New Intake/Grill Modification

[Mtn8er]

Well for the longest time I've had an AirMax intake on my Mountaineer and recently got a deal on a MAC intake so I thought I'd by it and give it a try. One thing I did notice once I got the MAC intake is the tube size. My AirMax tube was 3.5" were the MAC tube is a 3" tube (same size as stock). Also, I noticed my MAC tube didn't have the hole for the hose that runs from the tube to your valve cover. Only the hole for the air temp sensor. Do the MAC intakes (98-01) for the 5.0L not have that hole? Or do I need it? As of now there's no hose running from my valve cover to my intake. Some of you guys who have this intake, please let me know.

Also, I decided to hack my grill up. I cut out all the vertical bars in my Mountaineer grill, sanded it completely smooth (that took 1 day alone) and then painted the inside part with Duplicolor bumper paint which is like a flat black. I just ordered some mesh grill and will be painting it black as well to put behind the grill and behind the bumper hole. I think it will look good. While I was doing that, I also decided to paint my running boards with duplicolor truck and bed liner coating (which I got from parad1mg's thread under body work & detailing). It came out great, I love the texture. It's hard to see in the pics but I recommend it, real easy to do.

New Mac pics:

Grill:

Grill all taped and prept for bar cut out and painting:

Finished, just waiting on mesh to arrive:

Running boards painted:

 

[Turdle]

I definitely want to see this when it's done--

 

[gluvsave35]

i had to drill the holes and put a gromit in for the sensor!

 

[Mtn8er]

i had to drill the holes and put a gromit in for the sensor!

for the sensor? What about the vacuum hose that goes from the valve cover to the intake tube?

 

[FROADER]

Gonna look sweet! Any plans to put the emblem back on (floating emblem) the mesh or are you leaving it off?

 

[Mtn8er]

Gonna look sweet! Any plans to put the emblem back on (floating emblem) the mesh or are you leaving it off?

Thanks! Actually I thought about it already. I'm going to wait and see once I get the mesh. It would be real easy to cut a hole right in the middle of the mesh and put the emblem in it. It could look funny or it might look better just leaving it all mesh, I dunno :scratch:

 

[FROADER]

Yeah, I'd tape it up there before you cut anything to see how it would look.

Stic-o did it with his Ford logo and it turned out nice. I'll find a pic.

EDIT: I found the thread instead.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108493&highlight=grill

 

[mounty71]

That is exactly what i have been wanting to do to my grill too. But for the time being i just painted the vertical slats black. Eventually i will get it done, along with getting the rest of the chrome look repainted the same color as the rest of the truck. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like with the mesh.

 

[RubySlow]

ok Mine looks like this, I pluged one of the wholes and the other I ran the vent tube from the valve cover.. It runs fine no problem...

 

[Mtn8er]

That is exactly what i have been wanting to do to my grill too. But for the time being i just painted the vertical slats black. Eventually i will get it done, along with getting the rest of the chrome look repainted the same color as the rest of the truck. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like with the mesh.

That's funny because I was going to do that but I was having problems getting the paint to stick, so after I realized all that chrome had to be sanded of for it to stick good I decided to start hacking them off one by one I've always wanted to do what I did though, I just knew it was going to be very time consuming which it was. LOTS of sanding to get it completely smooth. Need a dremel to hack them off, the dremel to sand the remaining vertical bars as close as possible to making them flat and a little hand held electric sander with like 90 grit sandpaper to get it smooth. Then I went up to a 320 grit and did the paint process. Taped, primered and then paint. I put a clearcoat on it but it made it to shiny so I went back over it with the flat black bumper paint, looks ALOT better.

 

[Mtn8er]

ok Mine looks like this, I pluged one of the wholes and the other I ran the vent tube from the valve cover.. It runs fine no problem...

So your tube had two holes? I just emailed MAC and they replied saying I might have the wrong intake and they wanted to see pictures. So I just sent them pictures and explained to them that I have the right tube. The part number is correct.

 

[mounty71]

I simply taped off around the grill opening and over the mercury emblem, then i just sprayed the paint. i didnt do any prep to it at all other than cleaning it. I know it could look a lot better than it does if i spent time prepping, but for now i am fine with it. The paint at least seems to stick well enough for me.

 

[Mtn8er]

Well here are some more new pics! I got my mesh grill in the mail on Saturday so I've been busy painting the mesh black and trying to secure the mesh in place. It was kind of a PITA because you have to bend the mesh so it sits where you want it to be nice and tight. Lots of putting it on/taking it off and bending. I ended up putting weights and anything else I could find to hold the mesh down until it was secured with the adhesive. Because there's nothing to really zip tie or screw the mesh down (since the bumper/grill is so thin) I first tried this 30 min. Epoxy. That was just a mess and that stuff sticks to everything. Soooo I decided to look on some forums on how to mount mesh grill and I found a thread where they were saying the best stuff to use is DAP sealant/adhesive ****ing. So I went and got some DAP "Beats the Nails" adhesive. It hardens like a rock when dried which takes a total of 24 hrs. So I ****ed the crap out of the mesh and used the entire bottle. It looks like crap but I could care less, you can't see it. Just as long as that grill never comes off then I'm happy. It's already rock hard because I did it last night but it's still slightly drying, the mesh is solid though it's not moving. In the meantime while I'm waiting, here are some pics of what it looks like:

You like how I use the living room for a drying place? Hey it's alot warmer in here than in the garage, speeds the process up.

 

[mounty71]

Looks good so far, i'm sure itll look much better on the truck. Where did you get the mesh from, and how much did it cost, if you dont mind me asking? Could a similar material be found at a place like Lowes or Home Depot?

 

[Mtn8er]

Looks good so far, i'm sure itll look much better on the truck. Where did you get the mesh from, and how much did it cost, if you dont mind me asking? Could a similar material be found at a place like Lowes or Home Depot?

I got my mesh from Ebay because i needed 2 pieces that were 10x36". I tried Home Depot and couldnt find anything big enough. If you go to the gutter gaurd section you will see strips of gutter gaurd (could be mesh grill )that would have worked only problem is there only as a wide as a gutter. I got 2 pieces of universal mesh grill on Ebay (10x36") for like $25.00 with shipping.

I see in forums where alot of people get there mesh from Home Depot using gutter gaurd but for some odd reason (maybe it was just the Home Depot I went to) they didn't have any 4x4 pieces? I gave up looking and went the Ebay route.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

keep up the good work its look good so far

 

[Mtn8er]

Can someone look at this thread and tell me if I can use this or not?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192319

 

[jimbo74]

Can someone look at this thread and tell me if I can use this or not?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192319

use it for waht? and why?

 

[Turdle]

Can someone look at this thread and tell me if I can use this or not?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192319

I've said it before and will again--
That air needs to be metered-it eventually ends up in the combustion--

now-you can tune for it-but it would be easier to just run a tube to your intake tube and be done--

 

[CDW6212R]

These engines have just one valve cover opening(stock) for crankcase ventilation. They are designed to have a small vacuum pulling from the valve covers to evacuate those crankcase gases. In a perfect engine the effect of removing that additional ventilation from the crankcase would be minor. It is still desirable though, pressures in the crankcase is bad, plus those are not clean gases.

Those gases are where the oil gets most of its contaminants from. You want the atmosphere inside the crankcase to be as clean as possible. Holding it in and eliminating the main exit point for the gases is not good for any engine.

The bottom line should be to maintain a good airflow through the crankcase, it isn't harmful to ingest it into the air/fuel stream.

The use of breather filters is based on having two valve cover outlets, one sucking into the engine with the PCV valve. We don't have that arrangement on the Explorers, so just one breather filter doesn't clean the crankcase.