Jakee's 4.0 SOHC Build up discussion and motivation thread | Page 74 | 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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Flower killers!
 



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No, you will see the cats under my truck when you look. The more important question to ask is if they actually contain anything. :D Gotta be specific. ;)
Exactly! I knew you better than that. Tree Killer. I tell you what the prob is with big cities and smog. Plant more trees! The turn shi**y air into good air. Supposedly. Plow down the ghetto projects and plant trees. The scenery would be alot more pleasant as well.
 






Flower killers!
Flowers don't grow with perfect oxygen. They need crappy air to grow and convert bad air into good air. Photosythesis. :D Although this isn't necessarily how it works,sounds good anyway. I am doing my job helping the flowers breathe. Like I said before I just go to my destination quickly, so theoretically I am polluting less than a prius which pollutes for a longer amount of time. This is my Enron accounting.
 






Flowers don't grow with perfect oxygen. They need crappy air to grow and convert bad air into good air. Photosythesis. :D




Um, can you convert this to crapton please? I don't understand...
 












Jon, that is insightful, that is the same logic that Al Gore uses to justify all of the excess natural resources which he consumes. If I give money to some organization, it's perfectly fine for me to consume resources 20 times faster than the average person.
 






Exactly! It is all about the dollar. Pay more get away with more. Simple.
 






Hey guys - Let me run something by you...


The "Steering pod" I got for an f150 didn't work out for me. I decided to scrap this idea cuss I had to cut it all to crap and it just wasn't up to par......So, I'm going to replace both the lower and upper steering covers, and while I'm at it, I want to replace the steering wheel. I would like a black steering wheel but a 2001 sport didn't come in but grey and tan. I would like to order the steering wheel for a 1999 Explorer along with the upper and lower covers. I'm pretty sure this will fit okay, but would like to run it by you guys real quick. What do you think?

By the way, from the dealer, it's 181 for the wheel, 15 for the upper cover, and 10 for the lower cover. I figure that's pretty cheap.

As for the gauge pod, I'll go with the explorer pod by the windshield like everyone else. Oh well....

So, the f150 pod WILL fit, but it will hit when using the tilt steering. I don’t like that at all.
 






The two covers I have bought at a yard for $5, the Ford prices aren't too bad.

You should be able to use any 95-01 Explorer steering wheel, the 2001+ Sport/Sport Trac models, including the optional wheels with radio controls etc(those require extra dash wiring).

Note that the early steering wheels were leather, later models have vinyl mostly. The Mustang wheels will work, as well as the Marauder steering wheels(my choice).

Check your local yards, I bought the one in my leather 99 wheel for $25, with the clockspring. Good luck,
 












I personally don't feel the look of the new ac panel. Oh well..

I'd say if you replaced the fatory head unit with something more to match it you'd probaily like it better. Plus your stereo would sound better :p:
 












Thanks. Now I just need to figure out what I need on the AC panel. I agree, i need a new CD player. That would make a diff. I've already tried black, and it didn't seem to be right either. Hmmm. Maybe I should go black and do the aluminium look to the CD cover?
 






Guys - Give me your vote on the AC panel cover. Black or the aluminium look?
 












I say do the outer cover in black, then the ac controls, head unit, and vents in silver.
That would look good-
but if he just switched the ac panel to black, he'd be done--
 












I think your right. The cover needs to be black. That's how the rest of the stuff is, and that would make it match.

The stereo will be replaced, and the white AC panel is coming off. It sucks. The only other options for the AC panel is Silver, or a custom pc. Not sure which I'm going with.....This is just a time killer for me. (Screwing around between major mods)
 









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Hey man, don't bring that bad luck in here like that!
 






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