air charge sensor ? on explorer intake

63bird390 said:

I have a intake from a 2001 explorer and this intake has no threads for the air charge sensor so my question is.

Here is link of the sensor
AutoZone.com | Shopping | Parts | Product Detail - Air Charge Sensor

1 Does anyone have a pic of the proper location for this sensor?

2 Wouldent it be better for this sensor to be behind the air filter so it could read a colder air temp? (i can remember doing that to a tpi chebby)

Thanks in advance for your insight!

Click to expand...

you can move it to the airbox or inlet tube if you want , but the foxbodies have no problem with them mounted in the intake , take the new lower intake to a machine shop , if you look at your lower intake you took off and the explorer intake you will see a flat boss in the lower that can be drilled and tapped with a NPT tap for the sensor to screw into the factory location on the new lower intake ( its on the drivers side towards the front of the lower intake)

ACT sesnor relocation to stock airbox...

The ACT (Air Charge Temp) sensor will probably need to be moved. The GT 40 lower manifold isn't drilled & tapped for it to go into the intake like the stock manifold was. There is a boss cast into the GT 40, but a machine shop will have to drill & tap the new manifold. The best spot for the ACT is the air box if you don't do the drill and tap thing. You get to cut and splice the 2 ACT wires in order to make them long enough to reach the air box. Solder the wire extensions on the existing wires & use heat shrink tubing to cover the splices. Offset the place where you cut the wires so that you don't have a big bulge when you put heat shrink over the 2 wires to cover & protect them. The air box gets a hole (5/8" or so) for the ACT drilled about 1 1/4" down & 1/1/4" in on the front top side near the upper radiator hose. A brass fitting nut from Home Depot or Ace Hardware secures the ACT into the air box.

If you are very clever, you will find that the ACT connector comes apart so that you can remove the pins. A very small screwdriver releases the lock in the front of the center insert, while another small screwdriver inserted in the back pushes it out. Once the center insert is out of the connector shell, the pins come out easily. New pins are available from AutoZone in a $5 electrical pin kit for Fords. Crimping the pins on the extender wires saves you from having to splice them twice: once to put the connector on and once to extend the wires.

6 ft black 18 gauge wire
6 ft green 18 gauge wire
6 ft 1/4" heat shrink tubing
1 ft 3/16" heat shrink tubing

Measure the 2 extender wires & cut them to length, crimp one set of pins on them. Then mate up the extender pins with the wiring harness & slide the 3/16" heat shrink tubing over them & shrink the tubing. Then slide the 1/4" heat shrink tubing over the pair of wires and shrink the tubing. When you are done you'll have about 1" of wire left without heat shrink tubing on it to strip & crimp the new pins on. Stick the new pins in the old connector shell, assemble it and you are done. It looks as good as factory. Some wire loom can be used to enhance the "Factory Look".

For details on how moving the ACT will affect the ecu tune....
http://*******.com/index.php/topic,4876.0.html

vristang said:

For details on how moving the ACT will affect the ecu tune....
http://*******.com/index.php/topic,4876.0.html

Click to expand...

EDIT:
sites that filter out the addresses of other forums are pretty lame...

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I would just drill and tap the boss on the front drivers side where it should be. I did mine and it was quite easy. But then again I also ported it myself, so I'm not sure how easy it is

My explorer is only a 4.0 but for the sensor it is right before the throttle body on the air intake tube. It may be the same for the 5.0's in the Explorer, yet I have never seen the engine bay of one so im not sure, but I am just guessing.

63bird390 said:

My intake dont have the flat boss to drill and tap. I think since it is from a 2001 might be why?

Click to expand...

The eariler Explorer intakes had the flat boss, I have a '96 motor and the boss is there; my dad's '99 5.0 Explorer doesnt have it. They probably phased it out when they deleted the internal EGR passage on these intakes.

On the Stang V8's, starting in 94 they altered the ecu parameters and moved the ACT to the filter airbox. The ecu is looking for temps in the range of ambient (say 0F - 100F). The Explorer/Mountaineer computers also were used to seeing ACT temps that resembled ambient as they had the ACT in the air box as well. If you were to relocate on of those to the intake manifold, you'd have real problems.

However, the fox ecu's (a9l based) are expecting the ACT to be located in the #5 intake runner. The ecu is relatively insensitive to ACT location. You can move it to the air box, the inlet air piping, or, quite frankly, just leave it laying on top of the lower intake manifold and it will make very little difference in the way the car runs or performs.

I originally lengthened my harness and moved it to the inlet piping. But when Tom Moss ported my Explorer lower, I asked him to drill/tap the #5 runner for the ACT - so I've since put it back in it's stock position.