A bunch of noobie questions. Modding a 2001 Explorer Sport?

[Saskwatchian]

Hey guys.

So earlier I was looking at getting a new more fuel efficient vehicle but am now considering going back to school which would severely put a kink in my spring/fall roadtrips lessening the need for a more fuel efficient vehicle while also reducing the amount of spare money I could spend on payments.

I currently drive a 2001 Explorer Sport, since I started paying attention I have been averaging 13.3 L/100km or 17.7 US mpg. I was looking at buying a 2013 CX5 so I could average half that (If I keep driving as much as I do it would pay for itself in 6-7 years due to fuel savings alone)

Now I am thinking of getting a bike for my bi-weekly 1500km round trip home and back and the possibility of longer road trips by my self. If I get a bike I would be keeping the explorer another year and figure I might as well do a few mods to help lower its appetite making it a bit cheeper to drive.


Some mods make intuitive sense like getting a scan gage to adjust the nut behind the wheel and judging effectiveness of mods, filling in some of the larger gaps in the body work and covering the pot style fog light holes. Other mods I am not so sure of.

The outside grill vents seem to direct air towards the back of the headlights, is this necessary? would my headlights overheat if I covered the outer part of my grill?

Engine temp can get quite warm in the summer but looking at the radiator it seems like it would get the most cooling from the canter and bottom grill openings. I am sure I can get away with covering the rest for highway use but not sure about going slowly on the back trails.

I might drop the front end about 3/4 of an inch since it sits a bit higher than the back (even with its 1.5" lift shackles, the springs are really sagged out), but I won't lower any further than that. I am already scrapping bottom periodically on some of the less maintained trails.

I am considering building a belly pan/skid plate out of arena board and angle iron/aluminum but not sure if it would really help or hurt with fuel economy. My muffler and gas tank look a bit dinged up so I can't see lightweight coroplast lasting long down there.


Wheel skirts? how much do they help if you only cover the top of the rear wheel wells? seems like it would really trap mud and snow, would that be a problem or a non-issue if I cover the inner wheel well with slippery plastic?


What I have done already:

Set the cruise control at 105 and leave it there. It seems to be a sweet spot for fuel economy, might change with a scan-guage but seems about right and keeps the sand trucks off your a**. It seems to burn considerably more at over 110/115 km/h (the speed most people drive).

Bumped tire pressure up to 40 PSI - any savings in fuel economy more than offset in decreased tire life from uneven wear and poorer handling. Switched back to 32/35 PSI.

Removed cross pieces on roof rack but left the rails intact. I use the rack occasionally to carry a canoe and/or extra gear.

General maintenance including wheel alignment twice a year (for tire life but I am sure it helps with fuel economy as well)


Things I am not interested in:

mirror delete - I use that thing and would hate to hit a biker on a right hand turn in the city (has happened to me)

Full grill block - it has a cooling system for a reason

wiper delete, etc - again, that stuff is there for a reason.

drastic lowering of vehicle - would be quite simple with re-installing stock shackles and untorquing front torsion bars but the suspension is soft and I bottom out enough as is.


If you guys have any suggestions or advice I am all ears. Keep in mind that I don't plan on keeping the vehicle much more than another year or 50-60 000km (yup I drive a lot) so expensive mods for marginal gains are not very appealing. I live in the north, our highways are rough and side roads are rougher. I still need to get where I am going.

[ecomodded]

I have had bad experiences with the arena board when i used it for a marine application, in the summer heat the board expanded about a inch in length & width on a 4x8 sheet. Buckling and bulging because of it was screwed down.
If you were to have slide holes for the expansion it would adjust itself. Also it is 1/4" thick and weighs 80-90 pounds a sheet.
a 1/4" sheet of plywood is lighter & cheaper,and if it is painted black it shouldn't look too ghetto..
With the wet back roads and winter snow you get in Saskatchewan having a 4x4 is a nice feature, i would search for a more economy minded 4x4, a older Suzuki comes to mind.

[Gealii]

Is your explorer 4wd or 2wd, v6 or v8? I had the same generation explorer with a v6 4wd with auto trans and got probably about 15mpg out of it. Lowering it with at least a partial belly pan would help as well as putting the spare tire into the rear cargo area as well.

As cheap as it would be to lower an ex even only a little bit i could see it being helpful

I would do a full grill block at least for the winter and rear wheel skirts for warmer parts of the year.

[Saskwatchian]

When I first got the Explorer (but after doing the "ziptie mod") I was averaging closer to 15 l/100km (15-16 US mpg). General maintenance helped but I think the biggest difference was slowing down a bit and removing the roof-rack cross bars.

It is a 4x4 auto with 4L V6


I went an ordered a Scangage and I will lower the front a tad before my next wheel alignment to see how much difference it makes.

I am surprised by how much you say the arena board expended for you ecomodded. I never had any problems with it but mostly use the stuff for winter applications (snowmobile skid-plates, slider protectors, toboggan bottoms, etc.

I figured it would be ideal since it is pretty sturdy, will flex on impact, is slippery and impervious to water. There might be some in one of the old barns back home. I will see if I can test some with heat and see what happens before I buy anything.

If I do the belly pan I will probably just start with the area from bumper to front axle first and see what happens. The spare is tucked up pretty well and is going to stay where it is. I would like to keep my cargo area for cargo.


I do the cardboard grill block in winter, generally it comes off as soon as it warms up enough for the cardboard to get soggy from melting snow


Another mod I forgot to ask about is wheel covers. Why is domed considered better than flat? I could make some removable flat ones pretty easily. Obviously they would come off when going through a lot of mud or snow.

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by Saskwatchian

The outside grill vents seem to direct air towards the back of the headlights, is this necessary? would my headlights overheat if I covered the outer part of my grill?

I had an '03 Ranger (many parts in common) and the grille vents directed air specifically toward the airbox on the right side, with a matching hole on the other side for seemingly no reason (I'm assuming symmetry). I'm pretty sure that the headlights don't need too much cooling.
I had the 4.0 liter engine and that sucker ran HOT, so definitely keep a really good eye on temps if you block any/all of the grille.
Also make sure your trans cooler isn't blocked off. On some of the later years before the crazy redesigns they put the cooler in front of the main radiator.

Driving style alone could not help me with my Ranger's FE, though I suspect faulty pickup-truck aerodynamics had a lot to do with that. I hope you get better results.
Cheers!

~Matt

[Saskwatchian]

Thanks Matt, I never thought about the air box and only looked at the right hand side.

The air box intake is right behind the left headlight on mine. If it is supposed to be getting cool outside air from the vent the metal wall behind the headlight is doing a pretty good job of blocking it. That could be very easily remedied though.

The trans cooler is infront of the main radiator on the left side and only half exposed to air flow in the lower main part of the grill. I was planning on leaving that part open. Now that I find that at least one side vent might actually have a purpose I am thinking of leaving the entire upper grill alone, and possibly free up the flow behind the headlight from the vent to airbox. At least for summer.

I realize that this thing will never be great on fuel but every bit helps. I am looking forward to getting the ScanGage and seeing what kind of difference I can make with some simple mods.

[Gealii]

Originally Posted by Saskwatchian

When I first got the Explorer (but after doing the "ziptie mod") I was averaging closer to 15 l/100km (15-16 US mpg). General maintenance helped but I think the biggest difference was slowing down a bit and removing the roof-rack cross bars.

It is a 4x4 auto with 4L V6.

Do you know if its the sohc or ohv 4l? I am very interested in this gen explorer as it was my first vehicle and my fav auto trans vehicle so far.

when your doing your belly pan do u mean to the front of the rear axle, or your ifs suspension, or did you do a swap?

If you look at explorerforums.com there is a guy on there getting 30+ mpgs out of his ex i believe its a 2nd gen, 2wd and i am sure its lowered but its possible for enough mods

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by Saskwatchian

I am thinking of leaving the entire upper grill alone

Probably a good idea. In my opinion, the lower grilles are the place to block. The upper area has the radiator fan behind it, and I see that as an easy, automatic temp control. If your grille blocks become too aggressive but the fan can still draw air, you're less likely to burn your engine up. On my Ranger, the gap between the bottom of the grille and the top of the bumper was huge, and the opening in the bumper was unnecessary. Blocking them off would probably be a great idea.

As for the air intake, I don't know what Ford's thinking, but mine was kind of hidden too, even with the airflow going somewhat towards the box. They must know something I don't, 'cause my truck always got plenty of air... *shrug*

~Matt

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by Gealii

Do you know if its the sohc or ohv 4l? I am very interested in this gen explorer as it was my first vehicle and my fav auto trans vehicle so far.

I'm pretty sure all the Explorers after like 1997 (whenever that redesign was, from boxy to curvy) have the SOHC, not the OHV

[Saskwatchian]

Yup SOHC

sorry, I should have said IFS. The cross member is lower than the bumper so I thought I would start with directing air under that before worrying about the rest.


I have never blocked the openings in the bumper in winter so am curious how that would affect things. I have never really given those openings any thought before but the radiator does go all the way down to where they are.


One more random question, anyone have troubles crossing the Canada/US border due to car mods? I have had my car pretty much disassembled at the border before (still missing screws to hold my door panels on properly). Just wondering if I would be asked to remove the belly pan etc so they can see I am not smuggling big bags of pot under my bumper . (I still have the long hippy dreads in my passport pic)