Low end torque...

[Patton]

Okay, my 2001 x sport 4.0 SOHC has crap for low end torque. When I stomp it at zero the damn thing feels like a tank being pushed by a 4 cylinder. Then, at about 20 or 30 mph, the engine I know and love kicks in and it's all good and fine (still slow, since its a xploder, but fine). The only mods on it are a MAC intake kit and a dual out cat-back exhaust. I put the MAC intake on it a few days ago and I can't tell if it's the problem with the low-end torque, but I know the MAC helped the upper range HP. Does anyone know of something I can do (a mod or something) to help my low-end torque? It really sucks. I mean it's REALLY bad.
Thanks for you time.

 

[Turdle]

V8 swap--
Dollar for dollar your best bet.

 

[CougarX]

Three options that don't include an engine swap...

-Get lower gears. 4.10s or even 4.56s will make it feel a lot quicker, but your mileage will suffer.
-Get a blower from Explorer Express.
-Install a small turbocharger (STS style remote mounted). Small turbos are good for torque.

Outside of that there isn't much you can do for a significant increase in torque with the 4.0L SOHC. It's just not a torquey motor. And like jt said, a V8 swap from a junkyard explorer will be your cheapest option other then regearing. Regearing will cost you 1500 (half that if 2wd). The EE blower will run you 4 grand. A turbo set up will be around 2 grand if you do a lot of the work yourself. You can find a V8 drivetrain for 2 grand or less easily.

 

[Patton]

Oh my god... I was thinking something cheap. Like, easy. Are you saying there is nothing I can do about my slow start besides a blower/turbo, a v8 swap, or lower gears?
I don't really care about not BEING quick, all I want is to FEEL quick. Right now, when I hit the gas, I feel slow. That's all I'd like to change. When I get into higher speeds I FEEL fast. I like that.

 

[aldive]

Contact James at Henson Performance ( http://www.hensonperformance.com/ ) and get a SCT XCal 2. He is a site sponsor and a good guy.

 

[Jakee]

You say duel out cat back. can you show some pics of this cat back or describe in more detail? Did you feel the torque go downhill after the exhaust? If you go too big with the exhaust, you can loose torque.

You can get a tune that will do much good. Advance timing thru-out the RPM range and get the right air-to-fuel mixture is good.

There is not really a cheap fix to this. You have some good mods left that will make a good difference to the feel of your ride. An electric fan, an undrive crank pulley, a tune. And you really should get a tune for the mods you have done.

I keep hearing the V8 guys telling people to swap a v8. Good lord, if it were that easy I would have done this. Even after the swap, you still have work to do. I guarantee someone with just a swaped out stock v8 will get blown away by a highly modded bolt on only v6. That's about the same amount of money, and way less work to bother with a v8 swap. Don't get me wrong, I've thought of it over and over, but I know I'll be happy with a turbo along with everything else I have on the 4.0 SOHC.


But anyways, an explorer is a hard vehicle to get to move fast, but you can do it.

 

[rocket 5979]

I think that with gears and bolt ons you will be MUCH happier. That will be your cheapest route.



Stick around on the site a while and we will convince you to do a turbocharger in that thing eventually!

 

[techieman33]

I have a V8 and it's low end torque sucks too, it's pretty slow to 20mph. Then it takes off. But I think the problem is with the AWD. My x-cal 2 gets here today so hopefully that will help a little.

 

[Patton]

I was thinking about getting the XCal2.... is it worth 400 bucks? because that'll be it for big purchases for me for a while and I want to make it completely worth it. I've heard it helps tremendously... anyone got any details? Like a butt dyno from no-xcal2 to xcal2?

 

[Jakee]

I was thinking about getting the XCal2.... is it worth 400 bucks? because that'll be it for big purchases for me for a while and I want to make it completely worth it. I've heard it helps tremendously... anyone got any details? Like a butt dyno from no-xcal2 to xcal2?

It'll change your truck around more than any mod you have so far. IMO

 

[CDW6212R]

I agree with all of that, do a thorough tune up and plan for a flasher. My AWD truck is very good from a start, but my SOHC is unimpressive taking off, and it has 4.10 gears. I few tune up items a little off can make a big difference, hopefully you have a cheaper fix yet. Good luck,

 

[Jakee]

And with my 4.0 SOHC, I have to get it reved to atleast 2500 RPM. I really tried to keep the low end but I believe the sohc just likes to rev up a bit before doing anything. You can actually feel a sort of "Power band" in my truck....You floor it, it starts screaming, then hits around 3K and starts pulling harder. Just is what it is...

 

[techieman33]

the x-cal is worth it easily. Made a big change on the butt dyno, but I'll have to wait till september 12th to see what it gained for me on the track.

 

[dkchrist]

Xcal 2 is great it really does help with low end and gas mileage i found one used (beware) and got it reflashed and have been extremely satisfied. See my sig and the Xcal is so far the best thing to date

 

[ghoster]

i would also like to see the dual exhaust on the 01 sport.
I also have an 01 sport and did my own custom exhaust. Now its a 2.75" exhaust pipe all the way back..straight..no muffler or resonator. i also cleared out the 2 cats on the y-pipe and i plan on removing the other 2 cats and replacing it w/ one high flow cat. It sounds like a beast and i noticed a large about of tq difference!! I mean alot! b4 clearing out the cats i just removed the muffler and resonator and that itself help alot.

 

[jah81592]

The sohc is a engine which has to rely on the rpms. I haven't personally had any problems with torque whatsoever. But you will need to keep the rpm's at a min of 2000 any lower and the engine is just laboring. Mainly due to the ohc design. Usually when I hear complaints about power with the sohc it throws up a redflag to me. By no means is this engine a slug. How is your state of tune, any check engine lights, air filter clean, fuel filter been replaced, maf meter soiled or contaminated, plugs worn, wires old? These are the areas I would lean before modding. Hey, nothing may be a problem just lets just check and verify before placing blame on a weak engine resulting in poor performance(torque and hp). Check the maf sensor and clean at the bare minimum. Just my .02. -jh

 

[Patton]

Alright.
I'm not calling my SOHC a weak engine. I like it. It's just the weak power at low speeds is disturbing. I'd like to get rid of it.
About 2 weeks ago I installed the MAC intake. During that I cleaned the MAF and TB. About 6 months ago I replaced the plugs with NGK iridiums and wires. Air filter is brand new. The check engine light is on but its not serious. I'll be getting it taken care of soon though. The only thing I really have no idea about is the fuel filter. I think I need to get that replaced soon, I honestly can't remember when I've even thought about that last. In fact I have an invoice hear in which the oil change people suggested to change out the fuel filter. I didn't of course, and that was a year ago.
So I think I'll be saving up for the XCAL2. UGGGHHH 400 bucks is KILLER!
I'll get some pictures of the exhaust soon. It's nothing special.

 

[Patton]

I mentioned to my dad the option of tuning. The intent was to get him to help with the purchase, possibly as my birthday present. He brought up some questions that I cannot answer. This is due to my still large lack of knowledge on the subject of tuning.
The main question and most disturbing was "why can't the mechanic tune it?" Knowing full well I'd still need to buy the actual "tune" from James, I was wondering why I can't give the tune to the mechanic and he use his thingy to re-do the car computer?
My dad was puzzled at why I'd buy a 3-4 hundred dollar piece of equipment to use a grand total of one time. I can't help but wonder the same thing. Is there a way around buying the XCAL2, then just buying the tune, then using someone else's "calibrator?"
Sorry. These are probably ridiculous questions but I cannot answer them. It'd be nice to be able to convince my dad of the legitimacy of this purchase.
I think he is secretly enticed by my obsessiveness to make my xploder faster, though he might not show it

 

[Turdle]

I mentioned to my dad the option of tuning. The intent was to get him to help with the purchase, possibly as my birthday present. He brought up some questions that I cannot answer. This is due to my still large lack of knowledge on the subject of tuning.
The main question and most disturbing was "why can't the mechanic tune it?" Knowing full well I'd still need to buy the actual "tune" from James, I was wondering why I can't give the tune to the mechanic and he use his thingy to re-do the car computer?
My dad was puzzled at why I'd buy a 3-4 hundred dollar piece of equipment to use a grand total of one time. I can't help but wonder the same thing. Is there a way around buying the XCAL2, then just buying the tune, then using someone else's "calibrator?"
Sorry. These are probably ridiculous questions but I cannot answer them. It'd be nice to be able to convince my dad of the legitimacy of this purchase so maybe I can squeeze some money out of him
I think he is secretly enticed by my obsessiveness to make my xploder faster, though he might not show it

You may want a new tune every time you modify the truck-you might even experiment with several tunes-

 

[CDW6212R]

The new flashers come with three new "programs." The flashers are only useable on one vehicle at a time. The OEM program is stored in the flasher(four total), so to transfer to another vehicle, the programming must be returned to the PCM.

Why not be patient and buy a used flasher. If you can you can you may find one for $100-200 or so. Used programs evidently cost $50-75 per set, depending on tuner and flasher. The first SCT flasher is almost the same, but it has to be loaded with programs by the tuner(in hand). The XCal II can have programs downloaded by software and email.

Tell you father that the flasher is not about a tune-up, it's the PCM internal programming, the computer ignition timing and air/fuel ratio. The OEM programming is not optimized. The special programs that the flashers come with create better air/fuel ratios and timing, better HP, better efficiency. Regards,