Air Intake

[Brent R. Duey]

Has anyone ever insulated their air intake tube to keep the air cooler? Does this work? If so, what kind of insulator should I use?

 

[Brent R. Duey]

Also would this be a whole lot of help since I have holes in the airbox?

 

[Ray Lobato]

Brent,
Ya know, I thought about that myself. I don't know if it would help, but it shouldn't hurt either. If you touch the intake tube, after the engine has been on for a while, it is hot to the touch. Insulating it would keep the engine heat to a minium, and the air passing thourgh it shouldn't get any hotter. Why not try it and see. I would think that thermo wrap would work. Does this make sense?

 

[Brent R. Duey]

Thanks for the reply Ray. I think I'm going to do it because as you stated it won't hurt anything. I just don't know what type of insulator (tape?) to use or where to get it. Any ideas?

 

[Char]

Brent do a search on this site. I know there was a discussion on this topic. I think it may have been in the sport truck forum, but can't remember. They discussed what kind, where to buy it, and how much was needed.

 

[bluescat]

Oil Filter Cooler

I recently got a sale insert from JC Whitney with a mailing they sent me. One of the things for sale was an aluminum, finned unit that is placed around the outside of the oil filter to cool the oil. It seems like the air intake tube on these Explorers is maybe just a little smaller in diameter. If so, the 8 bucks they're asking could be a very cheap way to test your theory. HTH

 

[flyguy]

I saw a intake tube insulator sleeve at Martel Bros. Its by DEI or something like that. same people that make the cool tape. Save you some time in wrapping.. plus I think the sleeve is thicker. I was thinking about ordering one.. but in my opinion.. to cut the heat... get a plastic MAS too. have you thouched that thing after having your car on? It gets really hot! Anyways.. I should be doing most of the above after I finish my current project. Ill post more about it..

Nick

 

[Rhett]

The product this thread is referring to is called "Cool Tape" and it's made by Design Engineering Inc. (DEI). It's available at martel bros website. There is a thread here that gives more details where I and others have commented.

bluescat, as far as the JC Whitney external oil filter cooler goes, it won't fit on an Expl air tube, and even if it did, it would not help. External oil filter coolers really don't make much of a difference on a vehicle like an Explorer. If you had an 18-wheeler rig then it might. Its sort of a gimmick, if you ask me.

flyguy, a plastic mas? Heck, I'd be afraid it would start warping from the heat!

 

[rock883]

Hey guys I put the Cool Tape on my 91, and it did seem to bump my MPG up a tiny bit, not a whole lot, but still its better than nothing. I got the 1 3/8" wide by 15' roll, and that isn't enough to cover the whole tube. Get the 1 3/8" wide by 30' roll instead. 30' is way too much, but 15' is just not enough. Try going here: http://www.martelbros.com/cgi-bin/ws400CS.cgi?category=deseng/dei.htm&cart_id= That should bring you to all the cooling products, a lot of the stuff looks pretty good, and I would like to try some of it. Hope that helps

 

[flyguy]

Yeah, alot of MAS are made of plastic. If heat was a problem, the intake tube would be all warped too. Lots of plastic in the engine area. They are made by a company thats name starts with a G... (Granelli) or something of that sort... anyways... they make em for lots of cars. I first saw them on Vettes.

Nick

 

[Cameron]

Okay, here comes the pessimist.

What good would it do to insulate the tube leading from the air filter to the throttle when you're pulling air from inside the engine bay anyway? I think you would see a greater benefit if you pulled your air from outside the engine bay. The problem is that the Explorer's engine bay is very cramped. There isn't a lot of space for air to circulate around in there to cool things off. So it gets pretty hot in there. That's why I think it's better to pull the relatively cooler air from outside the truck as opposed to from within the truck. Blah blah blah…

My 2 cents.

 

[flyguy]

I agree! I am also building a cool air induction thingie. I have the material..just need the time. I heard of someone using 4 inch flex pipe to do it... but I dont see how they got it to fit... If I cant use the pipe...im going to just try and set up something like that comes with the expensive K&N FIPK's...

Nick

 

[bluescat]

Cold Air and Tubing

I've been thinking about someone's post last week about the cold air. Some people are isolating the intake from the engine side, some trying to find a source for cold air via a tube. I have a broken hose off of my shop-vac but that's no good, it's rippled. It's only 2.5" around. The snorkle leading into my factory airbox is about 2.75". So you find the right pipe, now where do you route it so you know there won't be any water/debris coming in from wherever it is? I would think it would be snaked downward to the vicinity of the radiator with some sort of screen/mesh filter but this would be bad news in a flood. Anyone found the right place? BTW, my airbox left front with the dimpled cover.

 

[Rhett]

RAM AIR!!

I was thinking about doing a ram air mod myself.

But you're right to be concerned about water or dust entering the tube. That's why the stock tube intake is shielded from the outside. During the Gulf War some of the helo mechanics put panty hose over the air intakes of the helicopters to keep dust from damaging the engines. Maybe this could be rigged?

The way I was thinking of doing a ram air mod would be to cut an additional hole in the air box bottom, then attaching the flexible hose to this hole and running it to the convenient slot on the bumper. I think it can all fit using a shop-vac tube, but I have not tried it yet. I think that's high enough to not worry too much about water, unless you're going to go really deep in there (in which case you can mess your hubs, and drown your engine).

Anyway I think you would have to clean/replace your air filter more often if you had a ram air setup.

 

[Rhett]

I have to agree with Cameron...grabbing hot underhood air is worse than getting outside air. That's why I don't have my air coming in from underhood (via K&N FIPK or KKM) and don't believe in drilling the air box. If you get more COLD air (80 deg F) in there it's way better than getting HOT underhood air (120 deg F) in there. My guess is that if you have stock airbox and ram air, and K&N or AMSOIL filter you'll be better off than someone with KKM tru-rev. Maybe not...

 

[flyguy]

Well... i have to say although it seems a bit more sluggish on hotter days than colder... the KKM has done me alot better thatn my stock airbox with K&N hands down... wouldnt go back for nuthin! however.. i would like to run a bit better in the hot days as well.. (although I cant remember ever having a cool day in Bakersfield...) Any ideas on tubing? I could swear someone said they used 4inch flexi tubing... i dont see how though... maybe if I squished it down into more of a oval shape... hmmm... well..im more concerned getting my engine RUNNING at all for now...

Nick

 

[bluescat]

Ram Air

Rhett;
That thing about the panty hose was just superb! What a great idea. On the other note, I'm fairly sure no one including Houdini could make a 4 inch anything fit in there, these were just whimsical musings of a compatriot some posts ago. The snorkle of the stock airbox goes into a little blind alley between the headlight and the box but there's also an extra hole on the left (3/4"), next to the LH attachment points of the box itself. This, I believe is also a blind alley. Those people who have drilled out the box could use some tubing to connect up to this unused air supply I suppose.
The conical filters like the KKM and K&N resemble the shape of the small plastic paint buckets. I think the shop vac flex (or smooth) tubing could be used with some sort of plastic bucket to make an assembly that would shield the intake from hot air, while delivering cold air from below.

 

[Jeckles]

Sorry for the long post...

Hot air is exactly why I didn't drill my box or use a KKM system. On autocross cars, the dyno results show a loss in HP after these mods, mostly because they draw air from under the hood. I haven't seen any before&after dyno tests here, so I can say for sure how the Explores fare with these mods, but I know hot air is bad!

I was able to improve things just by using the stock box and air tube... My set up uses the existing baffle in the front, as a screen. I pulled the baffle off, cut out the restrictions and then drilled 1/8 in holes in the face of it. I also drilled a few unobtrusive holes in the grill right in fron of the baffle. So far I've gotten .5+ mpg more. I use an Amsoil foam filter (800-965-5695 customer# 403593) which works very well and its cheaper the K&N.

I thought about insulating the intake yesterday. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt, but couldn't decide if it was worth the effort. I was going to use foil coated pipe wrap (from Home Depot) to get the job done. Its readily available and has pretty good thermal properties. I wouldn't wrap headers with it, but its great for A/C hoses and intake hoses. The reason i didn't was mainly time. Also heat transfer is dependent on velocity and I figured velocity was sufficient to minimze heat gain except at idle...

Sorry for the long post, but thought it would be good food for thought.

 

[Rhett]

Jeckles, I would use Cool Tape before I used anything you can buy at a hardware store. The foil coated pipe wrap is ideal for A/C lines and pipes in houses, but for max effectiveness you ought to look at a product like Cool Tape, which is designed EXACTLY to shield under the hood, and it does it better than pipe wrap.

BTW, to the rest of you guys, I will say that I found a Ford Ranger with ram air assembly on some Ranger website. Maybe some of you have seen this ranger. The guy used PVC pipe and a Mustang 5.0 intake to do it. I don't know if this method would fit in an Explorer.

 

[flyguy]

What site is that? Id like to check it out...