Irokranger93
Well-Known Member
just to mod- it air intake blah blah blah i
changes everything, I think
changes everything, I think
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Jim - obvously you don't know how the engine management of the Ford tuning works - I highly recommend that you take a tuning course from SCT - then you might have some idea of load calculation and how it is used in the Ford management of engine performance.
More airflow that is registered through the MAF for a given RPM = higher load = more fuel and timing adjustments (if needed) = more power + no detonation - it has nothing to do with a supercharger being 'turned on' (obviously your knowledge of supercharging is limited to those electric ones we see on Ebay that are operated with a switch). This load based calculation is the very basis of all Ford engine management systems - not just the forced induction versions. If you do something that will allow for more airflow (removing intake restriction, cams, headers, p/'p heads, free flowing exhaust) within some pretty wide parameters, the system will take care of it in pretty good fashion. Now, granted, if you do something drastic like throw a supercharger/turbo on a N/A based system, then a retune of all the parameters will be needed as the load calculation will have to be changed for the VE greater than 100% that will be seen.
You might 'getcha' a few books and learn about engine management in the 21'st centry - we no longer run carbs.
Bird
ps. Jim - extra fuel in the combustion chamber actually cools the combustion process and retards detonation / pinging - it's 'lean' cylinder conditions that have a tendency to cause pinging. Sure glad you're not tuning anything I own...............
Sounds to me like you have drank the coolaid! If you think having more fuel in a cylinder than it was designed for won't cause PINGING and other bad things you need to think again..
No matter what the Ve is in any particular engine THAT Ve is what the engine was designed to injest! ANY more volume added WILL give problems!
The FACT that these problems don't exist after these so called "improvements" are added to our engines simply means there was NO GAIN!
Sure they are nice and bright yellow and red... but that is all they are, EYE CANDY!
You need to stop reading magazines that are PAID to write articles, and stop watching TV shows that are PAID to advertise..
Getcha a few books about how engines work. That would be a good start.
Big JIm![]()
Zackly what I an saying!!! IF a higher flowing filter actually DID flow more the damn engine would have a higher Ve and would go to hell!
Can'tcha get that into your bean? ANY more flow INTO the cylinder will change the VE of that engine and the damn thing will COMPLAIN! If the engine and computer are built for a 85% Ve then a 86% Ve will cause a PING and reterded timing..
So MAYBE there is a filter out there that WILL flow more than stock...SO? The engine itself WILL NOT flow more than AS BUILT! Even without a filter all together.. Ya got what ya got!
Quit drinking that koolaid and THINK about your mechanics.
Big JIm![]()
Bird you are preaching to the choir here. However that 100% Ve you speak of is Actually 100% of the Ve EXPECTED by the computer.. In certain engine management systems that MAY be 90% actual Ve..
By managing what you do NOT say is "managing" means, in the case of MORE than the expected Ve, the system will retard timing and richen the mixture to take care of the clatter..
So if MORE than the expected Ve is reached the engine will run WORSE than it does at the expected Ve.
Yep! A lean mixture runs a little better than a rich mixture. And yep a rich mixture is a bit cooler than a lean mixture.
And NO, lean mixture isn't the ONLY thing that causes ping! More compression causes it also and is far more likely to cause ping, and constant ping at that.
That higher compression would be caused by better intake flow. That flow would cause a higher than expected Ve. The computer would attempt to cover this ping, prolly occuring at all rpm, by retarding the timing and richening the mixture. So any possible gain from introducing a "better" intake system in our rides would result in a WORSE operation of the engine.
In a carbed engine it might be possible to richen the mixture and set the timing retarded.. then use fuel to accomodate the increased Ve.
My point in all this is simply that the aftermarket "CAI" that are for sale CANNOT do anything good for our engines. If they ACTUALLY did what most folks seem to THINK they do, the results would be WORSE not better running.
And yeah.. I do get it. I been around a long time.
Big JIm![]()
thank you for speaking some truth in a thread full of bullshit.Sorry Jim - first you try telling us that too much fuel causes pinging and then admit that it cools things down and that lean causes pinging - contradicting yourself ????
I also loved how you say that compression will increase with greater flow and cause problems - compression is basically a fixed value (static and dynamic) of the engine configuration and the only way you will ever dynamically increase it is to increase flow over 1 bar (forced induction) - removing a restriction in the intake path on a naturally aspirated engine won't do that....................
Apparently, you're confused about the difference between load and VE - VE is a FIXED characteristic of the engine as it is configured - it won't change on a NA engine until you change a part. Load is CALCULATED by the PCM from several variables - especially airflow as registered by the MAF vs. RPM vs. throttle position and then fueling and timing are adjusted for the 'known' volumetric efficiency of the engine in question to obtain maximum performance. If there is a restriction in the intake and that restriction is removed, there will be additional flow through the MAF for that throttle position and the engine will respond with greater power for that throttle position because of the fueling and timing adjustments made due to the increase air (load). If there is no restriction, nothing changes with the addition of the bigger intake (except noise).
VE won't change on an engine unless you change an internal part that will cause an increase of the engine's ability to flow and utilize that greater flow ie: ported heads, bigger cam, etc.
Now, let's get to the meat of the thread - do add-on's (cai, headers) work ??? For the most part.....not significantly. Yep, I'm agreeing with you here. Back in the old days, intakes were restrictive and exhaust manifolds were horrendous log jams to flow and carburators were setup for that. All you had to do was open both ends up, bump the jets in the carb a couple of numbers and voila' - more power. Now we're in the age of fuel injection and government mandates for efficiency and for the most part, the manufacturers do get things pretty close to right for the stock motors (except the 4.0 OHV exhaust ports and exhaust manifolds - the flow bench will tell you the real story). They have to squeeze all the power and efficiency out of each drop of fuel as they can within reasonable limits to keep wear and tear down on the engines for longevity. Sure, the factory hi-po cars may pick up some HP in the high end RPM's from a more open CAI or exhaust, but I've not really seen any across the board increases for any of the 'regular' daily driver vehicles which we're talking about here. Older 4.0's will generally pick up 5+ hp throughout the operating range with decent headers and no other mods and with a decent porting of the exhaust port, another 5 hp throughout the range with no other mods - I've done that with more than one engine - like I said, those ports / manifolds were a factory screw-up. Even with the better breathing exhaust, I've not seen the factory MAF's peg out on a stock block/cam, so that's not a restriction (notice I said 'stock'). Bigger throttle bodies on the 4.0 OHV only change the response due to different load calculation from increase airflow at a lower throttle position, but not at the top end.
My idea on the subject is that most people spend the money for the 'improvements' of the cat back exhausts and the CAI's and really want to believe that it wasn't wasted. They hear more noise and that seems to cause a short circuit in the butt dyno and then they perceive more power which may be there from replacing a clogged air filter or a plugged exhaust system - call it blasphemy or whatever they may - it is what it is - justification.
Now, change the cam, really port the heads, bigger valves, bump the compression, etc and you actually do change the true FIXED volumetric efficiency of the engine and the PCM will actually adjust for the changed load (provided you didn't go massive on the cam or compression) and it will make more power - not as much as getting the PCM retuned for the greater fixed VE, but definitely more measured power. We don't have production cams available to go 'massive' on the OHV.
The SOHC is different animal and from what I've done with them - the factory got them right and you really have to do something drastic ($$$) to realize any true gains.
I've been doing this a long time also, Jim (45 years now) and I take pride in admitting I don't know it all and am always try to learn more - can't always say " there's nothing you can do - just change the gears". Been building performance engines all my life and have more hours on dyno's and flow benches than I want to remember and it still amazes me what I have to learn next. Just 'doing it a long time' doesn't necessarily mean 'doing it right' or conveying the right advice - gotta keep trying new things, learning new concepts and sometimes replacing old ones.
Bird
HI!... Wow after reading this thread, I'm going to go out and take all my bolt-ons off my Ranger................ so I can go MUCH slower in the 1/4 mile...... (Sarcasm)....I guess bolt-ons don't work. I ran 15.98E.T bone stock on a set of DR's. After a custom CAI (mines a true cold air design), cat-back, tune, electric fan, under drive pulleys it went 14.42E.t. I guess that 1.56E.T reduction was a dream.........
And the justification begins..............
I'd be willing to bet that the last 3 things you listed probably contributed most (if not all ) of the improvements, but unless you ran any comparison data under exactly the same conditions, you really cannot fully quantify the total improvement. If you had a partially plugged stock air filter and then installed the CAI and ran immediately afterwards, that's tilted in favor of the CAI - if your new tune is a premium fuel tune with more timing and you compared it to the stocker tune with timing set up for regular octane fuel, that's tilted also. If the track conditions weren't identical, that's tilted.
I have definitely seen benefits of an electric fan and UD pullies, but those aren't in the 'power adder' groups we're talking about and if you had noticed, you would have seen that I did mention things change when you retune for some items added. Take out your tune and put the stock fan and pullies and then see just how much 'power' you picked up with the CAI and catback - probably mostly noise.........................
Bird
HI!... Every mod was documented at the dragstrip when it was added. Not a newb here. I've been building race cars for over 20 years. This Ranger has never been on the dyno but my F-150 was put on and every mod was documented. I luv when people sat adding a electric fan does nothing. Well on a 400H.P built 5.4 it gained 19RWH.P as soon as we removed the clutch fan. I laugh at threads like this. So many bench racers out thinking they know it all.![]()
- Bone stock on 275/60/R-15 NITTO drag radials = 15.98ET
- same as above but pulled stock filter = 15.90ET
- installed custom cai, removed p/s headlight = 15.68ET
- installed U/D crank pulley = 15.48ET
Then on next time out I had a MIKE TROYER tuned X-CAL2, ported TB, and the EGR mod. = 15.03ET
Then i added a electric fan and custom cat-back and went = 14.62ET
Next time out I had 4.10 gears and it went 14.42ET. It was running pig rich and needed a re-tune.
I don't know why people say well a tune plays with timing and shift characteristics and blah, blah. That's the point of the dam tune. If it didn't do that to get the benefits then a tune would be useless.........![]()
You obviously don't know what the EGR mod is. It has nothing to do with the EGR working or not. It the EGR tube that sticks into the TB airflow pathway. By cutting this 90 degree bend flush with the inside it allows more air flow by deleting the restriction.
Not on my Ranger but I have seen H.P/TQ gains on the dyno from cat-backs on other Rangers.
Yes I have a Innovate Motorsports wideband in the truck and it was running 9.8-10.4 A/F's during the last runs.
Those times were the average of 5 runs each. FYI.