Hitchhikingmike's Explorer

The fuel sipper.

no longer here.

 

[MrQ]

Great to see you finally getting a Registry up!!

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

I know its cheesy, but here is a video of the explorer crossing a ravine.

 

[XLT]

I know its cheesy, but here is a video of the explorer crossing a ravine.

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"You got like three feet of air that time." Napolean Dynamite. Hehe.

But cool truck. I like your brush guard. Plus the video wasnt that bad. Atleast you got the tires off the ground.

 

[MrQ]

I think he would have gone faster if not for the grill guard. If I remember correctly, Mike, you were afraid the grill guard would act like a plow and ruin the front end.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Thanks, This is actually my second brush guard. The first one got bent on the bracket a bit on the ground when I was driving a bit recklessly through a field. These brush guard can really hamper the approach angle a bit. But I was able to score the second brush guard real cheap for brand new and some obscure machine shop in rural Ft. Worth. . Its actually a westin guard, its a lot stronger than my old one. I was able to push my friend in his silverado up a steep hill in my neighborhood.

Looking back I should have gunned the throttle coming back up, that would have gotten me a lot more air.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice x u got there

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Right now I'm in the process of completely taking our my front dash to gain access to the HVAC system. My vent door that draws in either inside or outside air is broken and inhibiting air flow in all settings right now. Its been this way for a few months now. I'm just now getting to it now that school has ended.

I've got the dash all unbolted and pulled out a few inches, but I have not undone any electrical connections. Very difficult project. I'll pick it up again tomorrow morning.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

got er done! took me about 20 hours for a newb to do the job. I think I'll write an article explaining how to do this job. I took photos. It also seems to be a not so uncommon problem on the forum. I also took the opportunity to spot treat all the stains and scotch guard the entire carpet while I had the front seats out. Thanks to the scotch guard, the ex reeks with chemicals inside now

 

[MrQ]

No pics??? How could you?!! :

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

The carnage:

All just to get to this little piece, the root problem:

/\ not suppose to be in two pieces

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Just added a ham radio. A Icom 2200h to be exact. Its got 65 watts.

Since I travel 500+ miles a week it helps pass the time. And its good for safety reasons.

I also just slapped a mag mount on the roof

When I'm away from home, I can directly hit the repeater in my hometown 50+ miles away from inside the explorer!

-KE5CAT

 

[MrQ]

Nice Mike!! I hope to pick one up for my explorer soon.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Update:

I didn't do anything at all to the explorer over this school year. Just been busy going to and fro a lot between home and two universities. As a whole I averaged about 18-19 mpg for the semester with peaks of 21mpg a few times. The explorer accumulated about 11k miles this semester. And drove quite conservatively for the entire semester.

This mpg must increase. I have purchased a Scanguage II today to help me switch over to an electric fan in leu of the factory one. That and I plan on installing an under drive pulley on the main crank.

I will do these two mods over the school break before my summer semester begin in about 4 weeks, for which I will be doing a lot of driving as well. I will report back with any significant mpg changes accumulated over the next couple months.

I will also be changing out all four of my front tie rods in a couple weeks and will write a "how to" instructional thread for that.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Well the ScanGuage II arrived in the mail today. I must say, I am very impressed. I highly recommend this device to anyone that borders on the likes of an engineer, viewing all sorts of real time data about your engine.

I mounted mine under the front center stack.

This photo displays votls, mph, current mpg, and engine speed:

This photo displays the throttle position, ignition timing, gallons per hour of gas, and intake air temperature:

In the next photo the scanguage is displaying the percentage of fuel in the tank, current transmission gear ratio, transmission fluid temperature and engine coolant temperature:

There are also about one hundred more parameters that can be viewed on the device, including engine run time, barometric pressure, catalyst temp, torque into torque converter, head temp, torque converter speed ratio, trans output shaft speed, fuel pressure just to name a few.

I'm still on the look out for a reasonably priced efan. I'll be visiting some more bone yards over the weekend.

I highly recommend this gauge if you will be modifying your explorer to track any mpg gains.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

I pulled an e-fan off of a 1995 3.8L Ford Taurus. I scored it for $35. It's a two speed fan. Just spent the weekend getting the fan installed. This modification was well worth it. The first highway trip the fan blew a fuse (wrong amperage fuse) and temperatures peeked 225 for about ten minutes until I could pull over.

I now have the fan properly wired and temperatures never peak above 195 now.

I have noticed a little more of a "push in the seat" feeling from accelerating form the line and colder A.C. at idle.

I will post mpg data once I have a chance to gather it.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Got the e-fan and under drive pulley installed. I don't have good mpg data yet. But hopefully the combination of these two will bump up the horse power maybe 20hp and decrease fuel consumption to a solid 25mpg highway. Only time will tell.

left- UDP (under drive pulley; right- stock pulley

efan and radiator removed

With the radiator support out of the truck, the A/C condenser is hanging by bungee cords and the transmission radiator is held vertical wise with bungee cords as well.

removing the stock harmonic balancer

UDP installed with factory size belt. The belt is too large. I switched it for a 82.7" size belt size.

Voltage drops down to 11.6-12.4 volts at idle when stopped. However at any speed the voltage is well above 13V. I have no plans to over drive the alternator.

E-fan installed

Space between water pump shaft that the mechanical fan rode on, and the electric fan motor. This picture does not show it, but the electric fan motor is actually below the mechanical fan shaft, so there is more room in between the two than the photo shows. There is at least a solid inch of clearance between the two.

Hopefully the combination of both of these modification will add another solid 70 miles to a complete tank of gas, bring my highway mileage range to over 500 miles on one tank of gas. Only time well tell now.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

test

 

[MillerTimeX17]

Looking good!! So have you gone through a few tanks so see what your mpg is sitting at? And where did you get the UDP from?

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Thanks, The motor in my electric fan took a crap (it came out of a '95 Taurus) so I have set it aside for now and I have been running the under drive pulley with the factory fan clutch. I have been logging my mpg since the UDP install. I drive about 350 miles a week and my mpg has stayed the same after the UDP install. HOWEVER, my weekly driving regimen has changed so that I now do a lot more city driving than I did before the UDP install. So I guess I consider that a mpg increase.

I plan on rebuilding my electric fan and putting a new motor in it. But before I can do that I need to order an over drive alternator pulley to bring my voltage back up like it was before the UDP before I put the e-fan back in. I plan on ordering the alternator pulley tomorrow (monday).

Anyhow, I consistently get 20.3mpg ever tank fill. My average speed every tank fill per the ScanGuage is about 37mph. I travel 65mph on the highway at all times. I also easily get 400 miles per tank.

I have not yet taken a highway road trip since the UDP install. The best I ever got on a road trip completely stock war 22.5mpg. I will be going on a 600 miles road trip in two weeks before school starts back up. If I don't take the canoes on the roof, I expect my mileage to peek past 23.5mpg. I plan on also having my electric fan installed back in before I leave for the trip. If your still interested I will be sure to report back my mileage once I return.

I ordered my under drive pulley from ASP racing: Dead Link Removed The pulley arrived to my door in about three days and I encountered no problems or difficulties during the install. The kit comes with everything you will need but the actual puller tool, and the a new crankshaft bolt which is about $10 at the ford dealership. (it is a torque to yield bolt, which means it can only be tightened one time.