Remote Turbo Install Complete!

Truck's a '94, with the 3.0 dumped out and a 5.0 from an EFI Exploder dropped in. We built the truck in the Fall '05/Spring '06, and in the hunt for more power, I landed here. I started piling parts together around Thanksgiving and threw it all in over the last week. The power/dollar ratio from the turbo is unmatched, so here I am. Any questions, just throw 'em out!

Basically just wanted to show off the project. I spent alot of time getting it all together and another ~55 hours putting it in over the last week and wanted to show off how it came out. I will be putting in the 39lb injectors and Lightning MAF in tomorrow so I haven't driven it yet, but I did fire it up and checked all the "vital signs" on it. Everything was good, short of the fact that I stuck a bolt in the end of the coolant recovery bottle line and forgot to take it out - had coolant spraying out from under the cap from the excess pressure. Other than that it went off without a hitch.

I left the glass packs in it just in case, but after starting it, they're gonna have to go.

First shot of everything installed - Oil pump on the left, with the oil cooler right in front of it. The black tank to the right of the pump is the little sump we built for it.



Shot from straight behind. Wastegate's right between (and ahead of) the oil pump and sump tank.



Shot of the right framerail. I ended up just drilling through the frame and fishplating around it for the intake tube. Now that everything's in it's easy to see there would have been nowhere near enough room otherwise.



Right front fenderwell - the left tube (in the picture) is the intake, right tube is the charge side. Blow-off valve's near the bottom, pointed along the cab line to keep mud and water and crap out.



Tubing under the hood - I left the gap ahead of the filter so I had a place to put the washer and recovery bottles back in at.



Shot of the gauges, before I powered up the wideband. I'll change the pic once I put power to it.



I'll try and post something tomorrow if everything goes well.

looks like a pretty good install. should be a lot of fun. congrats. does any of that stuff hang down below the framerails?

should run good...does the explorer throttle body point forward like that, or did you modify something? only thing i dont like is that hole in the frame...looks kinda weakish

Davis said:

looks like a pretty good install. should be a lot of fun. congrats. does any of that stuff hang down below the framerails?

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Technically it is below the frame rails, but everything is still at least as high as the lowest skid plate. Shouldn't be too big of a deal at all since I don't spend any major time in rocks. The stock skid plate for the transfer case hangs 2-3" below the frame rail lines, which is where the oil system is mounted.

As for the frame being weak, that's exactly why there's a doubler plate over the frame right there. If I had just drilled a hole in there and left it it would definitely be a concern. I had to do the same thing on the other side for the transfer case, and it has held up fine for almost 2 years, so I don't forsee this being any bit of a problem either. If I had aspirations of jumping the pickup or doing major "flexing" on obstacles I would've done it different, but it sees a pretty simple life all in all. Dirt roads and creeks are the worst of its encounters.

And yes, the Explorer throttle body for the 5.0 sits exactly like that. The stock filter runs out at an angle to the right front headlight corner, with a rubber hose straight between the two. I think it just looks wierd because I only took a picture of about 1/3 of the engine bay.

hmm...i have an explorer intake on mine and it comes out the side like every other fox intake. never seen that before. never had a v8 explorer either though,. and not bashing you, but how has it held up for 2 years if you javent driven it yet and just fired it up?

edit...nevermind, i see what you meant now about the TC part. but your TC doesnt have a hole through the frame does it? it might hold up fine though

bottledgt said:

hmm...i have an explorer intake on mine and it comes out the side like every other fox intake. never seen that before. never had a v8 explorer either though,. and not bashing you, but how has it held up for 2 years if you javent driven it yet and just fired it up?

edit...nevermind, i see what you meant now about the TC part. but your TC doesnt have a hole through the frame does it? it might hold up fine though

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Wierd, I'm not sure why the intakes are different, but it's entirely stock! And yes, I was referring to the TC side working fine for two years. The TC side doesn't have a hole in it, but it has a slot along the top and bottom of the C-shaped rail to fit it in where it needs to go. The slots were fairly long on top and bottom (6-8"), so we made the plate to go over it just in case. The plate is welded top, bottom, and sides with rosettes all throughout the center, so it ought to be pretty strong, at least I'm hoping! I'm really not too concerned with it though.

i would put a driveshaft loop on, dont want a busted u-joint to damage your turbo, other than that it looks nice!!!

what trans and transfer are you running?

and BTW, anything is going to be quiet with a turbo on it. id suggest a 3 or 3 1/2 inch bullit muffler

Good install, I'm curious how well it'll run over the long haul. Is this a daily driver?

I'm really curious how well the MAF meter is going to work in a pressurized environment, or have you recalibrated it?

BTW, anybody else getting red-X's for 2 of the 5 pictures?

Update on everything.... got the injectors installed today, and I tore the glasspacks out. It's straight piped with only the turbo in the stream, and sounds really really good. Loud enough, with a whistle from the spool, but by no means annoyingly loud. Really smooth note under cruise.

As for the injectors, MAF, and tuning, everything went down great. Took about 3 hours start to finish to get the injectors in, and another hour to get it tuned. I went with the Sniper Special Forces setup, and am EXTREMELY pleased. I couldn't really find any opinions on the software and just decided to go for it. I was very skeptical whether or not it would be able to calibrate everything like I wanted, but it had everything I needed and the truck fired right up. After the first cranking session I realized the #1 injector wasn't completely sealed, but a quick snap down onto the rail and it was ready. After that it lit off without any problems.

The truck runs REALLY well, I'm super pleased to say the least. The first Sniper tune was leaner than I wanted to see on my wideband, but after a quick adjustment and reflash I got the AFR down to about 12.5:1. Their software and setup worked flawlessly.

As for the MAF, yes it is recalibrated as a blow-through. And yes, it is my daily driver.

Spool time isn't an issue at all; it builds boost as fast as any.

Edit: Not sure why you can't see the pictures; they're showing up fine for me.

V8RangerBoy said:

Update on everything.... got the injectors installed today, and I tore the glasspacks out. It's straight piped with only the turbo in the stream, and sounds really really good. Loud enough, with a whistle from the spool, but by no means annoyingly loud. Really smooth note under cruise.

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Sweetness and light!

As for the MAF, yes it is recalibrated as a blow-through.

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I want to ask you about this because I had a PROBLEM with mine. How exactly do you recalibrate an MAF as a blow-through? I couldn't get it to work on my system, so I ended up abandoning MAF and going with a speed density system.

you mind posting a full motor pic? i wanna see what youve got on the intake to keep out of the heater box. ive got mine hacked all to hell and back for the throttle body and tube

anupaum said:

Sweetness and light!
I want to ask you about this because I had a PROBLEM with mine. How exactly do you recalibrate an MAF as a blow-through? I couldn't get it to work on my system, so I ended up abandoning MAF and going with a speed density system.

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You just adjust the mass air transfer function to match what the O2 sensors/Wideband are reading.

Typically you drop the timing to be safe and datalog at various RPM Levels in neutral to get the lower half of the function and extrapolate that to the rest of the curve. Then you are close enough to use a wideband and make full throttle runs to adjust the upper portion of the curve. You adjust the curve until the A/R matches what is targeted but the computer... Once that's set you can play with timing.

Evil Ranger said:

You just adjust the mass air transfer function to match what the O2 sensors/Wideband are reading.

Typically you drop the timing to be safe and datalog at various RPM Levels in neutral to get the lower half of the function and extrapolate that to the rest of the curve. Then you are close enough to use a wideband and make full throttle runs to adjust the upper portion of the curve. You adjust the curve until the A/R matches what is targeted but the computer... Once that's set you can play with timing.

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explain how you are adjusting the mass air meter....i cant say ive ever herd of that, unless youre talking about clocking it