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Cold Air Intake

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22
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27
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2
Location
Laguna Beach, CA, USA
#21
Have a custom CIA being installed right now from Voodoo Autosport, orange, CA. I do know that K&N is working on something and my buddy just agreed to lend his ST in (mine is too modified for them)
 

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168
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64
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27
Location
Iowa
#22
Have a custom CIA being installed right now from Voodoo Autosport, orange, CA. I do know that K&N is working on something and my buddy just agreed to lend his ST in (mine is too modified for them)
That's cool! I'm curious to know how it turns out.
 

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43
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13
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Location
VA, USA
#23
Have a custom CIA being installed right now from Voodoo Autosport, orange, CA. I do know that K&N is working on something and my buddy just agreed to lend his ST in (mine is too modified for them)
Nice! Looking forward to a product release! Let’s stay on this and get a group buy set up!
 

Messages
49
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15
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Location
Wylie, TX, USA
#24
Have a custom CIA being installed right now from Voodoo Autosport, orange, CA. I do know that K&N is working on something and my buddy just agreed to lend his ST in (mine is too modified for them)
Do you have any pictures of your intake setup?
 

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49
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Location
Wylie, TX, USA
#25
If someone made a larger sealed box and upsized all the tubing and crammed the biggest conical filters they could in there...there’s a gain to be had. We’re just such a small market their ROI probably isn’t there.
Sad thing is, the dang 2.3 Ecoboost Ranger has more options than the 400bp Explorer ST
 

Sean R.

New Member
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Location
Western NC
#26
I did a drop in on my aviator that I had before this (same 3.0 tt) and it made a noticeable difference. Could hear a little more intake noise and almost a little bit of the turbo...
 

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Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
#27
cold air intakes are non sense.
the cost to benefit is stupid for the gains.
modern PCMs will adjust the engine parameters way better from tuning.
 

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15
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Location
Wylie, TX, USA
#29
cold air intakes are non sense.
the cost to benefit is stupid for the gains.
modern PCMs will adjust the engine parameters way better from tuning.
What's your point? I can name alot of things that the, "cost to benefit is stupid for the gains." People still enjoy modifying vehicles even when the goal isn't the fastest 1/4 mile time.

But here is some non CAI related nonsense... $1095 intercooler, that could probably be replicated similarly for half that, $1000 downpipes, that are vastly overpriced, numerous $1300-$1800 2.25"-2.5" midpipe back exhausts...which more than likely add little to no performance, blowoff valves being added to a stock system to make a whoosh sound...
 

L_Speed87

New Member
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8
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Location
Virginia
#30
honestly.... bigger market. the ST was not a huge seller for Ford.
I'm not sure where the cutoff is for a aftermarket CAI manufacturer to decide what is, or is not, worth building a design for sales. I do know that Ford very specifically bragged that 1 in 5 Explorers sold was an ST. If you go by last years sales figures of 180,000, that is definitely a huge seller for what should be a "niche" sport trim.

To the cost vs. benefit take, i do agree the costs on intercoolers and downpipes are high, but, with a tune, those can provide significant gains, with the stock air box. So i think people are willing to opt into those and not care about a CAI. And maybe that's what the CAI manufacturers are looking at and deciding it's just not worth it.
 

dolsen

Member
U.S. Marine Veteran
Messages
271
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158
Points
37
Location
Louisville, KY, USA
#31
I'm not sure where the cutoff is for a aftermarket CAI manufacturer to decide what is, or is not, worth building a design for sales. I do know that Ford very specifically bragged that 1 in 5 Explorers sold was an ST. If you go by last years sales figures of 180,000, that is definitely a huge seller for what should be a "niche" sport trim.
The number of overall ST sales doesn't matter as much as the number of ST buyers that are willing to modify their vehicles, which I am certain isn't anywhere close to 36000 total vehicles. I would be shocked if it was more than 5%, which is 1800.

For the record I have no insight on aftermarket numbers.This is simply me guesstimating and trying to think critically.
 

L_Speed87

New Member
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8
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Location
Virginia
#32
The number of overall ST sales doesn't matter as much as the number of ST buyers that are willing to modify their vehicles, which I am certain isn't anywhere close to 36000 total vehicles. I would be shocked if it was more than 5%, which is 1800.

For the record I have no insight on aftermarket numbers.This is simply me guesstimating and trying to think critically.
I agree. I think that's where the challenge is at. Even though something like a Mustang or a Camaro have fewer sales (for a given trim) than an Explorer ST, it's a performance car so one can assume that the take rate is probably much higher. (Or at least the manufacturers probably assume that, and have plenty of historical data to back that up)

What has me scratching my head is there were several CAI's made for the Explorer Sport, and the ST is just an evolution of that. So why would they think the Explorer Sport was worth it, but the ST not? Unless they made a gamble on the Explorer Sport and sales weren't all that great, so they've determined the ST isn't worth it.

Who knows. These things take a while to develop anyway, so we may see something at some point if we, the owners, keep pushing them with requests to make one.
 

dolsen

Member
U.S. Marine Veteran
Messages
271
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158
Points
37
Location
Louisville, KY, USA
#33
I agree. I think that's where the challenge is at. Even though something like a Mustang or a Camaro have fewer sales (for a given trim) than an Explorer ST, it's a performance car so one can assume that the take rate is probably much higher. (Or at least the manufacturers probably assume that, and have plenty of historical data to back that up)

What has me scratching my head is there were several CAI's made for the Explorer Sport, and the ST is just an evolution of that. So why would they think the Explorer Sport was worth it, but the ST not? Unless they made a gamble on the Explorer Sport and sales weren't all that great, so they've determined the ST isn't worth it.

Who knows. These things take a while to develop anyway, so we may see something at some point if we, the owners, keep pushing them with requests to make one.
This is strictly a guess, but I would imagine that the SHO and the Explorer had similar setups, kinda like the Fusion sport and the edge, where some of the parts are interchangeable, so making a CAI for the ExSpo is also close enough to market it to the SHO. To the best of my knowledge, I believe the 2020 ExST is the first RWD application (read: longitudinal mount) of the 3.0 V6.The explorer sport to the ST, is much more of a revolution than an evolution. The edge sport to ST is what I would consider an evolution.
 

Messages
49
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15
Points
2
Location
Wylie, TX, USA
#34
I'm not sure where the cutoff is for a aftermarket CAI manufacturer to decide what is, or is not, worth building a design for sales. I do know that Ford very specifically bragged that 1 in 5 Explorers sold was an ST. If you go by last years sales figures of 180,000, that is definitely a huge seller for what should be a "niche" sport trim.

To the cost vs. benefit take, i do agree the costs on intercoolers and downpipes are high, but, with a tune, those can provide significant gains, with the stock air box. So i think people are willing to opt into those and not care about a CAI. And maybe that's what the CAI manufacturers are looking at and deciding it's just not worth it.
Once so
I agree. I think that's where the challenge is at. Even though something like a Mustang or a Camaro have fewer sales (for a given trim) than an Explorer ST, it's a performance car so one can assume that the take rate is probably much higher. (Or at least the manufacturers probably assume that, and have plenty of historical data to back that up)

What has me scratching my head is there were several CAI's made for the Explorer Sport, and the ST is just an evolution of that. So why would they think the Explorer Sport was worth it, but the ST not? Unless they made a gamble on the Explorer Sport and sales weren't all that great, so they've determined the ST isn't worth it.

Who knows. These things take a while to develop anyway, so we may see something at some point if we, the owners, keep pushing them with requests to make one.
Could also be the layout...appears to me that the 3.5 Ecoboost might have been easier to build one for, that and the F-150, SHO, etc also used that engine...
 

L_Speed87

New Member
Messages
8
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1
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2
Location
Virginia
#35
Also a good point, regarding layout. Every CAI I've ever seen, not that I have an extensive library of experience, has been mounted in the corner of the engine bay, allowing for fairly easy fabrication of a new box to hold a larger filter. Other than a Ram Air late 90s Trans Am, I've never seen a car with a center mounted airbox like this. I'm sure there are plenty out there, I've just not seen them. Maybe this also adds to complexity and difficulty?
 

Messages
49
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15
Points
2
Location
Wylie, TX, USA
#36
Also a good point, regarding layout. Every CAI I've ever seen, not that I have an extensive library of experience, has been mounted in the corner of the engine bay, allowing for fairly easy fabrication of a new box to hold a larger filter. Other than a Ram Air late 90s Trans Am, I've never seen a car with a center mounted airbox like this. I'm sure there are plenty out there, I've just not seen them. Maybe this also adds to complexity and difficulty?
Yeah, maybe so. I personally love cold air intakes, even when they don't always add tons of power, simply because I like the sound it adds. But in this case, I'm worried that whatever finally comes out, won't add much of either. Without completing the piping fully to the turbo and on to the intercooler, I feel like whatever they add will ultimately just bottleneck, and if eventually all that piping is made, giving what I've seen so far, you'll likely be paying $1000 or more for modest gains and sound.
 

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91
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46
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17
Location
Kelowna, BC, Canada
#37
The issue with the ones for the explorer sport is that they gained zero power for most consumers. With a relatively small displacement motor that breathes through turbos, you just don't get as much of a restriction at the moment the throttle body opens like you do on a bigger motor. Once the turbos spool, it has enough cross section to feed the turbos and keep them fed for all but the upper echelon of the current market.

Once there are some bigger builds with bigger turbos, the need for a larger intake tract will become a necessity and companies will make them.

They also didn't appear right away in 2013 for the explorer sport either-even though the SHO taurus came out in 2010. It took about a year for the manufacturers to start marketing the Taurus CAI for the explorer sport as well. They had more air filter surface area but then breathed hot under hood air so the design was more show than go.

But, give it 6 months and there will be choices out there, they do look good and sound good. Plus, you can usually recover most of your money if you ever decide to sell it.
 

Messages
158
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66
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27
Location
Houston, TX, USA
#38
I wonder if an over the radiator intake would work.......
 

JoshVancina

New Member
U.S. Marine Veteran
Messages
2
Reactions
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
#39
honestly.... bigger market. the ST was not a huge seller for Ford.
I find that hard to believe, here in Illinois almost all of the 2020 Explorers I see are ST's.
 

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63
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29
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17
Location
Moline, IL, USA
#40
I have only seen a few ST's here. A lot of explorers but very few ST's.
 



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