Jakee
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- May 6, 2006
- Messages
- 2,823
- Reaction score
- 6
- City, State
- Huntsville, Texas
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 01 Sport
On another note I did some "Free Mods" to my EX.
Here's what I did;
***Note, if you don't feel comfortable using hand tools or don't know exactly what you're doing, DON'T TRY THIS.
I was a machinist for 5 years in my earlier years so I have experience.
Went to Home depot and bought a 3" flap wheel 60 grit. (Uses the DIA side to grind and not the face) It looks like strips of sand paper glued in the middle. This fits perfectly into the stock MAF and throttle body with just a little force to get into bore.
MAF - I took the stock sensor out. (Note* Once my sensor is out of the housing there is a straight thru bore. In other words there's no plastic in the design to direct airflow. If yours is not like this you can't do this.)
Took the housing and ran the flap wheel in the bore very carefully with a cordless drill set to high RPM'S. I found the cordless drill to have the right RPM's to do the job. You don't want to run extremely high rpms doing this. The way to judge is how fast the heat is generated when "honing". Once I felt the plastic getting to an uncomfortable to the touch temp I stopped and let cool. Then proceeded. (KEEP THE DRILL MOVING IN THE BORE AT A CONSTANT SPEED to keep bore consistent thru out) I had an ID mic to see how much material I removed. I took around .060 from the ID (10-15 Minutes of sanding). But mostly removed a lot of the flat where the sensor mounts on the top of the bore and smoothed out the flashings. You can't remove to much because the sensor still needs to seal so be careful here. (Hone...Check...Hone....Check...Hone...Check) After done clean very well.
Throttle Body - Leave the "butterfly" in and closed. (Note* Do NOT hone the bore where the Butterfly is.) This is bad and the butterfly will not seal against the bore and your engine won't idle right). The trick here is to hone all the way up to where the butterfly is from the TB side pointing forwards when installed. This is why I say to leave the butterfly in and closed. Same principle. When you feel the metal getting to a "Uncomfortable to the touch temp" stop and let cool. Again, I took around .060 out of the bore up front. The bore will natural start to taper in towards the butterfly. This is okay. After done, I took the butterfly out and put it back together with the rod out of the TB, ground the ends of the screws and flattened out the rod on the tops and bottom. What I mean by this is if you're looking into the throttle body when the throttle is floored, you're looking at the end of the butterfly. The top of the rod that the butterfly is connected to is...the top...the bottom...the bottom. The idea here was to remove just a little so that more air could flow when floored.
BE CAREFUL with this step....
Then I took the butterfly out being sure to keep note where the end was you see when floored. The idea here was to grind bevels on the end where the air flows in but not to much where you change the DIA of the butterfly. Grind too much here and you're in trouble. It won't seal anymore and you're looking at idle problems. After done I cleaned very well and put throttle body back together. When putting back together you can make you're throttle easier to push by how many times you twist the load on the springs. I twisted 1 time only. I think stock was 2 to 3 twist. The throttle is much easier to push now. Your foot will like this on long trips. Just be sure the "Less tension" will properly seat the throttle body with your foot of the gas. Test and make sure you have enough tension on the springs. No one want's to have the throttle stick open.
As for the results of the mods. I noticed better throttle responce right of the bat. Not sure about mileage yet as I'm in the middle of figuring this out.
Here's what I did;
***Note, if you don't feel comfortable using hand tools or don't know exactly what you're doing, DON'T TRY THIS.
I was a machinist for 5 years in my earlier years so I have experience.
Went to Home depot and bought a 3" flap wheel 60 grit. (Uses the DIA side to grind and not the face) It looks like strips of sand paper glued in the middle. This fits perfectly into the stock MAF and throttle body with just a little force to get into bore.
MAF - I took the stock sensor out. (Note* Once my sensor is out of the housing there is a straight thru bore. In other words there's no plastic in the design to direct airflow. If yours is not like this you can't do this.)
Took the housing and ran the flap wheel in the bore very carefully with a cordless drill set to high RPM'S. I found the cordless drill to have the right RPM's to do the job. You don't want to run extremely high rpms doing this. The way to judge is how fast the heat is generated when "honing". Once I felt the plastic getting to an uncomfortable to the touch temp I stopped and let cool. Then proceeded. (KEEP THE DRILL MOVING IN THE BORE AT A CONSTANT SPEED to keep bore consistent thru out) I had an ID mic to see how much material I removed. I took around .060 from the ID (10-15 Minutes of sanding). But mostly removed a lot of the flat where the sensor mounts on the top of the bore and smoothed out the flashings. You can't remove to much because the sensor still needs to seal so be careful here. (Hone...Check...Hone....Check...Hone...Check) After done clean very well.
Throttle Body - Leave the "butterfly" in and closed. (Note* Do NOT hone the bore where the Butterfly is.) This is bad and the butterfly will not seal against the bore and your engine won't idle right). The trick here is to hone all the way up to where the butterfly is from the TB side pointing forwards when installed. This is why I say to leave the butterfly in and closed. Same principle. When you feel the metal getting to a "Uncomfortable to the touch temp" stop and let cool. Again, I took around .060 out of the bore up front. The bore will natural start to taper in towards the butterfly. This is okay. After done, I took the butterfly out and put it back together with the rod out of the TB, ground the ends of the screws and flattened out the rod on the tops and bottom. What I mean by this is if you're looking into the throttle body when the throttle is floored, you're looking at the end of the butterfly. The top of the rod that the butterfly is connected to is...the top...the bottom...the bottom. The idea here was to remove just a little so that more air could flow when floored.
BE CAREFUL with this step....
Then I took the butterfly out being sure to keep note where the end was you see when floored. The idea here was to grind bevels on the end where the air flows in but not to much where you change the DIA of the butterfly. Grind too much here and you're in trouble. It won't seal anymore and you're looking at idle problems. After done I cleaned very well and put throttle body back together. When putting back together you can make you're throttle easier to push by how many times you twist the load on the springs. I twisted 1 time only. I think stock was 2 to 3 twist. The throttle is much easier to push now. Your foot will like this on long trips. Just be sure the "Less tension" will properly seat the throttle body with your foot of the gas. Test and make sure you have enough tension on the springs. No one want's to have the throttle stick open.
As for the results of the mods. I noticed better throttle responce right of the bat. Not sure about mileage yet as I'm in the middle of figuring this out.
