bought a 92 x and need input

[92Explorer4.0]

i have a 92 eddie 4 door 4x4. really like the suv and all. heres what i have done so far since i bought it was all new tires,new serp. belt, new plug wires, new rad. cap, brakes and drums, wheels cylinders, and new 2.5 exhaust cat back with turndown b4 axle. about 1500 in it with buyn the x. not bad but still need to replace radius arm bushings and auto hubs worked on or replaced. and fuel filter and pump. With the new exhaust i noticed a bit of improvement in power!! im wanting to get more power out of this x but low on funds and im in college. i looked at websites for cai,udp, and such but seen where ppl say dont get that stuff on here or get other stuff b4 that. So what would be the next best thing to do? i thought gears but would like to c what u guys have to say.

 

[little x]

What's your final goal with the truck? What will be it's main uses?

 

[huntman58]

What's your final goal with the truck? What will be it's main uses?

I agree need to know what your planed final use will be first. As a drag racer best thing to do is sell it or use it as a tow car not the racer. Trail rig well is that for gravel roads and camping or hard core off road use as the two share some things but then can go off on very deferent paths. Do you want a street racer or an every day reliable daily driver?

I know so much to think about but knowing were you want to be at the end helps us tell you were to start.

 

[Iron Weasel]

I agree need to know what your planed final use will be first. As a drag racer best thing to do is sell it or use it as a tow car not the racer. Trail rig well is that for gravel roads and camping or hard core off road use as the two share some things but then can go off on very deferent paths. Do you want a street racer or an every day reliable daily driver?

I know so much to think about but knowing were you want to be at the end helps us tell you were to start.

im wanting to get more power out of this x

Unfortunately, the 4.0 on first gen Explorers was only rated @ 160HP from the factory, and with wear on engine components, that number will drop. There aren't a lot of parts out there that are straight "bolt on" that will give you much power unless you get into the realm of forced induction (turbo or supercharger). Even if you go the route of a turbo, you'll still end up doing some fabrication to make everything work together.

Gears are a decent idea, and while they won't produce more power, it will make better use of the available power you do have. On the downside, shorter gears (higher numerically) will decrease fuel economy and make the engine run at a higher RPM at any given speed. Gears can be purchased relatively cheap, but the labor to install them is usually pretty pricey unless you can find somebody who knows how to set gears and will do it for $50 and a pizza / beer. Cold Air Intakes can be made rather cheaply if you look around the forums, but you'll likely see 5 HP or less gain from it. Another mod is to use a larger MAF off of an early 90's Foxbody Mustang, early - mid 90's Crown Victoria, or other Fords that use a 70mm MAF.

Then there are the old tried and true parts:

Exhaust headers.
New heads w/ porting & polishing.
Ignition system (MSD / Mallory).

Really, it's almost a futile effort. While you can make the 4.0 engine produce some respectable numbers, you won't be able to do it cheaply.

 

[safn1949]

I can only tell you what I did,I replaced the stock restrictive muffler with a fairly quiet turbo muffler and put a KKM intake on it.New plugs and wires also.That's it and it made a world of difference.

A lot of guys on here will say I'm full of it but the truck runs so much better then it did,other than that it is completely stock and very reliable.Boosted my around town mileage from 15 to 16.2 with much better acceleration.

 

[92Explorer4.0]

kinda forgot about that on what i want it to do lol. im wanting to lift it like 4 inch susupension and use it for off road use like mudding and some trails nothen major. 373 were the gears i was wanting. i drive it daily about 170 a day mostly highway about 20 of that is in town. i have to haul my kids around in it too and my gf so dont want to go to high on lift. first step was shackle and f150 coil spacer. if i take the cat out and leave resonater will the o2 sensor still do its job or no?

 

[huntman58]

373 gearing will be easy to do and find as that was a stock gear set up. I know that is what my 93 came with. It also came with a limited slip rear to boot so its all ready got a few off road goodies and there all stock so knowing that they can be found in the junk yards also.

As for the 70mm MAF housings well I lost MPG but it did seam to give me more power with it and the Swiss cheesed air box. I have gone back to stock and my MPG picked back up again. I am now back at 17.7 average. I do have a K and N filter in it and that helped in MPG and a tinny bit in power.

You may also want to go with manual hubs if yours dose not have them already. but besides spending big money for power well its not really going to happen on these motors but do not let that make you think there bad off road, there not there very good at it and even a lot of the SOA boys still run a close to stock 4.0 motor. That should give ya some food for thought. Normally I am alone in mine but when we all go all the seats are filled with big adults (all over 200 lbs but the wife she is the tiny one of us all LOL. the back is stuffed with camping gear with some tied on top to boot and I do not fear any paved hill I have met yet nor has it failed to take me and all of them to some great fishing holes that were off the beaten path.

 

[92Explorer4.0]

ok i have a auto and all and when im driveing on the highway im goin about 65 its about 2000 grand or so does that sound right? i have 235/75/r15s. 70 is actually 65. if i do the 272 do i need to change the front gear ratios also? this is my first 4x4 and first one to modify lol. James

 

[huntman58]

If you plan to use that front end and your 4x4 then yes you have to change the front end also. Again being that a stock set up can be found with 373 in it you may get lucky in a junk yard.
I run 235 / 75/15 tires and at 65-70 I turn about 2500 RPMS - 3650. So being you have the bigger / taller gears for highway use your right in the ball park for RPMS.

In your swap the hard part to find is the manual transfer case alone as there not all to conmen in auto tyrannies more in the stick shifts .both explorers and rangers.

I have a real rarity not only do I have the 373 gears but I also have a manual transfer case and a split bench seat (60/40) with a storage arm rest to boot and I love it but down the line the bench seat is going to go away and buckets are going in when I find some I like and can afford at the same time LOL.

 

[92Explorer4.0]

ok update if i go 65 rpms are at 2250 and 70 rpms are at 2500. i think i might have 355 gears or u thank its 327s?

 

[ragajungle]

A4LD=I would def think about installing a new external tranny cooler, a remote filter and maybe even and Oil Press and Trans Temp gauge

 

[Reejerey]

with a 4 inch lift and a respectable tire size you're gonna want at least 4.11's for gears. on 31's with 3.73's stock my 92 2rd manual will still get beat off the line by a friggin prius, and highway driving in the mountains of utah is a joke, I've got to be at least one gear lower than I feel I should be, and using 5th is out of the question if there's any sort of incline.

Lower gears (numerically higher) will give you better acceleration at the cost of gas mileage and some top end. Higher gears (numerically lower) will give better mileage and better theoretical top speeds but cost you in the acceleration department. Also remember that bigger tires act to raise your effective gear ratio, making it so you are going faster than your speedo says, and so that you are running at lower rpms at a given speed than stock.

After you do your 4 in lift do you plan to wheel it? If so what style of wheeling do you want to do, as you will build differently for mud, rocks, and sand. I wouldn't advise mud wheeling in an ex, as mud usually takes big big tires and big big power, neither of which is really available to us. the TTB is actually pretty good for high speed sand wheeling, and if you do something about the craptastic auto hubs it can hold up pretty well in rocks too, better than most heep front ends in stock form.

 

[Iron Weasel]

ok update if i go 65 rpms are at 2250 and 70 rpms are at 2500. i think i might have 355 gears or u thank its 327s?

I figured these using the stock 235/75R15 tires, so if you have a different size, it'll throw the calculations off.

If you have an automatic (A4LD) then in 4th gear:

4.10 - 2326 RPM @ 65MPH, 2504 RPM @ 70MPH
3.73 - 2116 RPM @ 65MPH, 2278 RPM @ 70MPH
3.55 - 2014 RPM @ 65MPH, 2169 RPM @ 70MPH
3.27 - 1855 RPM @ 65MPH, 1997 RPM @ 70MPH

If you have a manual (M5OD) then in 5th gear:

4.10 - 2450 RPM @ 65MPH, 2638 RPM @ 70MPH
3.73 - 2229 RPM @ 65MPH, 2400 RPM @ 70MPH
3.55 - 2121 RPM @ 65MPH, 2284 RPM @ 70MPH
3.27 - 1954 RPM @ 65MPH, 2104 RPM @ 70MPH

 

[Reejerey]

those numbers assume that the a4ld has a lock up style torque converter. I'm fairly certain that they do have a lock up but for reference without a lock up converter you lose about 10% of your rpm thru the converter, meaning that your RPM's will actually be around 10% higher than those listed. Also, did 92 ex's come with 4.10 gears? I was under the impression that they only had the 3.27, 3.55, and 3.73 as options.

 

[92Explorer4.0]

Y would i want to do a remote oil system? according to u iron weasel i have 4.11s. if i go by a speed gun and goin in a 30 zone im goin 35 and it shows up 30 and i do have 235/75/r15s all of them new. So how could my speed be off? 40-45 OD kicks in. im confused here lol Im wanting to go with 31s for now bcuz of money. for now a 2 in lift is in store bcuz of money. around here all i manly do is mud roads and some trails threw wood but the paths are dirt.

 

[Iron Weasel]

those numbers assume that the a4ld has a lock up style torque converter. I'm fairly certain that they do have a lock up but for reference without a lock up converter you lose about 10% of your rpm thru the converter, meaning that your RPM's will actually be around 10% higher than those listed. Also, did 92 ex's come with 4.10 gears? I was under the impression that they only had the 3.27, 3.55, and 3.73 as options.

4.10's weren't available, I just put them up there for reference in case someone swapped out gears before he bought it.

 

[Iron Weasel]

You would use a remote oil cooler because the most common cause of failure in an automatic transmission is overheating. The cooler you keep the ATF, the more you prolong the service life of the transmission.

If you want a 100% accurate way to determine what gears you have, jack the rear end up, take the differential cover off the rear axle and count how many teeth are on the ring gear, count how many teeth are on the pinion gear, then divide the two.

For example, if you have 39 teeth on the ring gear and 11 on the pinion gear, that would give you a gear ratio of 3.54. 41 teeth on the ring gear and 10 on the pinion would give you a ratio of 4.10.

Another method, which is less messy but also less accurate is to jack up the rear end, wrap a zip tie around the driveshaft and leave the "tail" pointing straight up at the 12 o'clock position, have one person rotate one tire a complete revolution while you watch the zip tie. If it rotates 3 times and the "tail" is pointing straight down, then you have 3.55. If it rotates just over 4 times, you have 4.10.

 

[huntman58]

around here all i manly do is mud roads and some trails threw wood but the paths are dirt.

If the muddy roads are not not deep then good tires on a stock truck should almost be more then plenty as that is about all I do now days and I have never felt like I needed more.

Now some day down the line I do plan to do a bit more but I also at that point will do a lot of work to it and it will not be my DD but just a back up and toy nothing more.

 

[92Explorer4.0]

im thinkn of doin a tranny filter with new fluid of course and new diff oil too. after i get my new fuel pump and filter. then i will start workn on the goodies.

 

[Reejerey]

im thinkn of doin a tranny filter with new fluid of course and new diff oil too. after i get my new fuel pump and filter. then i will start workn on the goodies.

if you look at the door tag on the driver door with the vin and vehicle weight at info on it there's a 2 digit code that says axle above it. Get that code and reference this list.

43 Open 3.08
41 Open 3.27
42 Open 4.10
46 Open 3.73
45 Open 3.55
D4 LS 3.73
D2 LS 4.10
L73 LS 3.73

LS is limited slip.

Then we won't be guessing what axle ratio's you have.

Also keep in mind that the Tach isn't 100% accurate.