relocate air intake??? need help. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

relocate air intake??? need help.

the1991mazdaguy

Active Member
Joined
August 16, 2011
Messages
62
Reaction score
0
City, State
Kennewick, WA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1991 Mazda Navajo
relocating air intake, finally with pics!!!

yeah, took my Navajo offroading tonight and sucked water into the intake cause it has that stupid low air pickup. any easy mod i can do to fix this problem? saw a thread for a badass simple to do snorkle but it was for the next gen explorers.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.











OH NO! Did you hydrolock her? or just narrowly escape its death grip.
 






ok, i was super tired and super disorientated when i posted. i used the forum search and found the stuff i was looking for.
Not trying to be sarcastic but I commend you for using the search - a lot of people fire away at that "New Thread" button like their life depends on it :)
 






OH NO! Did you hydrolock her? or just narrowly escape its death grip.

i didnt hydrolock it, thank god. it just stalled when the MAF sensor and air filter got soaked. i waited a little bit and it fired back up.

Not trying to be sarcastic but I commend you for using the search - a lot of people fire away at that "New Thread" button like their life depends on it :)

yeah, i posted at 4 AM my time so using the search skipped my mind.
 






this may sound crazy but i dont like snorkels,my idea is to bring my intake pipe threw the firewall above the ac/heater box and 90* it and mount my filter where the glove box is.this is not a dd though and would be to loud not ideal for a dd.plus i have a supercharger so like to hear her wine;)
 






Sounds interesting. Do you think it would create much of a vacuum inside the cab with the windows up and giving it a boot full?

I was thinking about a "hood scoop air intake" mounted up high near the windscreen after I hydrolocked my Explorer in a flood. I am a little concerned about how they perform in heavy rain though, we have been getting a lot of that here.
 






Sounds interesting. Do you think it would create much of a vacuum inside the cab with the windows up and giving it a boot full?

I was thinking about a "hood scoop air intake" mounted up high near the windscreen after I hydrolocked my Explorer in a flood. I am a little concerned about how they perform in heavy rain though, we have been getting a lot of that here.

hahah it sure aint going to suck the windows out,maybe if the truck was new and sealed good.there is a thread some where on here where they show how to run it into the firewall area where the washers and cabin vent is,they havent had any problems with it but i would worry about large amount of water coming over the hood or mud clogging it up.right now i run hood scopes with ram air:D
 






Sweet, I'm going to take a look at some kits now.
 






I like the idea of coul induction. Nascar uses this type of set up. I am not talking ram air. I would turn the scoop around and let draw from the area of the windshield. I am a victim of a hydrolock and catrosphropic engine failure (mud bogging). I was planning to put two scoops on the hood, one for the engine intake and one to disipate heat. It seems to me to be a better solution than a snorkel. Maybe later tis year.
 






Simply turn the scoop around to prevent hydrolock - Hell Yeah!;) Now why didn't I think of that? Also with the scoop facing the windscreen you can tell right away if its about to take a big gulp of water, say from a really deep puddle or the "bow wave from hell." Then you can take evasive action and switch the key off real quick.;)
 






i kinda have this idea of my own, i will tell about it if it works, but i need a question answered first. What is the smallest size of intake tubing i can use with out killing performance? BTW, its all stock and probably always will be.
 






i kinda have this idea of my own, i will tell about it if it works, but i need a question answered first. What is the smallest size of intake tubing i can use with out killing performance? BTW, its all stock and probably always will be.

i wouldnt go smaller than the tb or maf especially if your making it longer than stock.i wouldnt go smaller than 2.5 inches
 






alright, i found the perfect stuff. 2.5 inch diameter. here's what we did. i started off with a piece of radiator hose, but it was only 2 inch, a little less actually. thanks to the angle i was trying to achieve the hose kinked so it killed everything above 2800 RPM. what we did was we took a plasma cutter and cut a hole on the inside part of the fender and ran the hose into there. after running it through the water with the success of it not picking up water, we later achieved getting the power back and keeping out water with the 2.5 inch. well, actually we aren't 100% sure we are keeping water out yet. we siliconed the crap out of everything (mainly around the new hole in the air box i made for the 2.5 inch tube to run in) and we are gonna field test it tomorrow. wish us luck.
 






Moment of truth! ;)
 












I am working on "finalizing" a different approach to this problem. I tossed the A/C comp. out, used the MAF housing from a 5.0 car, with the 4.0 electronics in it, the "hose" between the T/B and air filter housing from a 4.0 Heep, with some aftermarket pieces thrown in. I am now almost done with this and it places the MAF housing on top of where the A/C comp. USED to be, and runs up to the firewall, drivers' corner and attaches there. It then pulls air through just like the factory HVAC system does from the area where the wiper mech. is. Now, as long as the water doesn't come over the high end of the hood, well, life is good. I have done this on MANY XJ Cherokees over the years, and, figured it should work just fine on the RBVs, too. Pics can be put up tomorrow if any body cares...
 






Yea would love to see pics.i dont understand the whole where the ac use to be at and running it to the drivers side thing though.why didnt you run a stock intake and air box and run a hose from the stock air box over near the ac blower box is and enter the air dam there?there is a write up on here how to do it that way and has been done by a couple people with good results.
 






alright, now to tell about the successes and the failures.

Success (somewhat): now i can plow through the water and it doesn't stall my rig. the water was door trim deep, (a little deeper in some spots) and i only got a little water in the intake. Just enough the dampen the air filter but no steam came out the exhaust and everything past the filter was dry.

The Fail: When i hit the water hard, this HUGE wave came up splashed down on the hood and roof of my car. the wave was higher then my rig was tall and so much water came down it was a solid mass, i couldn't even see. well anyway, the water got into the HVAC and came in the car, and now i only have High and Off on my fan speed working. Also, i got home and put the rig on ramps cause of a drive train clunking, and after some inspecting saw some foamy white stuff coming from the vent hose on the front diff. (water and gear oil all stirred up) So now im gonna make the vent hose longer and put a check valve on it so water doesn't get in again.

so, still working on relocating some. Posting late at night so, lots of pics tomorrow. Or well, some pics. have pics of closing off the old intake hole, making a new one, and pics of the finished tube going into my fender.

ok, i think i figured something else out. after lots of testing and checking, it doesnt appear that the water is coming in through the intake hose, but being splashed in through the drain holes on the air box. Im gonna close off the original holes, drill a new one and put a piece of hose (for a new drain) with a check valve on it so water doesnt go up it.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





alright, picture time.

The front diff oil:

February2012019.jpg


how we got the diff oil out with out removing the diff:

February2012020.jpg


oh, and my airbox pics. sorry, there not very organized and i left some stuff out.

removed this:

February2012011.jpg


my buddy cut me a piece of metal with his plasma cutter and i closed off the old intake hole:

February2012013.jpg


used a drill bit and cut the new hole, left out pics of when my buddy used the plasma cutter again and we made the hole bigger:

February2012014.jpg


the hose going into the airbox:

February2012021.jpg


the hose going from the airbox to the fender:

February2012022.jpg


and our sketchy ass lift/jack up/ how high it should be/ whatever:

February2012018.jpg


there, finally some pics.
 






Back
Top