Exploring Forced Induction, Part I

26 Jul Exploring Forced Induction, Part I

We at Fluid MotorUnion love taking on jobs we don’t typically come across. This one is definitely something we don’t see every day.

This post marks the beginning of a multi-post build thread for a 2006 Explorer. No, it’s not getting the X5 treatment. This specific Explorer is here because the owner finds that receiving air into his intake manifold at a standard atmospheric pressure just isn’t enough. It’s time…to turbocharge. Superchargers are a more typical route, but when have we been about the typical? We’ve already battened down the hatches and begun work on an entirely custom turbocharger kit for this Explorer. It will feature a heat exchanger up front, with air-to-water intercoolers inside the engine bay, a totally revamped manifold setup and a custom exhaust to match. This is going to be a heavy-duty build that we’re quite excited about, so enough gushing, let’s get to some pictures! Here’s the initial stage of the build, where we break everything down in order to look for room for all the new components we’ll be adding to the engine bay:

Next on the list was placement and fabrication of hangers for the heat exchanger. There was really only one good place to put it, as it’s not the smallest piece on the planet. But it’s certainly not a bad location:

And here’s the snail in question, waiting patiently for its turn to enter the engine bay:

Next, work began to plot out and plan the exhaust manifold. You might not see too many (if any) more pictures of the manifold as it’s being built, as we can’t give away all the fun parts (or the final layout of our manifold jig). We’ll always do some zoomed-in welding shots for ya, but everybody might just have to wait and see what the final product looks like. Patience is a virtue!

The latest step we finished was welding on some mounts for the air-to-water intercoolers.

Now that the first post is behind us, the next steps are the mounting of the intercoolers and the fabrication of the manifolds, which are undoubtedly the trickiest remaining parts of fabrication’s work. We can make exhausts in our sleep. Get ready for the next installment of this build, coming soon!