Packing on power with low budget

[94 eploder]

Hey i just got my grampas ninety four limited, so its really lacking in power for me. I used to own trans am ws6. But got the truck as i like it better. But i miss the power. Im just wondering what did you do to beef up the power under your hood. I also need linnks to check the parts out, I want this truck to sound like mustang from five blocks away and be able to destroy any little honda import ricer on the streets. any suggestions?

 

[shooterdude199]

maybe do a flowmaster muffler and point the pipe downwards from the muffler... maybe a throttle body spacer? airbox mod? or maybe you can do the throttle body mod. there is a guy on here that has his own how to videos on how to get more power out of your truck. hes on youtube. ive been looking a lot too for power ideas but you need to have some molah to get enough power to blow the tires off your truck. if you want that go to explorerexpress.com... they got some pretty fine superchargers on there.... hope this helped!

 

[jlsparky7]

An exhaust and intake is a good place to start. Its not cheap to get any heavy vehicle like ours moving. What gears are in the truck?

 

[rileyrs]

intake and exhaust as already mentioned is where to start.

a supercharger might be a bit far out, considering they are 4 grand and wont even fit your engine.

clean your maf sensor too, that can really help acceleration.

3.73's or 4.10's would help ya get moving, if you have 3.27 or 3.55 now.
even that can be kinda pricey though.

how much are you realistically lookin to spend, that will help ppl send you in the right direction for mods.

 

[Masterd]

Twin turbo 5.0 swap...with all the goodies. :

I don't think there's such thing as a powerful 4.0 on a low budget, but you could start with maybe exhaust and intake, and follow that with a cam.

 

[WS6 EXPLORER]

I mised up my old account so this is my new one. im perfet at passwords.lol
Well im running a limited, bone stock 94 nothing exciting at all, four wheel drive thats it, I am willing to spend a fair bit up to about 7500. I want the thing to haul. Its going to be a sport truck but still have the four by four offroad capabilities, i just need the power to race at the track and be able to make my own way home when i want. and a supercharger would be crazy on it. I was thinking an exhaust and intake, but ram air or cold air?

 

[Masterd]

7500 would be enough for a V-8 swap, if you can get the motor and tranny from a wreck or something.

Im not sure about supercharging an OHV 4.0, they used to make a kit but theyre impossible to find now. Plus the stock auto tranny would give up the ghost fairly quickly.

So all in all, finding a complete 5.0 Explorer drive train from a wrecked truck or a junk yard and swapping it in would be the best route for power.

 

[Joe Dirt]

For $7500, just sell the '94, BUY a 5.0L Ex and go from there...

 

[WS6 EXPLORER]

Well truth be told id like the eight but everywere i went i they didnt have one, would maybe a v 8 from a new explorer fit right in? obviously with a little engine mount welding and such. and ontop of that i am guessing im going to do a throttle body overhaul, cold air intake or the ram air i havent figured out yet, maybe a roush supercharger. Im going to take a loan out for this truck. It has to fly like my WS6 i got rid of for this truck. But has anyone heard of any way in getting away with maybe side pipes or something like the old corvettes?

 

[MrQ]

Well truth be told id like the eight but everywere i went i they didnt have one, would maybe a v 8 from a new explorer fit right in? obviously with a little engine mount welding and such. and ontop of that i am guessing im going to do a throttle body overhaul, cold air intake or the ram air i havent figured out yet, maybe a roush supercharger. Im going to take a loan out for this truck. It has to fly like my WS6 i got rid of for this truck. But has anyone heard of any way in getting away with maybe side pipes or something like the old corvettes?

There are plenty of threads about a v8 swap. It is not for the faint hearted and definitely not a good idea on DD, because your truck will be down for a while.

From what I have read this is what you have to have:

5.0 engin
New engine mounts
5.0 wiring (EEC V) spliced into original wiring (EEC IV)
5.0 PCM
Going to be a tight squeeze so you need to invest in an electric fan
4r70rw Tranny
Wiring for tranny

Guys who have done this mod can give you a better list than I can, but here is a general idea.

 

[shooterdude199]

do you mean true duals?

 

[PIHB]

I would try one of those electric superchargers that they have on ebay. they say they put out about 2psi wich is good for another 30 hp!

 

[2000XPLORERSPORT]

I would try one of those electric superchargers that they have on ebay. they say they put out about 2psi wich is good for another 30 hp!

junk! sounds good, but it won't do what they say it will. i looked into one of them about a year ago, and all i got was negative remarks on it.

 

[arco777]

I believe there's a guy selling kits on eBay to adapt a supercharger from a Nissan Xterra to a Ford 4.0 SOHC, and I think with some work they could be made to work with the OHV. If I recall correctly anyhow, it has been a while since I was researching that stuff. I believe I priced a complete supercharging solution at around $1200-$1500.

Spdrcer34's Throttle Body mod is a great free power adder if you are comfortable with a dremel. It can gain you mid to top end power and costs nothing.

Throttle (gas pedal) cables get stretched out over time, keeping the butterfly from opening fully. A few zip ties fix this. There's a reason the repair/mod is called 50 horsepower for 5 cents.

With the stock airbox, you can cut holes in the bottom of it to allow more air in. A high flow cone style air filter runs $30-40 at a store and is easily adapted to the MAF for under $10 in most cases, and the intake ducting can be replaced with PVC pipe or a full chrome tube kit from a parts store for very little cash.

For free you can make your TPS (throttle position sensor) adjustable, and calibrate it to sync the computer's view of the throttle position with the actual position, potentially improving idle and throttle response if yours was out of adjustment as some are.

That's a few of the cheap/free mods I know of, searching the forums will yield instructions and more mods like these. Ultimately if you can afford to spend the money, you can make the 4.0 OHV or an installed 5.0/5.4/SBC produce lots of power.

The first gen Explorer's weak spot is the transmission. Manual and auto versions are weak, while they can last many miles on a stock truck, they don't like much more power. Even if you keep the motor mostly stock, a tougher tranny like a built 700R4 with an adapter from Advance Adapters is a good investment.