explorerfriend]

Alright my dad absolutly freaked out when he saw me drilling one big hole in the front of my filter, he says that if i drive in some really dusty conditions that dirt will get into the engine, and says that the cover directs air from a safe position under the fender. well he said it was my car (and i did buy it from him, so it is) and that i can do what i want but have to pay for things that go wrong that isnt "normal" So i think he is just making stuff up that i am going to screw up the engine, but it would be great to hear from you all telling me that there is nothing wrong with this. ill go and take some pics to show youall what i have done.
hope my engine doesn't die in the next week!

 

[explorerfriend]

My pics. im currently resetting the computer with the battery cable pulled,

tell me what you think.

 

[Ranger Al]

I did the similar thing to mine. I drove it for 3 months and hated it. I am not gaining any more horsepower. A matter of fact, I got worst gas milage then before. I had tgive it more gas to get up to speed. The only thing I notice was it was louder. I could hear the roaring of air coming threw the air box. I had to buy another stock airbox from E-bay to replace my cutted one.

Your dad is right about sucking up dirts and other garbages into the airbox. You'll have to serice it often. You mentioned rain, it is going to ruin your filter if it get wet. The filter would get clog and you won't have enough air coming in the intake.

I hate to be the party pooper, but I would be very careful about this mod you could be facing more problems then good. Just my though....

 

[spindlecone]

Mod will work just fine, is no diff than an open intake, not to worry

 

[explorerfriend]

i put it all back together and let the car idle to re-learn its idle speed and whatever else it does, then went for a test run. With the bigger tires, i always felt lag at startoff. It's gone. I like the slight howl it makes at 2500+ rpms and the engine just feels smoother and less hesitant. Of course maybe i am just thinking this because i hoped to expect these sort of results, therefore i'm thinking it's true...who knows. but i am hoping that this tank will take me further, and that will be the exact thing i'm looking for.

thanks!

 

[BeauJ]

Mod will work just fine, is no diff than an open intake, not to worry

What he said. No probs.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

if you are woried about rain K&N has a filter wrap they claim if you put your hand in it and then in a glass of water it will not get wet.....but why would they sell an open air intake if it would ruin the filters anyway.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

heh.....you should see my square air box

 

[Ranger Al]

Hey.. do whatever work for you. I've done it on mine and didn't like.