i want to put a few mods for now in to my explorer | Page 5 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations
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i want to put a few mods for now in to my explorer

Procharger installed, just need a tune and an intercooled setup to finish

Ill start off with saying that I have a 97 Eddie Bauer 5.0 with rear wheel drive.

And right now the main thing bugging me is the loss of power at 95mph (final shift point), and the 105 speed limiter.

I was wondering if a Shift Kit would fix this... And if not, what will?

I was also wondering which performance mods I should do, and in which order (for best money to power results)

My first thoughts were:
Shift Kit (if it will increase my top speed)
Ignition System (MSD or Nology, I dont know which is better)
Custom Pully
(Possibly NO2)
Stroker Kit

I'm new to fixing it up performance wise and am totally clueless, I have friends willing to help me on suggestions, but them having sports cars and me having an SUV are two different classes which have similarities to a point.
 
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Yes, to get the turbo kit and tuned right, it will take alot of time, patience and money. And to my knowledge, you just buy the head unit for the XB-1A because you just used the brackets from the old s/c.
 



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but the turbo would be so much easier to adjust than the SC.

looks like i need to do some reasearch by going down to actual shops that sell the product, ill do that tomorrow evening
 






Saleen_SR71 said:
but the turbo would be so much easier to adjust than the SC.

looks like i need to do some reasearch by going down to actual shops that sell the product, ill do that tomorrow evening
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You should research that a lot more. Are you talking about adjusting the boost, in car, on the fly?

A different PCM tune would be needed for each different boost curve. An adjustment of the wastegate would be like changing pulleys on a supercharger. There are expensive boost controllers which give the user in car wastegate adjustments, but they don't change the computer tune. Good luck,
 






Well I went to 2 shops, one to get questions about the Supercharger, the other for a motor rebuild/turbo.

Apexi motorsports (one of the shops I went to) only sold/installed 2 Powerdyne superchargers, so I'm not really feeling confterble taking the car to them to get supercharged.

Synergy Motorsports (the other shop) said they only specialize in GM cars due to lots of customer error with non GM vehicles. But if I'm correct they will do the work if I have someone to tune the vehicle or a tunner program for them to tune the vehicle, in which case I would either need Doug to come down, or spend the money on the software and hardware to tune the vehicle.

So I'm still in the gutter, I'm thinking of just rebuilding the motor asap then still doing forced induction later on
 






It is a shame that there is no variety of Explorer kits available. There are about three kits, one for each engine. I know nothing about the V6 kits, and the one V8 kit is maxed out immediately, because the supercharger is too small.

It would be great for tuners and owners if there were some decent performance kits. They would give people a starting point to work from. Like you, I will be fabbing my own kit, installing, and custom tuning. Regards,
 






Think you mean apex on laffaette, san Jose, they are the best of the best, so is powerdyne for your application IMO
 






CDW6212R said:
It is a shame that there is no variety of Explorer kits available. There are about three kits, one for each engine. I know nothing about the V6 kits, and the one V8 kit is maxed out immediately, because the supercharger is too small.

It would be great for tuners and owners if there were some decent performance kits. They would give people a starting point to work from. Like you, I will be fabbing my own kit, installing, and custom tuning. Regards,
Click to expand...
No kits needed, put down a deposit today, stone grey ST, SVT, 07, be here late Jan, 06, woohoo
 






Retired and buying a new car, congrats. Regards,
 












Spindle, do you know if APEX rebuild motors? The shop I was refered to is in Hayward, Id perfer something closer.
 






Alright I called a shop in Hayward, and they are gonig to give me 3 estamates for 3 different setups.

They guy on the phone said he wasnt too sure about Powerdyne and when i asked what he suggested he said Vortech or some other one.

Should I really go for the Powerdyne XB-1A? or some Vortech charger?

Should I go stroked and SC? or just all out SC?

Im getting the motor a quote for aluminum heads, forged internals installed
 






If you are not building the engine yourself, then concentrate on finding a good builder. Speak to several, including the big name places which advertise in the Mustangs And Fast Ford's magazine. Choose the one which makes you feel the most comfortable. Regards,
 






Thing is I dont want to go to far, and this was a recomended shop.

But I still need some info on SC or Stroked SC, and which brand SC to go with
 






Homie
You have any cost estimates on what this project will run? Just curious
 






A few things first:

Will you be attending a drag strip on a regular basis?
How far are you driving everyday if it's your daily driver?
Is this for street just to have fun and get on it and have red light races?

If you will be going to the track, get some nice aluminum heads (AFR, Edelbrock, Canfield, Twisted Wedge), go with the XB-IA supercharger with a cog belt drive pulleyed to max boost, and NICE air to water intercooler, and stroke it will all forged internals to a 331 with a compression around 8.8. If you want nitrous go with 8.5 compression.

For cost, you can install the s/c will help from a slightly knowledged mechanic. Hardest part was taking off the fan for me. Cost to install yourself: $0. Cost to have someone install it: from what I was quoted until I realized how easy it was: $500

For the short block with forged pistons, rods, crank and bearings: $2500 (a NICE one actually worth a damn from CHP)

And the sets of aluminum heads are around $1000-1500 depending on who you choose.
 






spindlecone said:
Homie
You have any cost estimates on what this project will run? Just curious
Click to expand...

No quote yet, Ill call them back tomorrow, I think I messed up on giving them my # because of the area code.

BeauJ said:
Will you be attending a drag strip on a regular basis?
How far are you driving everyday if it's your daily driver?
Is this for street just to have fun and get on it and have red light races?
Click to expand...

Its my weekend & day off cruzier with red light races, or freeway races depending on the challenges... And the once in a while Drag runs

As for the supercharger being installed, I wanted them to install it to save me the time and extra money for a second trip to the shop to get it dyno tunned, not to mention that I dont think Powerdyne would sell me the kit for an Explorer with the XB supercharger instead of the BD. But then what company would deny a customer of what they want and lose out on a sale. But then I run the risk of the XB being bigger than the BD and needing a new mount anyway.

Im a little skeptical on the Stroking of the motor, but might go through with it if the quote is nice.

p.s. I have no clue what the max boost on the XB supercharger is, one of the questions I should of asked powerdyne when I called.
 






So tottaly built, with a good SC, all re-installed, my guess is 8/10 grand.
Than you will not be able to get kali smog cert.
Than what do you do?
Have been there and done that to the tune of 12 grand on a twin turboed Gale banks vette when Kali changed the smog laws in 84, could not pass the visual, ended up putting the engine in a sanger ski boat, than lost more money
 






The XB is the same size unit and will bolt up to the same brackets. I talked to Powerdyne last week and asked. The max boost for the XB-1A is 18 lbs. The max for the BD is 11 lbs (what mine is at). The reason the XB makes more boost is its doesnt have an internal belt drive, but helical cut gears and has to have oil line from the oil pan to keep in lubricated/cool. If you just want it for street races, don't stroke it. ALOT of time and money right there. Get the XB with a cog drive so it doesnt slip, go with about 13 lbs of boost, and do some small upgrades and youll be good.
 






Like spindle said, I still want to drive this thing legally. I think Ill stick with the 9 LBS and go with a simple build 302, Ill talk to the guy about the smog issue, hopefully the XB is smog legalized, otherwise Ill have to go with something that is.
 



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The supercharger wouldn't make you smog illegal. As long as you don't touch any internals, you should be fine. And if you only want 9 lbs of boost, go with the BD and a nice aftercooler.
 






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