Performance upgrades

[ahodges]

Does anyone know of any performance upgrades for the 4.0 OHV engine that will allow me to keep the reliability of my Explorer.

I have already put a Gibson exhaust and a K&N coldair intake on it with noticeable improvements, but i'm looking for a little more without possible damage to the engine or tranny.

Any suggestions?

 

[XLT]

Might want to check a tune or an eletric fan as well. But try searching for more ideas. This comes up a lot.

 

[ahodges]

XLT, by "check a tune", do you mean a programmer? I haven't had much luck finding one for the 4.0..

 

[XLT]

You bet. If you have the obdII in your truck which i think you do, you could benifit from a programmer. I believe henson performance does tunes for our trucks. Here is a link. http://www.hensonperformance.com/

 

[93coleman]

under drive pulleys are an option. Only thing, is the 4.0 incorporates the harmonic ballancer into the crank pulley making them pricey compared to other underdrive pulleys.

 

[XLT]

under drive pulleys are an option. Only thing, is the 4.0 incorporates the harmonic ballancer into the crank pulley making them pricey compared to other underdrive pulleys.

I second the pullies but i thought they were only made for the sohc. I am not sure if they would work with the ohv v6.

 

[Electrohacker]

96 was the first year of OBD2, that being said, a lot of people say it was really OBD1 with an OBD2 plug

 

[Tango51]

I haven't read too many comments in the forums advocating a tuning programmer for the early model X's, but it seems to me that if you perform too many modifications, you would need to program the EEC to accept the new parameters as "normal". I know the computer can "relearn" but to what extent I don't know.

 

[XLT]

96 was the first year of OBD2, that being said, a lot of people say it was really OBD1 with an OBD2 plug

Interesting. Since this is the case i would steer clear of a programmer. I looked into one for my 93 explorer and there just wasnt enough to work with to make one worth while on a mostly stock explorer.

 

[AmsoilGuy]

I was looking at these. http://www.zabteck.com/pulleys.htm

What would James tunes, bigger throttle body, exhaust, CAI, all pully's, electric fans get you roughly for power wise?

How about if you slap a turbo onto that set up?

 

[ahodges]

To begin, I also heard that programmers don't do much for any of the 4.0 OHV engines (some where in the neighborhood of no more than 5 hp extra).

For the price I've seen on the under drive pully's it doesn't seem worth it to me.. Does anyone know how much more power would be put to the tires with these?

Lastly I was also wondering about a turbo like AmsoilGuy. I've heard the power output is quite a bit higher but I would like to know if the 4.0 can take it. Head gaskets are a known problem on these engines but I was wondering if anything else becomes a problem if a turbo charger is used..

 

[yellowford]

96 was the first year of OBD2, that being said, a lot of people say it was really OBD1 with an OBD2 plug

I think you a little messed up here as the OBD2 computer is not the same as the obd1's there were some that had the obd2 plugs before 96 those would be the ones with the obd1 computer and obd2 plug. The 96 is a fully functional obd2 which means there would be nothing wrong with getting a tune written for it,

 

[AmsoilGuy]

well I hope that my SCT Xcal 3 is giving me more than 5 HP. I know its not like the 140 HP I get out of my diesel but I was hoping on at least 10-15 HP on the X.. Especially with the custom tunes that Henson Performance wrote me!

 

[Josh]

I think without serious money, your kinda chasing a pipe dream. If you want a tuner, then get all the boltons first minus headers, then see if someone can do a custom tune utilizing all of the bolt ons. I have added the BBK throttle body, ProM MAF, BBK headers, Comp Cams 410 cam, I tried the electric fan on the radiator. All of those things just left me wanting more. Oh yea, and I also back fitted a 2000 OHV motor to go in my 91. I had a supercharger but could not do the fab work so I ended up selling it. I never did the tune so I cant speak about that.

 

[AmsoilGuy]

Hey Josh why minus the headers? And where did you get the ProM MAF from?

 

[Josh]

Some have said that headers are only good with a turbo or SC. I got a pair of BBK ceramic headers for 275, so it was hard to pass up. As for ProM, I think they went out of buisness 5 or 6 years ago.