Cheap mods for better performance or looks?

[Ranger850]

I agree, it is ridiculous. 150 years into the internal combustion engine. 100 years into automobiles, 50 years into controlling intake temps for optimum performance, 35 years into EFI, and people still do not understand how it works, or that any "free power" has already been taken advantage of by the designers and manufacturers. This is wipe your butt after you poop level stuff that shouldn't need to be explained six times in six different threads every day because people should already know that all new cars built since 1985 have had a true and proper cold air intake from the factory and that stupid K&N hot air pipe isn't going to give them any more go.

With this train of thought, the car industry builds the perfect vehicle and there is no need to change anything. And yet people rush to put oversized rims and tires, lift kits, then leveling kits, then loud 4" chrome exhaust tips, then change the factory radio with an aftermarket unit with amps and subs and bright af LED lights, put tint on all the windows, and thousands of other "mods" because they want to whether it improves anything or not.

 

[8thTon]

With this train of thought, the car industry builds the perfect vehicle and there is no need to change anything. And yet people rush to put oversized rims and tires, lift kits, then leveling kits, then loud 4" chrome exhaust tips, then change the factory radio with an aftermarket unit with amps and subs and bright af LED lights, put tint on all the windows, and thousands of other "mods" because they want to whether it improves anything or not.

The thread title was Cheap mods for better performance or looks?

There is a perception among some that the engineers who design these things must be too dumb to take advantage of the obvious and easy ways to make more power, and that you're going to do better by randomly bolting on any old thing. I've known a couple of those guys and it's not likely. You can often rebalance the compromises they had to make (noise, cost, emissions, manufacturing, reliability) to optimize it for what you want, but you'll have to have some understanding of how it works first. Alternatively you can copy what someone else did, but if they're bolting on hot air intakes you might end up wasting your money too.

 

[Ranger850]

My point is, the electric fan thing is a great mod. There should be more of that talked about. Which fan to use, where to get it. How to wire it. All that, but ya'll bog down on cold air intake. Just mention what works and encourage them to find what is best for them.

 

[Ranger850]

The thread title was Cheap mods for better performance or looks?

There is a perception among some that the engineers who design these things must be too dumb to take advantage of the obvious and easy ways to make more power, and that you're going to do better by randomly bolting on any old thing. I've known a couple of those guys and it's not likely. You can often rebalance the compromises they had to make (noise, cost, emissions, manufacturing, reliability) to optimize it for what you want, but you'll have to have some understanding of how it works first. Alternatively you can copy what someone else did, but if they're bolting on hot air intakes you might end up wasting your money too.

COLD AIR INTAKE LOOKS COOL., and it's cheap. 2 out of three.=)

 

[RonD]

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example- Mark Twain

 

[8thTon]

I've been looking at the electric fan mod and there is some appeal there. It would reduce parasitic power loss and noise (sometimes), while improving mileage. The downside is increased complexity and the effort and cost of doing it. First I want to try to quantify how much power it takes to spin the fan with the clutch disengaged - if it was that awful it's hard to imagine the economy loss would have been worth the cost savings. They've had electric fans for many decades but didn't use one.

 

[Ranger850]

With your engine running your alternator puts out more than enough power for an electric fan. It's essentially free power. A clutch fan drags on the engine, while electricity is already being produced with or without an electric fan. A proper sized electric fan will absolutely cool as well or better than a clutch fan. Very few modern vehicles use engine driven fans anymore for those reasons. The only reason they came from the factory with a clutch fan is because a mechanical fan is about 90% cheaper to manafacture than an electronic fan.

This kinda convinced me it's the way to go.

 

[adsm08]

With this train of thought, the car industry builds the perfect vehicle and there is no need to change anything. And yet people rush to put oversized rims and tires, lift kits, then leveling kits, then loud 4" chrome exhaust tips, then change the factory radio with an aftermarket unit with amps and subs and bright af LED lights, put tint on all the windows, and thousands of other "mods" because they want to whether it improves anything or not.

I'm not saying there is no value in personalizing or modifying a vehicle. Heck, look at mine, I think the last stock piece is the steering wheel.

What I am trying to do is educate people about the fact that these items that they have been told will increase power and or fuel economy, which is ostensibly the reason the person is interested in said item in the first place, when installed by itself will do the opposite of what they are trying to accomplish.

If you had a sore foot and someone handed you something telling you if you pressed it up against your foot and pushed the button it would make your foot feel better, would you want me to tell you they'd handed you a loaded gun, or just let you shoot yourself in the foot?

 

[adsm08]

I've been looking at the electric fan mod and there is some appeal there. It would reduce parasitic power loss and noise (sometimes), while improving mileage. The downside is increased complexity and the effort and cost of doing it. First I want to try to quantify how much power it takes to spin the fan with the clutch disengaged - if it was that awful it's hard to imagine the economy loss would have been worth the cost savings. They've had electric fans for many decades but didn't use one.

I haven't dyno'd anything with and without the fan to find out first hand, but most numbers I see say the mechanical fan costs between 3 and 5 hp.

Installing an E-fan isn't that hard. If I can manage to do one on a 65 Mustang you can easily do it on a Ranger. The hardest part for me was finding a wire with key-on power, should be easy on a Ranger. Well, and finding a fan that fit between my radiator and engine. Most aftermarket universal ones I found were either too thick or didn't flow enough for my engine. I ended up taking a fan from a 2013 Taurus and cutting it in half. Works wonderfully.

 

[8thTon]

I haven't dyno'd anything with and without the fan to find out first hand, but most numbers I see say the mechanical fan costs between 3 and 5 hp.

Installing an E-fan isn't that hard. If I can manage to do one on a 65 Mustang you can easily do it on a Ranger. The hardest part for me was finding a wire with key-on power, should be easy on a Ranger. Well, and finding a fan that fit between my radiator and engine. Most aftermarket universal ones I found were either too thick or didn't flow enough for my engine. I ended up taking a fan from a 2013 Taurus and cutting it in half. Works wonderfully.

I've bookmarked some info on fans that fit, and if I were to do one I'd take the temp switches and relays from some Ford with a factory electric fan. Wiring is not a big deal to me at all if I want to be bothered with it.

From what I'm seeing 4-5hp seems to be the loss, but I have not seen the rpm for that listed - I'm still looking for more info. I've also read that the clutch fan moves a lot more air than an electric fan, which might also be why Ford used it on a truck. I'm torn, as I know there is some loss, but I like the simplicity of the clutch fan, and at normal on-the-road rpm in a vehicle with the (lack of) aerodynamics of my Ranger Edge it's probably not a noticeable change.

In other words I can see why they made the choice they did, and it might have been the right one.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Factory EFI systems suck air from the fender. Its not getting much colder then that unless you pipe it into the cab and run the AC full bore year around.

As far as the Efan goes. Personally, IMO, its not worth it. Yes you gain a small, tiny amount of power, possibly a MPG or 2. But a Efan cannot pull the air a mechanical one can, not to mention the cost/benifit ratio just isnt there.

You really want more power? Regear the sumbitch and throw on some FX4 Lvl II alcoas to look cool.

 

[adsm08]

Factory EFI systems suck air from the fender. Its not getting much colder then that unless you pipe it into the cab and run the AC full bore year around.

Actually the tube comes out behind the grill, just inboard of the passenger headlight.

On a lot of the years of the Rangers anyway. Newer vehicles do pull from the fender a lot. A lot of low-sitting cars have a duct that runs up to the edge of the hood.

 

[Curious Hound]

On mine, a 93 with 3.0l, I felt that the factory intake was restrictive, especially the molded tube from the filter box to the throttle body. I re-engineered mine with aluminum intake tubing, silicone couplers and elbows and a filter box from a 4.0l Explorer that sits up front behind the headlight. I was able to discard the vacuum valve and tubing that brought warm air from the exhaust manifold for quicker warmups. Also, the new filter box had a restrictive piece on it's inlet, which I also removed and replaced. So I opened things up to breathe better. But it still sucks air through the hole behind the headlight like it's supposed to do. But my invention doesn't look pretty.

 

[RonD]

Mechanical fans are cheaper to use, thats the thought process of a car maker, simple as that

With transverse mounted engines car makers had to use e-fans, no choice

Will switching to e-fan increase power and MPG, yes, laws of physics at work here, can't argue or change them, try as we might, lol.

Is it worth it to YOU is the only question, and only YOU can answer that

What HP gain, what MPG increase..............doesn't matter, it ain't 0 and thats that

 

[Uncle Gump]

Put an A-pillar gauge pod in it... nothing says cool like a couple gauges in your face.