Jakee's 4.0 SOHC Build up discussion and motivation thread | Page 78 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Jakee's 4.0 SOHC Build up discussion and motivation thread

After Camber adjusters, Body bushings, rear sway bar, and brakes are complete, I'll be posting baseline dyno numbers. First things first. Must be safe!


EDIT (11-6-2007)

Let me save you some time by posting the summary to this thread. The thread is filled with a bunch of off topic ramblings. Read on if you want but be warned.

Summary to this thread....

I'm going to attempt to close this thread because the N/A goal is coming to an end. I really lost interest in the N/A goal a few months back, and It just doesn't make sense (from a $/HP perspective) to buy anymore bolt-ons when the force feed options are available for us 4.0 SOHC guys. I would rather save the money to buy a turbo than to keep spending big bucks for little gains. And so, this is what I did, and these are my opinions on how the mod worked out.

The first thing was the intake. I can remember going around in circles trying to figure out which one to buy. The Volant? no, the K&N....wait a minute, the MAC is cheaper? Anyways, I finally decided on the MAC intake because of the cost. All and all, an intake is an intake. You're not going to see a big huge difference between any of them, but I still feel the best out there is the Volant. I believe in a "Closed" intake. In other words; I don't like the idea of sucking hot engine air thru an open filter under the hood. That's just me and the difference between a "Closed" intake and an "Open" is very small. I did, however, see a gain from customizing the MAC intake by closing in the air filter with a trash can....Yes, you heard me right, a freaking trash can that I cut to fit in the engine bay. It worked good and people usually don't notice what it is. They just think it looks cool. Anyways, I also replaced the MAC filter with a Volant filter; cut a 3-1/2" hole thru the fender and placed a Volant filter thru it. No water can get to it, well....not from this area....I then added spectra hoses from the front of the vehicle where the fog lights were for a "Ram air" attempt. I had a couple of aluminum parts machined for a clean install. That was it for the intake.

Next, I believe I ordered the 73MM C&L from hensonperfromance. This housing uses the same electronics but is just a bit bigger than the stock plastic MAF housing. The gain was small, but was worth it. I believe I've found dyno's of a 7 RWHP gain? Not sure, but there is a gain there.

The TB was the next thing. I purchased a 4.6 TB from KBX performance because I heard a guy named James had discovered it to work with the 4.0 SOHC. I later fooled around and half shafted it. Basically, what that does is removes half the rod that the butterfly is attached too. Do a search on "half shafting a TB" or something like that to get more details. I believe this mod really doesn't give big HP; more throttle response than anything but it's worth it.

When I had the TB off, I noticed this big tube right in the way of the airflow. The tube is the EGR valve and the reason it's sticking in there is to evenly vent exhaust gases back in the intake. Do not remove the EGR valve; it actually helps you. What I did was remove the part that's in the way of the air-flow. I have no idea if this helped me, but It felt like it did. The only ill effect I can think of is maybe one side of the engine is getting more EGR flow; however, I haven't seen traces of this on the spark plugs so I believe it's good.

Now for the exhaust....yeah, it's hard to get a 4.0 SOHC to sound good. In fact, I think mine still sounds pretty bad. I started off with the Gibson Cat back and if your looking for a "Slightly louder than stock" exhaust, then this is the one for you. The gain was good and I liked the sound but I wasn't satisfied. I felt there might be just a little more power I could unleash so I tried a higher flow muffler; a magna-flow. I started off by having a custom Y-pipe made. It has 2-1/4" primaries that y's into a 3" single exhaust. The pipes run back a little ways and goes into a 3" magnaflow cat, then into a 2-1/2" magnaflow muffler, and dumps right before the rear axle. The flow is there but the sound.....I hate it.

I also added JBA stainless headers. I have to say that headers are very expensive for the 4.0 SOHC but there is gain, trust me. If your looking for EVERYTHING you can from the engine, add headers to it later on down the road.

Next is under-drive pulleys....This is one of the better mods in my opinion. The under-drive crank pulley works by slowing down the serpentine belt, which in return, slows down all the accessories running off the belt. The result is more power to your back tires. The only problem I had was it slows the alternator down too much. The fix is an overdrive alt pulley and I added one to speed the alt back up. Problem solved. I'm also running a underdrive water pump pulley with no problems what so ever.

Another good mod is a electric fan. I went with the flex-a-lite 180 and haven't had a problem yet. Very good quality pc.

The best mod, in my opinion, is a tuner. I went with a SCT XCAL II that I picked up from hensonperformance. I think this changed my truck the most and I'm very pleased.

I believe this about sums it up. Every pc of info I just typed here is on the net, and most is right here in this forum, but I wanted to compile some of it for reference purposes....

I made a goal at the begining of this thread, but I'm really not interested anymore. It doesn't make a hill of beans to have high dyno numbers, but it is nice. The only dyno I had sucked; I made 189 to the rear wheels. I'm thinking I'm a bit higher than that but I'm not worried about it.


Next project......TURBO!! and I'll probably do a baseline for this. If so, I'll add the baseline dyno here so there will be N/A results.
 



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good luck with the turbo!

i remember way back in the day more or less arguing against your plans and saying you wouldn't make the power you wanted... However, absolutely more power to you and i love to see anyone sticking their neck out and trying things.

for the record though my bolt-on modded 3.0 in my brothers escape put down 26 more hp than your one dyno run.

i'm honestly hoping the turbo gives you everything you want- although if i were you i'd probably just pick up an easier vehicle to actually make fast.

-drew
 



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good luck with the turbo!

i remember way back in the day more or less arguing against your plans and saying you wouldn't make the power you wanted... However, absolutely more power to you and i love to see anyone sticking their neck out and trying things.

for the record though my bolt-on modded 3.0 in my brothers escape put down 26 more hp than your one dyno run.

i'm honestly hoping the turbo gives you everything you want- although if i were you i'd probably just pick up an easier vehicle to actually make fast.

-drew

You have a good point and I'll eventually start a project with a different ride -- a much lighter ride and something a little easier.

Drew - one thing to remember is the sport I have doesn't weigh as much as the full size explorers so I did have an advantage. The truck suprises a lot of people but as you can see with the turbo project it just wasn't enough for me.

I know for sure that I was making more than 189 to the wheels, but still not as much as you say your 3.0 did, so props to you for accomplishing that.

I believe I'll take what ever the turbo gives me and be done with it. If I want more, it's car time.
 






You have a good point and I'll eventually start a project with a different ride -- a much lighter ride and something a little easier.

Drew - one thing to remember is the sport I have doesn't weigh as much as the full size explorers so I did have an advantage. The truck suprises a lot of people but as you can see with the turbo project it just wasn't enough for me.

I know for sure that I was making more than 189 to the wheels, but still not as much as you say your 3.0 did, so props to you for accomplishing that.

I believe I'll take what ever the turbo gives me and be done with it. If I want more, it's car time.



thta's true- but my 3.0 was in a 2wd escape weight wise, of course neither car the escape nor your explorer with bolt-ons is really fast compared to what we are all getting into now so who cares right? I do have a dyno chart for the escape somewhere (a lot of people with svt contours put down the same sort of numbers or more).

make sure you view modifying your explorer as a learning experience for whatever your next project will be. this sport is no fun when you look at it in absolutes or as anything more than entertainment and learning.
 






If anyone remembers the debate about whether or not wrapping your steel pipes will actually rot the pipes, I have confirmation. I just took my wrap off after 1-1/2 years (I think) and it was pretty bad looking. I actually didn't think it would do this if it were painted with high heat, then wrapped, then painted again -- I was dead wrong. I know everyone has heard this, and I guess I'm just stubborn, but I wouldn't suggest wrapping a steel pipe anymore.

Posts 540 through 551....Dead Link Removed




:D Just had to bust your chops a little....:p:
 






Posts 540 through 551....Dead Link Removed




:D Just had to bust your chops a little....:p:


You were right, I was stubborn and wrong. ;)
 






thta's true- but my 3.0 was in a 2wd escape weight wise, of course neither car the escape nor your explorer with bolt-ons is really fast compared to what we are all getting into now so who cares right? I do have a dyno chart for the escape somewhere (a lot of people with svt contours put down the same sort of numbers or more).

make sure you view modifying your explorer as a learning experience for whatever your next project will be. this sport is no fun when you look at it in absolutes or as anything more than entertainment and learning.


I've learned alot and still have a bunch more to learn. :confused:
 






Posts 540 through 551....Dead Link Removed




:D Just had to bust your chops a little....:p:

If the piping were stainless I might would consider it. Otherwise no-go private.-j
 






Posts 540 through 551....Dead Link Removed




:D Just had to bust your chops a little....:p:

Wow, this thread has 58598 views and 1546 posts. Interesting, well now it has 1 more on each,cool!-j
 






did he do a dyno after all?
 












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